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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22100-8.txt b/22100-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de6773a --- /dev/null +++ b/22100-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,25627 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2, by +Joseph Warren Keifer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2 + A Political History of Slavery in the United States Together + With a Narrative of the Campaigns and Battles of the Civil + War In Which the Author Took Part: 1861-1865 + +Author: Joseph Warren Keifer + +Release Date: July 19, 2007 [EBook #22100] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS OF WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Ed Ferris + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Footnotes are at the end of each chapter, except at the end of + each section in Chapter I. Duplicate notes were on adjacent pages + in the book. + + Right-hand-page heads are omitted. + + Names have been corrected (except possibly "Hurlburt"). + + LoC call number: E470.K18 + + +SLAVERY AND +FOUR YEARS OF WAR + +A POLITICAL HISTORY OF SLAVERY +IN THE UNITED STATES + +TOGETHER WITH A NARRATIVE OF THE CAMPAIGNS +AND BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR IN WHICH +THE AUTHOR TOOK PART: 1861-1865 + +BY +JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER +BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS; EX-SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF +REPRESENTATIVES, U. S. A.; AND MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS, +SPANISH WAR. + +ILLUSTRATED + +VOLUME I. +1861-1863 + +G. P. Putnam's Sons +New York and London +The Knickerbocker Press +1900 + + +Copyright, 1900 + +BY +JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER + +The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + +To the + +memory of the dead and as a tribute of esteem to the living officers +and soldiers who served immediately with and under the author in +battles and campaigns of the great American rebellion + +This Book is Dedicated + + +PREFACE + +The writer of this book was a volunteer officer in the Union army +throughout the war of the Great Rebellion, and his service was in +the field. + +The book, having been written while the author was engaged in a +somewhat active professional life, lacks that literary finish which +results from much pruning and painstaking. He, however, offers no +excuse for writing it, nor for its completion; he has presumed to +nothing but the privilege of telling his own story in his own way. +He has been at no time forgetful of the fact that he was a subordinate +in a great conflict, and that other soldiers discharged their duties +as faithfully as himself; and while no special favors are asked, +he nevertheless opes that what he has written may be accepted as +the testimony of one who entertains a justifiable pride in having +been connected with large armies and a participant in important +campaigns and great battles. + +He flatters himself that his summary of the political history of +slavery in the United States, and of the important political events +occurring upon the firing on Fort Sumter, and the account he has +given of the several attempts to negotiate a peace before the final +overthrow of the Confederate armies, will be of special interest +to students of American history. + +Slavery bred the doctrine of State-rights, which led, inevitably, +to secession and rebellion. The story of slavery and its abolition +in the United States is the most tragic one in the world's annals. +The "Confederate States of America" is the only government ever +attempted to be formed, avowedly to perpetuate _human slavery_. +A history of the Rebellion without that of slavery is but a recital +of brave deeds without reference to the motive which prompted their +performance. + +The chapter on slavery narrates its history in the United States +from the earliest times; its status prior to the war; its effect +on political parties and statesmen; its aggressions, and attempts +at universal domination if not extension over the whole Republic; +its inexorable demands on the friends of freedom, and its plan of +perpetually establishing itself through secession and the formation +of a slave nation. It includes a history of the secession of eleven +Southern States, and the formation of "The Confederate States of +America"; also what the North did to try to avert the Rebellion. +It was written to show why and how the Civil War came, what the +conquered lost, and what the victors won. + +In other chapters the author has taken the liberty, for the sake +of continuity, of going beyond the conventional limits of a personal +_memoir_, but in doing this he has touched on no topic not connected +with the war. + +The war campaigns cover the first one in Western Virginia, 1861; +others in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, 1862; in +West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 1863; and in +Virginia, 1864; ending with the capture of Richmond and Petersburg, +the battles of Five Forks and Sailor's Creek, and the surrender of +Lee to Grant at Appomattox, 1865. A chapter on the New York riots +of 1863, also one on the "Peace Negotiations," will be found, each +in its proper place. + +Personal mention and descriptions of many officers known to the +writer are given; also war incidents deemed to be of interest to +the reader. + +But few generalizations are indulged in either as to events, +principles, or the character of men; instead, facts are given from +which generalizations may be formed. + +The author is indebted to his friends, General George D. Ruggles +(General Meade's Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of the Potomac, +late Adjutant-General, U.S.A.), for important data furnished from +the War Department, and to his particular friends, both in peace +and war, General John Beatty and Colonel Wm. S. Furay of Columbus, +Ohio, for valuable suggestions. + + J. W. K. +December, 1899. + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I +Slavery: Its Political History in the United States, +(I.) Introductory--(II.) Introduction of Slavery into the Colonies +--(III.) Declaration of Independence--(IV.) Continental Congress: +Articles of Confederation--(V.) Ordinance of 1787--(VI.) Constitution +of the United States--(VII.) Causes of Growth of Slavery--(VIII.) +Fugitive-Slave Law, 1793--(IX.) Slave Trade Abolished--(X.) Louisiana +Purchase--(XI.) Florida--(XII.) Missouri Compromise--(XIII.) +Nullification--(XIV.) Texas--(XV.) Mexican War, Acquisition of +California and New Mexico--(XVI.) Compromise Measures, 1850--(XVII.) +Nebraska Act--(XVIII.) Kansas Struggle for Freedom--(XIX.) Dred +Scott Case--(XX.) John Brown Raid--(XXI.) Presidential Elections, +1856-1860--(XXII.) Dissolution of the Union--(XXIII.) Secession of +States--(XXIV.) Action of Religious Denominations--(XXV.) Proposed +Concessions to Slavery--(XXVI.) Peace Conference--(XXVII.) District +of Columbia--(XXVIII.) Slavery Prohibited in Territories--(XXIX.) +Benton's Summary--(XXX.) Prophecy as to Slavery and Disunion. + +CHAPTER II +Sumter Fired on--Seizure by Confederates of Arms, Arsenals, and +Forts--Disloyalty of Army and Navy Officers--Proclamation of Lincoln +for 75,000 Militia, and Preparation for War on Both Sides + +CHAPTER III +Personal Mention--Occupancy of Western Virginia under McClellan +(1861)--Campaign and Battle of Rich Mountain, and Incidents + +CHAPTER IV +Repulse of General Lee and Affairs of Cheat Mountain and in Tygart's +Valley (September, 1861)--Killing of John A. Washington, and +Incidents--and Formation of State of West Virginia + +CHAPTER V +Union Occupancy of Kentucky--Affair at Green River--Defeat of +Humphrey Marshall--Battles of Mill Springs, Forts Henry and Donelson +--Capture of Bowling Green and Nashville, and Other Matters + +CHAPTER VI +Battle of Shiloh--Capture of Island No. 10--Halleck's Advance on +Corinth, and Other Events + +CHAPTER VII +Mitchel's Campaign to Northern Alabama--Andrews' Raid into Georgia, +and Capture of a Locomotive--Affair at Bridgeport--Sacking of +Athens, Alabama, and Court-Martial of Colonel Turchin--Burning of +Paint Rock by Colonel Beatty--Other Incidents and Personal Mention +--Mitchel Relieved + +CHAPTER VIII +Confederate Invasion of Kentucky (1862)--Cincinnati Threatened, +and "Squirrel Hunters" Called Out--Battles of Iuka, Corinth, and +Hatchie Bridge--Movements of Confederate Armies of Bragg and Kirby +Smith--Retirement of Buell's Army to Louisville--Battle of Perryville, +with Personal and Other Incidents + +CHAPTER IX +Commissioned Colonel of 110th Ohio Volunteers--Campaigns in West +Virginia under General Milroy, 1862-1863--Emancipation of Slaves +in the Shenandoah Valley, and Incidents + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +J. Warren Keifer + +Andrew H. Reeder, first governor of Kansas Territory, Flight in +Disguise, 1855 [From a painting in Coates' House, Kansas City, +Missouri.] + +Abraham Lincoln + +Map of the United States, 1860 [Showing free and slave States and +Territories.] + +General Ulysses S. Grant, U.S.A. [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Confederate Silver Half-Dollar + +John Beatty, Brigadier-General of Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1863.] + +Rich Mountain and Cheat Mountain Country, W. Va. + +General William T. Sherman, U.S.A. [From a photograph taken 1881.] + +Major-General O. M. Mitchel [From a photograph taken 1862.] + +Brevet Brigadier-General Wm. H. Ball [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Rev. William T. Meloy, D. D., Lieutenant 122d Ohio Volunteers [From +a photograph taken 1896.] + +Major-General Robert H. Milroy [From a photograph taken 1863.] + +Lieutenant James A. Fox, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1863.] + +Map of Shenandoah valley [From Major W. F. Tiemann's _History of +the 159th New York_.] + +Rev. Milton J. Miller, Chaplain 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a +photograph taken 1865.] + +Rev. Charles C. McCabe, D. D., Bishop M. E. Church, Chaplain 122d +Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph taken 1868.] + + +SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS OF WAR + + +SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS +OF WAR + +CHAPTER I +SLAVERY: ITS POLITICAL HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES +(I.) Introductory--(II.) Introduction of Slavery into the Colonies +--(III.) Declaration of Independence--(IV.) Continental Congress: +Articles of Confederation--(V.) Ordinance of 1787--(VI.) Constitution +of the United States--(VII.) Causes of Growth of Slavery--(VIII.) +Fugitive-Slave Law, 1793--(IX.) Slave Trade Abolished--(X.) Louisiana +Purchase--(XI.) Florida--(XII.) Missouri Compromise--(XIII.) +Nullification--(XIV.) Texas--(XV.) Mexican War, Acquisition of +California and New Mexico--(XVI.) Compromise Measures, 1850--(XVII.) +Nebraska Act--(XVIII.) Kansas Struggle for Freedom--(XIX.) Dred +Scott Case--(XX.) John Brown Raid--(XXI.) Presidential Elections, +1856-1860--(XXII.) Dissolution of the Union--(XXIII.) Secession of +States--(XXIV.) Action of Religious Denominations--(XXV.) Proposed +Concessions to Slavery--(XXVI.) Peace Conference--(XXVII.) District +of Columbia--(XXVIII.) Slavery Prohibited in Territories--(XXIX.) +Benton's Summary--(XXX.) Prophecy as to Slavery and Disunion. + +I +INTRODUCTORY + +Slavery is older than tradition--older than authentic history, and +doubtless antedates any organized form of human government. It +had its origin in barbaric times. Uncivilized man never voluntarily +performed labor even for his own comfort; he only struggled to gain +a bare subsistence. He did not till the soil, but killed wild +animals for food and to secure a scant covering for his body; and +cannibalism was common. Tribes were formed for defence, and thus +wars came, all, however, to maintain mere savage existence. Through +primitive wars captives were taken, and such as were not slain were +compelled to labor for their captors. In time these slaves were +used to domesticate useful animals and, later, were forced to +cultivate the soil and build rude structures for the comfort and +protection of their masters. Thus it was that mankind was first +forced to toil and ultimately came to enjoy labor and its incident +fruits, and thus human slavery became a first step from barbarism +towards the ultimate civilization of mankind. + +White slavery existed in the English-American colonies antecedent +to black or African slavery, though at first only intended to be +conditional and not to extend to offspring. English, Scotch, and +Irish alike, regardless of ancestry or religious faith, were, for +political offenses, sold and transported to the dependent American +colonies. They were such persons as had participated in insurrections +against the Crown; many of them being prisoners taken on the battle- +field, as were the Scots taken on the field of Dunbar, the royalist +prisoners from the field of Worcester; likewise the great leaders +of the Penruddoc rebellion, and many who were taken in the insurrection +of Monmouth. + +Of these, many were first sold in England to be afterwards re-sold +on shipboard to the colonies, as men sell horses, to the highest +bidder. + +There was also, in some of the colonies, a conditional servitude, +under indentures, for servants, debtors, convicts, and perhaps +others. These forms of slavery made the introduction of negro and +perpetual slavery easy. + +Australasia alone, of all inhabited parts of the globe, has the +honor, so far as history records, of never having a slave +population. + +Egyptian history tells us of human bondage; the patriarch Abraham, +the founder of the Hebrew nation, owned and dealt in slaves. That +the law delivered to Moses from Mt. Sinai justified and tolerated +human slavery was the boast of modern slaveholders. + +Moses, from "Nebo's heights," saw the "land of promise," where +flowed "milk and honey" in abundance, and where slavery existed. +The Hebrew people, but forty years themselves out of bondage, +possessed this land and maintained slavery therein. + +The advocates of slavery and the slave trade exultingly quoted: + +"And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of +the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to +a people far off; for the Lord hath spoken it."--Joel iii, 8. + +They likewise claimed that St. Paul, while he preached the gospel +to slaveholders and slaves alike in Rome, yet used his calling to +enable him to return to slavery an escaped human being--Onesimus.( 1) + +The advocates of domestic slavery justified it as of scriptural +and divine origin. + +From the Old Testament they quoted other texts, not only to justify +the holding of slaves in perpetual bondage, but the continuance of +the slave trade with all its cruelties. + +"And he said, I am Abraham's servant."--Gen. xxiv., 34. + +"And there was of the house of Saul a _servant_ whose name was +Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the King said unto +him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. . . . + +"Then the King called to Ziba, Saul's _servant_, and said unto him, +I have given unto thy master's son all that pertained to Saul, and +to all his house. + +"Thou, therefore, and thy sons, and they servants shall till the +land for him, and thou shalt bring in _the fruits_, that thy master's +son may have food to eat," etc. "Now Ziba had fifteen sons and +_twenty servants_."--2 Samuel ix., 2, 9-10. + +"I got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house; +also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all +that were in Jerusalem before me."--Eccles. ii., 7. + +"And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence comest thou? and she +said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. + +"And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, +and submit thyself to her hands."--Gen. xvi., 8, 9. + +"A servant will not be corrected by words; for though he understand, +he will not answer."--Prov. xxix., 19. + +And from the New Testament they triumphantly quoted: + +"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. +Art thou called being a servant? care not for it; but if thou mayest +be made free, use it rather."--I Cor., vii., 20-22. + +"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to +the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, +as unto Christ," etc. + +"And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: +knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect +of persons with him."--Eph., vi., 5-9. + +"Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, +not with eye service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, +fearing God."--Col. iii., 22. + +"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; +knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven."--Col. iv., 1. + +"Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters +worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrines be not +blasphemed," etc.--I Tim., vi., 1, 2. + +"Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to +please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, +but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of +God our Saviour in all things."--Titus ii., 9, 10. + +"Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to +the good and gentle, but also to the froward."--I. Pet. ii, 18. + +The advocates of slavery maintained that Christ approved the calling +as a slaveholder as well as the faith of the Roman centurion, whose +servant, "sick of a palsy," Christ miraculously healed by saying: +"_I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel_."--Matt. +viii., 10. + +They also cited Dr. Adam Clark, the great Bible commentator; Dr. +Neander's work, entitled _Planting and Training the Church_, and +Dr. Mosheim's _Church History_, as evidence that the Bible not only +sanctioned slavery but authorized its perpetuation through all +time.( 2) In other words, pro-slavery advocates in effect affirmed +that these great writers: + + "Torture the hollowed pages of the Bible, + To sanction crime, and robbery, and blood, + And, in oppression's hateful service, libel + Both man and God." + +While the teachings of neither the Old nor the New Testament, nor +of the _Master_, were to overthrow or to establish political +conditions as established by the temporal powers of the then age, +yet it must be admitted that large numbers of people, of much +learning and a high civilization, believed human slavery was +sanctioned by divine authority. + +The deductions made from the texts quoted were unwarranted. The +principles of justice and mercy, on which the Christian religion +is founded, cannot be tortured into even a toleration (as, possibly, +could the law of Moses) of the existence of the unnatural and +barbaric institution of slavery, or the slave trade. + +Slavery was wrong _per se;_ wholly unjustifiable on the plainest +principles of humanity and justice; and the consciences of all +unprejudiced, enlightened, civilized people led them in time to +believe that it had no warrant from God and ought to have no warrant +from man to exist on the face of the earth. + +The friends of freedom and those who believed slavery sinful never +for a moment assented to the claim that it was sanctioned by Holy +Writ, or that it was justified by early and long-continued existence +through barbaric or semi-barbaric times. They denied that it could +thus even be sanctified into a moral right; that time ever converted +cruelty into a blessing, or a wrong into a right; that any human +law could give it legal existence, or rightfully perpetuate it +against natural justice; they maintained that a Higher Law, written +in God's immutable decrees of mercy, was paramount to all human +law or practice, however long continuing; that the lessons taught +by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and in all his life and +teachings were a condemnation of it; and that an enlightened, +progressive civilization demanded its final overthrow. + +In America: Slavery is _dead_. We return to its history. + +Greece had her slaves before tradition blended into history, though, +four centuries before Christ, Alcidamas proclaimed: "_God has sent +forth all men free: Nature has made no man slave_." + +Alexander, the mighty Macedonian (fourth century B.C.), sold captives +taken at Tyre and Gaza, the most accomplished people of that time, +into slavery.( 3) + +Rome had her slaves; and her slave-marts were open at her principal +ports for traffic in men and women of all nationalities, especially +Christians and captives taken in war. + +The German nations of the shores of the Baltic carried on the +desolating traffic. Russia recognized slavery and carried on a +slave trade through her merchantmen. + +The Turks forbade the enslaving of Mussulmans, but sold Christian +and other captives into slavery. Christian and Moor, for seven +hundred years in the doubtful struggle in Western Europe, respectively, +doomed their captives to slavery. + +Contemporary with the discovery of America, the Moors were driven +from Granada, their last stronghold in Spain, to the north of +Africa; there they became corsairs, privateers, and holders of +Christian slaves. Their freebooter life and cruelty furnished the +pretext, not only to enslave the people of the Moorish dominion, +but of all Africa. The oldest accounts of Africa bear testimony +to the existence of domestic slavery--of negro enslaving negro, +and of caravans of dealers in negro slaves. + +Columbus, whose glory as the discoverer of this continent we +proclaim, on a return voyage (1494) carried five hundred native +Americans to Spain, a present to Queen Isabella, and American +Indians were sold into foreign bondage, as "spoils of war," for +two centuries. + +The Saxon carried slavery in its most odious form into England, +where, at one time, not half the inhabitants were absolutely free, +and where the price of a man was but four times the price of an ox. + +He sold his own kindred into slavery. English slaves were held in +Ireland till the reign of Henry II. + +In time, however, the spirit of Christianity, pleading the cause +of humanity, stayed slavery's progress, and checked the slave +traffic by appeals to conscience. + +Alexander III, Pope of Rome in the twelfth century, proclaimed +against it, by writing: "_Nature having made no slaves, all men +have an equal right to liberty_." + +Efficacious as the Christian religion has been to destroy or mitigate +evil, it has failed to render the so-called Christian slaveholder +better than the pagan, or to improve the condition of the bondsmen. + +It may be observed that when slavery seemed to be firmly planted +in the Republic of the United States of America, Egypt, as one of +the powers of the earth, had passed away; her slavery, too, was +gone--only her Pyramids, Sphinx, and Monoliths have been spared by +time and a just judgment. Greece, too, had perished, only her +philosophy and letters survive; Israel's people, though the chosen +of God, had, as a nation, been bodily carried into oriental +Babylonian captivity, and in due time had, in fulfillment of divine +judgment, been dispersed through all lands. God in his mighty +wrath also thundered on Babylon's iniquity, and it, too, passed +away forever, and the prophet gives as a reason for this, that +Babylon dealt in "_slaves and the souls of men_." + +Rome, once the mistress of the world, cased as a nation to live; +her greatness and her glory, her slave markets and her slaves, all +gone together and forever. + +Germany, France, Spain, and other slave nations renounced slavery +barely in time to escape the general national doom. + +Russia, though her mighty Czars possessed absolute power to rule, +trembled before the mighty insurrections of peasant-serfs that +swept over the bodies of slain nobles and slave-masters from remote +regions to the very gates of Moscow. Catherine II., Alexander I., +Nicholas I., and Alexander II. listened to the threatened doom, +and, to save their empire, put forth decrees to loosen and finally +to break the chains of twenty millions of slaves and serfs. Even +Moorish slavery in Northern Africa in large part passed away. +Mohammedan,( 4) Brahmin, and Buddhist had no sanction for human +slavery. + +England heard the warning cry just in time to save the kingdom from +the impending common destiny of slave nations. + +It was not, however, until 1772, that Lord Mansfield, from the +Court of the King's Bench of Great Britain, announced that no slave +could be held under the English Constitution. This decision was +of binding force in her American colonies when the Declaration of +Independence was adopted, and the "Liberty Bell" proclaimed "_Liberty +throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof_." + +The argument that the institution of slavery was sanctified by age +ceased, long since, to be satisfying to those who learned justice +and mercy in the light of Christian love, and who could read, not +only that human slavery had existed from the earliest times, but +that it had existed without right, only by the power of might, not +sanctioned by reason and natural justice, and that in its train a +myriad of coincident evils, crimes, and immoralities had taken +birth and flourished, blasting both master and slave and the land +they inhabited, and that God's just and retributive judgment has +universally been visited on all nations and peoples continuing to +maintain and perpetuate it. + +Murder has existed in the world since Cain and Abel met by the +altar of God, yet no sane person for that reason justifies it. So +slavery has stalked down the long line of centuries, cursing and +destroying millions with its damning power, but time has not +sanctioned it into a right. The longer it existed the more foul +became the blot upon history's pages, and the deeper the damnation +upon humanity it wrought. + +When all the civilized nations of Europe, as well as the nations +and even tribes of Asia, had either abolished slavery and taken +steps effectually to do so, it remained for the _United States_ to +stand alone upholding it in its direst form. + +The nations of the ancient world either shook off slavery in attempts +to wash away its bloody stain, or slavery wiped them from the powers +of the earth. So of the more modern nations. + +Our Republic, boastful of its free institutions, of its constitutional +liberty, of its free schools and churches, of its glories in the +cause of humanity, its patriotism, resplendent history, inventive +genius, wealth, industry, civilization, and Christianity, maintained +slavery until it was only saved from its common doom of slave +nations by the atoning sacrifice of its best blood and the mercy +of an offended God. + +More than two centuries (1562) before Lord Mansfield judicially +announced _freedom_ to be the universal law of England, Sir John +Hawkins acquired the infamous distinction of being the first +Englishman to embark in the slave trade, and the depravity of public +sentiment in England then approved his action. He then seized, on +the African coast, and transported a large cargo of negroes to +Hispaniola and bartered them for sugar, ginger, and pearls, at +great profit.( 5) Here commenced a traffic in human beings by +English-speaking people (scarcely yet ceased) that involved murder, +arson, theft, and all the cruelty and crimes incident to the capture, +transportation, and subjection of human beings to the lust, avarice, +and power of man. + +Sir John Hawkins' success coming to the notice of the avaricious +and ambitious Queen Elizabeth, she, five years later (1567), became +the open protector of a new expedition and sharer in the nefarious +traffic, thus becoming a promoter, abettor, and participant in all +its crimes. + +To the "African Company," for a long period, was granted by England +a monopoly of the slave trade, but it could not be confined to this +company. In 1698, England exacted a tariff on the slave cargoes +of her subjects engaged in the trade. + +From 1680 to 1700, by convention with Spain, the English, it is +estimated, stole from Africa 300,000 negroes to supply the Spanish +West Indies with slaves. By the treaty of Utrecht (1713) Spain +granted to England, during thirty years, the absolute monopoly of +supplying slaves to the Spanish colonies. By this treaty England +agreed to take to the West Indies not less than 144,000 negroes, +or 4800 each year; and, to guard against scandal to the Roman +Catholic religion, heretical slave-traders were forbidden. This +monopoly was granted by England to the "South Sea Company." + +England did not confine her trade to the West Indies. In 1750, it +was shown in the English Parliament that 46,000 negroes were annually +sold to English colonies.( 6) + +As early as 1565, Sir John Hawthorne and Menendez imported negroes +as slaves into Florida, then a Spanish possession, and with Spain's +sanction many were carried into the West Indies and sold into +slavery. + +( 1) Epistle to Philemon. + +( 2) The references to the Bible are taken from the most learned +advocates of the divinity of slavery, in its last years. _Ought +American Slavery to be Perpetuated?_ (Brownlow and Pryne debate), +p. 78, etc. _Slavery Ordained of God_ (Ross), 146, etc., 176, etc. + +Rev. Frederick A. Ross, D. D. (the author), a celebrated Presbyterian +minister, was arrested in 1862 at Huntsville, Alabama, while it +was occupied by the Union forces, for praying from the pulpit for +the success of secession. + +Parson Brownlow was a Union man in 1861, was much persecuted at +his home in Knoxville, Tenn., later advocated emancipation. + +( 3) It is interesting to note that more than fifteen hundred +years (twelfth century) after Alexander's conquests, Saladin, the +great Sultan, and other Mohammedan rulers, and Richard Coeur de +Lion, and other crusade leaders in Syria, respectively, doomed +their captives to slavery, regardless of nationality or color.-- +_Saladin_ (Heroes of Nations, Putnams), 229-232, 338. + +( 4) Slavery and the slave trade, in spite of the teachings of +the Koran, grew up in Mohammedan countries. The traffic in slaves, +however, had been frequently proclaimed against by the Ottoman +Porte. + +( 5) But the first trace of negro slavery in America came in 1502, +only ten years after its discovery, through a decree of Ferdinand +and Isabella permitting negro slaves born in Spain, descendants of +natives brought from Guinea, to be transported to Hispaniola.-- +_Life of Columbus_, by Irving (Putnams), p. 275. + +( 6) _History for Ready Reference_, vol. iv., p. 2923. + + +II +INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY INTO THE COLONIES + +In August, 1619, a Dutch man-of-war sailed up the James River in +Virginia, landed and sold to the colony at Jamestown _twenty_ +negroes as slaves. This event marked the beginning of negro slavery +in English-American colonies. Two centuries and a half did not +suffice to put an end the Ethiopian slavery and the evils of a +traffic begun on so small a scale. + +One year later (1620) the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock, bringing +with them stern religious convictions and severe morals which soon +ripened into written laws and were likewise woven into social, +political, and religious life, the resultant effect of which, on +human existence in America, is never to end. One year later still, +cotton was first planted in the virgin soil of America, where it +grew to perfection, and thenceforth becoming the staple production, +made slavery and slave-breeding profitable to the slaveholder.( 7) + +The earliest importation of negro slaves into New England was to +Providence Isle in the shp _Desire_ (1637). + +From Boston, Mass. (1645), the first American ship from the colonies +set sail to engage in the stealing of African negroes. Massachusetts +then held, under sanction of law, a few blacks and Indians in +bondage.( 8) But slavery did not flourish in New England. It was +neither profitable nor in consonance with the judgment of the people +generally. The General Court of Massachusetts, as early as 1646, +"bearing witness against the heinous crimes of man-stealing, ordered +the recently imported negroes to be restored, at the public charge, +to their native country, with a _letter_ expressing the indignation +of the General Court." Unfortunately, persons guilty of stealing +men could not be tried for crimes committed in foreign lands. + +But the African slave trade, early found to be extremely profitable, +and hence popular, did not cease. England, then as now, the most +enterprising of commercial nations on the high seas, engrossed the +trade, in large part, from 1680 to 1780. In 1711, there was +established a slave depot in New York City on or near what is now +Wall Street; and about the same time a depot was established for +receiving slaves in Boston, near where the old Franklin House stood. +From New England ships, and perhaps from others, negroes were landed +and sent to these and other central slave markets. + +But few of these freshly stolen negroes were sold to Northern +slaveholders. Slave labor was not even then found profitable in +the climate of the North. The bondsman went to a more southern +clime, and to the cotton, rice, and tobacco fields of the large +plantations of the South. + +As late as 1804-7, negroes from the coast of Africa were brought +to Boston, Bristol, Providence, and Hartford to be sold into +slavery. + +Shipowners of all the coast colonies, and later of all the coast +States of the United States, engaged in the slave trade. + +But it was among the planters of Maryland, Virginia, and the +Carolinas that slaves proved to be most profitable. The people in +these sections were principally rural; plantations were large, not +subject to be broken up by frequent partition, if at all. The +crops raised were better suited to cultivation by slaves in large +numbers; and the hot climate was better adapted to the physical +nature of the African negro. + +The first inhabitants of the South preferred a rural life, and on +large plantations. The Crown grants to early proprietors favored +this, especially in the Virginia and Carolina colonies. The Puritans +did not love or foster slavery as did the Cavalier of the South. +Castes or classes existed among the Southern settlers from the +beginning, which, with other favoring causes, made it easier for +slavery to take root and prosper, and ultimately fasten itself upon +and become a dominating factor in the whole social and political +fabric of the South. Slavery there soon came to be considered of +paramount importance in securing a high social status or a high, +so-called, civilization. + +But we have, by this brief _résumé_, sufficiently shown that the +responsibility for the introduction and maintenance of slavery and +the slave trade does not rest exclusively on any of our early +colonies, North or South, nor on any one race or nationality of +the world; it remains now to show, in a summary way, how slavery +and the slave trade were treated and regarded by the different +sections of the United States after allegiance to England was thrown +off. + +While slavery died out from local and natural causes, if not wholly +for moral, social, and religious reasons, in the States north of +Maryland, it flourished and ripened into strength and importance +in States south, casting a controlling influence and power over +the whole of the United States socially, and for the most part +dominating the country politically. The greatest statesmen and +brightest intellects of the North, though convinced of the evils +of slavery and of its fatal tendencies, were generally too cowardly +to attack it politically, although but about one fifth of the whole +white population of the slave states in 1860, or perhaps at any +time, was, through family relationship, or otherwise, directly or +indirectly interested in slaves or slave labor. + +Old political parties were in time disrupted, and new ones were +formed on slavery issues. + +The slavery question rent in twain the Methodist Episcopal and +Presbyterian churches. The followers of Wesley and Calvin divided +on slavery. It was always essentially an aristocratic institution, +and hence calculated to benefit only a few of the great mass of +freemen. + +In 1860, there was in the fifteen slave States a white population +of 8,039,000 and a slave population of 3,953,696. Of the white +population only 384,884 were slaveholders, and, including their +families, only about 1,600,000 were directly or indirectly interested +in slaves or their labor. About 6,400,000 (80 per cent.) of the +whites in these States had, therefore, no interest in the institution, +and yet they were wholly subordinated to the few who were interested +in it. + +Curiously enough, slavery continued to exist, until a comparatively +recent period, in many of the States that had early declared it +abolished. The States formed out of the territory "Northwest of +the River Ohio" cannot be said to have ever been slave States. +The sixth section of the Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery +forever therein. The slaves reported in such States were only +there by tolerance. They were free of right. The Constitution of +Illinois, as we shall presently see, did not at first abolish +slavery; only prohibited the introduction of slaves. + +The rebellion of the thirteen colonies in 1776 and the war for +independence did not grow out of slavery; that war was waged neither +to perpetuate nor to abolish it. The Puritan and Cavalier, the +opponents and the advocates of slavery and the slave trade, alike, +fought for independence, and, when successful, united in the purpose +to foster and build up an American Republic, based on the sovereignty +of individual citizenship, but ignoring the natural rights of the +enslaved negro. + +The following table, compiled from the United States Census Reports, +may be of interest. + +It shows the number of slaves reported in each State and Territory +of the United States at each Federal census.( 9) + +_North_ + 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 +Cal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Conn. . . . 2,759 951 310 97 25 17 . . . . . . +Ills. . . . . . . . . . 168 917 747 331 . . . . . . +Ind. . . . . . . 135 237 190 3 3 . . . . . . +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 . . . . . . +Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 +Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . +Mass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . +Mich. . . . . . . . . . 24 . . . 32 . . . . . . . . . +Minn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Neb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 +N. H. . . . 158 8 . . . . . . 3 1 . . . . . . +N. J. . . . 11,423 12,422 10,851 7,557 2,254 674 236 18 +N. Y. . . . 21,324 20,343 15,017 10,088 75 4 . . . . . . +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3 . . . . . . +Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Penn. . . . 3,737 1,706 796 211 403 64 . . . . . . +R. I. . . . 952 381 108 48 17 5 . . . . . . +Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 29 +Vermont . . 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Wis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 . . . . . . + ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ + Totals . 40,370 35,646 27,510 19,108 3,568 1,129 262 64 + +/South/ + 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 +D. C. . . . . . . . . . 3,244 5,395 6,377 6,119 4,694 3,687 3,185 +Ala. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,879 117,549 253,532 342,844 435,080 +Ark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,617 5,476 19,935 47,100 111,115 +Del. . . . . . . 8,887 6,153 4,177 4,509 3,292 2,605 2,290 1,798 +Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,501 25,717 39,310 61,745 +Ga. . . . . . . 29,264 59,404 105,218 149,654 217,531 280,944 381,682 462,198 +Ky. . . . . . . 11,830 40,434 80,561 126,732 165,213 182,258 210,981 225,483 +La. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34,660 69,064 109,588 168,452 244,809 331,726 +Md. . . . . . . 103,036 105,635 111,502 107,397 102,994 89,737 90,368 87,189 +Miss. . . . . . . . . . 3,489 17,088 32,814 65,659 195,211 309,878 436,631 +Mo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,011 10,222 25,091 58,240 87,422 114,931 +N. C. . . . . . 100,572 133,296 168,824 205,017 245,601 245,817 288,548 331,059 +S. C. . . . . . 107,094 146,151 196,365 258,475 315,401 327,088 384,984 402,406 +Tenn. . . . . . 3,417 13,584 44,535 80,107 141,603 183,059 239,459 275,719 +Tex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58,161 182,566 +Va. . . . . . . 293,427 345,796 392,518 425,153 469,757 449,087 472,528 490,865 + ------- ------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- + Totals . . . . 657,527 857,095 1,163,854 1,519,017 2,005,475 2,486,326 3,204,051 3,953,696 + ------- ------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- + Grand totals . 697,897 892,741 1,191,364 1,538,125 2,009,043 2,487,455 3,204,313 3,953,760 + +( 7) It is curious to note that 1621 dates the first bringing into +Virginia and America bee-hives for the production of honey. + +( 8) The following letter of Cotton Mather will show the Puritan's +intolerance of Wm. Penn and his Society of Friends, and the prevailing +opinion in his time on slavery and the slave trade. + + "Boston, Massachusetts, September, 3, 1681. +"To ye Aged and Beloved John Higginson: There be now at sea a +skipper (for our friend Esaias Holderoft of London did advise me +by the last packet that it would sail sometime in August) called +ye _Welcome_ (R. Green was master), which has aboard a hundred or +more of ye heretics and malignants called Quakers, with W. Penn, +who is ye scamp at ye head of them. + +"Ye General court has accordingly given secret orders to master +Malachi Huxtell of ye brig _Porpoise_ to waylaye ye said _Welcome_ +as near ye coast of Codd as may be, and make captives of ye Penn +and his ungodly crew, so that ye Lord may be glorified, and not +mocked on ye soil of this new country with ye heathen worshippe of +these people. Much spoil can be made by selling ye whole lot to +Barbadoes, where slaves fetch good prices in rumme and sugar. We +shall not only do ye Lord great service by punishing the Wicked, +but shall make gayne for his ministers and people. Yours in the +bowels of Christ, + + "Cotton Mather." + +( 9) Slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia by law of +Congress, passed April 16, 1862. + +President Lincoln's proclamation of January 1, 1863, emancipated +all slaves in the seceded States (save in Tennessee and in parts +of Louisiana and Virginia excepted therefrom) to the number of +3,063,395; those remaining were freed by the thirteenth amendment +to the Constitution, December 18, 1865. + + +III +DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + +The Declaration of Independence, though accepted at once and to be +regarded through all time by the liberty-loving world as the best +and boldest declaration in favor of human rights, and the most +pronounced protest against oppression of the human race, is totally +silent as to the rights of the slaves in the colonies. It is true +that Jefferson in his draft of this instrument, in the articles of +indictment against King George III., used this language: + +"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its +most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of distant +people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into +slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in the +transportation thither, . . . determined to keep open a market +where white men should be bought and sold; he has prostituted his +negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or +restrain this execrable commerce." + +To conciliate Georgia and South Carolina, this part of the indictment +was struck out. These colonies had never sought to restrain, but +had always fostered the slave trade. Jefferson, in his _Autobiography_ +(vol. i, p. 19), suggests that other sections sympathized with +Georgia and South Carolina in this matter. + +"Our Northern brethren . . . felt a little tender under these +censures: for though their people had very few slaves themselves, +yet they had been considerable carriers of them to others." + +Jefferson said King George preferred the advantage: + +"of a few British corsairs to the lasting interests of the American +States and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this +infamous practice."(10) + +While it is not true, as has often been claimed, that England is +solely responsible for the introduction of slavery into her American +colonies, it is true that her King and Parliament opposed almost +every attempt to prohibit it or to restrict the importation of +slaves. Colonial legislative enactments of Virginia and other +colonies directed against slavery were vetoed by the King or by +his command by his royal governors. Such governors were early +forbidden to give their assent to any measure restricting slavery +in the American colonies, and this policy was pursued until the +colonies became independent.(11) + +The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, +signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, contained a stipulation that +Great Britain should withdraw her armies from the United States +"with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, +or _carrying_ away any _negroes or other property_ of the American +inhabitants." Both governments thus openly recognized, not only +the existence of slavery in the United States, but that slaves were +merely _property_. + +While slavery was deeply seated in the colonies and had many +advocates, including noted divines, who preached the "divinity of +slavery," there were, in 1776, and earlier, many great men, South +as well as North, who looked confidently to an early emancipation +of slaves, and who were then active in suppressing the African +slave trade, among whom were Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, and +the two Adamses. + +Washington presided at a "Fairfax County Convention," before the +Revolution. It resolved that "no slaves ought to be imported into +any of the British colonies"; and Washington himself expressed "the +most earnest wish to see an entire stop forever put to such a +wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade."(12) + +John Wesley, when fully acquainted with American slavery and the +slave trade, pronounced the latter as "_the execrable sum of all +villanies_," and he inveighed against the former as the wickedest +of human practices. + +The Continental Congress of 1776 resolved, "that no slaves be +imported into any of the thirteen United Colonies." + +There had then been imported by the cruel traffic above 300,000 +blacks, bought or stolen from the African shore; and the blacks +then constituted twenty per cent. of the total population, a greater +per centum than at any time since. + +During the century previous to 1776, English and colonial slavers +had carried into the West Indies and to English colonies nearly +3,000,000 negroes; and it is estimated that a quarter of a million +more died of cruel treatment on shipboard, and their bodies were +cast into the sea. + +The words of the Declaration: "We hold these truths to be self- +evident: That _all men are created equal;_ that they are endowed +by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these +are _life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,_" were not accepted +in fact as a charter of freedom for the enslaved African, but it +remained for a Chief-Justice of the United States (Taney) more than +eighty years later (March 5, 1857), in the Dred Scott decision, +that did so much (as we will hereafter show) to disrupt the Union, +to say: + +"The language used in the Declaration of Independence shows that +neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor +their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then +acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included +in the general words used." + +And the Chief-Justice said further: + +"They [the negroes] had for more than a century before been regarded +as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate +with the white race, either in social or political relations; and +so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was +bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be +reduced to slavery for his benefit." + +Quoting the Declaration, "_that all men are created equal_," he +continued: + +"The general words above quoted would seem to embrace the whole +human family, and if they were used in a similar instrument at this +day would be so understood. But it is too clear for dispute that +the enslaved African race were not intended to be included, and +formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this +Declaration." + +Notwithstanding this interpretation of the Declaration, free negroes +fought for American independence at Bunker Hill; and although later +it was decided that colored men should not be accepted as enlisted +soldiers, General Washington did accept them, and thereafter they +served in his army to the end of the war,(13) notably in large +numbers at Yorktown. + +The Royal Governor of Virginia in vain tried to induce slaves to +revolt against their masters by promising them their freedom. + +During Lord Howe's march through Pennsylvania it is said the slaves +prayed for his success, believing he would set them free. + +The British Parliament discussed a measure to set the slaves in +the colonies free with a view to weaken their masters' ardor for +freedom. In Rhode Island slaves were, by law, set free on condition +that they enlisted in the army for the war. + +(10) Parton's _Life of Jefferson_, p. 138. + +(11) _History Ready Reference_, etc., vol. iv., p. 2923. + +(12) Sparks's _Life of Washington_, vol. ii., p. 494. + +(13) Bancroft, _History of the United States_, vol. iv., 223,322. + + +IV +CONTINENTAL CONGRESS--ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION 1774-1789 + +The Continental Congress, which assembled for the first time, +September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, assumed few +powers, and its proceedings were, until the adoption by it of the +Declaration of Independence, little more than protests against +British oppression. Nor was any central government formed on the +adoption of the Declaration. That Congress continued, by common +agreement, to direct affairs, though, in the beginning, possessing +no delegated political or governmental powers. + +Slavery existed in the colonies or States prior to the Declaration +by the connivance of British colonial authorities without the +sanction of and against English law; and after the Declaration, by +mere toleration as an existing domestic institution, not even by +virtue of express colonial or State authority. + +In 1772 Lord Mansfield, from the Court of the King's Bench, announced +that slavery could not exist under the English Constitution. + +The Articles of Confederation did nothing more than formulate, in +a weak way, a government for the United States, solely through a +Congress to which was delegated little political power. This +Congress continued to govern (if government it could be called) +until the Constitution went into effect, March 4, 1789. + +The "_Articles of Confederation_," adopted (July 9, 1778) by the +Continental Congress of the thirteen original States in the midst +of the Revolution, were substantially silent on slavery. They +constituted in all respects a weak and impotent instrument. But +they recognized the existence of slavery by speaking of _free_ +citizens (Art. 4). + +They provided for a "Confederation and perpetual Union" between +the thirteen States, but provided no power to raise revenue, levy +taxes, or enforce law, save with the consent of nine of the States. +The government created had power to contract debts, but no power +to pay them; it could levy war, raise armies and navies, but it +could not raise revenue to sustain them; it could make treaties, +but could not compel their observance by the States; it could make +laws, but could not enforce them. + +Washington said of it: + +"The Confederation appears to be little more than a shadow without +the substance, and Congress a nugatory body." + +Chief-Justice Story said: + +"There was an utter want of all coercive authority to carry into +effect its own constitutional measures." + +The Articles were, professedly, not in the interest of the whole +people. + +They provided only for a "_league_" of states, guaranteeing to each +state-rights in all things. + +Art. IV. runs thus: + +"The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse +among the people of the different States of this Union, the _free_ +inhabitants of each of these States, _paupers, vagabonds, and +fugitives from justice excepted_, shall be entitled to all the +privileges and immunities of _free_ citizens in the several States," +etc. + +What a classification of persons for exception from the privileges +of government! + +_Free_ negroes were not of the excepted class. Nor were criminals, +unless they became fugitives from justice. + +For ten years the new Republic existed under these Articles by the +tolerance of a people bound together by the spirit of liberty and +the cohesion of patriotism. + +The Articles created no status for slavery, nor did they interfere +with it in the States. They made no provision for a fugitive-slave +law, if, indeed, such a law was dreamed of until after the Constitution +went into effect. + +The Articles of Confederation provided no executive head, no supreme +judiciary, and they provided for no perfect legislative body, +organized on the principle of checks and restraints, possessed of +true republican representation. Congress--the sole governing power +--was composed of one body, each State sending not less than two +or more than seven representatives. The voting in this body was +done by States, each State having one vote. + +It therefore soon became necessary to frame and adopt a new organic +act, supplementing the many deficiencies of these Articles. + + +V +ORDINANCE OF 1787 + +The memorable Congress of 1776 was willing to do much to the end +that slavery might be restricted, hence, as we have seen, it resolved +"_that no slaves be imported into any of the thirteen United +Colonies_." + +Had it been possible thus early to stop effectually the slave trade, +and to prevent the extension of slavery to new territory, slavery +would have died out. Jefferson sought, shortly after the treaty +of peace, to prohibit slavery extension, and to this end he prepared +and reported an Ordinance (1784) prohibiting slavery _after the +year 1800_ in all the territory then belonging to the United States +above the parallel of 31° North latitude, which included what became +the principal parts of the slave States of Alabama and Mississippi, +all of Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as the whole Northwest +Territory. In 1784 the United States owned no territory south of +31° North latitude. + +This Ordinance of freedom was lost by a single vote. Had that one +vote been reversed, what a "hell of agony" would have been closed, +and what a sea of blood would have been saved! Slavery would have +died in the hands of its friends and the new Republic would have +soon been free in _fact_ as well as name. + +Jefferson, though himself a slaveholder, was desperately in earnest +in advocacy of this Ordinance, and, speaking of its prohibitory +slave-clause two years later, he wrote: + +"The voice of a single individual would have prevented that abominable +crime. Heaven will not always be silent; the friends to the rights +of human nature will in the end prevail."(14) + +The most important victory for freedom in the civil history of the +United States (until the Rebellion of 1861) was the Ordinance of +1787, reported by Nathan Dane,(15) of Massachusetts, as a substitute +for the defeated one just referred to, but differing from it in +two important respects: + +(1) It applied only to the territory northwest of the River Ohio +recently (March 1, 1784) ceded to the United States by Virginia; + +(2) It prohibited slavery at once and forever therein. Its sixth +section is in these words: + +"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the +said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof +the party shall have been duly convicted." + +But it has been, with much force, claimed by those who denied the +binding character of this Ordinance, that as it was an act of the +old Congress under the Articles of Confederation, and established +a territorial form of government, not in all respects in conformity +with the Constitution, it was necessarily superseded by it. + +This view was general on the meeting of the First Congress (1789) +under the Constitution, but the Ordinance, so dear to the hearts +of Jefferson and other lovers of liberty, was early attended to. + +On August 7, 1789, the eighth act of the First Congress, embodying +a long explanatory and declaratory preamble, was passed, and approved +by President Washington. This act in effect re-enacted the Ordinance +of 1787, adapting and applying it, however, to the Constitution by +requiring the Governor of the Northwest Territory to report and +become responsible to the President of the United States, instead +of to Congress as originally provided.(16) + +The territory which the ordinance governed was in area 260,000 +square miles, and included what is now the great states of Ohio, +Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, with, in 1890, 13,471,840 +inhabitants. + +The Ordinance is a model of perfection. It was the only great act +of legislation under the Articles of Confederation. There is +evidence that, as some members of the Congress that enacted the +Ordinance were at the same time members of the Convention that +framed the Constitution,(17) there was much intercommunication of +views between the members of the two bodies, especially on the +slavery clause of the Ordinance. It is probable that the clause +of the Constitution respecting the rendition of slaves, as well as +other provisions, was copied from the Ordinance.(18) + +Upon the surpassing excellence of this Ordinance, no language of +panegyric would be extravagant. + +It is a matchless specimen of sagacious forecast. It provides for +the descent of property, for the appointment of territorial officers, +and for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious +liberty by securing religious freedom in the inhabitants. It +prohibits legislative interference with private contracts, secures +the benefit of the writ of _habeas corpus_, trial by jury, and of +the common law in judicial proceedings: it forbids the infliction +of cruel or unusual punishments, and enjoins the encouragement of +schools and the means of education. + +The Ordinance has not only stood, unaltered, as the charter of +government for the Northwest Territory, but its clause respecting +slavery was incorporated into most of the acts passed prior to the +Rebellion providing for territorial governments. + +Historically, it will stand as the great _Magna Charta_, which, by +the prescient wisdom of our fathers, dedicated in advance of the +coming civilization the fertile and beautiful Northwest, with all +its possibilities, for all time, to freedom, education, and liberty +of conscience. + +Frequent efforts to rescind or suspend the clause restricting +slavery were made, especially after Indiana Territory was formed +in 1800. + +At the adoption of the Ordinance some slaves were held in what is +now Indiana and Illinois by immigrants from Southern States. +Slavery also existed at the Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and +other French settlements, where it had been planted under the +authority of the King of France while the territory was a part of +the French possessions. The Government of Great Britain authorized +the continuance of slavery when the territory was under its +jurisdiction. Indians as well as black men were held as slaves in +the French settlements.(19) + +Immigrants and old inhabitants favorable to slavery united in +memorials to Congress asking a suspension of the article prohibiting +slavery. The first of these was reported on adversely by a committee +of Congress, May 12, 1796. Governor William Henry Harrison, +December, 1802, presided, at Vincennes, over a meeting of citizens +of the Indiana Territory, at which it was resolved to make an +effort to secure a suspension of this article. A memorial was +drawn up, which Governor Harrison, with a letter of his own favoring +it, forwarded to Congress. They were referred to a special committee, +of which John Randolph, of Virginia, was chairman. + +He, March 2, 1803, reported: + +"That it is inexpedient to suspend, even for a limited time, the +operation of the sixth article of the compact between the original +States and the people and States west of the river Ohio." + +Adding, by way of reason, that: + +"The rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces, +in the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not +necessary to promote the growth and settlement of the colonies in +that region." + +This did not end the effort to secure slavery in the Indiana +Territory. In March, 1804, a special committee of Congress reported +in favor of the suspension of the inhibition for ten years; a +similar report was made in 1806 by Mr. Garnett, of Virginia; and +in 1807 Mr. Parker, delegate from Indiana, reported favorably on +a memorial of Governor Harrison and the Territorial Legislature, +praying for a suspension of that part of the Ordinance relating to +slavery. These reports were not acted on in the House. Subsequently, +Governor Harrison and his Legislature appealed to the Senate and +a special committee to suspend the article, but when the committee +reported adversely, all efforts to break down the legal barrier to +slavery in the Northwest Territory ceased.(20) + +But notwithstanding the mandatory terms of the Ordinance, and the +repeated failures in Congress to suspend the provision relating to +slavery, it existed in the Northwest throughout its territorial +existence and in the State of Illinois until 1844.(21) The early +slaveholding inhabitants well understood the Ordinance to mean the +absolute emancipation of their slaves, and hence manumitted them +or commenced to remove them to the Spanish territory beyond the +Mississippi. Some few of the inhabitants complained to Governor +St. Clair that the inhibition against slavery retarded the growth +of the Territory. He volunteered the opinion that the Ordinance +was not retroactive; that it did not apply to existing conditions; +that it was "a declaration of a principle which was to govern the +Legislature in all acts respecting that matter (slavery) and the +courts of justice in their decisions in cases arising after the +date of the Ordinance"; and that if Congress had intended the +immediate emancipation of slaves, compensation would have been +provided for to their owners. But he admitted Congress "had the +right to determine that _property_ of that kind afterwards acquired +should not be protected in future, and that slaves imported into +the Territory after that declaration might reclaim their freedom."(22) +This unfortunate opinion operated to continue slavery in the +Territory, and fostered the idea that the sixth article might be +annulled and slavery be made perpetual in the Territory. Governor +St. Clair was President of the Congress when the Ordinance was +passed, and his opinion in relation to it was therefore given much +weight. + +By Act of Congress, passed May 7, 1800, what is now the State of +Ohio became the Territory of Ohio, and that part of the Northwest +Territory lying west and north of Ohio was erected into the Territory +of Indiana; by like Acts, January 11, 1805, the Territory of Michigan +was formed, and February 3, 1809, all that part lying west of +Indiana and Lake Michigan became the Territory of Illinois. Prior, +however, to the last Act, the Legislature of Indiana Territory +(September 17, 1807) passed an act "to encourage emigration," making +it lawful to bring negroes and mulattoes into the Territory, "owing +service or labor as slaves." + +The act provided that these people and their children should be +held for a term of years, and if they refused to serve as slaves +they might be removed, "within sixty days thereafter," to any place +where they could be lawfully held. This statute was substantially +re-enacted by the Legislature of the Territory of Illinois in 1812. + +The first Constitution (1818) of Illinois did not prohibit slavery. +The first section of Article VI, declared that: "Neither slavery +nor involuntary servitude _shall hereafter be introduced_ into this +State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes." Slavery +existed in Illinois after it became a State. The French and Canadian +inhabitants or their descendants continued to hold colored and +Indian slaves, and others were held under the Territorial Acts of +1807 and 1812. The old slaves and their descendants, held at the +time of the cession by Virginia to the United States, were sold +from hand to hand in the State, and transported to and sold in +other slave States.(23) + +The Constitution of Indiana (1816) prohibited slavery, but slaves +were held therein until its Supreme Court in 1820, in a _habeas +corpus_ case, held the Constitution freed all persons hitherto held +in bondage, including the old French slaves, regardless of the +Ordinance of 1787, of the deed of cession of Virginia, or of any +treaty stipulations.(24) + +After the separation (1805) of Michigan from Indiana, the former's +Territorial Chief Justice held slavery existed in Michigan by virtue +of the Jay treaty (1796) with Great Britain (not otherwise) +notwithstanding the Ordinance of 1787,(25) but Michigan's Constitution +(1837) put an end to slavery in the State, as did also the Constitution +(1802) of Ohio, likewise the Constitution (1848) of Wisconsin. +Slaves shown by census reports in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and +Wisconsin after they became States, were there by tolerance, not +by legal right. + +Whatever contrariety of views obtained, and regardless of the +conflicting opinions of the courts or judges as to the effect of +the great Ordinance on the condition of the slaves in the Northwestern +Territory, certain it is that the Ordinance operated to prevent, +after its date, the legal importation of slaves into the Territory, +and hence resulted in each of the States formed therefrom becoming +free States. In the light of history it seems certain that at +least Indiana and Illinois would have become slave States but for +the Ordinance.(26) + +This Ordinance contained a clause requiring the rendition of +fugitives from "service or labor," and being applicable to only a +part of the Territory of the United States, partook of the nature +of a compromise on the slavery question,(27) and was the first of +a series of compromises, some of which are found in the Federal +Constitution, others in the Act of 1820 admitting Missouri as a +State, and also the Compromise Measures of 1850, in which Clay, +Webster, Calhoun, Seward, and others of the great statesmen of the +Union participated, all of which were, however, ruthlessly overthrown +by the Nebraska Act (1854), of which Douglas, of Illinois, was the +author. + +The slavery-restriction section of the Ordinance was copied into +and became a part of the Act of 1848 organizing the Territory of +Oregon, the champions of slavery, then in Congress, voting therefor; +and three years after the enactment of the Compromise Measures of +1850, this provision of the Ordinance was again extended over the +newly organized Territory of Washington by the concurrent votes of +substantially the same persons who voted, a year later, that all +such legislation was unconstitutional. + +But neither origin, age, nor precedent then sanctified anything in +the interest of freedom,--slavery only could appeal to such things +for justification. The propagators of human slavery were on the +track of this Ordinance; they overtook and overthrew it by +Congressional legislation in 1854; then by the Dred Scott decision +of 1857, as we shall soon see. But it reappeared in principle, in +1862, as we shall also see, and spread its wings of universal +liberty (as was its great author's purpose in 1784) over all the +territory belonging to the United States, to remain irrepealable +through time, immortalized by the approval of President Lincoln, +and endorsed by the just judgment of enlightened mankind. + +Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia each held territory not +subject to the Ordinance of 1787. + +North Carolina (December, 1789), in ceding her territory west of +her present limits, provided that: + +"No regulations made or to be made by Congress shall tend to +emancipate slaves." + +Thus Tennessee became a slave State. + +A year later (1790) Virginia consented to relinquish her remaining +territory; as Kentucky it was (June 1, 1792) admitted into the +Union and became a slave State, without ever having a separate +territorial organization. + +Georgia, in 1802, ceded the territory on her west to the United +States, and provided that the Ordinance of 1787 should extend to +the ceded territory, "the article only excepted which forbids +slavery." Thus, later, Alabama and Mississippi each became a slave +State.(28) + +(14) Jefferson's _Works_, vol. ix., 276. + +(15) The authorship of the admirably-drawn Ordinance has been much +in dispute. Thomas H. Benton, Gov. Edward Coles, and others +attribute the authorship to Jefferson; Daniel Webster and others +to Nathan Dane, while a son of Rufus King claimed him to be the +author of the article prohibiting slavery. Wm. Frederick Poole, +in a contribution to the _North American Review_, gives much of +the credit of authorship to Mr. Dane, but the chief credit for the +formation and the entire credit for the passage of the Ordinance +to Dr. Manasseh Cutler, _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i, p. 122. + +(16) On the continuing binding force of the Ordinance on States +formed out of the Northwest Territory there has been some contrariety +of opinion. In Ohio it was early held the Ordinance was more +obligatory than the State Constitution, which might be amended by +the people of the State, whereas the Ordinance could not. (5 +_Ohio_, 410, 416.) But see: 10 Howard (_U. S._), 82, and 3 Howard, +589. + +(17) Madison of Virginia, Rufus King of New York, Johnson of +Connecticut, Blount and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, and +Few of Georgia were members of both bodies.--_Historical Ex._, +etc., Dred Scott Case (Benton), p. 37 _n_. + +The Ordinance was adopted July 13, 1787; the Constitution was +adopted by the Convention September 17, 1787. + +(18) _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i, p. 134. + +(19) Dunn's _Indiana_, p. 126. + +(20) _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i, pp 120-1, note. _Historical +Ex_., etc., Dred Scott Case, pp. 32-47, etc. _Political Text Book_, +1860 (McPherson), pp. 53-4. + +(21) Not until 1844 did the highest court of Illinois decide (four +to three) that a colored man, held as a slave by a descendant of +an old French family, was free. Jarrot case (2 Gillman), 7 _Ill._, 1. + +(22) _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i., pp. 120, 206, and vol. ii, pp. +117-119, 318, 331. + +(23) Much valuable information in relation to the legal history +of slavery in the Northwest has been obtained from the manuscript +of "An Unwritten Chapter of Illinois," by ex-U. S. Judge Blodgett, +of Chicago. + +(24) State _vs_. Lasselle, 1 _Blatchford_, 60. + +(25) Cooley's _Michigan_, pp. 136-7. + +(26) For an exhaustive legal history of the slavery restriction +clause of the Ordinance and its effect on slavery in the Northwest +Territory, see Dunn's _Indiana_, pp. 219-260. + +(27) _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i., p. 122, note. + +(28) _Political Text-Book_, 1860 (McPherson), p. 53. + + +VI +CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES + +The Convention to frame the Constitution met in Philadelphia (1787). +George Washington was its President; it was composed of the leading +statesmen of the new nation, sitting in a delegate capacity, but +in voting on measures the rule of the then Congress was observed, +which was to vote by States. + +The majority of the thirteen States were then slave States, and +all, save Massachusetts, still held slaves; and all the coast States +indulged in the African slave trade. + +Massachusetts provided for the abolition of slavery in 1780 by +constitutional provision declaring that: + +"All men are born _free and equal_, and have certain natural, +essential, and unalienable rights," etc., by which declaration its +highest judicial tribunal struck the shackles at once from every +slave in the Commonwealth. + +Connecticut provided in 1784 for freeing her slaves. + +New Hampshire did not prohibit slavery by express law, but all +persons born after her Constitution of 1776 were free; and slave +importation was thereafter prohibited. + +Pennsylvania, in 1780, by law provided for the gradual emancipation +of slaves within her territory. To her German population and the +Society of Friends the credit is mainly due for this act of justice. +This Society had theretofore (1774) disowned, in its "yearly +Meeting," all its members who trafficked in slaves; and later (1776) +it resolved: + +"That the owners of slaves, who refused to execute proper instruments +for giving them their freedom, were to be disowned likewise." + +New York adopted gradual emancipation in 1799, but final emancipation +did not come until 1827. + +Rhode Island, in the first year of the First Continental Congress +(1774), enacted: + +"That for the future no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought +into the colony . . . and that all previously enslaved persons on +becoming residents of Rhode Island should obtain their freedom." + +New Jersey in 1778, through Governor Livingstone, made an attempt +at emancipation which failed; it was not until 1804 that she +prohibited slavery in what proved a qualified way, and it seems +she held slaves at each census, including that of 1860, and possibly +in some form human slavery was abolished there by the Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution. + +The census of 1790 showed slaves in all the original States save +Massachusetts alone; Vermont was admitted into the Union in 1790; +her Constitution prohibited slavery, but she returned at that census +seventeen slaves. + +The first census under the Constitution, however, showed, in the +Northern States, 40,370 slaves, and in the Southern States, 657,572; +there being in Virginia alone 293,427, nearly one half of all. + +The Convention closed its work September 17, 1787, and on the same +date George Washington, its President, by letter submitted the +"Constitution to the consideration of the United States in Congress +assembled," saying: + +"It is obviously impracticable in the Federal Government of these +States to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each and +yet provide for the interest and safety of all. . . . In all our +deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in our view that +which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, +_the consolidation of our Union_, in which is involved our prosperity, +felicity, safety; perhaps our national existence." + +This Constitution by its preamble showed it was, in many things, +to supersede and become paramount to State authority. It was to +become a _charter of freedom_ for the people collectively, and in +some sense individually. Its preamble runs thus: + +"We, the _people_ of the United States, in order to form a _more_ +perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, +provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and +secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do +ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of +America." + +Nine States were, by its seventh article, necessary to ratify it +before it went into effect. + +The ratification of the Constitution, on various grounds, was +fiercely opposed by many patriotic men, Patrick Henry among the +number. Some thought it did not contain sufficient guarantees for +individual freedom, others that private rights of property were +not adequately secured, and still others that States were curtailed +or abridged of their governmental authority and too much power was +taken from the people and centered in the Federal Government. +Mason, of Virginia, a member of the Convention that framed it, led +a party who opposed it on the ground, among others, that it authorized +Congress to levy duties on imports and to thus encourage home +industries and manufactories, promotive of free labor, inimical +and dangerous to human slavery. The best efforts and influence of +Washington and other friends of the Constitution would not have +been sufficient to secure its ratification had they not placated +many of its enemies by promising to adopt, promptly on its going +into effect, the amendments numbered one to ten inclusive. (The +First Congress, September 25, 1789, submitted those ten amendments +according to the agreement, and they were shortly thereafter ratified +and became a part of the Constitution.) + +By a resolution of the Old Congress, of September 13, 1788, March +4, 1789, was fixed as the time for commencing proceedings under +the Constitution. At the date of this resolution eleven of the +thirteen States had ratified it. North Carolina ratified it November +21, 1789, and Rhode Island, the last, on May 29, 1790. + +Vermont, not of the original thirteen States, ratified the Constitution +January 10, 1791, over a month prior to her admission into the +Union. This latter event occurred February 18, 1791. + +Thus fourteen States became, almost at the same time, members of +the Union under the Constitution, and each and all of which then +held or had theretofore held slaves. + +Notwithstanding all this, there were many of the framers of the +Constitution and its warmest friends who sincerely desired to +provide for the early abolition of slavery, some by gradual +emancipation, others by heroic measures; and there were many from +the South who favored emancipation, while by no means all the +leading and influential citizens of the Northern States desired it. + +It may, however, be assumed, in the light of authentic history, +that the majority of the framers of the Constitution, and a majority +of its friends in the States, hoped and believed that slavery would +not be permanent under it. In this belief it was framed. Slavery +was not affirmatively recognized in it, though there was much +discussion as to it in the Constitutional Convention. There was +no attempt to abolish it; such an attempt would have failed in the +Convention, and the Constitution, so necessary to the new nation, +had it even provided for gradual emancipation, would not have been +ratified by the States. + +It can hardly be said that the Constitution was framed on the line +of compromise as to the preservation of human slavery, though it +was necessary, in some occult ways, to recognize its existence. +This was in the nature, however, of a concession to it; the word +_slave_ or _slavery_ was not used in it. + +The Supreme Court of the United States, however, early interpreted +the third clause of Section IV., Article 2, as providing for the +return from one State to another of fugitive slaves. This +interpretation has been, on high authority, and with much reason, +in the light of history, stoutly denied. The clause reads: + +"No person _held to service or labor_ in one State, under the laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law +or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, +but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service +or labor is due." + +The "service or labor" here referred to, it is claimed, was that +owing by persons who were under indentures of some kind, growing +out of contracts for transportation into the colonies of persons +from the Old World, and possibly growing out of other contract +obligations wherein they had agreed, for a long or short term, to +perform "service or labor." Many such obligations then existed. + +Slaves were not then nor since regarded by their owners as "_persons_" +merely "held to service or labor," but they were held as personal +chattels, owing no duty to their masters distinguishable from that +owing by an ox, a horse, or an ass. + +But the supreme judiciary and the executive and legislative +departments of the government came soon to treat this as a fugitive- +slave clause. It is only now interesting to examine its peculiar +phraseology and the history and surrounding circumstances under +which it became a part of the Constitution, to demonstrate the +great care and desire of the eminent and liberty-loving framers of +the Constitution to avoid the direct recognition of African slavery. + +The only other clause in which the adherents of slavery claimed it +was recognized is paragraph 3, Section 2, Article I., which provided +that: + +"Representation and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the +several States . . . according to their respective numbers, which +shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, +including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding +Indians not taxed, _three fifths of all other persons_." + +The "other persons" referred to here, if only slaves, are very +delicately described. But this clause, too, came to be recognized +by all the departments of the government as referring to slaves. +It is quite sure that if the good and plain men of the Revolutionary +period had been dealing with a subject not shocking to their +consciences, sense of justice, and humanity, they would have dealt +with it in plain words, of direct and not doubtful import. + +The clause of the Constitution giving representation in the House +of Representative of Congress and in the Electoral College in the +choice of President and Vice-President, came soon to be regarded +as unjust to the free States. Three fifths of all slaves were +counted to give representation to free persons of the South; that +is, three fifths of all _slave property_ was counted numerically, +and thus, in many Congressional districts, the vote of one slaveholder +was more than equal to two votes in a free State. For example, in +1850, the number of free inhabitants in the slave States was +6,412,605, and in the free States, 13,434,686, more than double. +The representation in Congress from the slave States was 90 members, +from the free States 144. Three fifths of the slaves were 1,920,182, +giving the South 20 (a fraction more) members, the ratio of +representation then being 93,420. If the 234 representatives had +been apportioned equally, according to free inhabitants, the North +would have had 159 and the South 75, a gain of fifteen to the free +and a loss of that number to the slave States, a gain of 30 to the +North. + +The same injustice was shown in levying direct taxes. (All this, +however, has been changed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the +Constitution.) + +The same discriminating language is used (Sec. 9, Art. I.) when +obviously referring to the African slave trade. A strong sentiment +existed in favor of putting an end at once to the traffic in human +being; the Christian consciences of our forefathers revolted at +its wickedness, and there was then beginning a general movement +throughout the civilized world against it. Some European countries +had denounced it as piracy. + +It was, however, profitable, and much capital was invested in it, +and there was even then an increased demand for slaves in the +cotton, rice, and tobacco States. + +It was feared so radical a measure as the immediate stoppage of +this trade would endanger the Constitution, and as to this, also, +it was deemed wise to compromise; so Congress was prohibited from +legislating to prevent it prior to the year 1808. This trade was +not only then carried on by our own people, but, through ships of +other countries, slaves were imported into the United States. Each +State was left free to prohibit the importation of slaves within +its limits. + +We have now referred to all the clauses of the Constitution as +originally adopted relating, by construction or possibility, to +slavery or slave labor. + +The Republic, under this _great charter_, set out upon the career +of a nation, properly aspiring to become of the first among the +powers of the earth, and succeeding in the higher sense in this +ambition, it yet remains to be told how near our Republic came, in +time, to the brink of that engulfing chasm which in past ages has +swallowed up other nations for their wicked oppression and enslavement +of man. + +Slavery, thus delicately treated in our Constitution, brought that +Republic, in less than three quarters of a century, to the throes +of death, as we shall see. + + +VII +CAUSES OF GROWTH OF SLAVERY + +It may be well here, before speaking of slavery in its legislative +history under the Constitution, to refer briefly to some of the +more important causes of its growth and extension, other than +political. + +First in importance was cotton. It required cheap labor to cultivate +it with profit, and even then, at first, it was not profitable. +The invention by Whitney of the cotton-gin, in 1793, was the most +important single invention up to that time in agriculture, if not +the most important of any time, and especially is this true as +affecting cotton planters. + +Cotton was indigenous to America; the soil and climate of the South +were well adapted to its growth. Its culture from the seed was +there very easy, but the separation of the seed from the fibre was +so slow that it required an average hand one day to secure one +pound. + +Whitney's cotton-gin, however, at once increased the amount from +one to fifty pounds. + +This invention came at a most opportune time for slavery in the +United States, as the cheapness of rice, indigo, and other staples +of the South were such as to prevent their large and profitable +production even with the labor of slaves. Cotton was not, in 1794, +the date of Jay's treaty with Great Britain, known to him as an +article of export. Soon, by the use of the cotton-gin, cotton +became the principal article of export from the United States; +cotton plantations rapidly increased in size and number, and their +owners multiplied their slaves and grew rich. Cotton production +increased from 1793 to 1860 one thousand fold. + +It is highly probably that Eli Whitney's cotton-gin operated to +prevent the much-hoped-for early emancipation of slaves in America, +and that thus the inventive genius of man was instrumental in +forging the fetters of man. + +Other products, such as rice and sugar, were successfully produced +in the South, but the demand for them was limited by competition +in other countries, in some of which slave labor was employed. +The ease of producing cotton stimulated its common use throughout +the world, and it soon became a necessary commodity in all civilized +countries. "Cotton is king" was the cry of the slaveholder and +the exporter. Southern aristocracy rested on it. In the more +northern of the slave States, where cotton, on account of the +climate, could not be successfully grown, the breeding of slaves +with which to supply the cotton planters with the requisite number +of hands became a source of great profit; and the slave trade was +revived to aid in supplying the same great demand. + +Tobacco and some of the cereals were also produced by slave labor, +but they could be produced by free labor North as well as South. +Of the above 3,000,000 slaves in the United States in 1850, it has +been estimated that 1,800,000 were employed in the growth and +preservation of cotton alone, and its value that year was $105,600,000, +while the sugar product was valued, the same year, at only $12,400,000, +and rice at $3,000,000. The total domestic exports for the year +ending 1850 were $137,000,000, of which cotton reached $72,000,000, +and all breadstuffs and provisions only $26,000,000.(29) + +(29) DeBow's _Resource_, etc., vol. iii., p. 388. + + +VIII +FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW--1793 + +Contemporaneous with the cotton-gin came, in 1793, the first fugitive- +slave law. + +The Constitution was not self-executing, if it really contained, +as we have seen, a clause requiring escaped slaves to be surrendered +from one State to their masters in another. + +The Governor of the State of Virginia refused the rendition of +three kidnappers of a free negro, on the requisition of the Governor +of Pennsylvania, from which State he had been kidnapped, on the +sole ground that no law required the surrender of fugitive slaves +from Virginia. The controversy thus arising was called to the +attention of President Washington and by him to Congress, and it +ended by the passage of the first fugitive-slave act. It was for +a time tolerably satisfactory to the different sections of the +country, though in itself the most flagrant attempt to violate +state-rights, judged from the more modern secession, state-rights +standpoint, ever attempted by Federal authority. + +It required _state magistrates_, who owed their offices solely to +state law, to sit in judgment in fugitive-slave cases, and to aid +in returning to slavery negroes claimed as slaves by masters from +foreign States. The act provided for the return of fugitive +apprentices as well as fugitive slaves. + +In time the Northern States became free, and the public conscience +in them became so changed that the magistrates were deterred or +unwilling to act in execution of the law. Massachusetts and +Pennsylvania each passed a law making it penal for any of their +officers to perform any duties or to take cognizance of any case +under the fugitive-slave law. Other States, through their judiciary, +pronounced it unconstitutional, even some of the Federal judges +doubted its consonance with the Constitution, but, such as it was, +it lasted until 1850. It did not provide for a jury trial. The +scenes enacted in its execution shocked the moral sense of mankind, +and even the slaveholder often shrank from attempting its execution. + +But it was not until about the time of the excitement of the fugitive- +slave law of 1850 that the highest excitement prevailed in the +North over its enforcement, and of this we shall speak hereafter. + + +IX +SLAVE TRADE: ABOLISHED BY LAW + +In the English Parliament, in 1776, the year of the Declaration of +Independence, the first motion was made towards the abolition of +the slave trade, long theretofore fostered by English kings and +queens, but not until 1807 did the British moral sense rise high +enough to pass, at Lord Granville's instance, the famous act for +"the Abolition of the Slave Trade." As early as 1794 the United +States prohibited their subjects from trading in slaves to foreign +countries; and in 1807, they prohibited the importation of slaves +into any of the States, to take effect at the beginning of 1808, +the earliest time possible, as we have seen, under the Constitution. +But it was not until 1820 that slave-traders were declared pirates, +punishable as such. + +The prohibition of the slave trade by law did not effectually end +it, nor was the law declaring it piracy wholly effectual, though +the latter did much, through the co-operation of other nations, to +restrict it. + +There were active movements in 1852 and 1858, in the South, to +revive the African slave trade, and especially was there fierce +opposition to the "piracy act." Jefferson Davis, at a convention +in Mississippi, July, 1858, advocated the repeal of the latter act, +but doubted the practicability then of abrogating the law prohibiting +slave traffic.(30) + +It is worthy of mention here that April 20th, eight days after +Sumter was fired upon, Commander Alfred Taylor, commanding the +United States naval ship _Saratoga_, in the port of Kabenda, Africa, +captured the _Nightingale of Boston_, flying American colors, with +a cargo of 961 recently captured, stolen, or purchased African +negroes, destined to be carried to some American part and there +sold into slavery. This human cargo was sent to the humane Rev. +John Seys, at Monrovia, Liberia, to be provided for. One hundred +and sixty died on a fourteen-days' sea-voyage, from ship-fever and +confinement, though the utmost care was taken by Lieutenant Guthrie +and the crew of the slaver for their comfort.(31) + +The laws abolishing the foreign slave trade and prohibiting the +introduction of African slaves (after 1807) into the United States +even helped to rivet slavery more firmly therein. They more than +doubled the value of a slave, and, therefore, incited slave-breeding +to supply the increasing demand in the cotton States, and in time +this proved so profitable that the South sought new territory whence +slavery could be extended, and out of which slave States could be +formed. + +The "_Declaration against the Slave Trade_" of the world, signed +by the representatives of the "Powers" at the Congress of Vienna, +in 1815, and repeated at the Congress of Paris at the end of the +Napoleonic wars, was potential enough to abate but not to end this +most inhuman and sinful trade.(32) + +Even as late as 1816, English merchants, supported by the corporations +of London and Liverpool, through mercantile jealousy, and pretending +to believe that the very existence of commerce on the seas and +their own existence depended on the continuance of the slave trade, +not only opposed the abolition of the black slave traffic, but they +opposed the abolition of _white slavery_ in Algiers.(33) + +This nefarious traffic did not cease in the United States, although +at the Treaty of Ghent (1815) it was declared that: "Whereas the +traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with the principles of humanity +and justice," and the two countries (Great Britain and the United +States) therein stipulated to use their best endeavors to abolish it. + +The revival of the slave trade was openly advocated by leading +Southern politicians, and the illicit traffic greatly increased +immediately after the admission into the Union of Texas as a State +and the aggressions on Mexico for more slave territory, and especially +just after the discussions over the Compromise measures of 1850 +and the Nebraska Act of 1854, followed by the Dred Scott decision +in 1857. It was principally carried on under the United States +flag, the ships carrying it denying the right of search to foreign +vessels engaged in suppressing the trade. British officials claimed +in June, 1850, "that at least one half of the successful part of +the slave trade was carried on under the American flag." The +fitting out of slavers centred at New York city; Boston and New +Orleans being good seconds. Twenty-one of twenty-two slavers taken +by British cruisers in 1857-58 were from New York, Boston, and New +Orleans. + +"During eighteen months of the years 1859-60 eighty-five slavers +are reported to have fitted out in New York harbor, and these alone +transported from 30,000 to 60,000 slaves annually to America."(34) + +The greed of man for gain has smothered and will ever smother the +human conscience. The slave trade, under the denunciation of +piracy, still exists, and will exist until African slavery ceases +throughout the world. So long as there is a demand, at good prices, +this wicked traffic will go on, and in the jungles of Africa there +will be found stealers of human beings. + +(30) Rhode's _Hist. United States_, vol. ii., p. 372. + +(31) Official Records, etc., _Navies of the War of the Rebellion_, +vol. i., p. 11. + +(32) It stands to the eternal credit of Napoleon that on his return +from Elba to Paris (1815) he decreed for France the total abolition +of the slave-trade. This decree was confirmed by the Bourbon +dynasty in 1818. _Suppression of African Slave Trade U. S._ +(DuBois), p. 247. + +(33) Osler's _Life of Exmouth_, p. 303; _Slavery, Letters_, etc., +Horace Mann, p. 276. + +(34) _Sup. of African Slave Trade_ (DuBois) pp. 135, 178-9. + + +X +LOUISIANA PURCHASE + +In 1803, Napoleon, fearing that he could not hold his distant +American possession, known as the Louisiana Province, acquired from +Spain, and which by treaty was to be re-ceded to Spain and not +disposed of to any other nation, put aside all scruples and good +faith, and for 60,000,000 francs, on April 30th signed a treaty of +cession of the vast territory, then mostly uninhabited, to the +United States. This was in Jefferson's administration. + +The United States bought this domain and its people just as they +might buy unoccupied lands with animals on it. + +It was early claimed as slave territory. There were only a few +slaves within its limits when purchased, though slavery was recognized +there. This purchase was a most important one, although at the +time it was not so regarded. + +The Louisiana Purchase was much greater, territorially speaking, +than all the States then in the Union, with all its other +possessions.(35) + +It comprised what are now the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, +Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, nearly all +of Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, large parts of Colorado +and the Indian Territory, and a portion of Idaho. These States +and Territories in 1890 contained 11,804,101 inhabitants. + +At the time of this great acquisition a conviction prevailed that +slavery was rapidly diminishing. Adams and Jefferson, each, while +President, entertained the belief that slavery would, ere long, +come to a peaceful end. It might then have been possible, by law +of Congress, to devote this new region to freedom, but, as slavery +existed at and around New Orleans in 1812 when the State of Louisiana +was admitted into the Union, it became a slave State. This fate +was largely due to the claim of its original inhabitants that they +were secured the right to hold slaves by the treaty of cession from +France. + +Later on, the provision of this treaty, under which it was claimed +slavery was perpetuated, was a subject of much discussion, and on +it was founded the most absurd arguments on behalf of the slave +power. + +Its third article was the sole one referred to as fastening forever +the institution of slavery on the inhabitants of this vast empire. +There are those yet living who deny that, even under the present +Constitution of the United States or the constitutions of the States +since erected therein, slavery is _lawfully_ excluded therefrom. + +This article reads: + +"The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in +the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, +according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the +enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens +of the United States; and in the meantime they shall be maintained +and protected in the enjoyment of their liberty, _property_, and +the religion they profess." + +Justice Catron, of the United States Supreme Court, speaking in +the Dred Scott case, for the majority of the court and of this +article, says: + +"Louisiana was a province where slavery was not only lawful, but +where property in slaves was the most valuable of all personal +property. The province was ceded as a _unit_, with an equal right +pertaining to all its inhabitants, in every part thereof, to own +slaves." + +He and others of the concurring justices held that the inhabitants +at the time of the purchase, also all immigrants after the cession, +were protected in the right to hold slaves in the entire purchase. + +Near the close of his opinion, still speaking of this article and +the acquired territory, he says: + +"The right of the United States in or over it depends on the contract +of cession, which operates to incorporate as well the Territory as +its inhabitants into the Union. + +"My opinion is that the third article of the treaty of 1803, ceding +Louisiana to the United States, stands protected by the Constitution, +and cannot be repealed by Congress." + +This view was heroically combatted by a minority of the court, +especially by Justices McLean and Curtis. The latter, in his +opinion, said + +"That a treaty with a foreign nation cannot deprive Congress of +any part of its legislative power conferred by the people, so that +it no longer can legislate as it is empowered by the Constitution." + +Also, that if the treaty expressly prohibited (as it did not) the +exclusion of slavery from the ceded territory the "court could not +declare that an act of Congress excluding it was void by force of +the treaty. . . . A refusal to execute such a stipulation would +not be a judicial, but a political and legislative question. . . . +It would belong to diplomacy and legislation, and not to the +administration of existing laws."(36) + +Plainly no part of the treaty of cession fastened slavery, or any +other institution of France, on the territory ceded to the United +States. If its provisions were violated by the United States, +France, internationally, or the inhabitants at the date of the +treaty, might have complained and had redress. Obviously the treaty +had no bearing on the question of slavery in the United States, +but its provisions were seized upon, as was every possible pretext, +by the votaries of slavery to maintain and extend it. + +It was also, by a majority of the court, held in this memorable +case (hereafter to be mentioned) that under the third article of +the cession slaves could be taken from any State into any part of +the Louisiana Purchase during its territorial state, and there +held, and hence that the Missouri Compromise, of 1820, forbidding +slavery in the territory north of 36° 30´, was in violation of the +treaty and was unconstitutional, as were all other acts of Congress +excluding slavery from United States territory. This was in the +heyday (1857) of the slave power, and when it aspired, practically, +to make slavery national. + +This aggressive policy, as we shall see when we come to consider +the Nebraska Act of 1854 relating to a principal part of the +Louisiana Purchase, led to a great uprising of the friends of +freedom, the political overthrow of the advocates of slavery in +most branches of the Union; then to secession; then to war, whence +came, with peace, universal freedom, and slavery in the Republic +forever dead. + +(35) For map showing territory acquired by the U. S., by each +treaty, etc., see _History Ready Ref._, vol. v., p. 3286, and +_Louisiana Purchase_ (Hermann, Com. Gen. Land Office). The original +thirteen States and Territories comprised 8,927,844 sq. mi. The +Louisiana Purchase, 1,171,931, sq. mi. + +(36) Dred Scott Case, 19 Howard, 393, etc. + + +XI +FLORIDA + +Florida did not become a slave colony even on being taken possession +of by the English in 1763, nor on its re-conquest by Spain in 1781. + +By the treaty of peace at the end of the war of the Revolution +(1783) Great Britain recognized as part of the southern boundary +of the United States a line due east from the Mississippi at 31° +of latitude; and at the same time, by a separate treaty, she ceded +to Spain the then two Floridas. Florida became a refuge for fugitive +slaves from Georgia and South Carolina. + +"Georgians could never forget that the _fugitive_ slaves were +roaming about the Everglades of Florida."(37) + +The Seminole Indians welcomed to their wild freedom the escaped +negro from the lash of the overseer, and consequently the long and +bloody Florida Indian wars were literally a slave hunt. The wild +tribes of Indians knew no fugitive-slave law. + +In the War of 1812, Spain permitted the English to occupy, for +their purposes, some points in Florida. When the war ended they +abandoned a fort on the Appalachicola, about fifteen miles above +its mouth, with a large amount of arms and ammunition. This fort +the fugitive negroes seized and held for about _three years_ as a +refuge for escaped slaves, and, consequently, as a menace to slavery. +It was during this time called "Negro Fort." At the instigation +of slave owners, it was attacked by General Gaines of the United +States Army. + +"A hot shot penetrated one of the magazines, and the whole fort +was blown to pieces, July 27, 1816. There were 300 negro men, +women, and children, and 20 Choctaws in the fort; 270 were killed. +Only three came out unhurt, and these were killed by the allied +Indians." + +Thus slavery established and maintained itself, through individual +and national crime and blood, until the day when God's retributive +justice should come. And we shall see how thoroughly His justice +was meted out; how "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," +measure of blood for measure of blood, anguish for anguish, came +to the dominating white race! + +It was not until February, 1821, that notice of the ratification +of a treaty, made two years before, was received, by which Spain +ceded Florida to the United States in consideration of their paying +$5,000,000 in satisfaction of American claims against Spain. + +This was not all the Republic paid for Florida. A second Seminole +war (1835-43) ensued, the bloodiest and most costly of all our +Indian wars, in which the Indians were assisted by fugitive slaves +and their descendants, in whom the negro blood was admixed, often +with the white blood of former masters, and again with the +Indian.(38) + +At the end of eight years, after many valuable lives had been lost, +and $30,000,000 had been expended, but not until after the great +Seminole leader (Osceola (39)) had been, by deliberate treachery +and bad faith, captured, and the Indians had been worn out rather +than conquered, Florida became an American province, and two years +thereafter (1845) a slave State in the Union. + +The extinction of the brave Seminole Indians left no _race_-friend +of the poor enslaved negro. Untutored as they were, they knew what +freedom was, and, until 1861, they were the only people on the +American continent to furnish an asylum and to shed their blood +for the wronged African. + +Florida, as a slave State, was a factor in establishing a balance +of power, politically, between the North and South. + +As the war between the United States and Great Britain (1812-15) +did not grow out of slavery, nor was it waged to acquire more slave +territory, nor did it directly tend to perpetuate slavery where +established, we pass it over. + +(37) W. G. Summer's _Andrew Jackson_, ch. iii. + +(38) In 1821 at Indian Springs, Florida, a forced treaty was +negotiated with the Creek Indians for part of their lands by which +the United States agreed to apply $109,000 of the purchase price +as compensation to Georgia claimants for escaped slaves, and $141,000 +for "_the offsprings which the females would have borne to their +masters had they remained in bondage_."--_Rise and Fall of Slavery_ +(Wilson), vol. i, 132,454. + +(39) _Osceola_, or _As-Se-He-Ho-Lar_ (black drink), was the son +of Wm. Powell, an English Indian-trader, born in Georgia, 1804, of +a daughter of a Seminole chief. His mother took him early to +Florida. He rose rapidly to be head war-chief, and married a +daughter of a fugitive slave who was treacherously stolen from him, +as a slave, while he was on a visit to Fort King. When he demanded +of General Thompson, the Indian agent, her release, he was put in +irons, but released after six days. A little later, December, +1835, he avenged himself by killing Thompson and four others outside +of the fort, thus inaugurating the second Seminole war. He hated +the white race, and his ambition was to furnish a safe asylum for +fugitive slaves. + +Surprises and massacres ensued for two years, Osceola showing great +bravery and skill, and _not_ excelling his white adversaries in +treachery. He fought Generals Clinch, Gaines, Taylor and Jesup, +of the U. S. A. Jesup induced him (Oct. 21, 1837) under a flag of +truce to hold a parley near St. Augustine, where Jesup treacherously +caused him to be seized, and the U. S. authorities (treating him +as England treated Napoleon) immured him in captivity for life, +hopelessly, at Fort Moultrie. His free spirit could not endure +this, and he died of a broken heart three months later (January +30, 1838), at thirty-four years of age. His body lies buried on +Sullivan's Island, afterwards the scene of a larger struggle for +human freedom. + +The remains of the _civilized_ statesman-champion of perpetual +_human_ slavery, Calhoun, and the remains of the savage, untutored +Seminole _Chief_, Oscoeola, the champion of _human liberty_, lie +buried near Charleston, S. C. Let the ages judge each--kindly! + + +XII +MISSOURI COMPROMISE--1820 + +In pursuance of the policy of trying to balance, politically, +freedom and slavery, and to deal tenderly with the latter, and not +offend its champions, new States were admitted into the Union in +pairs, one free and one slave. + +Thus Vermont and Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio, Louisiana and Indiana, +Mississippi and Illinois were coupled, preserving in the Senate an +exact balance of power.(40) + +When Missouri had framed a Constitution (1819) and applied for +admission into the Union, Alabama was on the point of admission as +a slave State, and was admitted the same year, and thus the usage +required the admission of Missouri as a free State. In 1790 the +two sections were nearly equal in population, but in 1820 the North +had nearly 700,000 more inhabitants than the South. + +Missouri was a part of the Louisiana Purchase, and she had in 1820 +above 10,000 slaves. + +The usual form of a bill was prepared admitting her, with slavery, +on an equal footing with other States. It came up for consideration +in the House during the session of 1818-1819, and Mr. Tallmadge, +of New York, precipitated a controversy, which was participated in +by all the great statesmen, North and South, who were then on the +political stage. + +He offered to amend the bill so as to prohibit the further introduction +of slaves into Missouri, and providing that all children born in +the State after its admission should be free at twenty-five years +of age. + +This amendment was a signal for the fiercest opposition. Clay and +Webster, Wm. Pinckney of Maryland, and Rufus King of New York, John +Randolph of Roanoke, Fisher Ames, and others, who were in the early +prime of their manhood, were heard in the fray. In it the first +real threats of disunion, if slavery were interfered with, were +heard. It is more than possible those threats pierced the ears of +John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who still survived,(41) and caused +them to despair of the Republic. + +It is worthy of note that none of the great statesmen engaged in +this first memorable combat in which the Union was threatened in +slavery's cause, lived to confront disunion in fact, face to face. + +Clay, then Speaker of the House, and possessed of great influence, +spoke first in opposition to the amendment. Though his speech, +like others of that time, was not reported, we know he denied the +power of Congress to impose conditions upon a new State after its +admission to the Union. He maintained the sovereign right of each +State to be slave or free. He did not profess to be an advocate +of slavery. He, however, vehemently asserted that a restriction +of slavery was cruel to the slaves already held. While their +numbers would be the same, it would so crowd them in narrow limits +as to expose them "in the old, exhausted States to destitution, +and even to lean and haggard starvation, instead of allowing them +to share the fat plenty of the new West."(42) (What an argument +in favor of perpetuating an immoral thing! So spread it over the +world as to make it thin, yet fatten it!) + +Clay's arguments were the most specious and weighty of those made +against the amendment. And they did not fail to claim the amendment +was in violation of the third article of the cession of Louisiana, +already, in another connection, referred to. + +The Missouri delegate denounced the amendment as a shameful +discrimination against Missouri and slavery, which would endanger +the Union; in this latter cry a member from Georgia joined. + +The friends of the amendment fearlessly answered Clay's speech and +the speeches of others. The House was reminded that the great +Ordinance of 1787, passed contemporaneous with the adoption of the +Constitution, and approved and enforced by its framers (some of +whom were also then members of the Continental Congress) imposed +an absolute inhibition on slavery forever, precedent to the admission +of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the other States to be formed from +the Northwest Territory; they showed the treaty with France did +not profess to perpetuate slavery in the ceded Territory; they +denounced slavery as an evil, unnatural, cruel, opposed to the +principles of the Declaration of Independence, and that it had only +been tolerated, not approved, by the Constitution; and Mr. Talmadge +closed the debate by characterizing slavery as a "scourge of the +human race," certain to bring on "dire calamities to the human +race"; ending by boldly defying those who threatened, if slavery +were restricted, to dissolve the Union of the States. This amendment +passed the House, 87 to 76, but was beaten, the same session, in +the Senate, 22 to 16; one Senator from Massachusetts, one from +Pennsylvania, and two from Illinois voted with the South. Again +the too often easily frightened Northern statesmen struck their +colors just when the battle was won. + +In January (1820) of the succeeding Congress the measure was again +under consideration in the Senate, then composed of only forty-four +members. It was then that Rufus King and Wm. Pinckney, the former +for, the latter against, the slavery restriction amendment, displayed +their eloquence. Pinckney, a lawyer of much general learning, +paraphrased a passage of Burke to the effect that "the spirit of +liberty was more high and haughty in the slaveholding colonies than +in those to the northward." He also planted himself, with others +from the South, on state-sovereignty, afterwards more commonly +called "state-rights," and in time tortured into a doctrine which +led to nullification--Secession--_War_. + +All these speeches were answered in both Houses by able opponents +of slavery extension, but meantime a matter arose which did much +to favor the admission of Missouri as a slave State. + +Maine, but recently separated from Massachusetts, applied for +statehood, and could not be refused. + +A Senator from Illinois (Mr. Thomas) introduced a proviso which +prohibited slavery north of 36° 30´ in the Louisiana acquisition, +except in Missouri. + +Here, again, at the expense of freedom, was an opportunity for +_compromise_. It was promptly seized upon. It was agreed that +Maine, where by no possibility slavery would or could go, should +come into the Union as a free State; Missouri as a slave State, +and the proviso limiting slavery in the remaining territory south +of 36° 30´ should be adopted. This compromise was adopted in the +Senate, and later, after close votes on amendments, the House also +agreed to it. John Randolph and thirty-seven Southern members +voted against it, and, but for weak-kneed Northern members, it +would have failed. This compromise Randolph said was a "_dirty +bargain_," and the Northern members who supported it he denounced +as "doughfaces,"--a coined phrase still known to our political +vocabulary. + +Missouri, however, did not become a State until August, 1821. +Thus, for the time only was this question settled. + +Of it Jefferson wrote, as if in prophecy: + +"This momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened +and filled me with terror. I considered it the knell of the +Union."(43) + +Clay wrote of the height to which the heated debate arose: + +"The words civil war and disunion are uttered almost without +emotion."(44) + +(40) Later, Arkansas and Michigan (1836-7), Florida and Iowa (March +3, 1845) and Maine and Missouri were, in pairs--slave and free-- +admitted as States. + +(41) Both died July 4, 1826. + +(42) Hildreth, vol. vi., p. 664. + +(43) Jefferson's _Works_, vol. vii., p. 159. + +(44) Clay's _Priv. Cor._, p. 61. + + +XIII +NULLIFICATION--1832-3 (1835) + +A debate arose in the United States Senate over a resolution of +Senator Foote of Connecticut proposing to limit the sale of the +public lands, which took a wide range. Hayne of South Carolina +elaborately set forth the doctrine of nullification, claiming it +inhered in each State under the Constitution. He boldly announced +that the Union formed was only a _league_ or a _compact_. This +called forth from Webster his celebrated "Reply to Hayne," of +January 26, 1830, in which he assailed and apparently overthrew +the then new doctrine of nullification. He denounced its exercise +as incompatible with a loyal adherence to the Constitution, and +showed historically that the government formed under it was not a +mere "compact" or "_league_" between sovereign or independent States +terminable at will. He then asserted that any attempt of any State +to act on the theory of nullification would inevitably entail civil +war or a dissolution of the Union. + +The first real attempt, however, at nullification, or the first +attempt of a State to declare laws of Congress nugatory and of no +binding force when not approved by the State, was made in South +Carolina in 1832, under the leadership of John C. Calhoun, then +Vice-President of the United States, and hitherto a statesman of +so much just renown, and esteemed so moderate and patriotic in his +views on all national questions as to have been looked upon, with +the special approval of the North, as eminently qualified for the +Presidency. He hopefully aspired to it until he quarrelled with +President Jackson; he had been in favor of a protective tariff. + +Cotton was, as we have seen, the principal article of export, and +the slaveholding cotton planters conceived the idea that to secure +a market for it there must be no duties on imports, and that home +manufactures of needed articles for consumption would restrict the +foreign demand for the raw material. Besides, the South with its +slave labor could not indulge in manufacturing. A tariff on imports +meant protection to home industries and to free white labor, both +inimical to slavery. Some leading Southern statesmen, adherents +of slavery, had vehemently opposed the ratification of the Constitution +of 1787, on the ground that as it empowered Congress to levy import +duties, it would encourage and build up home industries, with free +labor; and they prophesied that with them slavery would eventually +become unprofitable and therefore unpopular, hence would die. This +idea never left the Southern mind, so, when the Confederacy of 1861 +was formed, its Constitution (framed at Montgomery, Alabama) +prohibited such duties for the express reason that no branch of +industry was to be promoted in the new slave government, using this +language: + +"Nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations +be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry."(45) + +This was then supposed to be the highest bulwark of slavery. Its +votaries understood its strength and weakness. Independent, well- +paid free labor and industries (46) would ennoble the men of toil, +bring wealth and power, build up populous towns and cities, and +consequently overwhelm, politically and otherwise, the institution +of slavery, or draw into successful social competition with plantation +life wealthy inhabitants who knew not slavery and its demoralizing +influences. + +Already, in 1832, the effects of protection on the prosperity of +our country were manifest, especially since the Tariff Act of 1828, +which levied a duty equivalent to 45 per cent. ad valorem. The +Act of 1832 made a small reduction in the duties, but because it +was claimed it did not distribute them equally, nullification was +determined on as the remedy. + +It was agreed by the strict constructionists of that day that a +State Legislature could not declare a law of the United States +void, but to do this the _people_ must speak through a convention. +Such a convention met in South Carolina, in November, 1832, and +passed a Nullification Ordinance, declaring the tariff acts "null +and void," not binding on the State, and that under them no duties +should be paid in the State after February 1, 1833. + +Immediately thereafter medals were struck, inscribed "_John C. +Calhoun, first President of the Southern Confederacy_." Nullification, +thus proclaimed, was the legitimate forerunner of secession. + +President Jackson, with his heroic love of the Union, regarded the +movement as only _treason;_ he called it that in his proclamations; +he prepared to collect the duties in Charleston or to confiscate +the cargoes; he warned the nullifiers by the presence of General +Scott there that he would be promptly used to coerce the State into +loyalty; and he seemed eager to find an excuse for arresting, +condemning for treason, and hanging Calhoun, who then went to +Washington as a Senator, resigning the Vice-Presidency.(47) + +Jackson tersely said: + +"To say that any State may, at pleasure, secede from the Union, is +to say that the United States are not a nation." + +The situation was too imminent for Calhoun's nerves. To confront +an indignant nation, led by a fearless, never doubting President, +was a different thing then from what it was in 1860-61 with Buchanan +as President, surrounded as he was by traitors in his Cabinet. +Calhoun and his State backed down, and import duties continued to +be collected in South Carolina, although a gradual reduction of +them was made an excuse for Calhoun and his friends in Congress, +in 1833, to vote for a protective tariff act, so recently before +by them declared unconstitutional.(48) + +On a "Force Bill" and a new tariff act being passed (March 15, +1833) the Nullification Ordinance was repealed in South Carolina. +The next Ordinance of Secession of this State (1860) was based on +the principles of the first one and the doctrines of Calhoun, +slavery being the direct, as it had been the indirect, cause of +their first enunciation. We must not anticipate here. + +In the debate, in 1833, between Webster and Calhoun, the former, +as in his great reply to Hayne,(49) expounded the Constitution as +a "Charter of Union for all the States." + +"The Constitution does not provide for events that must be preceded +by its own destruction. + +"That the Constitution is not a league, confederacy, or compact +between the people of the several States in their sovereign capacity, +but a government proper, founded on the adoption of the people, +and creating direct relations between itself and individuals. That +no State authority has power to dissolve these relations. That as +to certain purposes the people of the United States are one people." + +Nullification, attempted first on account of a protective tariff +to foster home and young industries and for needed revenue to carry +on the Federal government, was in two years, by its author, Calhoun, +transferred, for a new cause on which to attempt to justify it-- +from the tariff to domestic slavery. Calhoun soon discovered and +admitted that the South could not be united against the North and +for _disunion_ on opposition to a protective tariff. He therefore +promptly sought an opportunity to bring forward in Congress the +slavery question, and to attack the "_agitators_" and opponents of +slavery extension in the North, and to threaten disunion if the +institution of slavery was not permitted to dictate the political +policy of the Republic. + +The exact method of reviving in Congress the whole subject of +slavery so soon after nullification had been so signally suppressed +by Jackson is worth briefly stating. + +President Jackson, in his Annual Message, December, 1835, called +attention to attempts to use the mails to circulate matter calculated +to excite slaves to insurrection, but he did not recommend any +legislation to prevent it. Mr. Calhoun moved in the Senate that +so much of the message relating to mail transportation of incendiary +publications be referred to a select committee of five. + +He was made chairman of this committee, and, on his request, three +others from the South, with but one from the North, were put on +the committee, and he promptly made an elaborate and carefully- +prepared report, going into the whole doctrine of states-rights +and nullification. + +In it he said: + +"That the States which form our Federal Union are sovereign and +independent communities, bound together by a constitutional _compact_, +and are possessed of all the powers belonging to distinct and +separate States, etc. + +"The Compact itself expressly provides that all powers not delegated +are reserved to the States and the people. . . . On returning to +the Constitution, it will be seen that, while the power of defending +the country against _external_ danger is found among the enumerated, +the instrument is wholly silent as to the power of defending the +_internal_ peace and security of the States: and of course reserves +to the States this important power, etc. + +"It belongs to slave-holding States, whose institutions are in +danger, and not to _Congress_, as is supposed by the message, to +determine what papers are incendiary and intended to excite +insurrection among the slaves, etc. + +"It has already been stated that the States which comprise our +Federal Union are sovereign and independent communities, united by +a constitutional compact. Among its members the laws of nations +are in full force and obligation, except as altered or modified by +the compact, etc. + +"Within their limits, the rights of the slave-holding States are +as full to demand of the States within whose limits and jurisdiction +their peace is assailed, to adopt the measures necessary to prevent +the same, and, if refused or neglected, _to resort to means to +protect themselves_, as if they were separate and independent +communities." + +Here, perhaps, was the clearest statement yet made, not only of +the independence of States from Federal interference and of their +right, on their own whim, to break the "_compact_," but of the +right of the slaveholding States to dictate to the other States +legislation on the subject of slavery. + +It was at once a declaration of independence for the Southern +States, and a declaration of their right to hold all the Northern +States so far subject to them as to be obliged, on demand, to pass +and enforce any prescribed law in the interest of slavery. The +South was to be the sole judge of what law on this subject was +requisite for slavery's purposes. + +No duty was demanded on this question of the Federal Government; +and Southern States, according to Calhoun, owed it none where +slavery was concerned. + +Calhoun and his committee could discover no power in the Southern +States to enforce their demands save to act as separate and +independent communities--that is, by setting up for themselves. +This led logically to disunion, the result intended. + +There was much in this report setting forth and professing to +believe that it was the purpose of the North to emancipate the +slaves, and through the agencies of organized anti-slavery societies +bring about slave insurrections. The fanaticism of the North was +descanted on, and the character of slavery and its wisdom as a +social institution upheld. + +He further said: + +"He who regards slavery in those States simply under the relation +of master and slave, as important as that relation is, viewed merely +as a question of property to the slave-holding section of the Union, +has a very imperfect conception of the institution, and the +impossibility of abolishing it without disasters unexampled in the +history of the world. To understand its nature and importance +fully, it must be borne in mind that slavery, as it exists in the +Southern States, involves _not only the relation of master and +slave, but also the social and political relation of the two races_, +of nearly equal numbers, from different quarters of the globe, and +the most opposite of all others in every particular that distinguishes +one race of men from another." + +The whole report was replete with accusations against the North, +and full of warning as to what the South would do should its demands +not be complied with. The bill brought in by the committee was +more remarkable than the report itself, and wholly inconsistent +with its doctrine. + +The bill provided high penalties for any postmaster who should +knowingly receive and put into the mail any publication or picture +_touching the subject of slavery_, to go into any State or Territory +in which its circulation _was forbidden by state law_. + +The report concluded: + +"Should such be your decision, by refusing to pass this bill, I +shall say to the people of the South, look to yourselves. + +"But I must tell the Senate, be your decision what it may, the +South will never abandon the principles of this bill. . . . We have +a remedy in our own hands." + +Clay, Webster, Benton, and others ably and effectually combated +both the report and the bill, and the latter failed (25 to 19) in +the Senate. + +Besides denying the doctrine of the report, they showed the evil +was not in mailing, but in taking from the mails and circulating +by their own citizens the supposed objectionable publications. + +Benton, himself a slaveholder, then and in subsequent years assailed +and pronounced the doctrine of this report as the "_birth of +disunion_." He has also shown that Calhoun delighted over the +agitation of slavery more than he deprecated it; that he profoundly +hoped that on the slavery question the South would be united and +a Slave-Confederacy formed.(50) + +In support of this Mr. Benton quotes from a letter of Mr. Calhoun +to a gentleman in Alabama (1847) in which he says: + +"I am much gratified with the tone and views of your letter, and +concur entirely in the opinion you express, that instead of shunning, +we ought to court the issue with the North on the slavery question. +I would even go one step further and add that it is our duty _to +force the issue_ on the North. We are now stronger relatively than +we shall be hereafter, politically and morally. Unless we bring +on the issue, delay to us will be dangerous indeed. . . . Something +of the kind was indispensable to the South. On the contrary, if +we should not meet it as we ought, I fear, greatly fear, our _doom_ +will be fixed."(51) + +Comment is unnecessary, but the letter, almost exultantly, mentions +as fortunate that the Wilmot Proviso was offered, as it gave an +opportunity to unite the South. + +It proceeds: + +"With this impression, I would regard any compromise or adjustment +of the proviso, _or even its defeat_, without meeting the danger +in its whole length and breadth, as very unfortunate for us. + +"This brings up the question, how can it be so met, without resorting +to the dissolution of the Union. + +"There is and can be but one remedy short of disunion, and that is +to retaliate on our part by refusing to fulfill the stipulations +in their (other States) favor, or such as we may select, as the +most efficient." + +The letter, still proceeding to discuss modes of dissolution or +retaliation against Northern States, declares a convention of +Southern States indispensable, and their co-operation absolutely +essential to success, and says: + +"Let that be called, and let it adopt measures to bring about the +co-operation, and I would underwrite for the rest. The non- +slaveholding States would be compelled to observe the stipulations +of the Constitution _in our favor_, or abandon their trade with +us, _or to take measures to coerce us_, which would throw on them +the responsibility of dissolving the Union. Their unbounded avarice +would in the end control them."(52) + +It is certain that President Jackson's heroic proclamation of +December, 1832, aborted the project of nullification under the +South Carolina Ordinance, and certain it is, also, that the +disappointed leaders of it turned from a protective tariff as a +ground for it, to what they regarded as a better excuse, to wit: +A slavery agitation, generated out of false alarms in the slave +States. + +After the tariff compromise of 1833, in which Calhoun sullenly +acquiesced, he returned home and immediately announced that the +South would never unite against the North on the tariff question, +--"That the sugar interest of Louisiana would keep her out,--and +consequently the basis of Southern union must be shifted to the +slave question," which was then accordingly done.(53) + +Jackson, discussing nullification, is reported to have said: + +"It was the _tariff_ this time; next time it will be the _negro_." + +This new and dangerous departure was not overlooked. The report +and bill of 1835 relating to the use of the mails was only a chapter +in execution of the new plan. + +The observing friends of the Union did not overlook or misunderstand +the movement. They at once took alarm. Mr. Clay, in May, 1833, +wrote a letter to Mr. Madison expressing his apprehensions of the +new danger, which brought from him a prompt response. + +Mr. Madison in his letter said: + +"It is painful to see the unceasing efforts to alarm the South by +imputations against the North of unconstitutional designs on the +subject of the slaves. You are right. I have no doubt that no +such intermeddling disposition exists in the body of our Northern +brethren. Their good faith is sufficiently guaranteed by the interest +they have as merchants, ship-owners, and as manufacturers, in +preserving a union with the slave-holding states. On the other +hand, what madness in the South to look for greater safety in +_disunion_."(54) + +What Clay and Madison saw in 1833 as the real starting-point for +ultimate secession proved true to history. From that time dates +the machinations which led, through the steps that successively +followed, to actual dissolution of the Union in 1860-61; then to +coercion--War; then to the eradication of slavery. It was Southern +madness that hastened the destruction of American slavery. "Whom +the gods would destroy, they first make mad." + +The excuse for even this much significance given to "nullification" +is, that in less than thirty years, under a new name--"state-rights" +--it worked secession--disunion, and lit up the whole country with +the flames and frenzy of internal war that did not die down for +four years more; and then only when slavery was consumed. + +The great abolition movement commenced in earnest, January 1, 1831. +Wm. Lloyd Garrison published, at Boston, the _Liberator_, with the +motto--"_Our countrymen are all mankind_." Benjamin Lundy, and +perhaps others, had preceded Garrison, but not until after the +Webster-Hayne debate did the abolition movement spread. Thenceforth +it took deeper root in the human conscience, and it had advocates +of determined spirit throughout the North, led on fearlessly, not +alone by Garrison, but by Rev. Dr. Channing, Rev. James Freeman +Clarke, and, later, by Rev. Samuel May (Syracuse, N. Y.), Gerritt +Smith, the poet Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, Horace +Mann, Charles Sumner, Joshua R. Giddings, Owen Lovejoy, and others, +who spoke from pulpit, rostrum, and some in the halls of legislation; +others in the courts and through the press. The enforcement of +the fugitive-slave law was often violent, and always added new fuel +to the fierce and constantly growing opposition to slavery. + +The Anti-Slavery party was not one wholly built on abstract sentiment +of philanthropists, but it involved physical resistance: Violence +to violence. + +The American Anti-Slavery Society was founded at a National Anti- +Slavery Convention held in Philadelphia, in December, 1831. + +Hard upon the establishment of the _Liberator_ came the Nat Turner +insurrection in Southampton County, Virginia (August, 1831). This +gave to the South a fresh ground to complain of the North. Turner's +insurrection was held to be the legitimate fruit of abolition +agitation. Turner was an African of natural capacity, who quoted +the Bible fluently, prayed vehemently, and preached to his fellow +slaves. + +He told them, as did Joan of Arc, of "_Voices_" and "_Visions_," +and of his communion with the Holy Spirit. An eclipse of the sun +was the signal to strike their enemies and for freedom. The massacre +lasted forty-eight hours, and sixty-one whites, women and children +not spared, were victims. On the other hand, negroes were shot, +tortured, hanged, and burned at the stake on whom the slightest +suspicion of complicity fell. + +The Nat Turner negro slave insurrection is the only one known to +slavery in the United States. Others may possibly have been +contemplated. The John Brown raid was not a negro insurrection. +Even in the midst of the war (1861-65), believed by most slaves to +be a war for their freedom, insurrections were unknown.(55) + +The African race, the most wronged through the centuries, has been +the most docile and the least revengeful of the races of the world. + +(45) Confederate Con., Art. 1, Sec. 8, par. 1. + +(46) The South in the days of slavery had, practically, no +manufactories. + +(47) Benton, _Thirty Years' View_, vol. i., p. 343. + +(48) Rhodes, _Hist. U. S._, vol. i., pp. 49-50. + +(49) January 26, 1830. + +(50) For this report and history see Benton's _Thirty Years' View_, +vol. i, pp. 580, etc. + +(51) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., chap. clxxxix.; Historical, +etc. Examination, _Dred Scott Case_ (Benton), p. 139. + +(52) Historical, etc., Examination, _Dred Scott Case_ (Benton), +p. 141-4. + +(53) _Ibid_., p. 181. + +(54) Historical, etc., Ex., _Dred Scott Case_, pp. 181-2. + +(55) There were some small insurrections and some threatened ones +in the colonies as early as 1660, the guilty negroes or Indians +being then punished by crucifixion, burning, and by starvation; +other insurrections took place in the Carolinas and Georgia in +1734, and the Cato insurrection occurred at Stono, S. C., in 1740. +There was a wide spread "Negro Plot" in New York in 1712. These +attempts alarmed the colonies and caused some of them to take steps +to abolish slavery.--_Sup. of African Slave-Trade U. S._, pp. 6, +10, 22, 206. + + +XIV +TEXAS--ADMISSION INTO THE UNION (1845) + +Texas was a province of Mexico when the latter seceded from Spain +through a "Proclamation of Independence" by Iturbide (February 24, +1821) with a view to establishing a constitutional monarchy. At +the end of about two years of Iturbide's reign, this form of +government was overthrown, and he was compelled (March 19, 1823) +to resign his crown. Through the efforts, principally of General +Santa Anna, a Republic was established under a Constitution, +modelled, in large part, on that of the United States, which went +into full effect October 4, 1824. Spain did not formally recognize +the independence of Mexico until 1836. The Mexican Republic was +opposed to slavery, and after some of her provinces had decreed +freedom to slaves its President (Guerro), September 15, 1829, +decreed its total abolition, but as Texas, on account of slave- +holding settlers from the United States, demurred to the decree, +another one followed, April 5, 1837, by the Mexican Congress, also +abolishing slavery, without exception, in Texas. Despite these +decrees the American settlers carried slaves into Texas, which +became part of the State of Coahuila, whose Constitution also +forbade the importation of slaves. + +Thus was slavery extension to the southwest cut off by a power not +likely ever to be in sympathy with it. It is worthy of note that +neither the independent Spanish blood (notwithstanding Spain's deep +guilt in the conduct of the slave trade), nor that blood as intermixed +with the Indian, nor the Mexican Indians themselves, ever willingly +maintained human slavery in America. Mexico's established religion +under the Constitution, being Roman Catholic, did not permit its +perpetuation. The Pope of Rome, in the nineteenth century and +earlier, had denounced it as inhuman and contrary to the divine +justice. + +The maintenance of slavery in Texas was regarded as of paramount +importance to the South, and as slavery could not exist in Texas +under Mexican authority, efforts were put forth to secure her +independence, then to annex her to the United States as a State +wherein slavery should exist. Even Clay, as Secretary of State, +under Adams, in 1827, proposed to purchase Texas. President Jackson, +in 1830, offered $5,000,000 for Texas. The Mexican Government, +foreseeing the coming danger, by law prohibited American immigration +into Texas, but this was unavailing, as the ever-unscrupulous hand +of slavery was reaching out for more room and more territory to +perpetuate itself. Americans, like their natural kinsmen the +Englishmen, then regarded not the rights of others, the weak +especially, when the slave power was involved. + +Sam Houston, of Tennessee, a capable man who had fought under +Jackson in the Indian wars, inspired by his pro-slavery proclivities +in 1835, went to Texas avowedly to wrest Texas from free Mexico, +and, it is said, of his real intentions President Jackson was not +ignorant. + +The unfortunate internal political contentions in Mexico gave the +intruding Americans pretexts for disputes which soon led to the +desired conflicts with the Mexican authorities. + +Santa Anna, who had, through a revolution, put himself at the head +of the new Mexican Republic, attempted to coerce the invading +settlers to observance of the laws, but in this was only partially +successful. On March 2, 1836, a Texas _Declaration of Independence_ +was issued, signed by about _sixty_ men, _two_ of whom only were +Texas-Mexicans, and this was followed by a Constitution for the +Republic of Texas, chief among its objects being the establishment +of human slavery. Santa Anna, with the natural fierceness of the +Spanish-Indian, waged a ferocious war on the revolutionists. A +garrison of 250 men at "The Alamo," a small mission church near +San Antonio, was taken by him after heroic resistance, and massacred +to a man. + +"Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat, but The Alamo had none." + +David Crockett, an uneducated, eccentric Tennessean, who was a +celebrated hunter, Indian fighter, story teller, wit, and member +of Congress three terms (where he opposed President Jackson, and +refused to obey any party commanding him "to-go-wo-haw-gee," just +at his pleasure) here lost his life. On the 27th of the same month +500 more Americans at Goliad were also massacred. These atrocities +were used successfully to produce sympathy and create excitement +in the United States. On April 21, 1836, a decisive battle was +fought at San Jacinto between Santa Anna's army of 1500 men and a +body of 800 men under General Sam Houston, in which the former was +defeated, and Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, captured. While +a prisoner, to save his life he immediately concluded an armistice +with Houston, agreeing to evacuate Texas and procure the recognition +by Mexico of its independence. This the Mexican Congress afterwards +refused. But in October, 1836, with a Constitution modelled on +that of the United States, the Republic of Texas (recognizing +slavery) was organized, with Houston as President, and forthwith +the United States recognized its independence. + +In a few months application was made to the United States to receive +it into the Union, but on account of a purpose to divide Texas into +a number of slave States to secure the preponderance of the slave +political power in the Union, which for want of sufficient population +was not immediately possible, her admission was delayed, and Sam +Houston's Republic of Texas existed for above eight years. President +Van Buren, who succeeded Jackson as President, was opposed to its +annexation, and it was left to the apostate Tyler to take up the +business. + +He, too, would have failed but Mr. Upshur, his Secretary of State, +being killed in 1844 by the accidental explosion of a cannon, John +C. Calhoun became his successor. The latter at once arranged a +treaty of annexation, but this the Senate rejected. Both Van Buren +and Clay, leading candidates of their respective parties for the +Presidency in 1844, were opposed to the annexation; the former was +defeated for nomination, and the latter at the election, because, +during the canvass, to please the slaveholding Whigs he sought to +shift his position, thus losing his anti-slavery friends, "whose +votes would have elected him"; and Polk became President. Annexation, +however, did not wait for his administration. + +In the House of Representatives, in December, 1844, an attempt was +made to admit Texas, half to be free and half slave, making two +States. + +By resolutions of Congress, dated March 1, 1845, consent was given +to erect Texas into a State with a view to annexation; and in order +that she might be admitted into the Union such resolutions provided +that thereafter four other States, with her consent, might be formed +out of its territory. In August succeeding, a Constitution was +framed prohibiting emancipation of slaves (56) and authorizing +their importation into Texas, which was thereafter adopted by the +people of the Republic of Texas, under which Congress, by resolution +(December 29, 1845) formally admitted Texas into the Union--the +last slave State admitted. + +As a sop to Northern "dough-faces," and to induce them to vote for +the resolutions of March 1st, it recited that the new States lying +south of latitude 36° 30´ should be admitted with or without slavery +as their inhabitants might decide, those north of the line without +slavery. In the subsequent adjustment of the north boundary line +of Texas, it was found _no part of it_ was within two hundred miles +of 36° 30´; so all of Texas (in territory an empire, in area 240,000 +square miles, six times greater than Ohio) was thus dedicated +forever, by law, to human slavery, in the professed interest of +the nineteenth century civilization. The intrigue, the bad faith, +the perfidy by which this great political and moral wrong was +consummated were laid up against the "day of wrath." + +(56) How different is Texas' Constitution of 1876, the first +paragraph of which runs: "Texas is a free and independent State." + + +XV +MEXICAN WAR--ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO 1846-8 + +With Texas came naturally a desire for more slave territory. Wrong +is never satiated; it hungers as it feeds on its prey. + +Pretence for quarrel arose over the boundary between Texas and +Mexico. The United States unjustly claimed that the Rio Grande +was the southwestern boundary of Texas instead of the Nueces, as +Mexico maintained. Mexico was invaded, her cities, including her +ancient capital, were taken, and her badly-organized armies +overthrown. Congress, by an Act of May 13, 1846, declared that +"by the act of the Republic of Mexico a state of war existed between +that government and the United States," and it virtually ended in +September, 1847, though the final treaty of peace at Guadalupe +Hidalgo was not signed until February 2, 1848. While the annexation +of Texas was regarded by Mexico as a cause of war, yet she did not +declare war on that ground. + +The principle of "manifest destiny" was proclaimed for the United +States. In the prosecution of the war, with shameless effrontery +it was justified on the necessity that "_we want room_" for the +two hundred millions of inhabitants soon to be under our flag. + +Answering this cry, put up by Senator Cass of Michigan, Senator +Thomas Corwin, in a spirit of prophecy, said: + +"But you still say you want _room_ for your people. This has been +the plea of every robber-chief from Nimrod to the present hour. +I dare say, when Tamerlane descended from his throne, built of +seventy thousand human skulls, and marched his ferocious battalions +to further slaughter,--I dare say he said, 'I want room.' Alexander, +too, the mighty 'Macedonian Madman,' when he wandered with his +Greeks to the plains of India, and fought a bloody battle on the +very ground where recently England and the Sikhs engaged in a strife +for 'room' . . . Sir, he made quite as much of that sort of history +as you ever will. Mr. President, do you remember the last chapter +in that history? It is soon read. Oh! I wish we could understand +its moral. Ammon's son (so was Alexander named), after all his +victories, died drunk in Babylon. The vast empire he conquered to +'get room' became the prey of the generals he trained; it was +desparted, torn to pieces, and so ended. Sir, there is a very +significant appendix; it is this: The descendants of the Greeks-- +of Alexander's Greeks--are now governed by a descendant of Attilla." + +Through the greed of the slave power Texas was acquired, and they +still longed for more slave territory, and weak Mexico alone could +be depleted to obtain it. + +Southern California and New Mexico had a sufficiently warm climate +for slavery to flourish in. + +The war was far from popular, though the pride of national patriotism +supported it. Clay and Webster each opposed it, and each gave a +son to it.(57) + +Abraham Lincoln, then for a single term in Congress, spoke against +it, but, like most other members holding similar views, voted men, +money, and supplies to carry it on. + +Senator Benton of Missouri, a party friend to the administration +of Polk and favoring the war, said: + +"The truth was, an intrigue was laid for peace before the war was +declared! And this intrigue was even part of the scheme for making +war. It is impossible to conceive of an administration less warlike, +or more intriguing, than that of Mr. Polk. They were men of peace, +with objects to be accomplished by means of war. . . . They wanted +a small war, just large enough to require a treaty of peace, and +not large enough to make military reputations dangerous for the +Presidency."(58) + +It was predicted the war would not last to exceed "90 to 120 days." +The proposed conquest of Mexico was so inlaid with treachery that +this prediction was justified. The Administration conspired with +the then exiled Santa Anna "not to obstruct his return to Mexico." + +"It was the arrangement with Santa Anna! We to put him back in +Mexico, and he to make peace with us: of course an _agreeable peace_ +. . . not without receiving a consideration: and in this case some +millions of dollars were required--not for himself, of course, but +to enable him to promote the peace at home."(59) + +Accordingly, in August, 1846, before Buena Vista and other signal +successes in the war, the President asked an appropriation of +$2,000,000 to be used in promoting a peace. + +But already jealousy and envy toward the generals in the field had +arisen, which culminated in President Polk offering to confer on +Senator Thomas H. Benton (of his own party) the rank of Lieutenant- +General, with full command, thus superseding the Whig Generals, +Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, then possible Presidential +candidates.(60) + +The acquisition of more territory from Mexico being no secret, a +bill for the desired appropriation precipitated, unexpectedly, a +most violent discussion of the slavery question, never again allayed +until slavery was eliminated from the Union. + +A Democratic Representative from Pennsylvania, David Wilmot, who +favored the acquisition of California and New Mexico, for the +purpose of "_preserving the equilibrium of States_," and as an +offset to the already acquired slave State of Texas, which was then +expected to be soon erected into five slave States, moved, August, +1846, the following proviso to the "two million bill": + +"That no part of the territory to be acquired should be open to +the introduction of slavery." + +This famous "Wilmot Proviso" never became a part of any law; its +sole importance was in its frequent presentation and the violent +discussions over it. + +Thus far the national wrong against Mexico had for its manifest +object the spread of slavery. + +The proposition to seize Mexican territory and dedicate it to +freedom threw the advocates of slavery and the war into a frenzy, +and consternation in high circles prevailed. + +The proviso was adopted in the House, but failed in the Senate. +It was, in February, 1847, again, by the House, tacked on the "three +million bill," but being struck out in the Senate, the bill passed +the House without it. But the proviso had done its work; the whole +North was alive to its importance, and Presidential and Congressional +_timber_ blossomed or withered accordingly as it did or did not +fly a banner inscribed "_Wilmot Proviso_." + +Calhoun, professing great alarm and great concern for the Constitution, +on February 19, 1847, introduced into the Senate his celebrated +resolution declaring, among other things, that the Territories +belonged to the "several States . . . as their joint and common +property." "That the enactment of any law which should . . . +deprive the citizens of any of the States . . . from emigrating +with their property [slaves] into any of the Territories . . . +would be a violation of the Constitution and the rights of the +States, . . . and would tend directly to subvert the Union itself." + +Here was the doctrine of state-rights born into full life, with +the old doctrine of nullification embodied. Benton, speaking of +the dangerous character of Calhoun's resolution, said of them: + +"As Sylla saw in the young Caesar many Mariuses, so did he see in +them many nullifications." + +Benton, quite familiar with the whole history of slavery before, +during, and after the Mexican War, himself a Senator from a slave +State, says the Wilmot proviso "was secretly cherished as a means +of keeping up discord, and forcing the issue between the North and +the South," by Calhoun and his friends, citing Mr. Calhoun's Alabama +letter of 1847, already quoted, in proof of his statement. + +By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February, 1848) for $15,000,000 +(above $3,000,000 more than was paid Napoleon for the Louisiana +Purchase), New Mexico and Upper California were ceded by Mexico to +the United States, and the Rio Grande from El Paso to its mouth +became the boundary between the two countries. Upper California +is now the State of California, and the New Mexico thus acquired +included much of the present New Mexico, nearly all of Arizona, +substantially all of Utah and Nevada, and the western portion of +Colorado, in area 545,000 square miles, which, together with the +Gadsden Purchase, by further treaty with Mexico (December 30, 1853) +for $10,000,000 more, completed the despoiling of the sister +Republic. The territory acquired by the last treaty now constitutes +the southern part of Arizona and the southwest corner of New Mexico. + +Almost contemporaneous with the invasion of Mexico, and as part of +the plan for the acquisition of her territory, Buchanan, then +Secretary of State, dispatched Lieutenant Gillespie, of the United +States Army, _via_ Vera Cruz, the City of Mexico, and Mazatlan, to +Monterey, Upper California, ostensibly with dispatches to a consul, +but really for the purpose of presenting a mere _letter of +introduction_ and a verbal request to Captain John C. Fremont, +U.S.A., then on an exploring expedition to the Pacific Coast. The +Lieutenant found Fremont at the north end of the Great Klamath +Lake, Oregon, in the midst of hostile Indians. The _letter_ being +presented, Gillespie verbally communicated from the Secretary a +request for him to counteract any foreign scheme on California, +and to cultivate the good-will of the inhabitants towards the United +States. + +On this information Fremont returned, in May, 1846 (the month the +war opened on the Rio Grande), to the valley of the Sacramento. +His arrival there was timely, as already the ever-grasping hand of +the British was at work. There had been inaugurated (1) the massacre +of American settlers, (2) the subjection of California to British +protection, and (3) the transfer of its public domain to British +subjects. Fremont did not even know war had broken out between +the United States and Mexico, yet he organized at first a defensive +war in the Sacramento Valley for the protection of American settlers, +and blood was shed; then he resolved to overturn the Mexican +authority, and establish "California Independence." The celerity +with which all this was accomplished was romantic. In thirty days +all Northern California was freed from Mexican rule--the flag of +independence raised; American settlers were saved, and the British +party overthrown. + +Since its discovery by Sir Francis Drake--two hundred years--England +had sought to possess the splendid Bay of California, with its +great seaport and the tributary country. The war between the United +States and Mexico seemed her opportune time for the acquisition, +but her efforts, both by sea and land, were thwarted by her only +less voracious daughter.(61) + +Often in human affairs events concur to control or turn aside the +most carefully guarded plans. California and the other Mexican +acquisitions were by the war party--the slave propagandists--fore- +ordained to be slave territory. The free State men had done little +to favor its theft and purchase, and it was therefore claimed that +they of right should have little interest in its disposition. + +Just nine days (January 24, 1848) before the treaty of peace +(Guadalupe Hidalgo), John A. Sutter, a Swiss by parentage, German +by birth (Baden), American by residence and naturalization (Missouri), +Mexican in turn, by residence and naturalization, together with +James A. Marshall, a Jerseyman wheelwright in Sutter's employ, +while the latter was walking in a newly-constructed and recently +flooded saw-mill tail-race, in the small valley of Coloma, about +forty-five miles from Sacramento (then Sutter's Fort), in the foot- +hills of the Sierras, picked up some small, shining yellow particles, +which proved to be free _gold_.(62) + +"_The accursed thirst for gold_" was now soon to outrun the _accursed +greed_ for more slave territory. The race was unequal. The whole +world joined in the race for gold. The hunger for wealth seized +all alike, the common laborer, the small farmer, the merchant, the +mechanic, the politician, the lawyer and the clergyman, the soldier +and the sailor from the army and navy; from all countries and climes +came the gold seeker; only the slaveholder with his slaves alone +were left behind. There was no place for the latter with freemen +who themselves swung the pick and rocked the cradle in search of +the precious metal. + +California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona still give +up their gold and their silver to the free miner; and the financial +condition and prosperity of the civilized countries of the world +have been favorably affected by these productions, but of this we +are not here to speak. Slavery is our text, and we must not stray +too far from it. + +Turning back to the negotiations for the first treaty with Mexico, +we find, to her everlasting credit, though compelled to part with +her possessions, she still desired they should continue to be free. + +Slavery, as has already been shown, did not exist in Mexico by law; +and California and New Mexico held no slaves, so, during the +negotiations, the Mexican representatives begged for the incorporation +of an article providing that slavery should be prohibited in all +the territory to be ceded. N. P. Trist, the American Commissioner, +promptly and fiercely resented the bare mention of the subject. +He replied that if the territory to be acquired were tenfold more +valuable, and covered _a foot thick_ with pure gold, on the single +condition that slavery was to be excluded therefrom, the proposition +would not be for a moment entertained, nor even communicated to +the President.(63) + +Though the invocation was in behalf of humanity, the "invincible +Anglo-Saxon race" (so cried Senator Preston in 1836) "could not +listen to the prayer of superstitious Catholicism, goaded on by a +miserable priesthood." + +Now that California and New Mexico were United States territory, +how was it to be devoted to slavery to reward the friends of its +acquisition? + +As slavery was prohibited under Mexican law, this territory must +by the law of nations remain free until slavery was, by positive +enactment, authorized therein. This ancient and universal law, +however, was soon to be disregarded or denied by the advocates of +the doctrine that the Constitution of the United States spread +itself over territories, and, by force of it, legalized human +slavery therein, and guaranteed to citizens of a State the right +to carry their property--human slaves included--into United States +territory and there hold it, by force of and protected by the +Constitution, in defiance of unfriendly territorial or Congressional +legislation. This novel claim also sprung from the brain of Calhoun, +and was met with the true view of slavery, to wit: That it was a +creature solely of law; that it existed nowhere of natural right; +that whenever a slave was taken from a jurisdiction where slaves +could be held by law, to one where no law made him a slave, his +shackles fell off and he became a free man. The soundness of the +rule that a citizen of a State could carry his personal property +from his State to a Territory was admitted, but it was claimed he +could not hold it there if it were not such as the laws of the +Territory recognized as property. In other words, he might transfer +his property from a State to a Territory, but he could not take +with him the law of his State authorizing him to hold it as property. +The law of the _situs_ is of universal application governing +property. + +It remains to briefly note the effort to extend and interpret the +Constitution, with the sole view to establish and perpetuate human +slavery. + +Near the close of the session of Congress (1848-49), Mr. Walker of +Wisconsin, at the instigation of Calhoun moved, as a rider on an +appropriation bill, a section providing a temporary government for +such Territories, including a provision to "_extend the Constitution +of the United States to the Territories_." This astounding +proposition was defended by Calhoun, and, with his characteristic +straightforwardness, he avowed the true object of the amendment +was to override the anti-slavery laws of the Territories, and plant +the institution of slavery therein, beyond the reach of Congressional +or territorial law. + +Mr. Webster expounded the Constitution and combated the newly +brought forward slave-extension doctrine, but a majority of the +Senate voted for the amendment. + +The House, however, voted down the rider, and between the two +branches of Congress it failed. For a time appropriations of +necessary supplies for the government were made to depend on the +success of the measure.(64) + +Thus again the newly acquired domain escaped the doom of perpetual +slavery. + +But we have done with the Mexican War and the acquisition of Mexican +territory. It remains to be told how this vast domain was disposed +of. No part of it ever became slave. + +There was not time in Polk's administration to dispose of it. +General Zachary Taylor, the hero of Palo Alto, Resaca, Monterey, +and Buena Vista, became President, March 4, 1849. He was wholly +without political experience and had never even voted at an election. +He was purely a professional soldier, and a Southerner by birth +and training; was a patriot, possessed of great common sense, and +knew nothing of intrigue, and was endowed with a high sense of +justice, and believed in the rights of the majority. He belonged +to no cabal to promote, extend, or perpetuate slavery, and, probably, +in his conscience was opposed to it. His Southern friends could +not use him, and when they demanded his aid, as President, to plant +slavery in California, he not only declined to serve them, but +openly declared that California should be free. In different words, +but words of like import, he responded to them, as he did to General +Wool, at a critical moment in the battle of Buena Vista. Wool +remarked: "_General, we are whipped_." Taylor responded: "_That +is for me to determine_."(65) + +(57) Lt.-Col. Henry Clay, Jr., fell at Buena Vista February 23, +1847, and Maj. Edward Webster died at San Angel, Mexico, January +23, 1848. + +(58) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 680. + +(59) _Ibid_., p. 681. + +(60) Taylor became President March, 1849, succeeding Polk, and +died in office July 9, 1850. Scott was nominated by his party +(Whig) in 1852, and defeated; Franklin Pierce, a subordinate General +of the war, was elected by his party (Democrat) President in 1852. + +(61) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., pp. 688-692. + +(62) _Hist. Ready Ref._, vol. i, p. 350. + +(63) Trist's letter to Buchanan, Secretary of State, Von Holst, +vol. iii., p. 334. + +(64) Historical Ex., etc., _Dred Scott Case_, pp. 151-9. This is +the first Congress where its sessions were continued after twelve +o'clock midnight, of March 3d, in the odd years. _Ibid_., pp. 136-9. + +(65) _Hist. of Mexican War_ (Wilcox), p. 223. + + +XVI +COMPROMISE MEASURES--1850 + +The slavery agitation first began in 1832 on a false tariff issue, +and precipitated upon the country in 1835, on the lines of +nullification and disunion, and was again revived at the close of +the Mexican War, and continued violently through 1849 and 1850. +The year 1850 will be ever memorable in the history of the United +States as a year wherein all the baleful seeds of disunion were +sown, which grew, to ripen, a little more than ten years later, +into _disunion_ in fact. Prophetically, a leading South Carolina +paper in its New Year-Day edition, said: + +"When the future historian shall address himself to the task of +portraying the rise, progress, and decline of the American union, +the year _1850_ will arrest his attention, as denoting and presenting +the first marshalling and arraying of those hostile forces and +opposing elements which resulted in dissolution." + +At the close of Polk's administration an inflammatory address, +drawn and signed by Calhoun and forty-one other members of Congress +from the slave States, was issued, filled with unfounded charges +against the North, professing to be a warning to the South that a +purpose existed to abolish slavery and bring on a conflict between +the white and black races, and to San Domingoize the South, which +could only be avoided, the address states: + +"By fleeing the homes of ourselves and ancestors, and by abandoning +our country to our slaves, to become the permanent abode of disorder, +anarchy, poverty, misery, and wretchedness." + +This manifesto did not go quite to the extent of declaring for a +dissolution of the Union, but it appealed to the South to become +united, saying, if the North did not yield to its demands, the +South would be the assailed, and + +"Would stand justified by all laws, human and divine, in repelling +a blow so dangerous, without looking to consequences, and to resort +to all means necessary for that purpose."(66) + +The _Southern Press_ was set up in Washington to inculcate the +advantages of disunion, and to inflame the South against the North. +It portrayed the advantages which would result from Southern +independence; and assumed to tell how Southern cities would recover +colonial superiority; how ships of all nations would crowd Southern +ports and carry off the rich staples, bringing back ample returns, +and how Great Britain would be the ally of the new "United States +South." In brief, it asserted that a Southern convention should +meet and decree a separation unless the North surrendered to Southern +demands for the extension of slavery, for its protection in the +States, and for the certain return of fugitive slaves; it urged +also that military preparation be made to maintain what the convention +might decree. + +A disunion convention actually met at Nashville, near the home of +Jackson, but the old hero was then in his grave.(67) It assumed +to represent seven States. It invited the assembling of a "Southern +Congress." South Carolina and Mississippi alone responded to this +call. In the Legislature of South Carolina secession and disunion +speeches were delivered, and throughout the South public addresses +were made, and the press advocated and threatened dissolution of +the Union unless the North yielded all.(68) + +All this and more to immediately effect the introduction of slavery +into California and New Mexico. The South saw clearly that the +free people of the Republic were resolved that there should be no +more slave States, but believed that the mercantile, trading people, +and small farmers of the North would not fight for their rights, +and hence intimidation seemed to them to promise success. + +It had its effect on many, and, unfortunately, on some of America's +greatest statesmen. + +By a singular coincidence the Thirty-first Congress, which met +December, 1849, embraced among its members Webster, Clay, Calhoun, +Benton, Cass, Corwin, Seward, Salmon P. Chase, John P. Hale, Hamlin +of Maine, James M. Mason, Douglas of Illinois, Foote and Davis of +Mississippi, of the Senate; and Joshua R. Giddings, Horace Mann, +Wilmot of Pennsylvania, Robert C. Schenck, Robert C. Winthrop, +Alexander H. Stephens, and Thaddeus Stevens, of the House. + +To avert the impending storm of slavery agitation then threatening +disunion, Clay, by a set of resolutions, with a view to a "_lasting +compromise_," on January 29, 1850, proposed in the Senate a general +plan of compromise and a committee of thirteen to report a bill or +bills in accordance therewith. + +His plan was: + +1. The admission of California with her free Constitution. + +2. Territorial governments for the other territory acquired from +Mexico, without any restriction as to slavery. + +3. The disputed boundary between Texas and New Mexico to be +determined. + +4. The _bona fide_ public debt of Texas, contracted prior to +annexation, to be paid from duties on foreign imports, upon condition +that Texas relinquish her claim to any part of New Mexico. + +5. The declaration that it was inexpedient to abolish slavery in +the District of Columbia, without the consent of Maryland and the +people of the District, and without compensation to owners of +slaves. + +6. The prohibition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. + +7. A more effectual provision for the rendition of fugitive slaves. + +8. A declaration that Congress has no power to interfere with the +slave trade between States. + +These resolutions and the plan embodied led to a most noteworthy +discussion, chiefly participated in by Clay, Webster, Calhoun, +Benton, Seward, and Foote. The debate was opened by Clay. He +favored the admission of California with her already formed free +State Constitution, but he exclaimed: + +"I shall go with the Senator from the South who goes farthest in +making penal laws and imposing the heaviest sanctions for the +recovery of fugitive slaves and the restoration of them by their +owners." + +He, however, tried to hold the olive branch to both the North and +the South, and pleaded for the Union. He pathetically pleaded for +mutual concessions, and deprecated, what he then apprehended, _war_ +between the sections, exclaiming: + +"War and dissolution of the Union are identical." + +After prophesying that if a war came it would be more ferocious, +bloody, implacable, and exterminating than were the wars of Greece, +the Commoners of England, or the Revolutions of France, Senator +Clay predicted that it would be "not of two or three years' duration, +but a war of interminable duration, during which some Philip or +Alexander, some Caesar or Napoleon, would arise and cut the Gordian +knot and solve the problem of the capacity of man for self-government, +and crush the liberties of both the several portions of this common +empire." + +Happily, events have falsified most of these prophecies. + +Then came the dying Calhoun, with a last speech in behalf of slavery +and on the imaginary wrongs of the South. His last appearance in +public life was pathetic. Broken with age and disease, enveloped +in flannels, he was carried into the Capitol, where he tottered to +the old Senate Hall and to a seat. He found himself too weak to +even read his last warning to the North and appeal for his beloved +institution. The speech was written, and was read in his presence +by Senator Mason of Virginia. He referred to the disparity of +numbers between the North and the South by which the "equilibrium +between the two sections had been destroyed." He did not recognize +the fact that slavery alone was the cause of this disparity. He +professed to believe the final object of the North was "the abolition +of slavery in the States." He contended that one of the "cords" +of the Union embraced "plans for disseminating the Bible," and "for +the support of doctrines and creeds." + +He said: + +"The first of these _cords_ which snapped under its explosive force +was that of the powerful Methodist Episcopal Church. The next +_cord_ that snapped was that of the Baptists, one of the largest +and most respectable of the denominations. That of the Presbyterian +is not entirely snapped, but some of its strands have given way. +That of the Episcopal Church is the only one of the four great +Protestant denominations which remains unbroken and entire." + +He referred to the strong ties which held together the two great +parties, and said: + +"This powerful _cord_ has fared no better than the spiritual. To +this extent the union has already been destroyed by agitation." + +He laid at the door of the North all the blame for the slavery +agitation. + +The admission of California as a free State was the immediate, +exciting cause for Calhoun's speech. + +Already, on October 13, 1849, after a session of forty days, a +Convention in California had, with much unanimity, framed a +Constitution which, one month later, was, with like unanimity, +adopted by her free, gold-mining people. It prohibited slavery. +It had been laid before Congress by President Taylor, who recommended +the immediate admission under it of California as a State. + +President Taylor had not overlooked the disunion movements. In +his first and only message to Congress he expressed his affection +for the Union, and warningly said: + +"In my judgment its dissolution would be the greatest of calamities, +and to avert that should be the study of every American. Upon its +preservation must depend our own happiness, and that of countless +generations to come. Whatever dangers may threaten it, I shall +stand by it and maintain it in its integrity, to the full extent +of the obligations imposed and the power conferred on me by the +Constitution." + +Recommending specially that territorial governments for New Mexico +and Utah should be formed, leaving them to settle the question of +slavery for themselves, President Taylor, in his Message, said +further: + +"I repeat the solemn warning of the first and most illustrious of +my predecessors against furnishing any ground for characterizing +parties by geographical discriminations." + +Alluding to these passages, Calhoun, in his last speech, said: + +"It (the Union) cannot, then, be saved by eulogies on it, however +splendid or numerous. The cry of 'Union, Union, the glorious +Union,' can no more prevent _disunion_ than the cry of 'Health, +Health, glorious Health,' on the part of the physician can save +a patient from dying that is lying dangerously ill." + +To the allusion of the President to Washington, Calhoun sneeringly +said: + +"There was nothing in _his_ history to deter us from seceding from +the Union should it fail to fulfil the objects for which it was +instituted." + +The prime objects for which the Union was formed, were, as he +contended, the preservation, perpetuation, and extension of the +institution of human slavery. In the antithesis of this speech he +asked and answered: + +"How can the Union be saved? + +"To provide for the insertion of a provision in the Constitution, +by an amendment which will restore to the South in substance the +power she possessed of protecting herself before the equilibrium +between the sections was destroyed by the action of this +government." + +The speech did not state what, exactly, this amendment was to be, +but it transpired that it was to provide for the election of _two_ +Presidents, one from the free and one from the slave States, each +to approve all acts of Congress before they became laws. + +Of this device, Senator Benton said: + +"No such double-headed government could work through even one +session of Congress, any more than two animals could work together +in the plough with their heads yoked in opposite directions."(69) + +In the same month (March 31, 1850) the great political gladiator +and pro-slavery agitator and originator and disseminator of disunion +doctrines was dead;(70) but there were others to uphold and carry +forward his work to its fatal ending. + +Calhoun was early accounted a sincere and honest man, a patriot of +moderate views, and at one time was much esteemed North as well as +South. It is believed than an unfortunate quarrel with President +Jackson dashed his hopes of reaching the Presidency, and so embittered +him that he became the champion, first of nullification, then of +disunion. + +There is not room here to speak in detail of the other champions +of the great debate on the Clay resolutions. + +On the 18th of April these resolutions, and others of like import, +were referred to a committee of thirteen, with Clay as its chairman. +This was Clay's last triumph, and he accepted it with the greatest +joy, though then in ill health and fast approaching the grave.(71) + +Of his joy, Benton, in a speech at the time, said: + +"We all remember that night. He seemed to ache with pleasure. It +was too great for continence. It burst forth. In the fullness of +his joy and the overflow of his heart he entered upon the series +of congratulations."(72) + +The sincere old hero was doomed to much disappointment; he did not +live, however, to see his views on slavery contained in the Compromise +measures (1) overthrown by an act of Congress four years later, +(2) by a decision of the Supreme Court seven years later, and then +(3) made an issue on which the South seceded from the Union and +precipitated a war, in which for ferocity, duration, and bloodshed, +his prophecies fell far short. On the 8th of May this memorable +committee reported its recommendations somewhat different from his +resolutions. + +Its report favored: + +1. The postponement of the subject of the admission of new States +formed out of Texas until they present themselves, when Congress +should faithfully execute the compact with Texas by admitting them. + +2. The admission forthwith of California with the boundaries she +claimed. + +3. The establishment of territorial government, without the Wilmot +Proviso, for New Mexico and Utah; embracing all territory acquired +from Mexico not included in California. + +4. The last two measures to be combined in one bill. + +5. The establishment of the boundary of Texas by the exclusion of +all New Mexico, with the grant of a pecuniary equivalent to Texas; +also to be a part of a bill including the last two measures. + +6. A more effectual fugitive-slave law. + +7. To prohibit the slave trade, not slavery, in the District of +Columbia. + +Bills to carry out these recommendations were also reported. + +A discussion ensued in both branches of Congress, which continued +for five months; and daily Clay met and presided in caucus over +what he called the Union men of the Senate, including Whigs and +Democrats. + +These measures were supported by Clay, Webster, Cass, Douglas, and +Foote; opposed by Seward, Chase, Hale, Davis of Massachusetts, and +Dayton, anti-slavery men; also by Benton, an independent Democrat, +a slaveholder in Missouri and the District of Columbia,(73) and by +Jefferson Davis, and others of the Calhoun Southern type. + +President Taylor opposed the Clay plan. He denominated the blending +on incongruous subjects as an "Omnibus Bill." He favored dealing +with each subject on its own merits. He regarded the Texas and +New Mexico boundary dispute as a question between the United States +and New Mexico, not between Texas and New Mexico.(74) He favored +the admission of California with her free State Constitution. Even +earlier, he announced that he would approve a bill containing the +Wilmot Proviso. He indignantly responded to Stephens' and Toombs' +demands in the interests of slavery, coupled with threatened +disunion, by giving them to understand he would, if necessary, take +the field himself to enforce the laws, and if the gentlemen were +taken in rebellion he would hang them as he had deserters and spies +in Mexico.(75) + +Taylor died (July 8, 1850) pending the great discussion, chagrined +and mortified over the unsettled condition of his country. His +last words were: "_I have always done my duty; I am ready to die. +My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me_." + +He was a great soldier and patriot, and his character hardly +justified the whole of the common appellation, "Rough and Ready." +He was perhaps always ready, but not rough; on the contrary, he +was a man of peace and order. On his election to the Presidency +he desired some plan to be adopted for California by which "to +substitute the rule of law and order there for the bowie knife and +revolver."(76) + +In August, 1850, the great debate ceased, and voting in the Senate +commenced. The plan of the "thirteen" underwent changes, their +bills being segregated, substitutes were offered for them, and many +amendments were made to the several bills. Davis of Mississippi +insisted upon the extension of the Missouri Compromise line--36° +30´--to the Pacific Ocean. This brought out Mr. Clay's best +sentiments. He said: + +"Coming as I do from a slave State, it is my solemn, deliberate, +and well matured determination that no power, no earthly power, +shall compel me to vote for the positive introduction of slavery, +either south or north of that line. Sir, while you reproach, and +justly, too, our British ancestors for the introduction of this +institution upon the continent of America, I am, for one, unwilling +that the posterity of the present inhabitants of California and +New Mexico shall reproach us for doing just what we reproach Great +Britain for doing for us." + +The Wilmot Proviso made its appearance for the last time when Seward +offered it as an amendment. It failed in the Senate by a vote of +23 to 33. + +Finally, when the bill for the admission of California was ready +for a vote, Turney of Tennessee moved to limit the southern boundary +of the State to 36° 30´, so as to allow slavery in all territory +south of that line. This failed, 24 to 32, the South voting almost +unitedly for the amendment. + +Mr. Benton was a prominent exception. To him the friends of freedom +owed much for support, by speech and vote. While he opposed Clay's +plan, he voted with the free State party on all questions of slavery, +save on the Wilmot Proviso, which he deemed unnecessary to the +exclusion of slavery from territory where the laws of Mexico, still +in force, excluded it. + +The California bill passed, August 13th, 34 to 18. Clay is not +recorded as voting. He may have been absent or paired. Webster +had become Secretary of State, and Winthrop succeeded him in the +Senate. To emphasize the opposition, ten Senators immediately had +read at the Secretary's desk a protest, with a view to its being +spread on the Journal. This was refused, after a most spirited +debate, as being against precedent.(77) The protest was a long +complaint against making the Territory of California a State without +its being first organized, territorially, and an opportunity given +to the South to make it a slave State, and for admitting it as a +free State, thus destroying the equilibrium of the States; the +protestors declaring that if such course were persisted in, it +would lead to a dissolution of the Union. A bill establishing New +Mexico with its present boundaries, also Utah, was passed in August, +leaving both to become States with or without slavery. A fugitive- +slave act was likewise passed at the same time in the Senate. The +whole of the bills covered by the compromise having in some form +passed the Senate, went to the House, where, after some animated +discussion, they all passed, in September following, and were +approved by President Fillmore. + +It remains to speak briefly of the Fugitive-Slave Act. It was +odious to the North in the extreme. United States Commissioners +were provided for to act instead of state magistrates, on whom +jurisdiction was attempted to be conferred by the Act of 1793. +_Ex-parte_ testimony was made sufficient to determine the identity +of the negro claimed, and the affidavit of an agent or attorney +was made sufficient. The alleged fugitive was not permitted, under +any circumstances, to testify. He was denied the right to trial +by jury. The cases were to be heard in a summary manner. The +claimant was authorized to use all necessary force to remove the +fugitive adjudged a slave. All process of any court or judge was +forbidden to molest the claimant, his agent or attorney, in carrying +away the adjudged slave. United States marshals and their deputies +were authorized to summon bystanders as a _posse comitatus_; and +all good citizens were commanded, by the act, to aid and assist in +the prompt and efficient execution of the law; all under heavy +penalty for failing to do so. The officers were liable, in a civil +suit, for the value of the negro if he escaped. Heavy fine or +imprisonment was to be imposed for hindering or preventing the +arrest, or for rescuing or attempting to rescue, or for harboring +or concealing the fugitive, and, if any person was found guilty of +causing his escape, a further fine of $1000 by way of civil damages +to the owner. In case the commissioner adjudged the negro was the +claimant's slave, his fee was fixed at $10, and if he discharged +the negro, it was only $5. The claimant had a right, in case of +apprehended danger, to require the officer arresting the fugitive +to remove him to the State from whence he fled, with authority to +employ as many persons to aid him as he might deem necessary, the +expense to be paid out of the United States Treasury. This act +became a law September 18, 1850. The law contained so many odious +provisions against all principles of natural justice and judicial +precedents that it could not be executed in many places in the +North. The consciences of civilized men revolted against it, and +the Abolitionists did not fail to magnify its injustice; on the +other hand, the pro-slavery agitators saw in its imperfect execution +new and additional grounds for complaint against the North. + +What, then, was intended to be a settlement of the slavery agitation +proved to be really a most violent reopening of it. + +Webster, like Clay, did not survive to witness the next great +discussion in Congress on the slavery question, which resulted in +overturning much that was supposed to have been settled; nor did +they live to hear thundered from the supreme judicial tribunal of +the Union the appalling doctrines of the Dred Scott decision. +Webster died October 24, 1852. Benton lived to condemn the great +tribunal for this decision in most vehement terms. He died April +10, 1858. But few of the leading participants of the 1850 debates +lived to witness the final overthrow of slavery. Lewis Cass, +however, who, though a Democrat, generally followed and supported +Clay in his plan of compromise, not only lived to witness the birth +of the new doctrine of "Squatter Sovereignty" (and to support it), +but to hear that slavery was, according to our Supreme Court, almost +national; then to see disunion in the _live tree;_ then war; then +slaves proclaimed free as a war measure; then disunion overthrown +on the battle-field; then restoration of a more perfect Union, +wherein slavery and involuntary servitude was forbidden by the +Constitution.(78) + +In the succeeding Presidential election (1852) the two great parties +endorsed the late action of Congress in relation to the Territories +and slavery. + +The Whig platform declared the acquiescence of the party in all +its acts: "The act known as the Fugitive Slave Law included. . . . +as a settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and +exciting questions which they embrace. . . . We will maintain them +and insist on their strict enforcement." + +On this platform General Winfield Scott was nominated for the +Presidency. + +The Democratic platform of the same year, having first denied that +Congress had power under the Constitution to interfere with slavery +in the States, declared also that the party would "abide by and +adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known as the Compromise +measures settled by the last Congress,--the act for reclaiming +fugitives from service or labor included." + +Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, a subordinate officer (Brigadier- +General) under Scott in Mexico, of no special renown, but a polite +and respectable gentleman, was nominated and elected on this platform +by a decided vote; Scott carrying only Massachusetts, Vermont, +Kentucky, and Tennessee. The "Free-Soil" party nominated John P. +Hale of New Hampshire on a platform repudiating the Compromise +measures, declaring against the aggressions of the slave power and +for: + +"No more slave States, no slave territory, no nationalized slavery, +and no national legislation for the extradition of slaves. That +slavery is a sin against God, and a crime against man, which no +human enactment or usage can make right; and that Christianity, +humanity, and patriotism alike demand its abolition. + +"That the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is repugnant to the Constitution, +to the principles of the common law," etc. + +The Whig party, with this election, disappeared; its great leaders +were dead, and it could not vie with the Democratic party in pro- +slavery principles. There was no longer room for two such parties. +The American people were already divided and dividing on the living +issue of freedom or slavery. Slavery, like all wrong, was ever +aggressive, and demanded new constitutional expositions in its +interest by Congress and the courts, and it tolerated no more +temporizing or compromises. Its advocates tried for a time to +unite in the Democratic party. + +(66) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., pp. 733-6. + +(67) Jackson died June 8, 1845, past seventy-eight years of age. + +(68) _Thirty Years' View_, ii., p. 782. + +(69) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 747. + +(70) His remains were entombed in St. Philip's churchyard, +Charleston, S. C. In 1865, on that city's occupancy by the Union +forces, friends seized and secreted them from fancied desecration +by the conquerors.--Draper's _Civil War in Am._, vol. i., p. 565. + +(71) Born April 12, 1777, died June 29, 1852. + +(72) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 764. + +(73) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 759. + +(74) _Ibid_., p. 765. + +(75) _Hist. of the U. S._ (Rhodes), vol. i., pp. 134 (190). + +(76) _Hist. Pac. States_, H. H. Bancroft, vol. xviii., p. 262. + +(77) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 770. + +(78) Cass died March 17, 1866, eighty-two years of age. + + +XVII +NEBRASKA ACT--1854 + +Over the disposition of the Territory of Nebraska it remained to +have the last Congressional struggle for the extension of slavery. +This Territory in 1854 comprised what are now the States of Kansas, +Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, and parts of +Colorado and Wyoming. It was a large part of the Louisiana Purchase, +in area 485,000 square miles, twelve times as large as Ohio, about +ten times the size of New York, 140,000 square miles larger than +the original thirteen States,(79) and more than four times the area +of Great Britain and Ireland. It was what was left of the purchase +after Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Indian +Territory were carved out. It then had only about one thousand +white inhabitants. + +The desire to still placate the threatening South and to win its +political favor, led some great and patriotic men of the North to +attempt measures in the interest of slavery. + +On January 4, 1854, Stephen A. Douglas, Chairman of the Senate +Committee on Territories, made a report embodying constitutional +theories not hitherto promulgated, and questioning or repudiating +others long supposed to have been settled. + +The report announced the discovery of a new principle of the Compromise +measures of 1850. + +It declared: + +"They were intended to have a far more comprehensive and enduring +effect than the mere adjustment of difficulties arising out of the +recent acquisition of Mexican territory. They were designed to +establish certain great principles, which would not only furnish +adequate remedies for existing evils, but in all time to come avoid +the perils of similar agitation by withdrawing the question of +_slavery_ from the halls of Congress and the political arena, +committing it to the arbitration of those who are immediately +interested in and alone responsible for its consequences. . . . A +question has arisen in regard to the right to hold slaves in the +Territory of Nebraska. . . . It is a disputed point whether slavery +is prohibited in the Nebraska country by _valid_ enactment. In +the opinion of eminent statesmen. . . . the eighth section of the +act preparatory to the admission of Missouri is null and void." + +The eighth section prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory +north of 36° 30´, hence from the Nebraska Territory. The report +reiterated the absurd doctrine: + +"That the Constitution. . . . secures to every citizen an inalienable +right to move into any of the Territories with his property, of +whatever kind and description, and to hold and enjoy the same under +the sanction of law." + +(What law? The law of the place whence it came, or the law of the +place to which it was taken? Not even an ox or an ass can be held +as property save under the law of the place where it is; nor is +the title to the soil valid except under the law of the place where +it is located. As well as might a person claim the right to move +to a Territory and there own the land by virtue of the Constitution +and the laws of the State of his former residence as to claim under +them the right to own and sell his slave in a Territory. The +difficulty is, while the emigrant might take with him his human +chattel, he could not take with him the law permitting him to hold +it.) + +The report did not, however, as presented, propose to repeal the +Missouri Compromise line that had stood thirty-four years with the +approval of the first statesmen of all parties in the Union. + +It assumed simply to interpret for the dead Clay and Webster their +only four-year-old work, and ran thus: + +"The Compromise Measures of 1850 affirm and rest upon the following +propositions: + +"First--That all questions pertaining to slavery in the Territories, +and the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the +decision of the people residing therein. + +"Second--That 'all cases involving the title to slaves' and 'questions +of personal freedom' are to be referred to the jurisdiction of the +local tribunals, with the right to appeal to the Supreme Court of +the United States. + +"Third--That the provisions of the Constitution, in respect to +fugitives from service, are to be carried into faithful execution +in all 'the organized Territories,' the same as in the States." + +The first of these propositions, in another form, announced the +new doctrine of popular sovereignty, soon thereafter popularly +called "Squatter Sovereignty," in derision of the rights thus to +be vested in the territorial _squatter_, however temporary his stay +might be. It was opposed to the principle of Congressional right +(expressly granted by the Constitution (80)) to provide rules (laws) +and regulations for United States territory until it became clothed +with statehood. + +The second proposition announced nothing new, as cases involving +titles to slaves, or questions of personal freedom, must necessarily +go for final determination to the courts, with a right of appeal. + +The third proposition, like the second, was a mere platitude. + +The bill accompanying the report, as first presented, required that +any part of Nebraska Territory admitted as a state (as provided in +the New Mexico and Utah Acts of 1850) "shall be received into the +Union with or without slavery, as its Constitution may prescribe +at the time of admission." This, too, was not new in any sense, +as new States had ever been thus received. The anti-slavery press +and societies, and all people opposed to further slavery aggression +and extension, at once took alarm and violently assailed the new +doctrines of the report; the South, too, at first viewed them with +surprise, denominating them "a snare set for the South," yet later +regarded them as favorable to the extension of slavery. Southern +statesmen, however, determined to force Douglas to amend them so +as to accomplish the ends of the South. Accordingly, Senator Dixon +of Kentucky, on January 16th, offered an amendment to the Nebraska +Bill providing for the absolute repeal of the Missouri Compromise +line. This amendment Douglas, apparently with reluctance,(81) +accepted, after a consultation with Jefferson Davis, then Secretary +of War, and President Pierce, both of whom promised it their +support.(82) + +January 23, 1854, Douglas presented a substitute for his original +bill, wherein it was provided that the restriction of the Missouri +Compromise "was superseded by the principles of the legislation of +1850, and is hereby declared inoperative." + +The new bill divided the Territory in two parts; the southern, +called Kansas, lay between 37° and 40° of latitude, extending west +to the Rocky Mountains, and the northern was still called Nebraska. + +As early as 1853 a movement in Missouri was started, avowedly to +make Nebraska slave Territory, and this was well known to Douglas +and the supporters of his newly announced doctrines. Kansas, lying +farthest south, was climatically better suited for slavery than +the new Nebraska. Before the bill passed, plans were made to invade +Kansas from Missouri and Arkansas by slaveholders with their slaves. + +January 24, 1854, the _Appeal of the Independent Democrats in +Congress to the People of the United States_ was published. + +Chase and Giddings of Ohio were its authors; some verbal additions, +however, were made to it by Sumner and Gerritt Smith.(83) + +This _Appeal_ was signed by S. P. Chase, Charles Sumner, Joshua R. +Giddings, Edward Wade, Gerritt Smith, and Alexander De Witt; three +at least of whom were then, or soon became first among the great +statesmen opposed to human slavery. The _Appeal_ declared the new +Nebraska Bill would "open all the unorganized Territories of the +Union to the ingress of slavery." A plot to convert them "into a +dreary region of despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves," to +the exclusion of immigrants from the Old World and free laborers +from our own States. It reviewed the history of Congressional +legislation on slavery in the Territories, reciting, among other +things, that President Monroe approved the Missouri Compromise +after his Cabinet had given him a written opinion that the section +restricting slavery was constitutional. + +John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, John C. Calhoun, Secretary +of War, Wm. H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury, and Wm. Wirt, +Attorney-General--three from slave States--then constituted Monroe's +Cabinet. + +The _Appeal_ warningly proceeded: + +"The dearest interests of freedom and the Union are in imminent +peril. Demagogues may tell you that the Union can be maintained +only by submitting to the demands of slavery. We tell you that +the Union can only be maintained by the full recognition of the +just claims of freedom and man. When it fails to accomplish these +ends it will be worthless, and when it becomes worthless it cannot +long endure. . . . Whatever apologies may be offered for the +toleration of slavery in the States, none can be offered for its +extension into the Territories where it does not exist, and where +that extension involves the repeal of ancient law and the violation +of solemn compact. + +"For ourselves, we shall resist it by speech and vote, and with +all the abilities which God has given us. Even if overcome in the +impending struggle, we shall not submit. We shall go home to our +constituents, erect anew the standard of freedom, and call on the +people to come to the rescue of the country from the dominion of +slavery. We will not despair; for the cause of human freedom is +the cause of God." + +These patriotic expressions electrified the whole country. The +North was aroused to their truth, the South seized upon them as +threats of disunion, and still louder than before, if possible, +called for a united South to vindicate slavery's rights in the +Territories. Douglas attempted in the Senate to answer the _Appeal_. +This led to an acrimonious debate, participated in by Chase, Sumner, +Seward, Everett, and others, too long to be reviewed here. + +Senator Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, took a prominent part in the +memorable debate over the Douglas-Nebraska Bill. He was bold, and +never dealt in sophistry, but in plain speech. + +Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, while making a slavery-dilution +argument, appealingly said: + +"Why, if some Southern gentleman wishes to take the nurse who takes +charge of his little baby, or the old woman who nursed him in +childhood, and whom he called 'Mammy' until he returned from college, +. . . and whom he wishes to take with him . . . into one of these +new Territories, . . . why, in the name of God, should anybody +prevent it?" + +Mr. Wade responded: + +"The Senator entirely mistakes our position. We have not the least +objection, and would oppose no obstacle to the Senator's migrating +to Kansas and taking his old 'Mammy' along with im. We only insist +that he shall not be empowered to _sell_ her after taking her +there." + +Mr. Chase moved to amend the bill by adding the words: + +"Under which the people of the Territories, through their appropriate +representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the existence of +slavery therein." + +This amendment failed, but it served to test the good faith of +those who supported the squatter sovereignty feature of the bill. + +After a long struggle the bill passed, and was approved by the +President in May, 1854. + +(79) Area of original thirteen States, 354,504 square miles. + +(80) "Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful +rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property +belonging to the United States," etc.--Art. IV., Sec. 3, Con. U. S. + +(81) _Three Decades of Fed. Leg._ (Cox), p. 49. + +(82) _Rise and Fall Con. Government_ (Davis), vol. i., p. 28. + +(83) Schucker's _Life of Chase_, p. 140. + + +XVIII +KANSAS' STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM + +The storm that arose over the Nebraska Act was ominous of the +future. Public meetings in New York and other great cities of the +North were held, where it and slavery were denounced. The clergyman +from the pulpit, the orator from the rostrum, and the great press +of the North vehemently denounced the measure. Anti-slavery +movements appeared everywhere. + +And as Kansas was thrown open to settlement, with Missouri slaveholders +already moved and organized to move in and take possession of and +dedicate it to slavery under the new doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, +emigration at once commenced from the North, encouraged and promoted +by aid societies. + +Douglas, in the next Congress (March, 1856), as Chairman of the +Committee on Territories, made a report on Kansas affairs, condemning +the action of the free State people and of the aid societies, +referring especially to an imaginary "Emigration Aid Company" of +Massachusetts, with a capital of $5,000,000, and in consequence +holding their existence justified the Border Ruffians of Missouri. +The crack of the rifle was soon to be heard on the plains of Kansas. + +The first election in Kansas was held in November, 1854, when, by +fraud and violence, Whitfield, a pro-slavery man, was elected +delegate to Congress. Non-residents from Missouri cast the majority +of votes at this election. Though not of the requisite population, +this was regarded as the opportune time for Kansas' admission as +a slave State. Douglas in his report so recommended. + +The House, the political complexion of which had changed at the +recent election, appointed Howard of Michigan, Sherman of Ohio, +and Oliver of Missouri a special committee to investigate the Kansas +outrages and election frauds. + +A majority of this committee, July 1, 1856, reported, showing in +a most conclusive way that frauds and outrages had been perpetrated +to control the several Kansas elections. + +From this report it appeared that in February, 1855, the total +population of Kansas was 8501; slaves 242, free negroes 151. A +lengthy debate ensued over the report and over Kansas affairs, +Wade, Seward, Sumner, and others participating. + +Presidents Pierce and Buchanan successively appointed governor +after governor of their party--Reeder, Shannon, Geary, Walker, +Stanton--all of whom resigned or were removed because they each +failed to support or endorse the determined and fraudulent efforts +to make Kansas a slave State against the will of the majority of +the resident people. Hon. J. W. Denver of Ohio, a sensible, quiet +man, was the last of this long line of governors. One of them, +Andrew Reeder, who was indicted with others for high treason on +the ground of their participation in the organization of a free +State government under the Topeka Constitution, for fear of +assassination fled the territory in disguise. Robert J. Walker, +though himself pro-slavery, firmly refused to participate in forcing +the Lecompton Constitution on Kansas, even after President Buchanan, +at the demand of his pro-slavery party friends, had decided Kansas +should be admitted under it without its submission to a vote of +the people. This Constitution was framed at Lecompton by fraudulently +elected delegates to a pro-slavery convention, and it provided for +perpetual slavery in the State. In Governor Walker's letter of +resignation, December 16, 1857, he said: + +"I state it as a fact . . . that an overwhelming majority of the +people (of Kansas) are opposed to the Lecompton Constitution. . . . +but one out of twenty of the press of Kansas sustains it. . . . +Any attempt by Congress to force this Constitution upon the people +of Kansas will be an effort to substitute the will of a small +minority for that of an overwhelming majority of the people." + +It is due to Douglas to say that he was opposed to the Lecompton +Constitution scheme of admission. He was doubtless disappointed +in not having the South rally to his support and nominate him for +President in 1856. A more pliant tool of the pro-slavery party +from the North was given the preference in the person of Buchanan. + +President Buchanan, having early expressed the purpose to support +the Lecompton plan, announced this purpose to Douglas, and urged +him to co-operate in admitting Kansas as a State under it, which, +being refused, terminated their party relations. Douglas did not +go far enough. Popular Sovereignty was only recognized by pro- +slavery advocates when it insured the success of slavery; and it +was now certain to make Kansas a free State if the actual settlers +alone were permitted to vote unintimidated and their votes were +honestly counted and returned. + +On December 9, 1857, Douglas, almost heroically, in opposition to +President Buchanan and his administration and the majority of his +party in the Senate, denounced the Lecompton scheme, and showed +that it was an attempt to foist slavery on Kansas against the will +of the people. + +The peculiar feature of the Lecompton Constitution was that, while +it was submitted to the vote of the people of Kansas, they were +required to vote for it or not vote at all. The ballot provided +required them to vote "_For the Constitution with Slavery_," or +"_For the Constitution without Slavery_." Thus the Constitution +must be adopted, and necessarily with slavery, as there was no +provision for excluding the clauses authorizing it. At an election, +where for fraud and violence nothing thitherto had approached it, +and by the special feature of ballot-box stuffing (actual settlers +generally being driven from the polls when willing to vote), this +Constitution was returned adopted by about 6000 majority in favor +of slavery.(84) + +The Senate, March 23, 1858, passed (33 to 25) a bill to admit Kansas +as a State under the Lecompton Constitution, _with slavery;_ but +notwithstanding the active efforts of the Administration, the House +(120 to 112) so amended the Senate bill as to require it, before +the State was admitted, to be voted on by the people, the ballot +to be--"For the Constitution" or "Against the Constitution." This +amendment the Senate reluctantly concurred in. + +On January 4, 1858, according to an act of the Territorial Legislature, +a vote was again taken and, notwithstanding many temptations offered +in lands, etc., and the desire for statehood, this Constitution +was rejected by over 10,000 majority. + +February 11, 1859, the Territorial Legislature authorized another +convention to form a constitution. Fifty-two delegates were elected, +and they met July 5, 1859, at Wyandotte, and on the 27th adjourned +after framing a constitution prohibiting slavery, and limiting and +establishing the western boundary of Kansas as it now is. This +Constitution was ratified at an election held in October following. +April 11, 1860, the House of Representatives passed a bill (134 to +73) for the admission of Kansas under this Wyandotte Constitution, +but a similar bill failed in the Senate, and both Houses adjourned, +still leaving Kansas a Territory. + +January 29, 1861, when secession had depleted Congress of many +members, Kansas was admitted under the Wyandotte Constitution--_a +free State_. + +This last struggle for slavery extension was by no means bloodless. +The angry flash of Sharps' rifles was seen on the plains; the Bible +and the shot-gun were companions of the free State advocate, and +many were the daring deeds of men, and women, too, to save fair +Kansas to liberty. John Brown (Osawatomie) here first became famous +for his zeal in the cause of freedom; and it is said he did not +fail to retaliate, blood for blood, man for man. + +Douglas, who, by his "Popular Sovereignty" invention, brought on +the contest over Kansas which came so near making it slave, lived +to see his new doctrine fail in practice, but first to be cast down +by the Supreme Court, as we shall presently see. + +Douglas, however, cannot, in justice to him, be thus carelessly +dismissed. After being defeated in the previous election, he held +his great opponent's hat when the latter was inaugurated President, +and gave him warm assurance of support in maintaining the Union, +personally and by speech and votes in Congress; and, on the war +breaking out, in April, 1861, he proclaimed to the people, from +the political rostrum, that "there are now only two parties in this +country: _patriots and traitors_." He appealed to his past party +friends to stand by the Union and fight for its integrity, come +what might. But he, too, did not live to see the triumph of freedom +and of his country. He died June 3, 1861. + +It is believed by many that if slavery had been forced upon California +and into the New Mexico and Nebraska Territories four more slave +States would soon have been admitted from Texas (as the act of +annexation provided), and that thus the slave power having secured +such domination in the Union as was desired and expected by its +leaders, there would have been no secession,--no rebellion, but, +instead, slavery would have become _national_. + +But with California free and Kansas free, all hope of further +extending slavery in the United States was forever gone. + +Had Kansas even become slave, what then? + +The final contest in Kansas was augmented and intensified by a +national event partly passed over. + +During the Kansas struggle the excitement of debate in Congress +rose to its zenith, surpassing any other period. + +The North had been bullied into a frenzy over the demands of those +desiring the extension of slavery. The anti-slavery members of +Congress met this in many instances by sober, candid discussion, +but in others by sharp invective, dealt out by superior learning +and consummate skill in the use of the English language. + +Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was a profound student and scholar, +and an inveterate hater of slavery and all that was incident to it. + +On May 19 and 20, 1856, he pronounced his famous philippic against +slavery and its supporters. Regarding the opening of the Kansas- +Nebraska Territory to the influx of slavery, and the evident purpose +of the Administration to dedicate it to slavery, he poured out +warning invectives against all who in any way favored the new policy +of opening this Territory to the chance of coming into the Union +as slave States. Mr. Sumner's remarks were personal in the extreme, +only justified by the general dictatorial and bullying attitude of +some Southern Senators. A mere extract here would do him and the +occasion injustice. Senators Cass and Douglas, on the floor of +the Senate, resented this speech of Sumner. + +On the 22nd of May, two days after the speech, at the close of a +session of the Senate, while Sumner was seated at his desk in the +Senate chamber writing, he was approached by Preston Brooks, a +member of the House from South Carolina, who accosted him: "I have +read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South +Carolina and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine," and he forthwith +assaulted Mr. Sumner by blows on the head with a gutta-percha cane +one inch in diameter at the larger end. The blows were repeated, +the cane broken, and Brooks still continued to strike with the +broken parts of it. Sumner, thus taken by surprise, and being +severely injured, could not defend himself, and soon, after vain +efforts to protect himself, fell prostrate to the floor, covered +with his own blood. He was severely injured, and though he lived +for many years, he never wholly recovered from the injuries. He +died March 11, 1874. + +This outrage did much to precipitate events and to intensify +hostility to slavery. Southern Senators and Representatives assumed +to justify the assault.(85) + +The House did not expel Brooks, as the requisite two thirds vote +was not obtained. He resigned, and was re-elected by his district, +six votes only being cast against him, but he died in January, +1857. Butler, of South Carolina, the alleged immediate cause of +Brooks' assault on Sumner, died in the same year. + +The whole North looked upon the personal assault upon Sumner as +not only brutal, but as intended to be notice to other Senators +and members of Congress of a common design and plan to intimidate +the friends of freedom. The assault was largely justified throughout +the South, also by leading Southern statesmen in both branches of +Congress.(86) + +Remarks on the manner of Brooks' assault in the House made by +Burlingame of Massachusetts led to a challenge from Brooks, which +was accepted, the duel to be fought near the Clifton House, Canada; +but Brooks declined to fight at the place named, alleging a fear +to go there through the enraged North. + +Brooks also, for remarks in the Senate characterizing the assault, +challenged Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, but the latter declined +the challenge because he "regarded duelling as the lingering relic +of a barbarous civilization, which the law of the country has +branded as a crime."(86) + +So threatening, then, was the attitude of the Southern members of +both Senate and House that Senators Wade of Ohio, Chandler of +Michigan, and Cameron of Pennsylvania made a compact to resent any +insult from a Southerner by a challenge to fight.(87) + +A last attempt was made in Buchanan's administration, pending the +Kansas agitation, to buy and annex Cuba in the interest of the +slave power. It was then a province of Spain. Buchanan was both +dull and perverse in obeying the demands of his party, especially +on the slavery issue. In his Annual Message of 1858 he expressed +satisfaction that the Kansas question no longer gave the country +trouble. He also expressed gratitude to "Almighty Providence" that +it no longer threatened the peace of the country, and congratulated +himself over his course in relation to the Lecompton policy, saying, +"it afforded him heartfelt satisfaction." He, in the same message, +set forth his anxiety to acquire Cuba, assigning as a reason that +it was "the only spot in the civilized world where the African +slave trade is tolerated." + +Cuba was wanted simply to make more slave States to extend the +waning slave power, and thus to offset the incoming new free States, +which then seemed to the observing as inevitable. + +Buchanan suggested that circumstances might arise where the law of +self-preservation might call on us to acquire Cuba by force, thus +affirming the policy set forth in the Ostend Manifesto, prepared +and signed by Mason, Soulé, and himself four years earlier. + +Slidell of Louisiana, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the +Senate, promptly reported a bill appropriating $30,000,000 to be +used by the President to obtain Cuba; and it soon transpired that +Southern Senators were willing to make the sum $120,000,000. + +The introduction of the bill caused a sensation in Spain, and her +Cortes voted at once to support her King in maintaining the integrity +of the Spanish dominions. + +A most violent debate ensued in Congress, reopening afresh the +slavery question. + +The bill was antagonized by the friends of a homestead bill--"A +question of homes; of lands for the landless freemen." The friends +of the latter bill denominated the Cuba bill a "question of slaves +for the slaveholders." + +Toombs of Georgia, ever a fire-eater, save in war,(88) vehemently +denounced the opponents of the Cuba appropriation and the friends +of "lands for the landless" as the "shivering in the wind of men +of particular localities." This brought to his feet Senator Wade +of Ohio, impetuous to meet attacks from all quarters, who exclaimed: + +"I am very glad this question has at length come up. I am glad, +too, it has antagonized with the nigger question. We are 'shivering +in the wind,' are we, sir, over your Cuba question? You may have +occasion to shiver on that question before you are through with +it. The question will be, shall we give niggers to the niggerless, +or land to the landless, etc. . . . When you come to niggers to +the niggerless, all other questions sink into perfect insignificance."(89) + +Although a majority of the Senate seemed to favor the bill, Mr. +Slidell withdrew it after much discussion, declaring it was then +impracticable to press it to a final vote. + +The once famous Ostend Manifesto, dated October 18, 1854, was a +remarkable document, prepared and signed by Pierre Soulé, John Y. +Mason, and James Buchanan, then Ministers, respectively, to Spain, +France, and England, at a conference held at Ostend and Aix-la- +Chapelle, France. It assumed to offer $120,000,000 for Cuba, and, +if this were refused, it announced that it was the duty of the +United States to apply the "great law" of "self-preservation" and +take Cuba in "disregard of the censures of the world." The further +excuse stated in the Manifesto was that "Cuba was in danger of +being Africanized and become a second St. Domingo." + +The real purpose, however, was to acquire it, and then admit it +into the Union as two or more slave States. + +Buchanan, as Secretary of State under Polk, had offered $100,000,000 +for Cuba. His efforts to obtain Cuba secured for him the support +of the South for President in 1856. + +There was no special instance of acquiring or attempting to acquire +territory by the United States authorities to dedicate to freedom. + +Cuba is still Spanish (though not slave) (90) and just now in the +throes of insurrection, and the Congress of the United States has +just voted (April, 1896) to grant the Cuban Provisional Government +belligerent rights.(91) + +(84) From one election, held in 1857 at Oxford, Kansas, a roll +was returned on which 1624 persons' names appeared which had been +copied in alphabetical order from a Cincinnati directory. These +persons were reported as voting with the anti-slavery party. + +(85) Keitt of South Carolina and Edmundson of Virginia stood by +during the assault, in a menacing manner, to protect Brooks from +assistance that might come to Sumner. + +(86) _Life of Sumner_ (Lesten), pp. 250, etc. + +(87) Appleton's _Cyclop. Am. Biography_, vol. vi., p. 311. + +(88) _Manassas to Appotmattox_ (Longstreet), pp. 113, 161. + +(89) In 1862 the first homestead bill became a law, under which, +by July 30, 1878, homesteads were granted to the number of 384,848; +in area, 61,575,680 acres, or 96,212 square miles; greater in extent +by 7000 square miles than England, Wales, and Scotland. + +(90) In 1870 the Spanish Government enacted a law emancipating +all slaves in Cuba over sixty years of age, and declaring all free +who were born after the enactment. In 1886 but 25,000 slaves +remained, and these were emancipated _en masse_ by a decree of the +Spanish Cortes. The last vestige of slavery (the patronato system) +was swept away by a royal decree dated October 7, 1886. + +(91) But see _Service in Spanish War_, Appendix A. + + +XIX +DRED SCOTT CASE--1857 + +On March 6, 1857, two days after Buchanan was inaugurated President +of the United States, the famous Dred Scott case was decided. + +Chief-Justice Taney of Maryland, Justices Wayne of Georgia, Catron +of Tennessee, Daniel of Virginia, Campbell of Alabama, Grier of +Pennsylvania, and Nelson of New York concurred in the decision, +though some of them only in a qualified way. + +Chief-Justice Taney read the opinion of the court. + +Justices McLean of Ohio and Curtis of Massachusetts dissented on +all points. All the justices read opinions at length.(93) + +Chief-Justice Taney was a devout Roman Catholic, given much to +letters, of great industry, and generally regarded as a great +jurist. When the case was decided he was nearly eighty years of +age, and he was then, in the distracted condition of the country, +deeply imbued with the idea that the Supreme Court had the power +to and could settle the slavery question. + +All the other justices were eminent jurists and men of learning. + +The decision reached marked an epoch in American history, and it +gave slavery an apparent perpetual lease of life; this was, however, +only apparent. + +The case was twice argued by eminent lawyers; Blair and G. F. Curtis +for Dred Scott, and by Geyer and Johnson for the defendant. + +Dred Scott brought a suit in the United States Circuit Court in +Missouri for trespass against one Sanford, charging him with assault +on him, his wife, and two children--in fact, for his and their +freedom. + +The facts, as agreed, were as follows: + +"In the year 1834, the plaintiff (Dred Scott) was a negro slave +belonging to Dr. Emerson, who was a surgeon in the army of the +United States. In that year, 1834, said Dr. Emerson took the +plaintiff from the State of Missouri to the military post at Rock +Island, in the State of Illinois, and held him there as a slave +until the month of April or May, 1836. At the time last mentioned, +said Dr. Emerson removed the plaintiff from said military post at +Rock Island to the military post at Fort Snelling, situate on the +west bank of the Mississippi River, in the Territory known as Upper +Louisiana, acquired by the United States of France, and situate +north of the latitude of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north, +and north of the State of Missouri. Said Dr. Emerson held the +plaintiff in slavery at said Fort Snelling from said last-mentioned +date until the year 1838. + +"In the year 1835, Harriet, who is named in the second count of +the plaintiff's declaration, was the negro slave of Major Taliaferro, +who belonged to the army of the United States. In that year, 1835, +said Major Taliaferro took said Harriet to said Fort Snelling, a +military post, situated as hereinbefore stated, and kept her there +as a slave until the year 1836, and then sold and delivered her as +a slave at said Fort Snelling unto the said Dr. Emerson hereinbefore +named. Said Dr. Emerson held said Harriet in slavery at said Fort +Snelling until the year 1838. + +"In the year 1836, the plaintiff and said Harriet, at said Fort +Snelling, with the consent of said Dr. Emerson, who then claimed +to be their master and owner, intermarried, and took each other +for husband and wife. Eliza and Lizzie, named in the third count +of the plaintiff's declaration, are the fruits of that marriage. +Eliza is about fourteen years old, and was born on board the +steamship _Gipsey_, north of the north line of the State of Missouri, +and upon the river Mississippi. Lizzie is about seven years old, +and was born in the State of Missouri, and at the military post +called Jefferson Barracks. + +"In the year 1838, said Dr. Emerson removed the plaintiff and said +Harriet and their said daughter Eliza from said Fort Snelling to +the State of Missouri, where they have ever since resided. + +"Before the commencement of this suit, said Dr. Emerson sold and +conveyed the plaintiff, said Harriet, Eliza, and Lizzie, to the +defendant as slaves, and the defendant has ever since claimed to +hold them and each of them as slaves. + +"At the times mentioned in the plaintiff's declaration, the defendant, +claiming to be the owner as aforesaid, laid his hands upon said +plaintiff, Harriet, Eliza, and Lizzie, and imprisoned them, doing +in this respect, however, no more than what he might lawfully do +if they were of right his slaves at such times." + +It is our purpose here only to set forth what was decided, or +attempted to be decided, bearing upon slavery and its political +status in the United States. + +This purpose we can accomplish no better than by quoting parts of +the Syllabi of the case. + +We quote: + +"A free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to +this country and sold as slaves, is not a 'citizen' within the +meaning of the Constitution of the United States. + +"When the Constitution was adopted, they were not regarded in any +of the States as members of the community which constituted the +State, and were not numbered among its 'people or citizens.' +Consequently, the special rights and immunities guaranteed to +citizens do not apply to them. And not being 'citizens' within +the meaning of the Constitution, they are not entitled to sue in +that character in a court of the United States, and the Circuit +Court has no jurisdiction in such a suit. + +"The only two clauses in the Constitution which point to this race +treat them as persons whom it was _morally_ lawful to deal in as +articles of property and to hold as slaves. + +"The change in public opinion and feeling in relation to the African +race which has taken place since the adoption of the Constitution +cannot change its construction and meaning, and it must be construed +and administered now according to its true meaning and intention +when it was formed and adopted. + +"The plaintiff, having admitted (by his demurrer to the plea in +abatement) that his ancestors were imported from Africa and sold +as slaves, he is not a citizen of the State of Missouri according +to the Constitution of the United States, and was not entitled to +sue in that character in the Circuit Court. + +"The clause in the Constitution authorizing Congress to make all +needful rules and regulations for the government of the territory +and other property of the United States applies only to territory +within the chartered limits of some of the States when they were +colonies of Great Britain, and which was surrendered by the British +Government to the old Confederation of States in the treaty of +peace. It does not apply to territory acquired by the present +Federal Government, by treaty or conquest, from a foreign nation. + +"The United States, under the present Constitution, cannot acquire +territory to be held as a colony, to be governed at its will and +pleasure. But it may acquire and may govern it as a Territory +until it has a population which, in the judgment of Congress, +entitles it to be admitted as a State of the Union. + +"During the time it remains a Territory Congress may legislate over +it within the scope of its constitutional powers in relation to +citizens of the United States--and may establish a territorial +government--and the form of this local government must be regulated +by the discretion of Congress--but with powers not exceeding those +which Congress itself, by the Constitution, is authorized to exercise +over citizens of the United States, in respect to their rights of +persons or rights of property. + +"The Territory thus acquired is acquired by the people of the United +States for their common and equal benefit, through their agent and +trustee, the Federal Government. Congress can exercise no power +over the rights of persons or property of a citizen in the Territory +which is prohibited by the Constitution. The government and its +citizens, whenever the Territory is open to settlement, both enter +it with their respective rights defined and limited by the +Constitution. + +"Congress has no right to prohibit the citizens of any particular +State or States from taking up their home there, while it permits +citizens of other States to do so. Nor has it a right to give +privileges to one class of citizens which it refuses to another. +The territory is acquired for their equal and common benefit--and +if open to any it must be open to all upon equal and the same terms. + +"Every citizen has a right to take with him into the Territory any +article of property which the Constitution of the United States +recognizes as property. + +"The Constitution of the United States recognizes slaves as property, +and pledges the Federal Government to protect it. And Congress +cannot exercise any more authority on property of that description +than it may constitutionally exercise over property of any other +kind. + +"The act of Congress, therefore, prohibiting a citizen of the United +States from taking with him his slaves when he removes to the +Territory in question to reside, is an exercise of authority over +private property which is not warranted by the Constitution--and +the removal of the plaintiff, by his owner, to that Territory, gave +him no title to freedom. + +"The plaintiff himself acquired no title to freedom by being taken +by his owner to Rock Island, in Illinois, and brought back to +Missouri. This court has heretofore decided that the status or +condition of a person of African descent depended on the laws of +the State in which he resided." + +Thus the highest and most august judicial tribunal of this country +pronounced doctrines abhorrent to the age, overthrowing the acts +and practices of the fathers and framers of the Republic, and +pronouncing the Ordinance of 1787, in so far as it restricted human +slavery, and all like enactments as, from the beginning, +_unconstitutional_. + +This decision startled the bench and bar and the thinking people +of the whole country, not alone on account of the doctrines laid +down by the court, but because of the new departure of a high court +in going beyond the confines of the case made on the record to +announce them. + +It is, to say the least, only usual for any court to decide the +issues necessary to a determination of the real case under +consideration, nothing more; but the court in this case first +decided that the Circuit Court, from which error was prosecuted, +had no jurisdiction to render any judgment, it having found "upon +the showing of Scott himself that he was still a slave; not even +to render a judgment against him and in favor of defendants for +costs." + +In the opinion it is said: + +"It is the judgment of this court that it appears by the record +before us that the plaintiff in error is not a citizen of Missouri, +in the same sense in which that word is used in the Constitution; +and that the Circuit Court of the United States, for that reason, +had _no jurisdiction_ in the case, and could give no judgment in +it. Its judgment for the defendant must, consequently, be reversed, +and a mandate issued, directing the suit to be dismissed for want +of jurisdiction." + +Having thus decided, it followed that anything said or attempted +to be decided on other questions was extra-judicial--mere _obiter +dicta_, if even that. + +Nor does the objection to the matters covered by the decision rest +alone on its extra-judicial character, but on the fact that in +settling a mere individual controversy it passed from private rights +to public rights of the people in their national character, wholly +pertaining to political questions, entirely beyond the province of +the court, legally, judicially, or potentially. It had no legal +right as a court to decide or comment upon what was not before it; +it had no judicial power to make any decree to enforce public or +political rights, nor yet to enforce, by any instrumentalities or +judicial machinery,--fines, jails, etc.,--any such decrees. + +Moreover, the decision invaded the express powers of the Constitution +grated to it by the Constitution "respecting the Territory of other +property belonging to the United States." This grant is preceded +in the Constitution by the language, "The Congress shall have power +to,"(93) etc. + +The court entered the political field, though clothed only with +judicial power, one of the three distinct powers of the government. +For wise purposes executive, legislative, and judicial departments +were provided by the Constitution, each to be potential within its +sphere, acting always, of course, within their respective proper, +limited, constitutionally conferred authority. + +"The judicial power shall extend to all _cases_ in law and equity +arising under this Constitution."(94) + +This highest judicial tribunal, it is seen, passed from a case +wherein no jurisdiction, as it held, rested in the courts to enter +any form of judgment--not even for costs, to decide matters not +pertaining in any sense to the particular case, nor even to _judicial_ +public rights of the people or the government, but wholly to the +political, legislative powers of Congress, not in any degree involved +in the jurisdictional question arising and decided. If it be said +that courts of review or error sometimes decide all the questions +made on the record, though some of them may not be necessary to a +complete disposition of the case before it, it must be answered +that this is most rare, if at all, where the case is disposed of, +as was the Dred Scott case, against the trial court's jurisdiction. +But, manifestly, the many political questions discussed at great +length in the opinions and formulated as _syllabi_ (quoted above) +for the case, did not and could not arise of record, and they were +not covered by assignments of error, and hence, whether the sole +question decided or to be decided was one of jurisdiction or not, +these questions can only be regarded as discussions--personal +opinions of the justices--not rising to the dignity of mere volunteer +opinions on matters of _law_; of no binding force even as _legal +precedents_, because outside of the case and record--not even +properly _obiter dicta_. + +But slavery then dominated and permeated everything and everybody. +Why should the justices of the Supreme Court be free from its +influence? The Ordinance of 1787 was re-enacted by the First +Congress under the Constitution, and its slavery restriction clause +was enforced, without question, by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, +Madison, Monroe, and Jackson and their administrations. The Missouri +Compromise line had stood unassailed for above a third of a century. +In 1848 Polk and his Cabinet approved the Oregon Bill prohibiting +slavery; also Pierce and his Administration approved (1853) the +extension of the same prohibition over Washington Territory. + +Earlier, in 1845, the Texas Annexation Act, as we have seen, re- +enacted the 36° 30´ line of restriction for slavery, and in 1848 +the pro-slavery party in Congress voted to extend this line to +California. Congress again and again exercised the power of +legislating for the Territories; eleven times, between 1823 and +1838, it amended the laws of the Legislature of Florida, thus +asserting the absolute right to legislate for the Territories. +The Supreme Court of the United States for nearly seventy years +had assumed and acted on the principle of the right of Congress to +legislate for them. + +Now all became changed, as though a new oracle of construction had +appeared, higher and wiser than all who had gone before--an oracle +who knew more of the Constitution than its makers. This new oracle +did not divine the fates. The announcement of the principle that +the Constitution treats negroes "as persons whom it is _morally_ +lawful to deal in as articles of property and to hold as slaves," +shocked the consciences of just men throughout the earth. + +Referring to the times when the Declaration of Independence and +the Constitution of the United States were adopted, and speaking +of the African race, the Chief-Justice, in his opinion, said: + +"They had, for more than a century before, been regarded as beings +of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the +white race, either in social or political relations: and so far +inferior, _that they had no rights which the white man was bound +to respect:_ and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced +to slavery for his benefit." + +These and kindred expressions astonished all civilization and all +Christian people. + +The North was stunned by the decision, some fearing that slavery +was soon to become national. The South exulted boastfully of their +cause,(95) loudly proclaiming the paramount, binding force of the +supreme judicial tribunal in the Republic. Free labor and free +laborers were decried. They were, in speech and press, called +"_mud sills of society:_" only negro slavery ennobled the white +race. + +The over-zealous South was even persuaded that the small farmers, +trafficking merchants, and mechanics did not possess bravery enough +to fight for _liberty_. + +Justice Catron, especially, claimed that Napoleon I., by the +insertion of the third article of the treaty of cession of the +Louisiana Province, had forever fastened slavery on it. But of +this we have already spoken.(96) + +It was slavery's last triumph. Dred Scott, his wife, and two little +girls were remanded to slavery, to be freed by the irresistible +might of divine justice, worked out through the expiating blood of +the long-offending white race, commingled on many fields with the +blood of their own race. + +(92) 19th Howard (_U. S._), pp. 393-633. + +(93) Con., Art. IV., Sec. 3, Par. 2. + +(94) Con., Art. III., Sec. 2. + +(95) Robert Toombs of Georgia in extravagant exuberance is reported +to have said: "I expect to call the roll of my slaves at the foot +of Bunker Hill." + +(96) _Ante_, p. 43-5. + + +XX +JOHN BROWN RAID--1859 + +John Brown, of Kansas fame, eccentric, misguided, and intense in +his hatred of slavery, and of martyr stuff, encouraged by some of +the most influential anti-slavery men of the North, who were goaded +on by slavery's perennial aggressions, with a "_pike-pole_" at +Harper's Ferry (October 16, 1859) pricked the fetid pit of slavery, +causing a tremor to run through the whole body of it. He had with +him an _army of eighteen_, five of whom were free negroes.(97) +They had rifles and pistols for themselves, and a few pikes for +the slaves they hoped to free. + +Brown had assembled his band at the Kennedy farm in Maryland, a +few miles distant from Harper's Ferry, Virginia. + +He professed to believe he might succeed if he could take the latter +place, as it "would serve as a notice to the slaves that their +friends had come, and as a trumpet to rally them to his standard." +This he stated to Frederick Douglass, whom he urged in vain to join +his expedition.(98) His object was to free slaves, not to take +life. + +This daring body seized the United States armory, arsenal, and the +rifle-works, all government property. By midnight Brown was in +full possession of Harper's Ferry. Before morning he caused the +arrest of two prominent slave owners, one of whom was Colonel Lewis +Washington, the great grandson of a brother of George Washington, +capturing of him the sword of Frederick the Great, and a brace of +pistols of Lafayette, presents from them, respectively, to General +Washington. It was Brown's special ambition to free the Washington +slaves. Fighting began at daybreak of the 17th. The Mayor of +Harper's Ferry and another fell mortally wounded. + +Brown and his party by noon were driven into an engine-house near +the armory, where they had barred the doors and windows, and made +port-holes for their rifles. There they were besieged and fired +on by their assailants. + +Colonel Washington and others of their captives were held by Brown +in the engine-house. Shots were returned by Brown and his men. +Some idea of Brown's character and bravery can be formed from +Colonel Washington's description of his conduct in the engine-house +fort: + +"Brown was the coolest and firmest man I ever saw in defying danger +and death. With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, +he felt the pulse of his dying son with one hand and held his rifle +with the other, and commanded his men with the utmost composure, +encouraging them to be firm and sell their lives as dearly as they +could." + +He wreaked no vengeance on his prisoners. Though his sons and +friends were dead and dying around him, and himself, near the end +of the fight, cleaved down with a sword, and bayonets were thrust +in his body, he sheltered his prisoners so that not one of them +was harmed. And non-combatants were not fired on by his band. + +When Brown's party in the _fort_ were reduced to himself and six +men, two or more of these being wounded, Colonel Robert E. Lee, +_then of the United States Army_, arrived with a company of marines. +After Lee's demand to surrender was refused by Brown, an entrance +was forced, and, bleeding, some dying, he and those left were taken. +Of the nineteen, ten were killed, five taken prisoners, and four +had succeeded in escaping, two of the four being afterwards captured +in Pennsylvania. They had killed five and wounded nine of the +inhabitants and of their besiegers. + +Not only was all the vicinity wildly excited, but the whole South +was in an uproar. Slavery had been physically assaulted in its +home. The North partook of the excitement, generally condemning +the rash proceeding, though many deeply sympathized with the purpose +of Brown's movement, and his heroic conduct and life caused many +to admire him. He was a devout believer in the literal reading of +the Holy Bible, and of the special judgments of God, as he interpreted +them in the Old Testament. His attack on slavery he regarded as +more rational than and as likely to triumph as Joshua's attack on +a walled city with trumpets and shouts, and as Gideon's band of +three hundred, armed only with trumpets, lamps, and pitchers in +its encounter with a great army. As Jericho's walls had fallen, +and Gideon's band had put to flight Midianites and Amalekites in +countless multitudes like grasshoppers, so, Brown expected, at +least fondly hoped and devoutly prayed, to see the myriads of +human slaves go free in America. He did not, however, expect a +general rising of the slaves. + +He did not seek to San Domingoize the South, and against this he +provided penalties in his prepared provisional constitution.(99) + +Brown had been encouraged and materially aided by Gerritt Smith, +Dr. Howe of Boston, Stearns, Sanborn, Frederick Douglass, Higginson, +Emerson, Parker, Phillips, and others of less renown; some, if not +all, of whom had neither understood nor approved of his plan of +attack. + +The slaves did not rise, not did they in any considerable number +even know at the time the real purpose of their would-be liberator. + +During the excitement of the first news Greeley prophetically wrote: + +"We deeply regret this outbreak; but remembering if their fault +was grievous, grieviously have they answered for it, we will not +by one reproachful word disturb the bloody shrouds wherein John +Brown and his compatriots are sleeping. They dared and died for +what they felt to be right, though in a manner which seems to us +to be fatally wrong. Let their epitaphs remain unwritten until +the _not distant day_ when no slave shall clank his chains in the +shades of Monticello or by the graves of Mount Vernon."(100) + +Brown's raid did not seriously, as was then expected, affect the +November elections of that year, and they were favorable to the +young, aggressive Republican party, formed to stay the extension +of slavery. + +It is not the purpose here to write a detailed history of particular +events, only to name such as had a substantial effect on slavery; +yet John Brown's _fate_ should be recorded. He was captured October +18th; indicted on October 20th; arraigned and put on his trial at +Charlestown, in Jefferson County, Virginia, though his open wounds +were still bleeding; and on October 31, 1859, a jury brought in a +verdict finding him "Guilty of treason, and conspiring and advising +with slaves and others to rebel; and murder in the first degree." +Save in the matter of precipitation, his trial was fair, under all +the circumstances, and no other result could have been expected. +November 2 he was sentenced to be hung on December 2, 1859. + +When arraigned for sentence, among other things he said: + +"If it is deemed necessary I should forfeit my life in furtherance +of the end of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood +of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country +whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust exactments, +I say, let it be done." + +A little later he wrote: + +"I can leave to God the time and manner of my death, for I believe +now that the sealing of my testimony before God and man with my +blood will do far more to further the cause to which I have earnestly +devoted myself than anything I have done in my life . . . I am +quite cheerful concerning my approaching end, since I am convinced +I am worth infinitely more on the gallows than I could be anywhere +else." + +On his way from the prison to the scaffold he handed to a guard a +paper on which were written his last words. + +"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty +land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now +think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it +might be done." + +Emerson, Parker, and the Abolition press of the North eulogized +Brown and his followers. + +His raid was made another pretence for uniting the South. + +The American Anti-Slavery Society in its calendar of events designated +_1859_ as "The John Brown Year." + +John Brown was immortalized in a song written and sung first in +1861, and thereafter by the Union army wherever it marched. On +the spot where he was hanged a Massachusetts regiment (1862) sung: + + "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, + But his soul goes marching on," etc. + +The significance of John Brown's attack, small as it was in the +point of numbers engaged in it, lies in the fact that it is the +only one of its character openly made on slavery in the history of +the United States, and in the further fact that it was at the +threshold of _Secession--War_, ending in _universal emancipation_. + +(97) _Hist. of the U. S._ (Rhodes), vol. ii., p. 393. + +(98) _Ibid_., p. 392. + +(99) Mason's _Report_, p. 57. + +(100) _Hist. of U. S._ (Rhodes), vol. ii., p. 403; New York _Tribune_, +Oct. 19th. + + +XXI +PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, 1856-1860 + +The political campaign of 1856 has thus far been passed by, as it +more appropriately belongs to a history of the political movements +leading up to secession. + +Between the two great parties--Republican and Democratic--the most +important issue was the slavery question. + +The Republican party, born of the slavery agitation, in its platform +(1856) denied + +"The authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, of any +individual or association of individuals, to give legal existence +to slavery in any Territory of the United States. + +"Declared that the Constitution confers on Congress sovereign power +over the Territories of the United States for their government, +and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and +the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin +relics of barbarism--Polygamy and Slavery." + +On the other hand, the Democratic party in 1856, fresh from the +contest in Congress over the Nebraska Bill and the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise, denied the right of Congress to exclude slavery +from the Territories, and declared it + +"The right of the people of all the Territories, including Kansas +and Nebraska . . . to form a Constitution, with or without domestic +slavery, and be admitted into the Union." + +There were other but minor issues discussed in 1856. John C. +Fremont was nominated by the Republicans and James Buchanan by the +Democrats. Douglas failed of the Presidential prize through violent +antagonism from the South, especially from Jefferson Davis, Wm. L. +Yancey, Robert Toombs, and other leading pro-slavery statesmen. +They distrusted him, though he had led them to victory in 1854 in +repealing the 36° 30´ restriction of slavery, and in throwing open, +as we have seen, the Nebraska territorial empire to the influx of +slaves. He was patriotic, and hence could not be depended on to +take the next step towards forcing slavery into the Territories +and to favor a dissolution of the Union. + +Buchanan, a pliant tool, was elected by a plurality vote over +Fremont and Fillmore, the candidate of the American party. Fremont +carried, with good majorities, all the free States save Indiana, +New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California. + +The popular discussion of the slavery question in the campaign was +thorough, memorable, exciting, educating, and, though resulting in +defeat to the anti-slavery party, it marked the trend of public +sentiment, and clearly foreshadowed that it would soon triumph. + +The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 still further elucidated to +the masses of the people the issues impending, and indicated that +the end of slavery extension was near. + +The Dred Scott decision, announced March, 1857, had completely +overthrown, so far as it could be done by judicial-political _obiter +dicta_, Douglas's Popular Sovereignty theory, leaving him with only +the northern end (and that not united) of his party endeavoring to +uphold it. + +Next came the Presidential campaign of 1860, the last in which a +slave party participated. + +The Democratic party met in delegate convention in April, 1860, in +Charleston, South Carolina, and after seven days of struggle, during +which disunion threats were made by Yancey and others, the delegates +from the Cotton States--South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, +Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas--seceded, for the alleged +reason that a majority of the convention adopted the 1856 Democratic +platform which upheld the Douglas - Popular Sovereignty doctrine +as applied to the Territories. + +The seceding delegates had voted for a platform declaring the right +of all citizens to settle in the Territories with all their property +(including slaves) "without its being destroyed or impaired by +Congressional or territorial legislation," and further, + +"That it is the duty of the Federal Government in all its departments +to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property in +the Territories, and wherever else its constitutional authority +extends." + +This was not only the new doctrine of the Supreme Court, but to it +was superadded the further claim that the Constitution _required_ +Congress and all the departments of the government to protect the +slaveholder with his slaves, when once in a Territory, against +territorial legislation or other unfriendly acts. By this most +startling doctrine the Constitution was to become an instrument to +_establish and protect slavery_ in all the territorial possessions +of the Republic. + +Douglas failed of nomination at Charleston for want of a two thirds +vote of the entire convention as originally organized. The convention +adjourned to meet, June 11th, at Baltimore, and the seceding branch +of it also adjourned to meet at the same time at Richmond, but +later it decided to meet with and again become a part of the +convention at Baltimore. At this time the South had control of +the Senate, and May 25, 1860, before the convention reassembled, +and after a most acrimonious debate into which Douglas was drawn +and in which Jefferson Davis bitterly assailed him, the resolutions +of the latter were passed, affirming the "_property_" theory, with +the new doctrine of constitutional protection of it in the Territories +added. + +The convention reassembled, and at the end of five days' wrangle +and recrimination, during which the members called each other +"disorganizers," "bolters," "traitors," "disunionists," "abolitionists," +accompanied by violent threats, it disrupted again, its chairman, +Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, led the bolters and was followed +by the delegates generally from the Southern States. They organized +at once a separate convention. + +Douglas was nominated by the originally organized convention, and +John C. Breckinridge by the bolters, each on the sharply defined +platform relating to slavery, mentioned above. + +Still another political body assembled in Baltimore in 1860, to +wit: "The Constitutional Union Convention." It met May 9th. Its +platform was intended to be comprehensive and so simple and patriotic +that everybody might endorse it. It declared against recognizing +any principle other than + +"_The Constitution of the Country, the Union of the States, and +the Enforcement of the Laws._" + +John Bell of Tennessee was nominated on this broad platform for +President, with Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President, +both eminently respectable statesmen, but the times were not +auspicious for mere generalized principles or mere respectability. + +The great Wigwam - Republican Convention met at Chicago, May 16, +1860, with delegates from all the free States, the Territories of +Kansas and Nebraska, and from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, +and Missouri. + +Its platform was long, and affirmed the principles of the Declaration +of Independence, pronounced against interfering with slavery in +the States, denounced the John Brown raid as "among the gravest of +crimes," and, in the main, was temperate and conservative. + +On the question of slavery in the Territories it was radical: + +"That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force, carries +slavery in to any or all of the Territories of the United States, +is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit +provisions of that instrument itself," etc. + +"That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States +is that of freedom, . . . and we deny the authority of Congress, +or a Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal +existence to slavery in any Territory in the United States." + +Lincoln of Illinois, Seward of New York, Chase of Ohio, and Cameron +of Pennsylvania were the principal candidates for nomination, but +the contest turned out to be between Lincoln and Seward, each of +whom was regarded eminently qualified for the Presidency and an +especial representative of his party on the slavery issue. + +Lincoln was nominated on the third ballot, and Hannibal Hamlin, a +sturdy New England statesman, was nominated for Vice-President. + +Slavery, with its tri-cornered issues, was the sole absorbing +question discussed in the campaign. In the South, the Breckinridge +wing assailed the Douglas party, which combated _it_ there in turn. +In the North, the Republican party attacked furiously both the +Douglas and Breckinridge wings of the Democratic party; they, in +turn, fighting back and fighting each other. + +The Bell and Everett party, though it claimed to be the only party +of the Constitution, fell into ridicule, as it really advocated no +well-defined principles on any subject whatsoever. Bell and Everett, +however, carried Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. Lincoln carried +all the Northern States, save three of the electoral votes in New +Jersey. + +Of the 303 electoral votes, Lincoln had 180, Douglas 12 (Missouri +9 and New Jersey 3), Breckinridge 72, and Bell 39, thus giving +Lincoln 57 over all. He was the first and only President elected +on a direct slavery issue. + +The slavery question, thus sharply presented, was decided at the +polls by the people, and their verdict was for freedom in the +Territories. No more slave States; no more dilution of slavery by +spreading it (as was once advocated by Clay and others) for its +amelioration. + +It must live or die in States wherein it was established. Neither +successful secession, state-rights, nor accomplished disunion could +extend it. Like all wrong, it could not stand still; to flourish, +it must be aggressive and progressive. To limit it was to strangle +it. This its votaries well understood. + +In the history of the world there never were more brilliant, more +devoted, more earnest, more infatuated, and yet more inconsistent +propagandists of the institution of human slavery than in our +Republic during the period of the agitation of nullification--state- +rights--secession--disunion lines. They were of the Calhoun school. +They declaimed in halls of legislation and on the stump and rostrum +for "Liberty," and hugged closely _human slavery_, often professing +to believe it of _divine right_. + + +XXII +DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION + +Secession was at hand! At first it was justified under the banner +of state-rights, on the theory that the Union was a voluntary +compact of States which could be broken at the will of one or all. +That a Republic was only an experiment, to exist until overthrown +by any member of it. That the blood of the Revolution was shed, +not for the establishment of an independent nation, but for a +confederacy of separate states. In the guise of nullification it +appeared, as we have seen, 1832; excessive tariff duties were the +pretext. In 1835 it assumed to be the champion of slavery, because +on the slavery question only could the South be united. It is due +to history to say, of the decade preceding 1860, patriotism was +not universal even in the free States. Slavery had her votaries +there. Interests of trade affected many. Prejudice against the +blacks and ties of kinship affected others. Parties and affiliations +and love of political power controlled the policy of influential +men in all sections of the country. + +The South was aggressive, and smarted under its defeats in attempts +to extend its beloved institution. The prayer of Calhoun for a +united South was fast being realized, and a fatal destiny goaded +on its leaders. Slavery, indeed, no longer stood on a firm +foundation. Public sentiment had sapped it. It could not live +and tolerate free speech, and a free press, or universal education +even of the white race where it existed. All strangers sojourning +in the South were under espionage; they, though innocent of any +designs on slavery, were often brutally treated and driven away. +It was only the distinguished visitors who were entertained with +the much boasted-of Southern hospitality. The German or other +industrious foreign emigrant rarely, if ever, ventured into the +South. + +Its towns and cities languished. Slavery was bucolic and patriarchal. +It could not, in its most prosperous state, flourish on small +plantations; nor could the many own slaves or be interested in +their labor. Not exceeding two tenths of the white race South +owned, at any time, or were interested in slave labor or slaves. +The eight tenths had no political or social standing. They were, +in a large sense, in another form, white slaves. + +The Border States held their negroes by a precarious tenure. The +most intelligent were constantly escaping. The inter-traffic in +slaves bred in the more northern slave States was likely to become +less profitable. And patrols by night, to insure order, had become +generally necessary. + +The publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ had +a great effect on public sentiment North, and some influence even +in the South. _The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet +It_, written by Hilton R. Helper, a poor white man of North Carolina +(1857), an arraignment of slavery from the standpoint of the white +majority South, was denounced as incendiary in Congress. Sherman +of Ohio, having in some way endorsed its publication, when a +candidate for Speaker, was denounced by Millson of Virginia, who +declared that "one who consciously, deliberately, and of purpose +lent his name and influence to the propagation of such writings is +not only not fit to be Speaker, but is not fit to live." + +Sherman's endorsement of the Helper book caused his defeat for +Speaker, and a riot occurred in the House during this contest: +Not quite bloodshed. Of the scene, Morris of Illinois said: + +"A few more such scenes . . . and we shall hear the crack of the +revolver and see the gleam of the brandished blade." + +The contents of the book, though temperate in tone, were said by +Pryor of Virginia to deal only "in rebellion, treason, and +insurrection." + +Scenes, most extraordinary, were not unfrequently enacted in the +House of Representatives, all having the effect to inflame the +public mind. Some of these were brought on by violent speeches of +Northern statesmen, made in response to the defiant attitude or +utterances of Southern men, boastful of their bravery. + +One such scene was precipitated in 1860 by Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, +who, in a speech to the House, denounced + +"Slaveholding as worse than robbing, than piracy, than polygamy. +The enslavement of human beings because they are inferior . . . is +the doctrine of the Democrats, and the doctrine of devils as well! +and there is no place in the universe outside the five-points of +hell and the Democratic party where the practice and prevalence of +such doctrines would not be a disgrace." + +Lovejoy had more than an ordinary excuse for using such violent +language. + +As long before as November 7, 1837, his brother, Elijah P. Lovejoy, +had been murdered at Alton, Illinois, while defending his printing- +press from a mob, chiefly from Missouri, his offence being that he +published an Abolition paper (_The Observer_). His press had thrice +before in a year been destroyed. + +Pryor of Virginia, Barksdale of Mississippi, and others resented +Lovejoy's expletives, calling him "an infamous, perjured villain," +"a perjured negro-thief," and demanding of the Speaker to "order +that blackhearted scoundrel and negro-stealing thief to take his +seat." + +Personal conflicts were imminent between opposing members. Potter +of Iowa, Kellogg of Illinois, and others promptly and fiercely came +to Lovejoy's defence. The latter finished his speech amid excitement +and threats. Pryor afterwards demanded of Potter "the satisfaction +usual among gentlemen," who promptly proposed to give it to him, +naming bowie-knives as the weapons for the duel. This mode of +gaining "_satisfaction_" was not accepted, because it was "vulgar, +barbarous, and inhuman." Potter thenceforth became a hero, and +less was heard of Northern cowardice. + +This, and like incidents, kindled the fast-spreading flame,--real +battle-fires were then almost in sight. + +It must not be assumed the Republican party, before the war, favored +the abolition of slavery. Its principal leaders denied they were +abolitionists; on the contrary, they insisted that their party +would not interfere with slavery where it existed by State law. + +The sentiment of the people in that party, however, was, on this +question, in advance even of its progressive leaders. The enforcement +of the Fugitive-Slave Law caused many and most important accessions +to the Abolitionists. Wendell Phillips became an Abolitionist on +seeing Garrison dragged by a mob through the streets of Boston; +Josiah Quincy by the martyrdom of Lovejoy; other men of much note, +and multitudes of the moving, controlling masses, were decided to +oppose human slavery by kindred scenes all over the North. They +took solemn, often secret vows, on witnessing men and women carried +off in chains to slavery, to wage eternal war on the institution; +this, in imitation of the vow of Hannibal of old to his father, +Hamilcar, to wage eternal war on Rome. + +At last, through causes for the existence of which the South was +chiefly to blame, the sentiment North was culminating so strongly +against slavery that soon, had secession and war not come, slavery +would have everywhere been assailed. It is impossible to stay the +march of a great moral movement, when backed by enlightened masses, +as to stem the rushing waters of a great stream in flood time. +Hence, the experiment of dissolution of the Union to save slavery +was due, if ever, to be tried in _1861!_ + +Secession was made easier by reason of a long cherished habit of +the Southern people to speak of themselves boastfully as citizens +of their respective States, thus, "I am a Virginian"; "I am a +Kentuckian," seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were citizens +of the United States. This habit destroyed in some degree national +patriotism, and promoted a State pride, baleful in its consequences. +In many of the slave State voting was done _viva voce;_ that is, +by the voter announcing at the polls to the judges the name of the +person for whom he voted for each office. This, it was contended, +promoted frankness, manliness, independence, and honesty in elections. +On the other hand, it was claimed, with much truth, that it was a +most refined and certain method of coercing the dependent poorer +classes into voting as the dominant class might desire, and hence +almost totally destructive of independence in voting. + +An anecdote is told of John Randolph of Roanoke, who, when at the +Court of St. James (England) was conspicuous for his boasting that +he was a _Virginian_. He was introduced by an English official +for an after-dinner speech with a request that he should tell the +distinguishing difference between a _Virginian_ and a citizen of +the American Republic. He curtly responded: + +"The difference is in the system of voting on election days; in +Virginia a voter must stand up, look the candidates in the eye, +and bravely and honestly name his preference, like a man; while +generally a voter in other States of the Union is permitted to +sneak to the polls like a thief, and slip a folded paper into a +hole in a box, then in a cowardly way steal home; the one promotes +manliness, the other cowardice." + + +XXIII +SECESSION OF STATES--1860-1 + +From what has been said, it will be seen the hour had arrived for +practical secession--disunion--or a total abandonment by the South +of its defiant position on slavery. The latter was not to be +expected of the proud race of Southern statesmen and slaveholders. +They had pushed their cause too far to recede, and the North, though +conceding generally that there was no constitutional power to +interfere with slavery where it existed, was equally determined +not to permit its extension. In secession lay the only hope of +either forcing the North to recede from its position, or, if +successful, to create a new government wherein slavery should be +universal and fundamental. Never before had it been proposed to +establish a nation solely to perpetuate human slavery. + +The election of Lincoln was already announced as a sufficient cause +for secession. The South had failed to make California slave; to +make four more slave States out of Texas; to secure pledges that +out of the New Mexico Territory other slave States should be formed; +and to make Kansas a slave State. It had also failed to acquire +Cuba, already slave, for division into more slave States. There +was, moreover, a certainly that many more free States would be +admitted from the territorial domain of the great West. The +political equilibrium in Congress on the line of slavery had +therefore become impossible for all the future. These were the +grievances over which the South brooded. + +But was it not in the divine plan that slavery in the Republic +should come to a violent end? Nowhere among the kingdoms and +empires of the earth had it become, or had it ever been so deeply +implanted, as a part of a political system. In the proud, boastful, +free Republic of America, in the afternoon of the nineteenth century, +where the Christian religion was taught, where liberty of conscience +was guaranteed by organic law, where civilization was assumed to +exist in its most enlightened and progressive stage, there, _alone_, +the slave owner marshalled boastfully his human slaves, selling +them on the auction block or otherwise at will, to be carried to +distant parts, separating wife and husband, parents and children, +and in a thousand ways shocking all the purer instincts of humanity. + +Nor did its evil effects begin or cease with the black slave. + +Jefferson, speaking of slavery in the United States when it existed +in a more modified form, described its immoral effect on the master +and his family thus: + +"The whole commerce between master and slave is perpetual exercise +of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on +the one part and degrading submission on the other. Our children +see this, and learn to imitate it. . . . The parent storms, the +child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same +airs in the circle of small slaves, gives a loose to the worst of +passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, +cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities."(101) + +The virtue of the white race was necessarily involved in the +institution. The blood of the dominant race became intermingled +with the black, and often white blood predominated in the slave. +The offspring of slaveholders became slaves, and were dealt in the +same as the pure African. Concubinage existed generally where +slaves were numerous. + +The rule was that any person born of a slave mother was doomed to +perpetual slavery. + +As early as 1856, perhaps earlier, conferences were proposed among +leaders in some of the Southern States looking to secession. They +were repeated again in 1858, and before the election of Lincoln in +1860.(102) And Southern secret societies were formed in 1860 to +promote the same end. + +The existence of a disunion cabal in Buchanan's Cabinet, working +to bring about disunion, was hardly a secret. + +Howell Cobb of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury, John B. Floyd +of Virginia, Secretary of War, Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, +Secretary of the Interior, and possibly others, were of the Cabinet +cabal. + +Buchanan, though himself desiring to preserve the Union, had not +the bold temperament, and he had too long been a political tool of +the slave power to effectually resist its violent aggressions; nor +did he have the discernment to discover that his official household +was the centre of a disunion movement. His Secretary of War +distributed officers of the army believed to be friendly to the +South where they could become available to it; he sent from the +North small arms and cannon, ammunition and stores where they could +be seized at the right time.(103) Members of the Cabinet kept the +secession leaders advised of all acts of the administration, and +generally aided them. The auspicious time, if ever, seemed to have +come for a successful dissolution of the Union. The army and navy +were full of able Southern men, ready, as the sequel proves, to go +with their States, abandon the country that had nurtured and educated +them, and the flag that had been their glory. + +Governor Wm. H. Gist, of South Carolina, October 5, 1860, by +confidential letters to the governors of the cotton States, fairly +inaugurated disunion, based on the anticipated election of Abraham +Lincoln a month thence.(104) + +One week later, without waiting for a consultation of governors of +slave States, he, by proclamation, convened the Legislature of +South Carolina to "_take action for the safety and protection of +the State_." + +This body met November 5th, the day preceding the Presidential +election. + +The alleged grounds of justification for this early meeting were: + +"The strong possibility of the election to the Presidency of a +sectional candidate by a party committed to the support of measures +which, if carried out, will inevitably destroy _our equality in +the Union_," etc. + +This was the avowed reason, finally, for secession, though the true +reason was the absolute restriction of slavery and the overthrow +of the slave power in the Republic. The election of a Republican +President was, of course, a disappointment to Southern statesmen, +long used to absolute sway in Congress and in the administration +of the government. The charge that Lincoln was a sectional President +was true only to the extent that freedom was sectional. Slavery +only was then, by secessionists, regarded as national. + +The first important step of the South Carolina Legislature was to +appropriate $100,000 to be expended by the Governor in purchasing +small-arms and a battery of rifled cannon. Without opposition a +convention was called to take "into consideration the dangers +incident to the position of the State in the Federal Union." Her +two United States Senators and other of her Federal officers forthwith +resigned. A grand mass meeting was held, November 17th, at +Charleston, generally participated in by the ladies, merchants, +etc. The Stars and Stripes were not displayed, but a white palmetto +flag, after solemn prayer, was unfurled in its stead. Disunion +was here inaugurated. November 13th the Legislature of South +Carolina stayed the collection of all debts due to citizens of non- +slaveholding States. It was not sufficient to repudiate the Union, +but honest debts must also be repudiated. + +The convention thus called first met at Columbia, December 17th, +thence adjourned to Charleston, where (appropriately) on December +20, 1860, an Ordinance of Secession was passed reading thus: + +"_An Ordinance, + +"To dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and +other States united with her under the compact entitled 'The +Constitution of the United States of America_.' + +"We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention +assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and +ordained: That the Ordinance adopted by us in convention on the +23d day of May, in the year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution +of the United States was ratified, and also, all acts and parts of +acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying amendments +of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the Union now +subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name +of 'The United States of America,' is hereby dissolved." + +This action was taken in Buchanan's administration while secessionists +and promoters of disunion were yet in his Cabinet, and Jefferson +Davis and others were still plotting in Congress. + +Great stress was laid upon the right to rescind the original +Ordinance of 1788 ratifying the Constitution of the United States, +and the Union of the States was denominated only a "_compact_." +The passage of the Ordinance of Secession was followed by "bonfires +and illuminations, ringing of bells, insults to the Stars and +Stripes," participated in by South Carolina aristocracy, especially +cheered on by the first ladies of the State and city, little dreaming +that slavery's opening death-knell was being proclaimed.(105) + +It was fitting that South Carolina should lead the van of secession. +She had, in a Colonial state, furnished more Tories in the Revolution +of 1776 than any of the other colonies; she had initiated secession +through nullification in 1832; and her greatest statesman, Calhoun, +was the first to propose disunion as a remedy for slavery +restrictions. + +Events succeeded rapidly. + +An Alabama convention met, and, on January 8, 1861, received +commissioners from South Carolina, and on the 11th passed, in secret +session, an Ordinance of Secession, refusing to submit it to a vote +of her people. + +Mississippi, on January 9, 1861, passed, through a convention, a +like Ordinance. + +Georgia, January 19th, by a convention passed her Ordinance of +Secession. + +Louisiana's convention passed an Ordinance of Secession January +25, 1861. + +Texas passed, in convention, on February 1, 1861, a like Ordinance, +which was ratified by a vote of her people February 24th.(106) + +Thus seven States resolved to secede before Abraham Lincoln became +President. + +And each of these States had prepared for armed opposition; most, +if not all, of their Senators and Representatives in Congress had +withdrawn; in most of the States named United States forts, arms, +military stores, and other public property had been seized; and +many officers of the army and navy had deserted, weakly excusing +their action by declaring they must go with their States. + +Events were happening in Washington. Cass resigned as Secretary +of State because Buchanan adhered to the doctrine that there was +no power to coerce a seceding State. Under this baleful doctrine, +secession had secured, apparently, a free and bloodless right of +way in its mad rush to dissolve the Union and to establish a slave +empire. It was at first thought by Southern leaders wise to postpone +the formation of a "Confederacy" until Lincoln was inaugurated. +But about January 1st there came a Cabinet rupture. Floyd was +driven from it, and Joseph Holt of Kentucky, a most able and patriotic +Union man, succeeded him. Later, Edwin M. Stanton and Jeremiah +Black came into the Cabinet, Buchanan yielding to more patriotic +influences and adopting more decided Union measures, though not +based wholly on a coercive policy. + +But, on January 5, 1861, a "Central Cabal," consisting of "Southern +Statesmen," who still lingered at Washington, where they could best +promote and direct the secession of the States and keep the +administration in check, if not control it, met in one of the rooms +of the _Capitol_ to devise an ultimate programme for the future. +It agreed on these propositions: + +First. Immediate secession of States. + +Second. A convention to meet at Montgomery, Alabama, not later +than February 15th, to organize a Confederacy. + +To prevent hostile legislation under the changed and more loyal +impulses of the President and his reconstructed Cabinet, the cotton +States Senators should remain awhile in their places, to "keep the +hands of Buchanan tied."(107) + +This cabal appointed Senators Jefferson Davis, Slidell, and Mallory +"to carry out the objects of the meeting." + +Thus, beneath the "Dome of the Capitol," treason was plotted by +Senators and Representatives who still held their seats and official +places, and still received their pay from the United States Treasury, +for the sole purpose of enabling them the better to accomplish the +end sought. Think of the prospective President of the "Confederate +States of America," their future Minister to the Court of France, +and their future Secretary of the Navy, plotting secretly in the +Capitol at Washington to destroy the Union! But these were +treasonable times. + +Through resolution of the Mississippi Legislature, the Montgomery +Convention was hastened, and it met February 4, instead of February +15, 1861, as suggested by the Washington caucus of Southern +Congressmen. The delegates from the six seceded States east of +the Mississippi assembled, and a little later (March 2d) delegates +from Texas joined them. On the fourth day of its session the +national _slave-child_ was born, and christened "_Confederate States +of America_." The next day Jefferson Davis was elected President, +and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, Vice-President. Stephens +took the oath of office on the day following his election. Davis +arrived from Washington, and was, on the 18th, inaugurated the +first (and last) President of this Confederacy. + +The next step was a permanent Constitution. With characteristic +celerity, this was prepared and adopted March 11, 1861, one week +after Lincoln became President of the United States, though the +Confederacy had been formed almost a month before his official term +commenced. + +This instrument was modelled on the Constitution of the United +States. + +It forbade the importation of negroes of the African race from any +foreign country, other than the slaveholding States or Territories +of the United States. Then following, for the first time probably +in the history of nations, the proposed new Republic dedicated +itself to eternal slavery, thus: + +"No bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, or _law denying or +impairing_ the right of property in negro slaves, shall be +passed."(108) + +Singularly enough, the astute friends of the institution of slavery, +knowing and avowing that it could not survive competition with the +free, well-paid labor necessary to manufacturing industries, and +knowing also that slavery was only adapted to rural pursuits, not +to skilled mechanical labor, and desiring to plant human slavery +permanently in the new nation, removed from all possibility of +competition with anything that might, by dignifying labor, build +up wealth as witnessed in the great Northern cities and thus endanger +slavery, sought to protect it by a clause incorporated in their +organic act, prohibiting any form of _tariff_ to protect home +industries. + +"Nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations +be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry."(109) + +Cotton was ever to be "King" in the Confederacy. + +Mississippi's "Declaration of the Immediate Causes" justifying +secession with perfect honesty announced: + +"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of +slavery--the greatest material interest in the world. . . . A blow +at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has +been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching +its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to +the mandates of abolition or a dissolution of the Union." + +The best, most candid, conservative, and comprehensive statement +in explanation and vindication of the Confederate Constitution, +the purposes and objects of the nation and people to be governed +by and under it, is found in a speech of Vice-President Stephens +at Savannah, Georgia, delivered ten days (March 21, 1861) after +its adoption. + +Here is a single extract: + +"The new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating +questions relating to our peculiar institution--African slavery as +it exists among us--the proper status of the negro in our form of +civilization. _This was the immediate cause of the late rupture +and present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated +this as the rock upon which the old Union would split_. He was +right. What was conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But +whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock +stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained +by him, and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the +formation of the old Constitution, were that the enslavement of +the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was +wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an +evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion +of the men of that day was that, somehow or other, in the order of +Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. +This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the +prevailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured +every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, +and hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional +guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the +day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested +upon the assumption of the equality of the races. This was an +error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a government +built upon it: when the 'storms came and the wind blew, it fell.' + +"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its +foundations are laid, _its corner stone rests upon the great truth +that the negro is not equal to the white man_. That slavery-- +subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal +condition. This, our new government, is the first in the history +of the world based upon this great physical and moral truth. This +truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all +the other truths in the various departments of science. It has +been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect +well that this truth was not generally admitted, even within their +day. The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late +as twenty years ago. Those at the North who still cling to these +errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics." + +This is a fair and truthful exposition of the fundamental principles +of the Confederacy, fallacious as they were. + +North Carolina, after her people had voted down a convention to +consider the question of secession at an extra session of her +Legislature, called a convention which, on May 21, 1861, when the +war had begun, passed an Ordinance of Secession without submission +to a vote of her people. + +Virginia through her Legislature called a convention which, April +17, 1861, passed an Ordinance of Secession in secret session, +subject to ratification by a vote of her people. This was after +Sumter had been fired on. + +The vote was taken June 25th, and the Ordinance was ratified. + +Arkansas defeated in convention an Ordinance for secession March +18, but passed one May 6, 1861, without a vote of her people. + +Tennessee, by a vote of her people, February 8, 1861 (67,360 to +54,156) voted against a convention, but her Legislature (May 7, +1861) in secret session adopted a "Declaration of Independence and +Ordinance dissolving her Federal relations," subject to a vote of +her people on June 8th. The vote being for separation, her Governor, +June 24, 1861, declared the State out of the Union.(110) + +This was the last State of the eleven to secede. All these four +ratified the Confederate Constitution and joined the already-formed +Confederacy. + +The seceded States early passed laws authorizing the organization +of their militia, and making appropriations for defence against +coercion, and providing for the seizure of United States forts, +arsenals, and other property within their respective limits, and +later, that they should be turned over to the Confederate States. + +Some of the States by law provided severe penalties against any of +their citizens holding office under the Government of the United +States. Virginia, in July, 1861, in convention, passed an ordinance +declaring that any citizen of Virginia holding office under the +old Government should be forever banished from that State, and if +he undertook to represent the State in the Congress of the United +States, he should, in addition, be guilty of treason and his property +confiscated. + +The other Border States failed to break up their relation to the +Union, though in all of them (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and +Missouri) various irregular expedients were resorted to, to declare +them a part of the Confederacy. From their people, however, much +material and moral support was given to the Confederate cause. + +(101) Jefferson's _Works_, viii., p. 403.--Notes on Virginia. + +(102) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. ii., pp. 299-314. + +(103) _Annual Cyclopaedia_ (Appleton), 1861, p. 123. + +(104) For this letter, see _Lincoln_ (N. and H.), vol. ii., p. 306. + +(105) The prophecy: "The rebellion, which began where Charleston +is, shall end where Charleston _was_," was fulfilled. + +For a vivid, though sad description of Charleston at the end of +the war, by an eye-witness, see _Civil war in Am._ (Draper), vol. +i, p. 564. Andrew's Hall, where the first Ordinance passed, and +the Institute in which it was signed, were then charred rubbish. + +The _Demon_ war had been abroad in Charleston--who respects not +life or death. + +(106) Sam Houston was the rightful Governor of Texas in 1861, but +on the adoption of an Ordinance of Secession (February 24, 1861) +he declined to take an oath of allegiance to the new government +and was deposed by a convention March 16, 1861. Just previous to +the vote of the State on ratifying the ordinance, at Galveston, +before an immense, seething, secession audience, with few personal +friends to support him, in face of threatened violence, he denounced +the impolicy of Secession, and painted a prophetic picture of the +consequences that would result to his State from it. He said: + +"Let me tell you what is coming on the heels of secession. The +time will come when your fathers and husbands, your sons and brothers, +will be herded together like sheep and cattle, at the point of the +bayonet, and your mothers and wives, your sisters and daughters, +will ask: Where are they? You may, after the sacrifice of countless +millions of treasure and hundreds and thousands of precious lives, +succeed, if God is not against you, in winning Southern independence. +But I doubt it. It is a bare possibility at best. I tell you that +while I believe, with you, in the doctrine of state rights, the +North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, +impulsive people, as you are, for the live in cooler climates. +But when they begin to move in a given direction, where great +interests are involved, they move with the steady momentum of a +giant avalanche, and what I fear is that they will overwhelm the +South with ignoble defeat." + +During this speech a horse in a team near by grew restive, and +kicked out of harness, but was soon beaten to submission by his +driver. Houston seized on the incident for an illustration, saying: +"That horse tried a little practical secession--See how speedily +he was whipped back into the Union." This quick-witted remark +brought him applause from unsympathetic hearers. + +Houston refused to recognize any Secession authority, and a few +days subsequent to his deposition retired to his home near Huntsville, +without friends, full of years, weak in body, suffering from wounds +received in his country's service, but strong in soul, and wholly +undismayed, though mourning his State's folly. In front of his +house on the prairie he mounted a four-pound cannon, saying: "Texas +may go to the devil and ruin if she pleases, but she shall not drag +me along with her." History does not record another such incident. +To the credit of the Secessionists, they respected the age and +valor of the old hero, and did not molest, but permitted him to +hold his personal "fortress" until his death, which occurred July +26, 1863 (three weeks after Vicksburg fell), in his seventy-first +year. + +He died satisfied the Confederacy and secession would soon be +overthrown and the Union preserved. + +(107) _Lincoln_ (N. and H.), vol. iii, pp. 180-1. + +(108) Con., Art. I., Sec. 9, pars. 1, 4. + +(109) Confederate Con., Art. I., Sec. 8, par. 1. + +(110) McPherson's _Hist. of the Rebellion_, pp. 4-8. + + +XXIV +ACTION OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS, ETC.--1860-1 + +Significant above all other of the great events resulting from the +secession of the Southern States was the dissolution of the great +religious denominations in the United States.(111) + +First, the Old School Presbyterian Church Synod of South Carolina, +early as December 3, 1860, declared for a slave Confederacy. This +was followed by other such synods in the South, all deciding for +separation from the Church North. The Baptists in Alabama, Georgia, +and South Carolina were equally prompt in taking similar action. + +Likewise the Protestant Episcopal Church, in a General Convention, +held in Columbia, South Carolina, after having endorsed the +Confederacy, adopted a "Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal +Church in the Confederate States of America"; all its Southern +bishops being present and approving, save Bishop Leonidas Polk of +Louisiana, who was absent, a Major-General in the Confederate +army.(112) + +The Methodist Episcopal Church South endorsed disunion and slavery; +it had, however, in 1845, separated from the Methodist Church North. + +The Roman Catholic Church, through Bishop Lynch, early in 1861, +espoused the Confederate cause, and he, later, corresponded with +the Pope of Rome in its interests, receiving a conciliatory answer +in the Pope's name by Cardinal Antonelli. + +The Young Men's Christian Association of New Orleans, May 22, 1861, +issued an _Address to the Young Men's Christian Associations of +North America_, declaring secession justifiable, and protesting, +"in the name of Christ and his divine teachings," against waging +war against the Southern States and their institutions. + +Later, in 1863, the "Confederate clergy" issued a most memorable +"_Address to Christians throughout the World_," likewise protesting +against further prosecution of the war; declaring that the Union +was forever dissolved, and specially pointing out "the most +indefensible act growing out of the inexcusable war" to be + +"The recent proclamation of the President of the United States +seeking the _emancipation of the slaves_ of the South." + +And saying further: + +"It is in our judgment a suitable occasion for solemn protest on +the part of the people of God throughout the world." + +Thus encouraged and upheld, the new Confederacy, with slavery for +its "corner-stone," defiantly embarked. + +The counter-action of the Church North was equally emphatic for +_freedom_, and the Union of the States under one flag and one +God.(113) + +It is appropriate in connection with the attitude of the religious +people of the country toward slavery and the Confederacy, and the +war to preserve the one and to establish the other, to quote from +President Lincoln's valedictory Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865), +in which he refers to the attitude of opposing parties, the cause +of the conflict, and to each party invoking God's aid. + +"Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration +which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause +of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict +itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a +result less fundamental and astounding. _Both read the same Bible +and pray to the same God_, and each invoked His aid against the +other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just +God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other +men's faces; but let us 'judge not that we be not judged.' The +prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been +answered fully. + +"The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because +of offences. For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to +that man by whom the offence cometh.' If we shall suppose that +American slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence +of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His +appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both +North and South this terrible war, as the woe to those by whom the +offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those +divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe +to Him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray that this mighty +scourge of woe may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it +continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondsman's two hundred +and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every +drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn +with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it +must be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous +altogether.' + +"With malice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in +the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to +finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care +for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and +his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and +lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." + +(111) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), 508-520. + +(112) He was, as Lieutenant-General, June 14, 1864, killed by a +shell, at Marietta, Ga., while reconnoitering the Union lines. + +(113) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), pp. 460-508. + + +XXV +PROPOSED CONCESSIONS TO SLAVERY--BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION AND +CONGRESS--1860-1 + +The manner of receiving and treating the secession of the States +by the administration of Buchanan and the Thirty-Sixth Congress +can only here have a brief notice. There was a pretty general +disposition to make further concessions and compromises to appease +the disunion sentiment of the South. His administration was weak +and vacillating. Two serious attempts at conciliation were made. +President Buchanan, in his last Annual Message (December 4, 1860), +while declaring that the election of any one to the office of +President was not a just cause for dissolving the Union, and while +denying that "Secession" could be justified under the Constitution, +yet announced his conclusion that the latter had not "delegated to +Congress the power to coerce a State into submission which is +attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from the +Confederacy"; that coercion was "not among the specific and enumerated +powers granted to Congress." He did not think it was constitutional +to preserve the Constitution or the Union of the States. This view +was held by most leaders of his party at the time and throughout +the ensuing war; not so, however, by the rank and file. + +Buchanan did not believe that self-preservation inhered in the +Constitution or the Union. + +The President in this Message suggested an explanatory amendment +to the Constitution: (1) To recognize the right of property in +slaves in the States where it existed; (2) to protect this right +in the Territories until they were admitted as States with or +without slavery; (3) a like recognition of the right of the master +to have his escaped slave delivered up to him; and (4) declaring +all unfriendly State laws impairing this right unconstitutional. + +This was the signal for the presentation of a numerous brood of +propositions to amend the Constitution in the interest of slavery, +and by way of concessions to the South. + +A committee of thirty-three, one from each State, of which Thomas +Corwin of Ohio was chairman, was (December 4, 1860) appointed to +consider the part of the President's Message referred to. + +Mr. Noel of Missouri proposed to instruct this committee to report +on the expediency of abolishing the office of President, and in +lieu thereof establishing an Executive Council of three, elected +by districts composed of contiguous States--each member armed with +a veto power; and he also proposed to restore the equilibrium of +the States by dividing slave States into two or more. + +Mr. Hindman of Arkansas proposed to amend the Constitution so as +to expressly recognize slavery in the States; to protect it in the +Territories; to allow slaves to be transported through free States; +to prohibit representation in Congress to any State passing laws +impairing the Fugitive-Slave Act; giving slave States a negative +upon all acts relating to slavery, and making such amendment +unalterable. + +Mr. Florence of Pennsylvania and Mr. Kellogg of Illinois each +proposed to amend the Constitution "granting the right to hold +slaves in all territory south of 36° 30´, and prohibiting slavery +in territory north of this line," etc. + +Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio proposed a long amendment to the Constitution, +the central idea of which was a division of the Union into four +sections, with a complicated and necessarily impracticable plan of +voting in Congress, and of voting for the election of President +and Vice-President. + +These are only samples of the many propositions to amend the +Constitution, but they will suffice for all. None of them had the +approval of both Houses of Congress. + +There were many patriotic propositions offered looking to the +preservation of the Union as it was. They too failed. + +The great committee reported (January 14, 1861) five propositions. +The first a series of resolutions declaratory of the duty of Congress +and the government to the States, and in relation to slavery; the +second an amendment to the Constitution relating to slavery; the +third a bill for the admission of New Mexico, including therein +Arizona, as a State; the fourth a bill amending and making more +efficient the Fugitive-Slave Law, among other things giving the +United States Commissioner _ten dollars_ whether he remanded or +discharged the alleged fugitive; and the fifth a bill for the +rendition of fugitives from justice. These several propositions +(save the fifth, which was rejected) passed the House, the proposed +constitutional amendment of the committee being amended on motion +of Mr. Corwin before its passage. + +None of the propositions were considered in the Senate save the +second, and even this one did not receive the support of the +secessionists still lingering in Congress. + +The proposition to amend the Constitution passed both Houses by +the requisite two thirds vote. It read: + +"Art. XIII. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which +will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, +within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including +that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of any State." + +_Two_ States _only_--Maryland and _Ohio_ (114)--ratified this +proposed amendment. It was needless, and, if adopted, would have +taken no power from Congress, which any respectable party had ever +claimed it possessed, but the amendment was tendered to answer the +false cry that slavery in the slave States was in danger from +Congressional action. + +(What a contrast between this proposed Thirteenth Amendment to the +Constitution and the Thirteenth Amendment adopted four years later! +The former proposed to establish slavery forever; the latter +abolished it _forever_.) + +The resolutions of John J. Crittenden in the Senate proposed various +amendments to the Constitution, among others to legalize slavery +south of 36° 30´; to admit States from territory north of that +line, with or without slavery; to prohibit the abolition of slavery +in the States and also in the District of Columbia so long as it +existed in Virginia or Maryland, such abolition even then to be +only with the consent of the inhabitants of the District and with +compensation to the slave owners; to require the United States to +pay for fugitive slaves who were prevented from arrest or return +to slavery by violence and intimidation, and to make all the +provisions of the Constitution, including the proposed amendments, +unchangeable forever. The Crittenden resolutions, at the end of +much debate, and after various votes on amendments proposed thereto, +failed (19 to 20) in the Senate, and therefore were never considered +in the House.(115) + +It was claimed at the time that had the Congressmen from the Southern +States remained and voted for the Corwin and Crittenden propositions +the Constitution might have been amended, giving slavery all these +guarantees. + +(114) Joint resolution of ratification, _Ohio Laws_, 1861, p. 190. + +(115) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), pp. 57-67. + + +XXVI +PEACE CONFERENCE--1861 + +By appointments of governors or legislatures, commissioners from +each of twenty States, chosen at the request of the Legislature of +Virginia, met in Washington, February 4, 1861, in a "_Peace +Conference_."(116) Ex-President John Tyler of Virginia was made +President, and Crafts J. Wright of Ohio Secretary.(117) + +It adjourned February 27th, having agreed to recommend to the +several States amendments to the Constitution, in substance: That +north of 36° 30´ slavery in the Territories shall be, and south of +that line it shall not be, prohibited; that neither Congress nor +a Territorial Legislature shall pass any law to prevent slaves from +being taken from the States to the Territories; that no Territory +shall be acquired by the United States, except by discovery and +for naval stations, without the consent of a majority of the Senators +from the slave and also from the free States; that Congress shall +have no power to abolish slavery in any State, nor in the District +of Columbia without the consent of Maryland; nor to prohibit +Congressmen from taking their slaves to and from said District; +nor the power to prohibit the free transportation of slaves from +one slave State or Territory to another; that bringing slaves into +the District of Columbia for sale, or to be placed in depot for +transfer and sale at other places, is prohibited; that the clauses +in the Constitution and its amendments relating to slavery shall +never be abolished or amended without the consent of all the States; +and that Congress shall provide by law for paying owners for escaped +slaves where officers, whose duty it was to arrest them, were +prevented from arresting them or returning them to their owners +after being arrested. + +"The Peace Conference" was composed of 133 members, among whom were +some of the most eminent men of the country, though generally, +however, only conservatives from each section were selected as +members. Its remarkable recommendations were made with considerable +unanimity, voting in the conference being by States, the Continental +method. + +Wm. Pitt Fessenden and Lot M. Morrill of Maine, Geo. S. Boutwell +of Massachusetts, David Dudley Field and Erastus Corning of New +York, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, David Wilmot of +Pennsylvania, Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, John Tyler, Wm. C. Rives, +and John A. Seddon of Virginia, Wm. O. Butler, James B. Clay, James +Guthrie, and Charles A. Wickcliffe of Kentucky, C. P. Wolcott, +Salmon P. Chase, John C. Wright, Wm. S. Groesback, Franklin T. +Backus, Reuben Hitchcock, Thomas Ewing (Sen.), and Valentine B. +Horton of Ohio, Caleb B. Smith and Godlove S. Orth of Indiana, John +M. Palmer and Burton C. Cook of Illinois, and James Harlan and +James W. Grimes of Iowa were of the number. Many of them were +then, or afterwards, celebrated as statesmen; and some of them +subsequently held high rank as soldiers. + +March 2, 1861, the "Peace Conference" propositions were offered +twice to the Senate, and each time overwhelmingly defeated, as they +had been, on the day preceding, by the House.(118) + +There were many other propositions offered, considered, and defeated, +to wit: Propositions from the Senate Committee of thirteen appointed +December 18, 1860; propositions of Douglas, Seward, and others; +also propositions from a meeting of Senators and members from the +border, free, and slave States, all relating to slavery, and proposed +with a view of stopping the already precipitated secession of +States.(119) + +Some of these propositions were exasperatingly humiliating, and +only possibly justifiable by the times. + +Though Lincoln's election as President was claimed to be a good +cause for secession, and though much of the compromise talk was to +appease his party opponents as well as the South, he was opposed +to bargaining himself into the office to which the people had +elected him. With respect to this matter (January 30, 1861) he +said: + +"I will suffer death before I will consent, or advise my friends +to consent, to any concession or compromise which looks like buying +the privilege of taking possession of the government to which we +have a constitutional right." + +We have now done with legislation, attempted legislation, and +constitutional amendments to protect and extend slavery in the +Republic. Slavery appealed to war, and by the inexorable decree +of war its fate must be decided. + +The _Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln_ (January 1, +1863) and the _Thirteenth_ Amendment to the Constitution (1865) +freed all slaves in the Union; the _Fourteenth_ Amendment (1868) +provided that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, +and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United +States and of the State wherein they reside"; and the _Fifteenth_ +Amendment (1870) gave the right to vote to all citizens of the +United States regardless of "_race, color, or previous condition +of servitude_." These are all simply the decrees of war, written +in the organic law of the United States at the end of the national +four years' baptism of blood. Embodied in them are no concessions +or compromises; the evil was torn out by the roots, and the Christian +world, the progressive civilization of the age, and the consciences +of enlightened mankind _now_ approve what was done. + +The war, with its attendant horrors and evils, was necessary to +terminate the deep-seated, time-honored, and unholy institution of +human slavery, so long embedded in our social, political, and +commercial relations, and sustained by our prejudices, born of a +selfish disposition, common to white people, to esteem themselves +superior to others. + +The history of emancipation and of these constitutional amendments +belongs, logically, to periods during and at the end of the war. + +There are, however, two important acts relating to slavery which +passed Congress during the War of the Rebellion, not strictly the +_result_ of that war, though incident to it, which must be +mentioned. + +(116) Kansas joined later, and Michigan, California, and Oregon +were not represented; nor were the then seceded Southern States, +or Arkansas, represented. + +(117) Blaine (_Twenty Years of Congress_, vol. i., p. 269), says: +"Puleston, a delegate from Pennsylvania, a subject of Queen Victoria, +later (1884) of the British Parliament, was chosen Secretary of +the Conference."--This is an error. He was not a delegate: only +one of several assistant secretaries. + +On the next page of Blaine's book he falls into another error in +saying the Wilmot Proviso was embodied (1848) in the Oregon +territorial act. It was never embodied in any act. The sixth +section of the Ordinance of 1787 is embodied in that act word for +word. + +(118) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), pp. 68-9. + +(119) _Ibid_., p. 76. + + +XXVII +DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA--SLAVERY ABOLISHED--1862 + +The District of Columbia, acquired by the United States in 1791 +for the purpose of founding the city of Washington as the permanent +Federal Capital, was, by the laws of Virginia and Maryland, slave +territory. The District was originally ten miles square, and +included the city of Alexandria. Later (1846) the part acquired +from Virginia (about forty square miles) was retroceded to that +State. Congress had complete jurisdiction over it, though the laws +of Maryland and Virginia, for some purposes, were continued in +force. It was, however, from the beginning claimed that Congress +had the right to abolish slavery within its boundaries. + +Congress is given the right "to exercise exclusive legislation in +all cases whatsoever over such District."(120) But slavery was +claimed to be excepted because of its peculiar character. + +The institution of slavery was therefore perpetuated in the District, +and in the Capital of the Republic slave-marts existed where men +and women were sold from the auction block, and families were torn +asunder and carried to different parts of the country to be continued +in bondage. In the shadow of the Capitol the voice of the auctioneer +proclaiming in the accustomed way the merits of the slave commingled +with that of the statesmen in the Halls of Congress proclaiming +the boasted liberty of the great American Republic! Daniel Drayton +(1848) was tried in the District for the larceny of seventy-four +human beings, his crime consisting of affording means (in the +schooner _Pearl_) for their escape to freedom.(121) + +Under the laws of the District many others were punished for like +offences. + +As late as 1856, when the sculptor Crawford furnished a design for +the _Statue of Liberty_ to crown the dome of the Capitol, Secretary +of War Jefferson Davis ordered the "_liberty cap_" struck from the +model, because in art it had an "established origin in its use as +a badge of the freed slave."(122) + +We have seen how much the consciences of just men were shocked, +and how assiduously such men labored to abolish slavery in the +District of Columbia, and with what tenacity the slave party fought +to maintain it there, and even by constitutional amendments to fix +it there forever. + +But when slavery had brought the country to war, the emancipation +of slaves in the District was early considered. + +Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, December 16, 1861, introduced a bill +in the Senate, which, after a most memorable debate in both Houses +of Congress, passed, and on April 16, 1862, became a law, with the +approval of President Lincoln. This act emancipated forthwith all +the slaves of the District, and annulled the laws of Maryland over +it relating to slavery and all statutes giving the cities of +Washington and Georgetown authority to pass ordinances discriminating +against persons of color. + +(120) Con. U. S., Art. I., Sec. 8, par. 17. + +(121) Drayton did not succeed in the attempt to afford these slaves +means to escape. He was tried on two indictments for larceny, +convicted, and on each sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary. +The Circuit Court reversed these convictions on the erroneous charge +of the trial judge (Crawford), to the effect that a man might be +guilty of larceny of property--slaves--without the intent to +appropriate it to his own use. On re-trial Drayton was acquitted +on the larceny indictments; but verdicts were taken against him on +seventy-four indictments for transporting slaves--not a penitentiary +offense--and he was sentenced to pay a fine of $10,000, and to +remain in prison until paid. He was most ably defended by Horace +Mann of Boston, and J. M. Carlisle of Washington, D. C., either as +volunteer counsel or employed by Drayton's friends, he being poor. +There were 115--41 for larceny, 64 for transportation--indictments +against Drayton, which led Mr. Mann to remark of the threatened +penalty: "_Methuselah himself must have been caught young in order +to survive such a sentence_."--_Slavery, Letters, etc._ (Mann), p. +93. + +President Fillmore, being defeated in 1852 for nomination for +President, pardoned Drayton after four years' and four months' +imprisonment, which pardon, it was claimed, defeated Scott, the +Whig nominee, at the polls.--_Memoir of Drayton_, p. 118. + +(122) Correspondence in War Department between Davis and Quartermaster- +General Meigs. + +The present nondescript hood, giving the statue crowning the dome +its appearance, in some views, of a wild Indian, was substituted +for the Liberty cap. + + +XXVIII +SLAVERY PROHIBITED IN THE TERRITORIES--1862 + +Growing out of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, +the question was raised by Lovejoy of Illinois and others as to +the duty of Congress to declare freedom _national_ and slavery +_sectional;_ and also to prohibit slavery in all the Territories +of the Union. + +A bill was passed, which (June 19, 1862) was approved by the +President, and became the last general law of Congress on the +subject of slavery in the Territories. It reads: + +"That from and after the passage of this act there shall be neither +slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the Territories of the +United States, now existing, or which may at any time hereafter be +formed or acquired by the United States, otherwise than in punishment +of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." + +By this act the principles of the Ordinance of 1787 (sixth section) +were applied universally to all existing and to be acquired territory +of the United States. + +It was only, in effect, Jefferson's Ordinance of 1784, defeated by +_one_ vote in the old Congress, the loss of which he deplored so +much. His benign purpose to restrict slavery was delayed seventy- +eight years--until blood flowed to sanction it. + + +XXIX +BENTON'S SUMMARY + +We close this already too long history of human slavery in the +United States with Thomas H. Benton's summary of the "cardinal +points" in the aggressive policy of the impetuous South in pushing +forward slavery as a cause for disunion. He wrote, four years +anterior to the Rebellion of 1861, with a prophetic pen, nibbed by +the experience of a Senator for thirty years, and as a slaveholder. +He had actively participated in most of the events of which he +speaks, and was personally familiar with all of them.(123) + +"But I am not now writing the history of the present slavery +agitation--a history which the young have not learnt, and the old +have forgotten, and which every American ought to understand. I +only indicate cardinal points to show its character; and of these +a main one remains to be stated. Up to Mr. Pierce's administration +the plan had been defensive--that is to say, to make the secession +of the South a measure of self-defence against the abolition +encroachments, aggressions, and crusades of the North. In the time +of Mr. Pierce, the plan became offensive--that is to say, to commence +the expansion of slavery, and the acquisition of territory to spread +it over, so as to overpower the North with new slave States, and +drive them out of the Union. In this change of tactics originated +the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise, the attempt to purchase +one half of Mexico, and the actual purchase of a large part; the +design to take Cuba; the encouragement to Kinney and to Walker in +Central America; the quarrels with Great Britain for outlandish +coasts and islands; the designs upon the Tehuantepec, the Nicaragua, +the Panama, and the Darien routes; and the scheme to get a foothold +in the Island of San Domingo. The rising in the free States in +consequence of the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise checked +these schemes, and limited the success of the disunionists to the +revival of the agitation which enables them to wield the South +against the North in all the Federal elections and Federal legislation. +Accidents and events have given this part a strange pre-eminence-- +under Jackson's administration proclaimed for treason; since, at +the head of the government and of the Democratic party. The death +of Harrison, and the accession of Tyler, was their first great +lift; the election of Mr. Pierce was their culminating point. It +not only gave them the government, but power to pass themselves +for the Union party, and for democrats; and to stigmatize all who +refused to go with them as disunionists and abolitionists. And to +keep up this classification is the object of the eleven pages of +the message which calls for this Review--unhappily assisted in that +object by the conduct of a few real abolitionists (not five per +centum of the population of the free States); but made to stand, +in the eyes of the South, for the whole." + +(123) Hist., etc., Ex., _Dred Scott Case_, pp. 184-5. + + +XXX +PROPHECY AS TO SLAVERY'S FATE: ALSO AS TO DISUNION + +We are approaching the period for the fulfilment of prophecy in +relation to the perpetuity of human slavery in the United States. + +We summarize a few of the prophecies made by distinguished American +statesmen and citizens. George Washington, Patrick Henry, and +other Virginia statesmen and slaveholders at the close of the +Revolution predicted that slaves would be emancipated, or they +would acquire their freedom violently. These patriots advocated +emancipation. The stumbling-block to abolition in Virginia at that +time was, what to do with the blacks. The white population could +not reconcile themselves to the idea of living on an equality with +them, as they deemed they must if the blacks were free. As early +as 1782 Jefferson expressed his serious forebodings: + +"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that +these people are to be free; nor is it less certain that the two +races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. . . . + +"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that +His justice cannot sleep forever. The way, I hope, is preparing, +under the auspices of Heaven, for a total emancipation." + +The anti-slavery societies when they first met in annual convention +(1804) proclaimed that + +"Freedom and slavery cannot long exist together." + +John Quincy Adams, in 1843, prophesied: + +"I am satisfied slavery will not go down until it goes down in +blood."(124) + +Abraham Lincoln, at the beginning of his celebrated debate with +Douglas (1858) expressed his belief that this nation could not +exist "half slave and half free." He had, however, made the same +declaration in a letter to a Kentucky friend to whom he wrote: + +"Experience has demonstrated, I think, that there is no peaceful +extinction of slavery in prospect for us. . . . + +"On the question of liberty as a principle, we are not what we have +been. When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted +to be free, we called the maxim that 'all men are created equal' +a _self-evident truth;_ but now, when we have grown fat, and have +lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy +to be masters that we call the maxim '_a self-evident lie_.' The +Fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great dy +for burning fire-crackers. That spirit which desired the peaceful +extinction of slavery has itself become extinct with the occasion +and the men of the Revolution. . . . So far as peaceful, voluntary +emancipation is concerned, the condition of the negro slave in +America, scarcely less terrible to the contemplation of the free +mind, is now as fixed and hopeless of change for the better as that +of lost souls of the finally impenitent. The autocrat of all the +Russias will resign his crown, and proclaim his subjects free +Republicans, sooner than will our masters voluntarily give up their +slaves. + +"Our political problem now is, 'Can we as a nation continue together +_permanently_--forever--half slave, and half free'? The problem +is too mighty for me. May God in his mercy superintend the +solution." + +(Under God, within ten years after this was written, Lincoln was +the instrument for the solution of the _mighty problem!_) + +This was a fitting prelude to his speech on slavery at Springfield, +Illinois (June, 1858), wherein he said: + +"In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis shall have been +reached and passed. '_A house divided against itself cannot +stand_.' + +"I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave +and half free. I do not expect the house to fall--but I do expect +it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all +the other."(125) + +Seward of New York compressed the issue between freedom and slavery +into a single sentence in his Rochester speech (October 25, 1858): + +"It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring +forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner +or later, become either an entirely slave holding nation or entirely +a free labor nation."(126) + +But statesmen were not the only persons who predicted the downfall +of slavery in the Republic; not the only persons who contributed +to that end, nor yet the only persons who foretold its overthrow +in blood. + +The institution had grown to arrogant and intolerant as to brook +no opposition, and its friends did not even seek to clothe its +enormities. + +A leading Southern journal, in 1854, honestly expressed the affection +in which slavery was held: + +"We cherish slavery as the apple of our eye, and we are resolved +to maintain it, peaceably, if we can, forcibly, if we must."(127) + +The clergy and religious people of the North came to believe slavery +must, in the mill of justice, be ground to a violent death, in +obedience to the will of God. + +Theodore Parker, the celebrated Unitarian divine, a personal friend +of John Brown, on hearing, in Rome, of his failure, trial, and +sentence to the scaffold, in a letter to Francis Jackson of Boston, +November 24, 1859, gave vent to what was then regarded as fanatical +prophecy, but now long since fulfilled: + +"The American people will have to march to rather severe music, I +think, and it is better for them to face it in season. A few years +ago it did not seem difficult, first to check slavery, and then to +end it without bloodshed. I think this cannot be done now, nor +ever in the future. All the great charters of _Humanity_ have been +writ in blood. I once hoped that American _Democracy_ would be +engrossed in less costly ink; but it is plain, now, that our +pilgrimage must lead through a Red Sea, wherein many a _Pharoah_ +will go under and perish. . . . + +"Slavery will not _die a dry death_. It may have as many lives as +a cat; at last, it will dies like a mad dog in a village, with only +the enemies of human kind to lament its fate, and they too cowardly +to appear as mourners."(128) + +Parker was fast descending, from broken health, into the grave, +but in the wildest of his dreams he did not peer into futurity far +enough to see that within a single decade the "_sin of the nation_" +would be washed out, root and branch, in blood; and that in Virginia +--the State that hung John Brown--at the home of its greatest +Governor, Henry A. Wise, there would be seen "a Yankee school-marm" +teaching free negroes--sons of Africa--to read and write--to read +the Holy Bible, and she the humble daughter of "Old John +Brown."(129) + +One sample of prophecy of what _disunion_ would be, we give from +a speech of Henry Winter Davis of Maryland: + +"It would be an act of suicide, and sane men do not commit suicide. +The act itself is insanity. It will be done, if ever, in a fury +and madness which cannot stop to reason. _Dissolution_ means death, +the suicide of Liberty, without a hope of resurrection--death +without the glories of immortality; with no sister to mourn her +fall, none to wrap her decently in her winding-sheet and bear her +tenderly to a sepulchre--_dead Liberty_, left to all the horrors +of corruption, a loathsome thing, with a stake through the body, +which men shun, cast out naked on the highway of nations, where +the tyrants of the earth who feared her living will mock her dead, +passing by on the other side, wagging their heads and thrusting +their tongues in their cheeks at her, saying, 'Behold _her_ now, +how _she_ that was fair among the nations is fallen! is fallen!'-- +and only the few wise men who loved her out of every nation will +shed tears over her desolation as they pass, and cast handfuls of +earth on her body to quiet her manes, while we, her children, +stumble about our ruined habitations to find dishonorable graves +wherein to hide our shame. Dissolution? How shall it be? Who +shall make it? Do men dream of Lot and Abraham parting, one to +the east and the other to the west, peacefully, because their +servants strive? That States will divide from States and boundary +lines will be marked by compass and chain? Sir, that will be a +portentous commission that shall settle that partition, for cannon +will be planted at the corners and grinning skeletons be finger- +posts to point the way. It will be no line gently marked on the +bosom of the Republic--some meandering vein whence generations of +her children have drawn their nourishment--but a sharp and jagged +chasm, rending the hearts of commonwealths, lacerated and smeared +with fraternal blood. On the night when the stars of her constellation +shall fall from heaven the blackness of darkness forever will settle +on the liberties of mankind in this Western World. _This is +dissolution!_ If such, Sir, is _dissolution_ seen in a glass +darkly, how terrible will it be face to face? They who reason +about it are half crazy now. They who talk of it do not mean it, +and dare not mean it. They who speak in earnest of a dissolution +of this Union seem to me like children or madmen. He who would do +such a deed as that would be the maniac without a tongue to tell +his deed, or reason to arrest his steps--an instrument of mad +impulse impelled by one idea to strike his victim. Sir, _there +have been maniacs who have been cured by horror at the blood they +have shed_."(130) + +This eloquent, patriotic, word-picture of _dissolution_, intended +to deter those who so impetuously and glibly talked of it, was not, +as the sequel proved, overdrawn. When delivered it was not generally +believed that a dissolution of the Union could or would be attempted. +In the Presidential campaigns of 1856 and 1860, as well as in +Congress, there was much eloquence displayed in line with the above; +few of the orators, however, believed that dissolution, with all +the wild terrors of war, was near at hand. But there were some +men in public life who early comprehended the destiny awaiting the +politically storm-racked Republic, and as it approached, boldly +gave the opinion that "_a little blood-letting would be good for +the body politic_."(131) + +The story of the war which secession inaugurated remains to be in +part narrated in succeeding chapters, portraying the impetuous rush +to battle; the unparalleled heroism of the mighty hosts on either +side; the slaughter of men; the hell of suffering; the bitter tears; +the incalculable sorrow; the billions expended; the destruction of +property; the alternating defeats and triumphs; the final victory +of the Union arms; the overthrow of state-rights, nullification, +secession--disunion; the emancipation of four million human slaves, +and the annihilation in the United States of the institution of +slavery, including all its baleful doctrines, whether advanced by +partisan, pro-slavery statesmen, or advocated by learned politicians, +or upheld by church or clergy in the name of the prophets of Holy +Writ or of Christ and his Apostles, or expounded by a tribunal +clothed in the ermine, majesty, dignity, and power of the Supreme +Court of the United States of America. + +Abraham Lincoln, whose beautiful character is illumined in the +intense light of a third of a century of heightened civilization, +will be immortalized through all time as God's chiefest instrument +in accomplishing the end. + +In closing this chapter we desire again to remind the reader that +in 1861 the Congress of the United States, by a two thirds majority +in each branch, voted to so amend the Constitution as to make +forever unalterable its provisions for the recognition and perpetuation +of human bondage; that if the amendment thus submitted had been +ratified by three fourths of the States, this nation would have +been the first and only one in the history of the world wherein +the right to enslave human beings was fundamental and decreed to +be eternal. + +This amendment, guaranteeing perpetual slavery, was the tender made +by Union men in 1861 to avert disunion and war. It was the +humiliating and unholy pledge offered to a slave-loving people to +induce them to remain true to the Constitution and the Union. In +the providence of God the amendment was not ratified, nor was a +willingness to accept it shown by the defiant South. On the +contrary, it was spurned by it with singular unanimity and deserved +contempt. A nation to be wholly slave was alone acceptable to the +disunionists; and to establish such a nation the hosts were arrayed +on the one side; to preserve and perpetuate the Union and to +overthrow the would-be slave nation, they were also, thank God, +arrayed on the other. + +This was the portentous issue made up--triable by the tribunal of +last resort from which there is no earthly appeal. + +Promptly, even enthusiastically, did the South respond to the +summons to battle, and with a heroism worthy of a better cause did +it devote life and property to the maintenance of the Confederacy. +But from mountain, hillside, vale, plain, and prairie, from field, +factory, counting-house, city, village, and hamlet, from all +professions and occupation alike came the sons of freedom, with +the cry of "Union and Liberty," under one flag, to meet the opposing +hosts, heroically ready to make the necessary sacrifice that the +unity of the American Republic should be preserved. + +The effort to establish a slave nation in the afternoon of the +nineteenth century resulted in a civil war unparalleled in magnitude, +and the bloodiest in the history of the human race. In the eleven +seceding States the authority of the Constitution was thrown off; +the National Government was defied; former official oaths of army, +navy, and civil officers were disregarded, and other oaths were +taken to support another government; the public property of the +United States was seized in the seceding States as of right, Cabinet +officers of the President assisting in the plunder; Senators and +Representatives in Congress, while yet holding seats, making laws, +and drawing pay, plotted treason, and, later, defiantly joined the +Confederacy; sequestration acts were passed by the Confederate +Congress, and citizens of the United States were made aliens in +the Confederacy, and their property there was confiscated, and +debts due loyal men North were collected for the benefit of the +Confederate Treasury; piratical vessels, with the aid and connivance +of boastful _civilized_ monarchies of Europe, destroyed our commerce +and drove our flag from the high seas; above a half million of men +fell in battle, and another half million died of wounds and disease +incident to war; above sixty thousand Union soldiers died in Southern +prisons; the direct cost of the Rebellion, paid from the United +States Treasury, approximated seven billions of dollars, and the +indirect cost to the loyal people, in property destroyed, etc., +was at least equal to seven billions more. Fairly estimated, slaves +not considered, the people of the seceding States expended and lost +in the prosecution and devastations of the war more than double +the expenditures and losses of the North; imagination cannot compass +or language portray the suffering and sorrow, agony and despair, +which pervaded the whole land. All this to settle the momentous +question, whether or not human slavery should be fundamental as a +domestic, social, and political institution. + +Thus far slavery has been our theme, and the war for the suppression +of the Rebellion only incidentally referred to, but in succeeding +chapters slavery will only be incidentally referred to, and the +war will have such attention as the scope of the narrative permits. + +(124) _Life of Seward_, vol. i., p. 672. + +(125) A. Lincoln, _Complete Works_, vol. i., pp. 215, 240, 251. + +(126) Seward's _Works_, vol. iv, p. 289. + +(127) _Hist. U. S._ (Rhodes), vol. i, p. 469. + +(128) _Life of Parker_ (Weiss), vol. ii., p. 172-4 (406). + +(129) _Civil War in America_ (Draper), vol. i, 565-6. + +(130) Speech of Henry Winter Davis, House of Representatives, Aug. +7, 1856. + +(131) Zachariah Chandler, 1860. + + +CHAPTER II +Sumter Fired on--Seizure by Confederates of Arms, Arsenals, and +Forts--Disloyalty of Army and Navy Officers--Proclamation of Lincoln +for Seventy-Five Thousand Militia, and Preparation for War on Both +Sides + +The _Star of the West_, a merchant vessel, was sent from New York, +with the reluctant consent of President Buchanan, by Lieutenant- +General Winfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the army, to carry +re-enforcements and provisions to Fort Sumter. As this vessel +attempted to enter Charleston harbor (January 9, 1861) a shot was +fired across its bows which turned it back, and its mission failed. +"Slapped in the mouth" was the opprobrious epithet used to express +this insult to the United States. This was not the shot that +summoned the North to arms. It was, however, the first angry gun +fired by a citizen of the Union against his country's flag, and it +announced the dawn of civil war. When this shot was fired, only +South Carolina had passed an Ordinance of Secession; the Confederate +States were not yet formed. + +On the night of December 26, 1860, Major Robert Anderson, in command +of the land forces, forts, and defences at Charleston, South +Carolina, being threatened by armed secession troops, and regarding +his position at Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, untenable if +attacked from the land side, as a matter of precaution, without +order from his superiors, but possessing complete authority within +the limits of his command, removed his small force, consisting of +only sixty-five soldiers, from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, where, +at high noon of the next day, after a solemn prayer by his chaplain, +the Stars and Stripes were run up on a flagstaff, to float in +triumph only for a short time, then to be insulted and shot down, +not to again be unfurled over the same fort until four years of +war had intervened. + +An ineffectual effort was made by Governor Pickens of South Carolina +to induce Major Anderson by his demands and threats to return to +his defenceless position at Fort Moultrie. President Buchanan, at +the instigation of his Secretary of War, Floyd, was on the point +of ordering him to do so, but when the matter was considered in a +Cabinet meeting, other counsels prevailed, and Floyd made this his +excuse for leaving the Cabinet.( 1) Fortunately, his place was +filled by Hon. Joseph Holt of Kentucky, a Union man of force, +energy, will power, and true courage, who, later, became Judge- +Advocate-General U.S.A., serving as such until after the close of +the war. + +To the end of Buchanan's administration, Sumter was held by Major +Anderson with his small force, and around it centered the greatest +anxiety. It was the policy of the South to seize and occupy all +forts, arsenals, dock-yards, public property, and all strongholds +belonging to the United States located within the limits of seceded +States, and to take possession of arms and material of war as though +of right belonging to them. The right and title to United States +property thus located were not regarded. Louisiana seized the +United States Mint at New Orleans, and turned over of its contents +$536,000 in coin to the Confederate States treasury, for which she +received a vote of thanks from the Confederate Congress.( 2) All +the forts of the United States within or on the coast of the then +seceded States, save Forts Sumter and Pickens, were soon, with +their armament and military supplies, in possession of and manned +by Southern soldiers. At first seizures were made by State authority +alone, but on the organization, at Montgomery, of the Confederacy +(February 8, 1861) it assumed charge of all questions between the +seceded States and the United States relating to the occupation of +forts and other public establishments; and, March 15th, the +Confederacy called on the States that had joined it to cede to it +all the forts, etc., thus seized, which was done accordingly. + +On February 28th the Confederate Congress passed an act under which +President Davis assumed control of all military operations and +received from the seceding States all the arms and munitions of +war acquired from the United States and all other material of war +the States of the Confederacy saw proper to turn over to him. + +A letter from the Chief of Ordnance of the United States Army to +Secretary of War Holt, of date, January 15, 1861, shows that, +commencing in 1859, under orders from Secretary of War Floyd, +115,000 muskets were transferred from the Springfield (Mass.) and +Watervliet (N. Y.) arsenals to arsenals South; and, under like +orders, other percussion muskets and rifles were similarly transferred, +all of which were seized, together with many cannon and other +material of war, by the Confederate authorities.( 3) + +Harper's Ferry, and the arsenal there, with its arms and ordnance +stores, were seized by the Confederates, April 18, 1861, and the +machinery and equipment for manufacturing arms, not burned, was +taken South. + +The arsenal at Fayetteville, N. C., was also seized, April 22, 1861. + +In February, 1861, Beauregard ( 4) was commissioned by Davis a +Brigadier-General, and ordered to Charleston, South Carolina, to +organize an army. Other officers were put in commission by the +Confederacy, and a large force was soon mustering defiantly for +the coming struggle. + +Beauregard took command at Charleston, March 1st, three days before +Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United States.( 5) + +Disloyalty extended to the army and navy. + +The regular army was small, and widely scattered over the Western +frontiers and along the coasts of lake and ocean. March 31, 1861, +it numbered 16,507, including 1074 officers. Some officers had +joined the secession movement before this date. + +The disaffection was among the officers alone. Two hundred and +eighty-two officers resigned or deserted to take service in the +Confederate Army; of these 192 were graduates of West Point Military +Academy, and 178 of the latter became general officers during the +war.( 6) + +The number of officers, commissioned and warrant, who left the +United States Navy and entered the Confederate service was, +approximately, 460.( 7) + +To the credit of the rank and file of the regular army, and of the +seamen in the navy, it is, on high authority, said that: + +"It is worthy of note that, while in this government's hour of +trial large numbers of those in the army and navy who have been +favored with the offices have resigned and proved false to the hand +which had pampered them, not one common soldier or common sailor +is known to have deserted his flag."( 8) + +David E. Twiggs, a Brevet Major-General, on February 18, 1861, +surrendered, at San Antonio, Texas, all the military posts and +other property in his possession; and this after receiving an order +relieving him from command. He was an old and tried soldier of +the United States Army, and his example was pernicious in a high +degree. + +There were few, however, who, like him, took the opportunity to +desert and at the same time to do a dishonorable official act +calculated to injure the government they had served. + +March 5, 1861, Twiggs was given a grand reception in New Orleans; +salutes were fired in honor of his recent treachery.( 9) President +Buchanan, to his credit, through Secretary of War Holt, March 1st, +dismissed him from the army.(10) + +It is a curious fact that this order of dismissal was signed by _S. +Cooper_, Adjutant-General of the United States Army (_a native_ of +New Jersey), who, _six days later_, resigned his position, hastened +to Montgomery, Alabama, and there accepted a like office in the +Confederate government. Disloyalty among prominent army officers +seemed, for a time, the rule.(11) + +It was industriously circulated, not without its effect, that +General Winfield Scott had deserted his country and flag to take +command of the Confederate Army. To his honor it must be said, +however, that he never faltered, and the evidence is overwhelming +that he never entertained a thought of joining his State--Virginia. +He early foresaw that disunion and war were coming, and not only +deprecated them but desired to strengthen the United States Government +and to avert both. Only his great age prevented his efficiently +leading the Union armies. + +George H. Thomas, like General Scott, was a native of Virginia. +He was also unjustly charged with having entertained disloyal +notions and to have contemplated joining the South, but later both +Scott and Thomas were bitterly denounced by secessionists for not +going with Virginia into the Rebellion. + +Officers connected with the United States Revenue Service stationed +in Southern cities were, generally, not only disloyal, but property +in their custody was without scruple turned over to the Confederate +authorities. The revenue cutters under charge and direction of +the Secretary of the Treasury were not only seized, but their +commanding officers in many cases deserted to the Confederacy and +surrendered them. A notable example is that of Captain Breshwood, +who commanded the revenue cutter _Robert McClelland_, stationed at +New Orleans. When ordered, January 29, 1861, to proceed with her +to New York, he refused to obey. This led John A. Dix, Secretary +of the Treasury, to issue his celebrated and patriotic "Shoot-him- +on-the-spot" order.(12) Louisiana had not at that time seceded, +but the cutter, with Captain Breshwood, went into the Confederacy. +So of all other such vessels coming within reach of the now much- +elated, over-confident, and highly excited Confederate authorities. + +Before the end of February, 1861, the "Pelican Flag" was flying +over the Custom-House, Mint, City Hall, and everywhere in Louisiana. +At the New Orleans levees ships carried every flag on earth except +that of the United States. The only officer of the army there at +the time who was faithful to the country was Col. C. L. Kilburn, +of the Commissary Department, and he was preparing to escape +North.(13) + +So masterful had become the spirit of the South, born of the nature +of the institution of slavery, that many disinclined to disunion +were carried away with the belief that it was soon to be an +accomplished fact, and that those who had favored it would alone +be the heroes, while those who remained with the broken Union would +be socially and forever ostracized. There were also many, indeed, +who seriously entertained the belief that the North, made up as it +was of merchants, manufacturers, farmers, and laborers, and with +the education and disposition to follow pursuits incident to money- +getting by their own personal efforts, would not be willing to +engage in war, and thus destroy their prospects. There were also +others who regarded Northern men as cowards, who, even if willing +to fight, would not at best be equal, a half dozen of them, to one +Southern man. These false notions were sincerely entertained. +The Southern people regarded slavery as ennobling to the white +race, and free white labor as degrading to the people of the free +States, and hence were confident of their own superiority in arms +and otherwise. There were even some people North who had so long +heard the Southern boasts of superior courage that they half believed +in it themselves, until the summons to arms dispelled all such +illusions. + +To the half credit of most of the officers of the United States +army, and many of the navy, it may be said that when they determined +to desert their country and flag they resigned their commissions, +or at least tendered them, so they might go into rebellion with +some color of excuse. + +The War Department was generally, even under Lincoln's administration, +gracious enough in most cases to accept such resignations, even +when it knew or suspected the purpose for which they were tendered. +Lieut. Julius A. De Lagnel, of the artillery, a Virginian, who +remained long enough in the Union to be surrendered to Secession +authorities (not discreditable to himself) at Fayetteville, North +Carolina, with the North Carolina arsenal (April 22, 1861) informed +the writer since the war that, on sending his resignation to the +War Department, he followed it to the Adjutant-General's office, +taking with him some bags of coin he had in the capacity of disbursing +officer, for the purpose of making a settlement. He found Adjutant- +General Lorenzo Thomas not in good humor, and when requested to +direct him to a proper officer to settle his accounts, Thomas flew +at him furiously, ordered him to drop his coin-bags, and decamp +from his presence and from the Department, which he did accordingly. +His accounts were thus summarily settled. (We shall soon hear of +De Lagnel again.) + +Captain James Longstreet, of Georgia, who became a Lieutenant- +General in the C.S.A., and one of the ablest fighting generals in +either army, draws a rather refined distinction as to the right of +an officer to resign his commission and turn enemy to his country, +while denying the right of a non-commissioned officer or private +soldier to quit the army in time of rebellion to follow his State. + +Longstreet was stationed at Albuquerque, New Mexico, when Sumter +was fired on. On receiving the news of its capture he resigned +and went South, through Texas, to join his State, or rather, as it +proved, to join the Confederate States Army. + +He says his mind was relieved by information that his resignation +was accepted, to take effect June 1st. He tells us a sergeant from +Virginia and other soldiers wished to accompany him, but he would +not entertain that proposition; he explained to them that they +could not go without authority of the War Department, but it was +different with commissioned officers; they could resign, and when +their resignations were accepted could do as they pleased, while +the sergeant and his comrades were bound by their oaths to the term +of their enlistment.(14) + +It might be hard to construct a more satisfactory constitutional +or moral theory than this for persons situated as were Captain +Longstreet and others, disposed as they were to desert country and +comrades for the newly formed slave Confederacy; yet if the secession +of the native State of an officer is sufficient to dissolve allegiance +he has sworn to maintain, it requires a delicate discrimination to +see why the common soldier might not also be absolved from his term +contract and oath for the same reasons. + +There is a point of honor as old as organized warfare, that in the +presence of danger or threatened danger it is an act of cowardice +for an officer to resign for any but a good physical cause. + +The better way is to justify, or if that cannot be done, to excuse +as far as possible, the desertion of the Union by army and navy +officers on the ground that the times were revolutionary, when +precedents could not be followed, and legal and moral rights were +generally disregarded. Such periods come occasionally in the +history of nations. They are properly called _rebellions_, when +they fail. + +"_Rebellion_, indeed, appears on the back of a flying enemy, but +_revolution_ flames on the breastplate of the victorious +warriors."(15) + +Robert E. Lee, born in Virginia, of Revolutionary stock, had won +reputation as a soldier in the Mexican War. He was fifty-four +years of age, a Colonel of the First Cavalry, and, though in +Washington, was but recently under orders from the Department of +Texas. There is convincing evidence that General Scott and Hon. +Frank P. Blair tendered him the command of the army of the United +States in the impending war. This is supposed to have caused him +to hesitate as to his course. In a letter (April 20, 1861) to a +sister he deplores the "state of revolution into which Virginia, +after a long struggle, has been drawn," saying: + +"I recognize no necessity for this state of things, . . . yet in +my own person I had to meet the question whether I would take part +against my native State. With all my devotion to the Union, and +the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not +been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, +my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission +in the army, and, _save in defence of my native State_, with the +hope that my poor services will never be needed, I hope I may never +be called on to draw my sword." + +On the same day, in a letter to General Scott accompanying his +resignation, he says: "Save in defence of my State, I never desire +to draw my sword." + +Lee registered himself, March 5, 1861, in the Adjutant-General's +office as Brevet-Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel Second Cavalry.(16) +He was nominated, March 21, 1861, _by President Lincoln_, Colonel +First Cavalry, and on March 23d the nomination was confirmed by +the Senate. He was then commissioned by the President, Colonel, +March 25th, to rank from March 16, 1861; he received this commission +March 28th, and accepted it by letter March 30, 1861. Seven States +had then seceded from the Union, and the Confederate States of +America had existed since February 8, 1861. + +Three weeks after (April 20th) Lee accepted this last commission +he tendered his resignation in the United States Army. It did not +reach the Secretary of War until April 24th, nor was it accepted +until April 27th, to take effect April 25, 1861.(17) + +Lee, however, accepted, April 22nd, a commission as Major-General +in the "Military and Naval Forces of Virginia," assuming command +of them by direction of Governor John Letcher, April 23, 1861. + +It thus appears that two months and a half after the Confederate +States were formed Robert E. Lee accepted President Lincoln's +commission in the U.S.A.; then twenty-four days later, and pending +the acceptance of his resignation, took command of forces hostile +to the Federal Union. He, April 24th, gave instructions to a +subordinate: "Let it be known that you intend no attack; but +invasion of our soil will be considered an act of war." + +He did not have Longstreet's consolation of knowing his resignation +had been accepted before he abandoned his rank and duties in the +United States Army; nor had his State yet seceded from the Union. +Virginia did not enter into any relations with the Confederacy +until April 25, 1861, and then only conditionally. Her convention +passed an Ordinance of Secession April 17th, to take effect, if +ratified by the votes of her people, at an election to be held May +23, 1861. An election held in Virginia the previous February +resulted in choosing to a convention a very large majority of +delegates opposed to secession. The convention, March 17th--90 to +45--rejected an Ordinance of Secession. Virginia's people were, +until coerced by her disloyal State Governor, faithful to the Union +of Washington. The fact remains that Lee, before his State voted +to secede, accepted a commission in the army of the Confederacy, +and took an oath to support its laws and Constitution, and thenceforth +drew his sword to overthrow the Union of his fathers and to establish +a new would-be nation under another flag. His son, G. W. Custis +Lee, did not resign from the U.S.A. until May 2, 1861. Fitzhugh +Lee also accepted a commission from Lincoln, and resigned (May 21, +1861) after his illustrious uncle. + +It is hard to understand how fundamental principles in government +and individual patriotism and duty may be made, on moral or political +grounds, to depend on the conduct of the temporary authorities of +a State, or even on the voice of its people. + +The action of Robert E. Lee in leaving the United States Army, and +his reasons therefor, serve to show how and why many other army +and navy officers abandoned their country's service. The Confederacy +promptly recognized these "_seceding officers_," and for the most +part gave them, early, high rank, and otherwise welcomed them with +enthusiasm. + +It is probably that the slowness of promotion in time of peace, in +both the army and navy of the United States, caused many officers +to resign and seek, with increased rank, new fortunes and renown +in war. + +It is not to be denied that the custom of hospitably treating +officers while serving in the South, and otherwise socially +recognizing them and their families, had won many to love the +Southern people and their gallant ways. This, at least, held the +most of the Southern-born officers to their own States, though in +some cases, and perhaps in many, they did not believe in slavery. + +It may be said also that the generally cold business character of +the well-to-do Northern people, and their social indifference to +one another, and especially to officers and their families serving +at posts and in cities, did not attach them to the North. An +officer in the regular service in time of peace, having no hope of +high promotion before he reaches old age, has but little, save +social recognition of himself and family, to make him contented +and happy. This somewhat helpless condition makes him grateful +for attentions shown, and jealous of inattention. + +Turning more directly to the military situation on Lincoln's +inauguration, we find Major Anderson holding Sumter, but practically +in a state of siege, the Confederate authorities having assembled +a large army at Charleston under Beauregard. Fort Moultrie and +Castle Pinckney had been seized and manned; heavy ordnance had been +placed in them, and batteries had been established commanding Fort +Sumter. + +Finally, on April 7th, Anderson was forbidden to purchase fresh +provisions for his little band. On April 10th, Captain G. V. Fox, +an ex-officer of the navy, sailed with a relief expedition, consisting +of four war-ships, three steam-tugs, and a merchant steamer, having +on board two hundred men and the necessary supplies of ammunition +and provisions. + +Beauregard and the Confederate authorities hearing promptly of +Captain Fox's expedition and destination, on April 11th, formally +demanded of Major Anderson the evacuation of Fort Sumter, which +demand was refused. + +At 4.30 o'clock, April 12th, a signal shell was fired at Fort Sumter +from a mortar battery on James Island, and, immediately after, +hostile guns were opened from batteries on Morris Island, Sullivan's +Island, and Fort Moultrie, which were responded to from Fort Sumter. + +This signal shell opened actual war; its discharge was, figuratively +speaking, heard around the world; it awakened a lethargic people +in the Northern States of the Union; it caused many who had never +dreamed of war to prepare for it; it set on fire the blood of a +people, North and South, of the same race, not to cool down until +a half-million of men had been consumed in the fierce heat of +battle; it was the opening shot intended to vindicate and establish +human slavery as the essential pillar of a new-born nation, the +first and only one on earth formed solely to eternally perpetuate +human bondage as a social and fundamental political institution; +but, in reality, this shot was also a signal to summon the friends +of human freedom to arms, and to a battle never to end until slavery +under the Constitution of the restored Union should cease to exist. + +Captain Fox's expedition was not organized as he had planned it, +and though it reached its destination off Sumter an hour before +the latter was fired on, it could not, from want of light boats or +tugs, send to the fort the needed supplies or men. Major Anderson, +after two days' bombardment, was therefore forced to agree to +evacuate the fort, which he accordingly did on Sunday afternoon, +April 14th, after having saluted the flag as it was lowered.(18) + +There were men North as well as South who censured President Lincoln +and his advisers for not, as was at one time contemplated, peacefully +evacuating Fort Sumter, thus removing the immediate cause for +bringing on hostilities, and leaving still more time for compromise +talk and Northern concession. But the Union was already dissolved +so far as the seceding States were able to do it, and a peaceable +restoration of those States to loyalty and duty was then plainly +impossible. + +South Carolina was the first to secede, and it is more than probable +that President Lincoln clearly discerned that the overt act of +assailing the Union by war would take place at Charleston. So long +as surrenders of public property went on without resistance, the +Confederacy was growing stronger and more defiant, and in time +foreign recognition might come. It was much better for the Union +cause for the first shot to be fired by Confederate forces in taking +United States public property than by United States forces in +retaking it after it had been lost. + +The people North had wavered, not in their loyalty to the Union, +but in their judgment as how to preserve it, or whether it could +be preserved at all, until Sumter came, then firmness of conviction +took immediate possession of them, and life and treasure alike +thenceforward devoted to the maintenance of Federal authority. Of +course, there was a troublesome minority North, who, either through +political perversity, cowardice, or disloyalty, never did support +the war, at least willingly. It was noticeable, however, that many +of these were, through former residence or family relationship, +imbued with pro-slavery notions and prejudice against the negro. + +It should be said, also, that there were many in the North, born +in slave States, who were the most pronounced against slavery. +And there were those also, even in New England, who had never had +an opportunity of being tainted with slavery, who opposed the +coercion of the seceding States, and who would rather have seen +the Union destroyed than saved by war. Again, long contact and co- +operation of certain persons North with Southern slave-holders +politically, and bitter opposition to President Lincoln and his +party, made many reluctant to affiliate with the Union war-party. +Some were too weak to rise above their prejudices, personal and +political. Some were afraid to go to battle. There was also, +though strangely inconsistent, a very considerable class of the +early Abolitionists of the Garrison-Smith-Phillips school who did +not support the war for the Union, but who preferred the slave- +holding States should secede, and thus perpetuate the institution +of slavery in America--the very thing, on moral grounds, such +Abolitionists had always professed a desire to prevent. They +opposed the preservation of the Union by coercion. They thus laid +themselves open to the charge that they were only opposed to slavery +_in the Union_, leaving it to flourish wherever it might outside +of the Union. This position was not only inconsistent, but +unpatriotic. The persons holding these views gave little or no +moral or other support to the war for the preservation of the +integrity of the Republic. + +There were many loyal men in the South, especially in sections where +slavery did not dominate. In the mountain regions of the South, +opposition to secession was the rule, notably in Western Virginia, +Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Tennessee, and Western North Carolina. +There were also loyal men in Northern Alabama and Georgia. But +wherever the determined spirit of the slave-holding disunionists +controlled, as in the cities and more densely populated parts of +the South, though the slave-holding population was even therein +the minority, the white community was forced to array themselves +with the Confederates. There were many South who, at first, +determined to oppose disunion, but who succumbed to the pressure, +under the belief that the Confederacy was an accomplished fact, or +that the North either would not or could not fight successfully, +and would be beaten in battle. Boasts of superiority and the great +display and noisy preparation for war were misleading to those who +only witnessed one side of the pending conflict. The North had, +up to Sumter, been slow to act, and this was not reassuring to the +friends of the Union South, or, perhaps, anywhere. The proneness +of mankind to be on the successful side has shown itself in all +trying times. It is only the virtue of individual obstinacy that +enables the few to go against an unjust popular clamor. + +But political party ties North were the hardest to break. Those +who had been led to political success generally by the pro-slavery +politicians of the South could not easily be persuaded that coercion +did not mean, in some way, opposition to themselves and their past +party principles. Though patriotism was the rule with persons of +all parties North, there were yet many who professed that true +loyalty lay along lines other than the preservation of the Union +by war. These even, after Sumter fell, pretended to, and possibly +did, believe what the South repudiated, to wit: That by the siren +song of peace it could be wooed back to loyalty under the Constitution. +There were, of course, those in the North who honestly held that +the Abolitionists by their opposition to slavery and its extension +into the Territories had brought on secession, and that such +opposition justified it. This number, however, was at first not +large, and as the war progressed it grew less and less. It should +be remembered that coercion of armed secession was not undertaken +to abolish slavery or to alter its status in the slave States. +The statement, however, that the destruction of slavery was the +purpose and end in view was persistently put forth as the justifying +cause for dissolving the Union of States. The cry that the war on +the part of the North was "an abolition war," that it was for "negro +equality," had its effect on the more ignorant class of free laborers +in both sections. There is an inherent feeling of or desire for +superiority in all races, and this weakness, if it is such, is +exceedingly sensitive to the touch of the demagogue. + +There were those high in authority in the Confederate councils who +were not entirely deluded by the apparent indifference and supineness +of the Northern people. When Davis and his Cabinet held a conference +(April 9th) to consider the propriety of firing on Fort Sumter, +there was not entire unanimity on the question. Robert Toombs, +Secretary of State, is reported to have said: + +"The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than +any the world has yet seen; and I do not feel competent to advise +you."(19) + +And later in the conference Toombs, in opposing the attack on +Sumter, said: + +"Mr. President, at this time it is suicide, murder, and will lose +us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet's +nest which extends from mountain to ocean, and legions now quiet +will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts +us in the wrong; it is fatal."(20) + +The taking of Fort Sumter was the signal for unrestrained exultation +of the part of the Secessionists. They for a time gave themselves +up to the wildest demonstrations of joy. The South now generally +looked upon the Confederacy as already established. The Confederate +flag floated over Sumter in place of the Stars and Stripes. At +the Catholic cathedral in Charleston a _Te Deum_ was celebrated +with great pomp, and the Episcopal bishop there attributed the +event to the "infinite mercy of God, who specially interposed His +hand in behalf of _their_ righteous cause." + +The taking of Sumter was undoubtedly the most significant event of +the age. The achievement was bloodless; not a man was killed or +a drop of blood spilled by a hostile shot, yet in inaugurated a +war that freed four millions of God's people.(21) + +Montgomery, the temporary Capital of the Confederacy, wildly +celebrated the event as the first triumph. + +Bloodless was Sumter; but the war it opened was soon to swallow up +men by the thousand. + +Fort Pickens, in Pensacola Harbor, now only remained in the possession +of the United States of all the forts or strongholds in the seceded +South. + +This fortification was taken possession of by Lieut. A. J. Slemmer +of the United States Army, and though in great danger of being +attacked and taken, it was successfully reinforced on April 23, +1861, and never fell into Confederate hands. At a special session +of the Confederate Congress at Montgomery (May 21, 1861), Richmond, +Virginia, was made the Capital of the Confederacy, and the Congress +adjourned to meet there. + +Howell Cobb (late Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury), the +President of this Congress, with some of the truth of prophecy +defiantly said: + +"We have made all the necessary arrangements to meet the present +crisis. Last night we adjourned to meet in Richmond on the 20th +of July. I will tell you why we did this. The 'Old Dominion,' as +you know, has at last shaken off the bonds of Lincoln, and joined +her noble Southern sisters. Her soil is to be the battle-ground, +and her streams are to be dyed with Southern blood. We felt that +her cause was our cause, and that if she fell we wanted to die by +her." + +How was the news of the failure to reinforce Sumter, and of its +being fired on and taken possession of by a rebellious people, +received in the North? The evacuation of Fort Sumter was known in +Washington and throughout the country almost as soon as at Charleston. +Hostilities could no longer be averted, save by the ignominious +surrender of all the blood-bought rights of the founders of the +Republic. + +It must not be assumed that the President of the United States had +not already calculated on the probabilities of war. The portentous +clouds had been long gathering, and the certain signs of the +impending battle-storm had been discerned by Lincoln and his +advisers. He had prepared, as best he could under the circumstances, +to meet it. The long suspense was now broken. This was some relief. +There were to be no more temporizing, no more compromises, no more +offers of concession to slavery or to disunionists. The doctrine +of the assumed right of a State, at will, and for any real or +pretended grievance, to secede from and to dissolve its relation +with the Union of the States, and to absolve itself from all its +constitutional relations and obligations, was now about to be tried +before a tribunal that would execute its inexorable decree with a +power from which there is no appeal. Mercy is not an attribute of +war, either in its methods or decisions. The latter must stand in +the end as against the conquered. From war there is no appeal but +to war. Time and enlightenment may modify or alter the mandates +of war, but in this age of civilization and knowledge, neither +nations nor peoples move backward. Ground gained for freedom or +humanity, in politics, science, literature, or religion, is held, +and from this fresh advances may be made. Needless cruelty may be +averted in the conduct of war, but mercy is not an element in the +science of destroying life and shedding blood on the battle-field. + +Sunday, April 14th (though bearing date the 15th), the same day +Sumter was evacuated, President Lincoln issued his proclamation, +reciting that the laws of the United States had been and then were +opposed and their execution obstructed in the States of South +Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and +Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by ordinary +judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by +law; he called for seventy-five thousand of the militia of the +several States of the Union; appealed to all loyal citizens to +maintain the honor, integrity, and existence of the National Union, +and "the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs +already long enough endured." "The first service," the proclamation +recites, "assigned to the forces called forth will probably be to +repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized +from the Union." + +It commanded the persons composing the combinations referred to, +"to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within +twenty days." + +It called Congress to convene Thursday, July 4, 1861, in extraordinary +session, "to consider and determine such measures as, in their +wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand." + +This proclamation was the first announcement by President Lincoln +of a deliberate purpose to preserve the integrity of the Republic +by a resort to arms. In his recent Inaugural Address he had, almost +pathetically, pleaded for peace--for friendship; and there is no +doubting that his sincere desire was to avoid bloodshed. He then +had no thought of attacking slavery, but rather to protect and +grant it more safeguards in the States where it existed. Later, +on many occasions, when the war had done much to inflame public +sentiment in the North against the South, he publicly declared he +would save the "Union as it was." His most pronounced utterance +on this point was: + +"I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under +the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored, +the nearer the Union will be 'the Union as it was.' If there be +those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same +time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those +who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time +destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in +this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or +destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any +slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and +leaving others alone, I would also do that."(22) + +But Abraham Lincoln was not understood in 1861, nor even later +during the war, and not fully during life, by either his enemies +or his personal or party friends. The South, in its leadership, +was implacable in the spirit of its hostility, but the masses, even +there, in time came to understand his true purposes and sincere +character. + +Two days after the call for seventy-five thousand troops, President +Davis responded to it by proclaiming to the South that President +Lincoln had announced the intention of "invading the Confederacy +with an armed force for the purpose of capturing its fortresses, +subverting its independence, and subjecting the free people thereof +to a foreign power." In the same proclamation he invited persons +to take service in private armed vessels on the high seas, tendering +to such persons as would accept them commissions or letters of +_marque_ and reprisal. + +At this time a military spirit had been aroused throughout the +seceded States, and a large number of well-equipped Southern troops +were already in the field, chiefly at Charleston and Pensacola--in +all (including about 16,000 on their way to Virginia) about 35,000. +The field, staff, and general officers in charge of these troops +were mainly graduates of West Point or other military schools; even +the captains of companies were many of them educated in the +institutions referred to. It is not to be denied that a higher +military spirit existed in the South than in the North prior to +the war. The young men from plantations were more generally +unemployed at active labor, and hence had more time to cultivate +a martial spirit than the hard-working young men of the North. + +The summons to arms found the North unprepared so far as previous +spirit and training were concerned; yet it did not hesitate, and +troops were, within two days, organized and on their way from +several of the States to the defense of Washington. The 6th +Massachusetts was fired upon by a riotous mob in the streets of +Baltimore on April 19th. On every side war levies and preparations +for war went forward. The farm, the shop, the office, the counting- +room, the professions, the schools and colleges, the skilled and +the unskilled in all kinds of occupation, gave up of their best to +fill the patriotic ranks. The wealthy, the well-to-do, and the +poor were found in the same companies and regiments, on a common +footing as soldiers, and often men theretofore moving in the highest +social circles were contentedly commanded by those of the humblest +social civil life. + +The companies were, as a general rule, commanded by men of no +previous military training, though wherever a military organization +existed it was made a nucleus for a volunteer company. Often +indifferent men, with a little skill in drilling soldiers, and with +no other known qualifications, were sought out and eagerly commissioned +by governors of States as field officers, a colonelcy often being +given to such persons. A volunteer regiment was considered fortunate +if it had among its field officers a lieutenant from the regular +army, or even a person from civil life who had gained some little +military experience. + +General officers were too often, from apparent necessity, taken +from those who had more influence than military skill. Some of +these, however, by patient toil, coupled with zeal and brains, +performed valuable service to their country and won honorable names +as soldiers. But the most of them made only moderate officers and +fair reputations. War develops and inspires men, and if it continues +long, great soldiers are evolved from its fierce conflicts. + +Accidental _good_ fortune in war sometimes renders weak and unworthy +men conspicuous. Accidental _bad_ fortune in war often overtakes +able, worthy, honest, honorable men of the first promise and destroys +them.(23) Very few succeed in a long war through pure military +genius alone, if there is such a thing. Many, in the heat of battle- +field experiences and in campaigns are inspired with the _common +sense_ that makes them, through success, really great soldiers. +The indispensable quality of personal bravery, commonly supposed +sufficient to make a man a valuable officer, is often of the smallest +importance. A merely brave, rash man in the ranks may be of some +value as an inspiring example to his immediate comrades, but he is +hardly equal for that purpose to the intelligent soldier who obeys +orders, and, though never reckless, yet, through a proper amount +of individual pride, does his whole duty without braggadocio. + +A mere dashing officer is more and more a failure, and unfitted to +command, in proportion as he is high in rank. Rash personal conduct +which might be tolerated in a lieutenant would in a lieutenant- +general be conclusive of his unfitness to hold any general command. +Of course, there are rare emergencies when an officer, let his rank +be what it may, should lead in an assault or forlorn hope, or rush +in to stay a panic among his own troops. + +This, like all other actions of a good officer, must also be an +inspiration of duty. The coward in war has no place,(24) and when +found in an army (which is rare) should be promptly mustered out. +There was no such thing in the late war as a regiment of cowards. +Inefficient or timid officers may have given their commands a bad +name, and caused them to lose confidence in success, and hence to +become unsteady or panicky. The average American is not deficient +in true courage. + +Careful drill and discipline make good soldiers. + +The American people were now awake to the realities of a war in +which the same race, blood, and kindred were to contend, on the +one side for a separate nationality and for a form of government +based on the single idea of perpetuating and fostering the institution +of domestic slavery and a so-called civilization based thereon, +and on the other for the preservation of the integrity of the Union +of States, under one Constitution and one flag. + +In addition to the 15th of April proclamation for 75,000 volunteers +for ninety days' service, the President (May 3d) called into the +United States service 42,034 more volunteers to serve for three +years, unless sooner discharged. He at the same time directed that +eight regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery +should be added to the regular army, making a maximum of 22,714 +regular officers and enlisted men; he also called for 18,000 seamen +for the naval service. + +All these calls for enlistment were responded to by the loyal States +with the greatest promptness, and the numbers called for were more +then furnished, notwithstanding the failure of some of the Southern +non-seceding States to promptly fill their assigned quotas. + +Governor Burton of Delaware (April 26th) issued a proclamation for +the formation of volunteer companies to protect lives and property +in the State, not to be subject to be ordered into the United States +service, the Governor, however, to have the option of offering them +to the general government for the defence of the Capital and the +support of its Constitution and laws. + +Governor Hicks of Maryland (May 14th) called for four regiments to +serve within the limits of the State, or for the defence of the +Capital of the United States. + +Governor Letcher of Virginia (April 16th) spitefully denied the +constitutionality of the call for troops "to subjugate the Southern +States." + +Governor Ellis of North Carolina (April 15th) dispatched that he +regarded the levy of troops "for the purpose of subjugating the +States of the South as in violation of the Constitution and a +usurpation of power." + +Governor Magoffin of Kentucky (April 15th) wired: + +"Your dispatch is received. In answer I say emphatically, Kentucky +will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister +Southern States." + +Governor Harris of Tennessee (April 18th) replied: + +"Your requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, +and revolutionary in its objects, inhuman and diabolical, and can +not be complied with." + +Governor Rector of Arkansas (April 22d) responded: + +"None will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to +injury."(25) + +Four of the slave-holding States thus responding to the President's +call, to wit: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, +soon joined the Confederate States; Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, +and Delaware remained in the Union, and, later, filled their quotas +under the several calls for troops for the United States service, +though from each many also enlisted in the Confederate Army. + +The Union volunteers were either hastened, unprepared by complete +organization or drill, to Washington, D. C., to stand in its defence +against an anticipated attack from Beauregard's already large +organized army, or they were assembled in drill camps, selected +for convenience of concentration and dispersion, to the scenes of +campaigns soon to be entered upon. + +Arms in the North were neither of good quality nor abundant. Some +were hastily bought abroad--Enfield rifles from England, Austrian +rifles from Austria; each country furnishing its poorest in point +of manufacture. But there were soon in operation establishments +in the North where the best of guns then known in warfare were +made. The old flint-lock musket had theretofore been superseded +by the percussion-lock musket, but some of the guns supplied to +the troops were old, and altered from the flint-lock. These muskets +were muzzle-loaders, smooth bores, firing only buck and ball +cartridges--.69 calibre. They were in the process of supersession +by the .58 calibre rifle for infantry, or the rifle-carbine for +cavalry, generally of a smaller calibre. The English Enfield rifle +was of .58 calibre, and the Springfield rifle, which soon came into +common use, was of like calibre. The Austrian rifle of .54 calibre +proved to be of poor construction, and was generally condemned.(26) +A rifle for infantry of .58 calibre was adopted, manufactured and +used in the Confederacy. The steel rifled cannon for field artillery +also came to take the place, in general, of the smooth-bore brass +gun, though many kinds of cannon of various calibres and construction +were in use in both armies throughout the war. + +The general desire of new volunteers was to be possessed of an +abundance of arms, such as guns, pistols, and knives. The two +latter weapons were even worse than useless for the infantry soldier +--mere incumbrances. An officer even had little use for a pistol; +only sometimes in a melée. The cavalry resorted, under some +officers, to the pistol instead of the sword. In the South, at +the opening of the wr, shot-guns and squirrel rifles were gathered +together for arms, and long files were forged in large quantities +by common blacksmiths into knives or a sort of cutlass (or macheté) +for use in battle.(27) These were never used by regularly-organized +troops. Guerillas, acting in independent, small bands, were, +however, often armed with such unusual weapons. The North had no +such soldiers. The South had many bands of them, the leaders of +which gained much notoriety, but they contributed little towards +general results. Guerillas were, at best, irregular soldiers, who +in general masqueraded as peaceful citizens, only taking up arms +to make raids and to attack small, exposed parties, trains, etc. +This sort of warfare simply tended to irritate the North and +intensify hatred for the time. + +Not in the matter of arms alone was there much to learn by experience. +McClellan and others had visited the armies of Europe and made +reports thereon; Halleck had written on the _Art of War;_ General +Scott and others had practical experience in active campaigns, but +nobody seemed to know what supplies an army required to render it +most effective on the march or in battle. + +When the volunteers first took the field the transportation trains +occupied on the march more than four times the space covered by +the troops. Large details had, as a consequence, to be made to +manage the trains and drive the teams; large detachments, under +officers, to go with them as guards. To supply forage for the +immense number of horses and mules was not only a great tax upon +the roads but a needless expense to the government. Excessive +provision of tents for headquarters and officers as well as the +soldiers was also made. Officers as well as private soldiers +carried too much worse than useless personal clothing, including +boots (wholly worthless to a footman) and other baggage; each +officer as a rule had one or more trunks and a mess-chest, with +other supplies. McClellan, in July, 1861, had about fifteen four- +horse or six-mule teams to carry the personal outfit of the General +and his staff; brigade headquarters (there were no corps or divisions) +had only a proportionately smaller number of teams; and for the +field and staff of a regimental headquarters not less than six such +teams were required, including one each for the adjutant and the +regimental quartermaster and commissary; and the surgeon of the +regiment and his assistants required two more. + +Each company was assigned one team. A single regiment--ten companies +--would seldom have less than eighteen large teams to enable it to +move from its camp. Something was, however, due to the care of +new and unseasoned troops, but in the light of future experience, +the extreme folly of thus trying to make war seems ridiculous. A +great change, however, occurred during the later years of the war. +When I was on active campaigns with a brigade of seven regiments, +one team was allowed for brigade headquarters, and one for each +regiment. In this arrangement each soldier carried his own half- +ten (dog-tent) rolled on his knapsack, and the quartermaster, +commissary, medical and ordnance supplies were carried in general +trains. This applied to all the armies of the Union. The Confederates +had even less transportation with moving troops. + +But we must not tarry longer with these details. Henceforth we +shall briefly try to tell the story of such of the campaigns, +events, and scenes of the conflict as in the ensuing four years of +war came under our observation or were connected with movements in +which we participated, interweaving some personal history. + +( 1) His resignation was accepted December 29, 1860. Howell Cobb, +of Georgia, Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury, resigned December +8, 1860, and was, on February 4, 1861, chosen the presiding officer +of the first Confederate Congress. He left the United States +Treasury empty. Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, Buchanan's Secretary +of the Interior, resigned January 8, 1861. He had corresponded +with secessionists South, and while yet in the Cabinet had been +appointed a commissioner by his State to urge North Carolina to +secede. He became an aid to Beauregard, but attained no military +distinction. In 1864 he went to Canada, and there promoted a plan +to release prisoners at Camp Douglas, Chicago, and to seize the +city, and was charged with instigating plots to burn New York and +other Northern cities. + +( 2) _Am. Cyclopedia_, 1861 (Appleton), pp. 430, 431. + +It is interesting to note that Louisiana, jointly with the Confederate +States, issued in April and May, 1861, made from captured United +States bullion, on United States dies of 1861, gold coin, $254,820 +in double eagles, and silver coin, $1,101,316.50 in half dollars. +In May, 1861, the remaining bullion was transferred to A. J. Guizot, +Assistant Treasurer Confederate States of America, who at once +destroyed the United States dies and had a Confederate States die +for silver half dollars engraved by the coiner, A. H. M. Peterson. +From this die _four_ pieces only were struck on a screw press, the +die being of such high relief that its use was impracticable. +These _four_ coins composed the _entire_ coinage of the Confederate +States. Its design, _Obverse:_ Goddess of Liberty (same as United +States coins) with arc of thirteen stars (representing original +States), date, "1861." _Reverse:_ American shield beneath a "Liberty +Cap"; union of shield and seven stars (representing original seceded +States), surrounded by a wreath, to the left (cotton in bloom), to +the right (sugar cane). _Legend: "Confederate States of America_," +exergue, "_Half Dol._"--_U. S._(Townsend), p. 427. + +( 3) _Am. Cyclop._, 1861, p. 123. + +( 4) P. G. T. Beauregard resigned, February 20, 1861, a captaincy +in the United States army while holding the appointment of +Superintendent of West Point. + +( 5) _Life of Beauregard_ (Roman), vol. i., p. 25. + +( 6) _Hist. Reg. U. S. A._ (Heitman), pp. 836-845. + +( 7) Scharf's _Hist. C. S. N._, p. 14. + +( 8) President Lincoln's Message, July, 1861. + +( 9) _Am. Cyclop._, 1861, p. 431. + +(10) This is the only instance where Buchanan issued such an order, +hence we give it. + + "March 1, 1861. +"By direction of the President, etc., it is ordered that Brig.-Gen. +David E. Twiggs, Major-General by brevet, be, and is hereby dismissed +from the army of the United States for his treachery to the flag +of his country, in having surrendered on the 18th of February, +1861, on demand of the authorities of Texas, the military posts +and other property of the United States in his department and under +his charge. + + "J. Holt, Secretary of War. +"S. Cooper, Adjutant-General." + +(11) Lieutenant Frank C. Armstrong (First Cavalry), pending his +resignation, fought at Bull Run (July, 1861) for the Union, then +went into the Confederacy and became a Brigadier-General. + +(12) "Treasury Department, Jan. 29, 1861. +"W. Hemphill Jones, New Orleans: + +"Tell Lieutenant Caldwell to arrest Captain Breshwood, assume +command of the cutter and obey the order through you. If Captain +Breshwood, after arrest, undertakes to interfere with the command +of the cutter, tell Lieutenant Caldwell to consider him a mutineer, +and treat him accordingly. + +"_If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, Shoot him on +the Spot._ + + "John A. Dix, Secretary of the Treasury." + +(13) Sherman's _Memoirs_, vol. i, p. 163. + +(14) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), pp. 29-30. + +(15) John Wilkes, British Par., 1780 (_Pat. Reader_, p. 135). + +(16) In 1861 an army officer was not required (as now) to take an +oath of office on receiving promotion. The following is a copy of +the last oath taken by Robert E. Lee as a United States Army officer, +and it shows the form of oath then taken by other army officers. + +"I, Robert E. Lee, appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second +Regiment of Cavalry in the Army of the United States, do solemnly +swear that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of +America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against +all their enemies or opposers whatsoever; and observe and obey the +orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of +the officers appointed over me, according to the Rules and Articles +for the government of the Armies of the United States. + + "R. E. Lee, Bt.-Col., U. S. A. + +"Sworn to and subscribed before me at West Point, N. Y., this 15th +day of March, 1855. + + "Wm. H. Carpenter, Justice of the Peace." + +(17) Letter of Adjutant-General Thomas to Garfield. _Army of +Cumberland Society Proceedings_ (Cleveland), 1870, p. 94. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. i., pp. 11-13. + +It is worthy of note that at high noon, exactly four years later +(1865) the identical flag lowered in dishonor was "raised in glory" +over Fort Sumter, Robert Anderson participating. + +(19) Crawford, p. 421. + +(20) _Life of Toombs_ (Stovall), p. 226. + +(21) One man was killed on each side by accident. + +(22) Letter to Greeley, August 22, 1862, Lincoln's _Com. Works_, +vol. ii., p. 227; also same sentiment, letter to Robinson, August +17, 1864, p. 563. + +(23) General Benjamin Lincoln, of the Revolution, affords a striking +example. He was brave, skillful, often held high command, and +always possessed Washington's confidence, yet he never won a battle. +To compensate him somewhat for his misfortunes Washington designated +him to receive the surrender at Yorktown, October 19, 1781.-- +_Washington and His Generals_ (Headley), vol. ii., pp. 104, 121. + +(24) Euripides said, more than two thousand years ago: "Cowards +do no _count_ in battle; they are _there_, but _not in it._" + +(25) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), pp. 114, 115. + +(26) Ordnance and inspecting officers during the War of the +Rebellion contended that the .58 calibre rifle was the smallest +practicable. In 1863 I purchased for special use a small number +of Martini-Henry repeating rifles, calibre .44, and on applying +for ammunition, the ordnance officer protested against supplying +it on the ground that the ball used was too small for effective +use. This, I demonstrated at the time, was a mistake. And now +(1896), after years of most careful experiments and tests by the +most skilled boards of officers, English, German, French, Austrian, +Swedish, United States, etc., it has been ascertained that a steel- +jacket, leaden ball fired from a rifle of .30 calibre has the +highest velocity and greatest penetrating power. + +The armies of all these countries are now, or are fast being, armed +with this superior, small-calibre rifle. + +(27) As late as April, 1862, Jeff. Davis, though a soldier by +training and experience, attached importance to "pikes and knives" +as war-weapons.--_War Records_, vol. x., pt. 2., p. 413. + + +CHAPTER III +Personal Mention--Occupancy of Western Virginia under McClellan +(1861)--Campaign and Battle of Rich Mountain, and Incidents + +Events leading, as we have seen, to the secession of States; to +the organization of the Confederate States of America; to the +assembling of Confederate forces in large numbers; to the firing +on Fort Sumter and its subsequent capitulation, and to the summons +to arms of seventy-five thousand volunteer United States troops, +ended all thoughts of peace through means other than war. + +President Lincoln and his advisers did not delude themselves with +the notion that three months would end the war. He and they knew +too well how deep-seated the purpose was to consummate secession, +hence before the war had progressed far the first three years' call +was made. + +By common judgment, South as well as North, Virginia was soon the +be the scene of early battle. Its proximity to Washington, the +Capital, made it necessary to occupy the south side of the Potomac. +The western part of the State was not largely interested in slaves +or slave labor, and it was known to have many citizens loyal to +the Union. These it was important to protect and recognize. The +neutral and doubtful attitude Kentucky at first assumed made its +occupation a very delicate matter. + +While many volunteer troops were hastened to the defense of +Washington, large numbers were gathered in camps throughout the +North for instruction, organization, and equipment. + +When Lincoln's first call for troops was made I was at Springfield, +Ohio, enjoying a fairly lucrative law practice as things then went, +but with competition acutely sharp for future great success. + +I had, in November, 1856, come from the common labor of a farm to +a small city, to there complete a course of law reading, commenced +years before and prosecuted at irregular intervals. After my +removal to Springfield I finished a preparatory course, and January +12, 1858, when not yet twenty-two years of age, I was admitted to +practice law by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and settled in Springfield, +where I had the good fortune to enjoy a satisfactory share of the +clientage. I had from youth a desire to learn as much as possible +of war and military campaigns, but, save a little volunteer militia +training of a poor kind, obtained as a member of a uniformed military +company, and a little duty on a militia general's staff, I had no +education or preparation for the responsible duties of a soldier-- +certainly none for the important duties of an officer of any +considerable command. + +Thus situated and unprepared, on the first call for volunteers I +enlisted as a private soldier in a Springfield company, and went +with it to Camp Jackson, now Goodale Park, Columbus, Ohio.( 1) + +The first volunteers were allowed to elect their own company and +field officers. I was elected Major of the 3d Ohio Volunteer +Infantry, and commissioned, April 27, 1861, by Governor William +Dennison. + +A few days subsequently, my regiment was sent to Camp Dennison, +near Cincinnati, to begin its work of preparation for the field. +Here I saw and came to know in some sense Major-General George B. +McClellan, also Wm. S. Rosecrans, Jacob D. Cox, Gordon Granger, +and others who afterward became Major-Generals. I also met many +others, whom in the campaigns and battles of the succeeding four +years I knew and appreciated as accomplished officers. But many +I met there fell by the way, not alone by the accidents of battle +but because of unfitness for command or general inefficiency. + +The Colonel of my regiment (Marrow) so magnified a Mexican war +experience as to make the unsophisticated citizen-soldier look upon +him with awe, yet he never afterwards witnessed a real battle. John +Beatty, who became later a Colonel, then Brigadier-General, was my +Lieutenant-Colonel; he did not, I think, even possess the equivalent +of my poor pretense of military training. He was, however, a +typical volunteer Union soldier; brainy, brave, terribly in earnest, +always truthful, and what he did not know he made no pretense of +knowing, but set about learning. He had by nature the spirit of +a good soldier; as the war progressed the true spirit of the warrior +became an inspiration to him; and at Perryville, Stone's River, +Chickamauga, and on other fields he won just renown, not alone for +personal gallantry but for skill in handling and personally fighting +his command. + +The 3d Ohio and most of the three-months' regiments at Camp Dennison +were promptly re-enlisted under the President's May 3d call for +three years' volunteers, and I was again (June 12, 1861) commissioned +its Major. + +In early June, McClellan, who commanded the Department of Ohio, +including Western Virginia, crossed the Ohio and assembled an army, +mainly at and in the vicinity of Grafton. + +He had issued, May 26th, 1861, from his headquarters at Cincinnati, +a somewhat bombastic proclamation to the people of Western Virginia, +relating in part to the recent vote on secession, saying his invasion +was delayed to avoid the appearance of influencing the result. It +promised protection to loyal men against armed rebels, and indignantly +disclaimed any disposition to interfere with slaves or slavery, +promising to crush an attempted insurrection "with an iron hand." + +The proclamation closed thus: + +"Notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to induce +you to believe that our advent among you will be signalized with +interference with your slaves, understand one thing clearly--not +only will we abstain from all such interference, but we will, on +the contrary, with an iron hand, crush any attempt at insurrection +on their part. Now that we are in your midst, I call upon you to +fly to arms and support the General Government. + +"Sever the connection that binds you to traitors. Proclaim to the +world that the faith and loyalty so long boasted by the Old Dominion +are still preserved in Western Virginia, and that you remain true +to the Stars and Stripes."( 2) + +This proclamation won no friends for the Union in the mountains of +Western Virginia, where slaves were few and slavery was detested. +The mountaineers were naturally for the Union, and such an appeal +was likely to do more harm than good. + +The proclamation, however, was in harmony with the then policy of +the Administration at Washington and with public sentiment generally +in the North. + +Colonel George A. Porterfield, on May 4th, was ordered by Robert +E. Lee, then in command of the Virginia forces, to repair to Grafton, +the junction of two branches of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, +and there assemble the Confederate troops with a view to holding +that part of the State of Virginia; in case, however, he failed in +this and was unable permanently to hold that railroad, he was +instructed to cut it. + +On June 8th, General R. S. Garnett was assigned by Lee to the +command of the Confederate troops of Northwestern Virginia. + +The Union forces under Col. B. F. Kelley, 1st Virginia Volunteers, +occupied Grafton May 30th, the forces under Porterfield having +retired without a fight to Philippi, about sixteen miles distant +on a turnpike road leading from Webster (four miles from Grafton) +over Laurel Hill to Beverly. As roads are few in Western Virginia, +and as this road proved to be one of great importance in the campaign +upon which we are just entering, it may be well to say that it +continues through Huttonville, across Tygart's Valley River, through +Cheat Mountain Pass over the summit of Cheat Mountain, thence +through Greenbrier to Staunton at the head of the Shenandoah Valley. +At Beverly it is intersected by another turnpike from Clarksburg, +through Buchannon _via_ Middle Fork Bridge, Roaring Creek (west of +Rich Mountain), Rich Mountain Summit, etc. From Huttonville a road +leads southward up the Tygart's Valley River, crossing the mouth +of Elk Water about seven miles from Huttonville, thence past Big +Springs on Valley Mountain to Huntersville, Virginia. The region +through which these roads pass is mountainous. + +Ohio and Indiana volunteers made up the body of the army under +McClellan. These troops assembled first in the vicinity of Grafton. +The first camp the 3d Ohio occupied was at Fetterman, two miles west +of Grafton. Porterfield made a halt at Philippi, where he gathered +together about eight hundred poorly-armed and disciplined men. +Detachments under Col. B. F. Kelley and Col. E. Dumont of Indiana, +surprised him, June 3d, by a night march, and captured a part of +his command, much of his supplies, and caused him to retreat with +his forces disorganized and in disgrace. There Colonel Kelley was +seriously wounded by a pistol shot. General Garnett, soon after +the affair at Philippi, collected about four thousand men at Laurel +Hill, on the road leading to Beverly. This position was naturally +a strong one, and was soon made formidable with earthworks and +artillery. He took command there in person. At the foot of Rich +Mountain (western side), on the road leading from Clarksville +through Buchannon to Beverly, a Confederate force of about two +thousand, with considerable artillery, was strongly fortified, +commanded by Colonel John Pegram, late of the U.S.A. Beverly was +made the base of supplies for both commands. Great activity was +displayed to recruit and equip a large Confederate force to hold +Western Virginia. They had troops on the Kanawha under Gen. Henry +A. Wise and Gen. J. B. Floyd. The latter was but recently President +Buchanan's Secretary of War. + +Brig.-Gen. Thomas A. Morris of Indiana was given about 4000 men +after the affair at Philippi to hold and watch Garnett at Laurel +Hill. McClellan having concentrated a force at Clarksburg on the +Parkersburg stem of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, moved it thence +on the Beverly road, _via_ Buchannon, to the front of Pegram's +position. + +His army on this road numbered about 10,000. + +Gen. Wm. S. Rosecrans, the second in command, led a brigade; Gen. +N. Schleich, a three-months' general from Ohio, and Col. Robert L. +McCook (9th O.V.I.), also in some temporary way commanded brigades. + +The 3d Ohio Infantry was of Schleich's brigade. + +While the troops were encamped at Buchannon, Schleich, on July 6th, +without the knowledge of McClellan, sent two companies under Captain +Lawson of the 3d Ohio on a reconnoitring expedition to ascertain +the position of the enemy. Lawson found the enemy's advance pickets +at Middle Fork Bridge, and a spirited fight occurred in which he +lost one man killed and inflicted some loss on the enemy. This +unauthorized expedition caused McClellan to censure Schleich, who +was only to be excused on the score of inexperience. + +By the evening of July 9th the Union army reached and camped on +Roaring Creek, near the base of Rich Mountain, about one and a half +miles from the front of Pegram's fortified position. + +General Morris was ordered at this time to take up a position +immediately confronting Garnett's entrenched position at Laurel +Hill, to watch his movements, and, if he attempted to retreat, to +attack and pursue him. + +On the 10th of July the 4th and 9th Ohio Regiments with Capt. C. +O. Loomis' battery (Cold Water, Mich.), under the direction of +Lieut. O. M. Poe of the engineers, made a reconnoissance on the +enemy's front, which served to lead McClellan to believe the enemy's +"intrenchments were held by a large force, with several guns in +position to command the front approaches, and that a direct assault +would result in heavy and unnecessary loss of life." + +This belief, he says, determined him to make an effort to turn the +enemy's flank and attack him in the rear. + +Rosecrans, however, has the honor of submitting, about 10 P.M. of +the night of July 10th, a plan for turning the enemy's position, +which, with some reluctance, McClellan directed him to carry out. + +Rosecrans' brigade consisted of the 8th, 10th, and 13th Indiana, +19th Ohio and Burdsell's company of cavalry, numbering in all 1917 +men. + +The plan proposed by Rosecrans and approved by McClellan was first +suggested by a young man by the name of Hart, whose father's house +stood on the pike near the summit of Rich Mountain, two miles in +the rear of Pegram's position. Young Hart had been driven from home +by the presence of Confederates, and was eager to do what he could +for the Union cause. He sought Rosecrans, and proposed to lead +him by an unfrequented route around the enemy's _left_, and under +cover of the dense timber, by a considerable circuit, to the crest +of Rich Mountain, thence to the road at his old home in the enemy's +rear. He so impressed himself on Rosecrans and those around him +as to secure their confidence in him and his plan. In arranging +details it was ordered that Rosecrans, guided by Hart, should, at +daylight of the 11th, leave the main road about one mile in front +of the enemy's fortifications, keep under cover of the declivities +of the mountain spurs, avoid using an axe or anything to make a +noise, reach the road at the mountain summit, establish himself +there as firmly as possible, and from thence attack the enemy's +rear by the main road. While Rosecrans was doing this McClellan +was to move the body of the army close under the enemy's guns and +be in readiness to assault the front on its being known that +Rosecrans was ready to attack in the rear. + +The whole distance the flanking column would have to make was +estimated to be five miles, but it proved to be much greater. The +mountain was not only steep, but extremely rocky and rugged. +Pegram, after inspection, had regarded a movement by his left flank +to his rear as absolutely impossible.( 3) + +His right flank, however, was not so well protected by nature, and +to avoid surprise from this direction he kept pickets and scouts +well out to his right. Hart regarded a movement around the enemy's +right as certain of discovery, and hence not likely to be +successful. + +Promptly at day-dawn Rosecrans passed into the mountain fastness, +whither the adventurous hunter only had rarely penetrated, accompanied +by Col. F. W. Lander, a volunteer aide-de-camp of McClellan's staff +--a man of much frontier experience in the West. In a rain lasting +five hours the column slowly struggled through the dense timber, +up the mountain, crossing and recrossing ravines by tortuous ways, +and by 1 P.M. it had arrived near the mountain top, but yet some +distance to the southward of where the Beverly road led through a +depression, over the summit. After a brief rest, when, on nearing +the road at Hart's house, it was discovered and fired on unexpectedly +by the enemy. + +To understand how it turned out that the enemy was found near the +summit where he was not expected, it is necessary to recur to what +McClellan was doing in the enemy's front. Hart had assured Rosecrans +there was no hostile force on the summit of the mountain, and on +encountering the Confederates there, Rosecrans for the time suspected +his guide of treachery. + +But first an incident occurred in the 3d Ohio Regiment worth +mentioning. I. H. Marrow, its Colonel, who professed to be in +confidential relations with McClellan, returned from headquarters +about midnight of the 10th, and assuming to be possessed of the +plans for the next day, and pregnant with the great events to +follow, called out the regiment, and solemnly addressed it in +substance as follows: + +"Soldiers of the Third: The assault on the enemy's works will be +made in the early morning. The Third will lead the column. The +secessionists have ten thousand men and forty rifled cannon. They +are strongly fortified. They have more man and more cannon than +we have. They will cut us to pieces. Marching to attack such an +enemy, so intrenched and so armed, is marching to a butcher-shop, +rather than to a battle. There is bloody work ahead. Many of you, +boys, will go out who will never come back again."( 4) + +This speech, thus delivered to soldiers unused to battle was +calculated to cause the credulous to think of friends, home--death, +and it certainly had no tendency to inspire the untried volunteers +with hope and confidence. The speech was, of course, the wild, +silly vaporings of a weak man. + +I was sent with a detachment of the 3d Ohio to picket the road in +front of the enemy and in advance of the point from whence Rosecrans +had left it to ascend the mountain. My small force took up a +position less than one half mile from the enemy's fortified position, +driving back his pickets at the dawn of day through the dense timber +on each side of the road. About 9 A.M. a mounted orderly from +McClellan came galloping from camp carrying a message for Rosecrans, +said to be a countermand of former orders, and requiring him to +halt until another and better plan of movement could be made. The +messenger was, as he stoutly insisted, directed to overtake Rosecrans +by pursuing a route to the enemy's _right_, whereas Rosecrans had +gone to our _right_ and the enemy's _left_. Of this the orderly +was not only informed by me, but he was warned of the proximity of +the Confederate pickets. He persisted, however, in the error, and +presented the authority of the commanding General to pass all Union +pickets. This was reluctantly respected, and the ill-fated orderly +galloped on in search of a route to his _left_. In a moment or +two the sharp crack of a rifle was heard, and almost immediately +the horse of the orderly came dashing into our picket lines, wounded +and riderless. The story was told. The dispatch, with its bearer, +dead or alive, was in the enemy's hands. The orderly was, however, +not killed, but had been seriously hurt by a rifle ball. He and +his dispatch for Rosecrans gave Pegram his first knowledge of the +movements of the column to the mountain summit. + +For reasons already stated, Pegram entertained no fear of an attack +on his left and rear, but was somewhat apprehensive that his right +was not equally secure, and hence, early on the 11th, he had sent +a small picket to near Hart's house and taken the further precaution +to have his right vigilantly watched. The message found on the +captured orderly informed Pegram that Rosecrans was leading a column +to his rear.( 5) The latter thereupon sent a strong reinforcement +under Captain Julius A. De Lagnel to the picket already on the +mountain summit. By reason of the expected approach of a force +around the right, breastworks were hastily thrown up and two pieces +of artillery put in position to repel an attack from that direction. +Pegram, in his uncertainty, concluded that Rosecrans might take a +still wider circuit around his right and thus pass over the mountain +by a pathway or road leading into the turnpike one and a half miles +from Beverly; and to guard against this he ordered Col. Wm. C. +Scott, with the 44th Virginia, then at Beverly, to take position +with two pieces of artillery at the junction of the roads mentioned, +and to scout well the flanking road.( 6) + +The unexpected presence of the enemy at the summit of the mountain +is thus explained, and the reliability and faithfulness of the +guide vindicated. Captain De Lagnel, as well as Rosecrans, was +doomed also to a surprise. + +Rosecrans' command debouched from the wooded mountain and along +its crest upon the rear of De Lagnel's position, and new dispositions +of the Confederate force had to be made to meet the attack. + +The position of De Lagnel's force was on and near the line of the +turnpike as it passed over the mountain, and hence Rosecrans' +column, in its approach from the southward, having gained the +heights some distance from the road, was from a greater elevation. + +The 10th Indiana, under Colonel Manson, was in advance and received +the first fire of the enemy. + +After a delay of some forty minutes, during which time the enemy +was receiving reinforcements, and both sides rectifying their +positions to the real situation, the order to advance and attack +was given by Rosecrans, and though the troops were new and little +drilled, they were well led and responded gallantly. The battle +proper did not last beyond fifteen minutes. The Confederates made +a brave resistance, but they were not exceeding 800 strong, and +though they had the advantage of artillery, they were not advantageously +posted, consequently were soon overthrown, their commander being +shot down, and 21 prisoners, about 50 stand of arms, 2 pieces of +artillery, and some supplies taken. The Union loss was 12 killed +and 69 wounded, and the Confederate loss probably about the same. + +Captain De Lagnel was, by both sides, reported killed, and his +gallantry was highly lauded.( 7) General McClellan and others of +the regular army officers assumed next day to recognize his body +and to know him, and to deplore his early death. He had been +shortly before, as we have seen, captured as a _Union_ officer at +Fayetteville, N. C., and had at a still later date resigned from +the U.S.A. His alleged death, being generally reported through +the Confederacy, was made the occasion of many funeral sermons and +orations, eulogizing his _Southern_ loyalty and glorious sacrifice +of life "on the heights of Rich Mountain" in the cause of human +slavery, called Southern rights, or Southern freedom. + +But we shall hear of De Lagnel again. + +Pegram, learning of the disaster on the mountain in his rear, called +his best troops around him and in person started to attack and +dislodge Rosecrans. He reached the proximity of the battlefield +about 6 P.M., but being advised by his officers that his men were +demoralized, and could not be relied on, desisted from attacking, +and returned to his main camp and position.( 8) + +Of the dispersed Confederate forces some escaped towards Beverly, +joining Scott's 44th Virginia on the way, and some were driven back +to the fortified camp and to join Pegram. + +While Rosecrans was operating on the enemy's rear, McClellan was +inactive in front. McClellan claimed he was to receive hourly word +from Rosecrans during his progress through and up the rugged +mountain, and not thus often hearing from him, he, in the presence +of his officers, denounced the movement, and put upon Rosecrans +the responsibility of its then predicted certain failure. + +The only information received from Rosecrans during the day was a +message announcing the successful progress of the column at 11 A.M. +on the 11th; it was then approaching Hart's house, and about one +and a half miles distant from it.( 9) + +The arrangement made in advance was that on Rosecrans gaining a +position on the mountain he was to move down it upon Pegram's rear, +and McClellan with the main army was to attack from the front. It +was not contemplated that Pegram should be fully advised of the +plan before it could be, in considerable part, executed. Rosecrans' +men, being much exhausted by the laborious ascent of the precipitous +mountain, and having to fight an unexpected battle, did not advance +to attack the enemy's intrenchments in the rear, but awaited the +sound of McClellan's guns on the front. The day was too far spent +the communicate the situation by messenger, and McClellan remained +for the day and succeeding night in total ignorance of the real +result of the battle; and though its smoke could be plainly seen, +and the sound of musketry and artillery distinctly heard from his +position, from circumstances which appeared to be occurring in the +enemy's camp after the sound of the battle had ceased, McClellan +reached the conclusion that Rosecrans was defeated, if not captured +and destroyed, and this led McClellan and certain members of his +staff to industriously announce that Rosecrans had disobeyed orders +and would be held responsible for the disaster which had occurred. +McClellan remained with the main body of his army quietly in camp +on Roaring Creek until about midday when, he states in his report, +"I moved up all my available force to the front and remained in +person just in rear of the advance pickets, ready to assault when +the indicated movement arrived." + +While the troops were waiting for the "indicated movement," the +enemy had drawn in his skirmishers in expectation of an assault. +I was on the front with the skirmishers, and in my eagerness and +inexperience naturally desired to see the real situation of the +enemy's fortifications and guns. With two or three fearless soldiers +following closely, and without orders, by a little detour through +brush and timber to the left of the principal road, I came out in +front of the fortifications close under some of the guns and obtained +a good survey of them. The enemy, apprehending an assault, opened +fire on us with a single discharge from one piece of artillery,(10) +which he was not able to depress sufficiently to do us any harm. +We, however, withdrew precipitately, and I attempted at once to +report to McClellan the situation and location of the guns of the +enemy and the strength and position of his fortified camp, but, +instead of thanks for the information, I received a fierce rebuke, +and was sharply told that my conduct might have resulted in bringing +on a general battle before the _General_ was ready. I never sinned +in that way again while in McClellan's command. + +Late in the afternoon of the 11th, when the sound of the battle on +the mountain had ceased, an officer was seen to gallop into the +camp of the enemy on the mountain side; he made a vehement address +to the troops there, and the loud cheers with which they responded +were distinctly heard in our camp. + +This proceeding being reported to McClellan, at once settled him +and others about him in the belief that Rosecrans had been defeated. +A little later Confederate troops were seen moving to the rear and +up the mountain. This, instead of being as reinforcements for +defeated troops, as it really was, was taken as a possible aggressive +movement which, in some occult way, must assail and overthrow the +main army in front. As the day wore away, Poe, of the engineers, +was sent to our right to find a position on the immediate left of +the enemy where artillery could be used. I was detailed with two +companies of the 3d Ohio to accompany him. We climbed a mountain +spur and soon reached a position within rifle-musket range of the +enemy which completely commanded his guns and fortifications. So +near was my command that I desired permission to open fire without +awaiting the arrival of artillery, but this not being given by Poe, +of the headquarters staff, and being fresh from a rebuke from that +quarter, I gave a peremptory order _not_ to fire unless attacked. +On discovering us in his rear, the enemy turned his guns and fired +a few artillery shots at us, doing no harm, but affording a plausible +excuse for a discharge of musketry that seemed to silence the +enemy's guns, as their firing at once ceased. + +Poe was a young officer of fine personal appearance, superb physique, +a West Point graduate, and a grandson of one of the celebrated +Indian fighters, especially noted for killing the Wyandot Chief, +Big Foot, on the Ohio River in 1782. + +Poe was on staff duty throughout the war; became a Brevet-Brigadier, +corps of engineers, and died as a Colonel in the United States army +at Detroit, Michigan, October 2, 1895. + +My acquaintance with him commenced on the spur of Rich Mountain +under the circumstances mentioned. + +McClellan, in his report, says: + +"I sent Lieutenant Poe to find such a position for our artillery +as would enable us to command the works. Late in the afternoon I +received his report that he had found such a place. I immediately +detailed a party to cut a road to it for our guns, but it was too +late to get them into position before dark, and as I had received +no intelligence whatever of General Rosecrans' movements, I finally +determined to return to camp, leaving merely sufficient force to +cover the working party. Orders were then given to move up the +guns with the entire available infantry at daybreak the following +morning. _As the troops were much fatigued_, some delay occurred +in moving from camp, and just as the guns were starting intelligence +was received that the enemy had evacuated their works and fled over +the mountains, leaving all their guns, means of transportation, +ammunition, tents, and baggage behind. + +"Then for the first time since 11 o'clock the previous day, I +received a communication from General Rosecrans, giving me the +first intimation that he had taken the enemy's position at Hart's +farm."(11) + +Here was a commanding general in the peculiar situation that he +could almost see and could plainly hear a battle raging, but did +not learn its successful result until fifteen hours after it ceased. + +I remained on the mountain spur in command of a few companies of +infantry with orders to keep the men standing in line of battle, +without fires, during the entire night. It rained most of the +time, and the weather becoming cold the men suffered intensely. +The rest of the army retired to its camp a mile and a half distant. + +Pegram gathered his demoralized forces together, and with such as +were supposed able to make a long march, started about midnight to +escape by a mountain path around to the westward of the Hart farm, +hoping to gain the main road and join Garnett's forces, still +supposed to be at Laurel Hill. + +On the morning of the 12th of July we found a few broken-down men +in Pegram's late camp, and a considerable number of mere boys-- +students from William and Mary and Hamden-Sidney colleges--too +young yet for war. + +McClellan and his staff, with dazzling display, rode through the +deserted works, viewed the captured guns, gazed on the dejected +prisoners, and then wired the War Department: "In possession of +all the enemy's works up to a point in sight of Beverly. Have +taken all his guns. . . . Behavior of troops in action and towards +prisoners admirable." + +The army moved up the mountain to the battle-field, and halted a +few moments to view it. The sight of men with gunshot wounds was +the first for the new volunteers, and they were deeply impressed +by it; all looked upon those who had participated in the battle as +veritable heroes. + +Late on the 12th the troops reached Beverly, the junction of the +turnpike roads far in the rear of Laurel Hill, and there bivouacked. + +Garnett, learning of Pegram's disaster at Rich Mountain, abandoned +his intrenchments at Laurel Hill, and leaving his tents and other +property hastily retreated towards Beverly, pursued rather timidly +by Morris' command. Had Garnett pushed his army rapidly through +Beverly he could have passed in safety on the afternoon of the +12th, but being falsely informed that it was occupied in the +morning of that day by McClellan's troops, he turned off at Leadsville +Church, about five miles from Beverly, and retreated up the Leading +Creek road, a very rough and difficult one to travel. A portion +of Morris' command, led by Captain Benham of the regular army, +followed in close pursuit, while other went quietly into camp under +Morris' orders. + +Pegram, with his fleeing men, succeeded in finding a way over the +mountain, and at 7 P.M. of the 12th reached Tygart's Valley River, +near the Beverly and Laurel Hill road, about three miles from +Leadsville Church. They had travelled without road or path about +twelve miles, and were broken down and starving. Pegram here +learned from inhabitants of Garnett's retreat, the Union pursuit, +and of the Union occupancy of Beverly. All hope of escape in a +body was gone, and though distant six miles from Beverly, he +dispatched a note to the commanding officer of the Union forces, +saying: + +"Owing to the reduced and almost famished condition of the force +now here under my command, I am compelled to offer to surrender +them to you as prisoners of war. I have only to ask that they +receive at your hands such treatment as Northern prisoners have +invariably received from the South." + +McClellan sent staff officers to Pegram's camp to conduct him and +his starving soldiers to Beverly, they numbering 30 officers and +525 men.(12) Others escaped. + +The prisoners were paroled and sent South on July 15th, save such +of the officers, including Colonel Pegram, as had recently left +the United States army to join the Confederate States army; these +were retained and sent to Fort McHenry.(13) + +Garnett retreated through Tucker County to Kalea's Ford on Cheat +River, where he camped on the night of the 12th. His rear was +overtaken on the 13th at Carrick's Ford, and a lively engagement +took place, with loss on both sides; during a skirmish at another +ford about a mile from Carrick's, Garnett, while engaged in covering +his retreat and directing skirmishers, was killed by a rifle +ball.(14) + +Garnett had been early selected for promotion in the Confederate +army, and he promised to become a distinguished leader. His army, +now much demoralized and disorganized, continued its retreat _via_ +Horse-Shoe Run and Red House, Maryland, to Monterey, Virginia. +General C. W. Hill, through timidity or inexperience, permitted +the broken Confederate troops to pass him unmolested at Red House, +where, as ordered, he should have concentrated a superior force. + +McClellan, July 14th, moved his army over the road leading through +Huttonville to Cheat Mountain Pass, and a portion of it pursued a +small force of the enemy to and beyond the summit of Cheat Mountain, +on the Staunton pike, but no enemy was overtaken, and the campaign +was at an end. + +It was the first campaign; it had the appearance of success, and +McClellan, by his dispatches, gathered to himself all the glory of +it. He received the commendation of General Scott, the President, +and his Cabinet.(15) + +From Beverly, July 16, 1861, McClellan issued a painfully vain, +congratulatory address to the "_Soldiers of the Army of the +West_."(16) + +As early as July 21, 1861, he dispatched his wife that he did not +"feel sure that the men would fight very well under any one but +himself"; and that it was absolutely necessary for him to go in +person to the Kanawha to attack General Wise. Thus far _he had +led no troops in battle_. The Union defeat, on this date, at Bull +Run, however, turned attention to McClellan, as he alone, apparently, +had achieved success, though a success, as we have seen, mainly, +if not wholly, due to Rosecrans. + +On July 22, 1861, he was summoned to Washington, and on the 24th +left his "Army of the West" to assume other and more responsible +military duties, of which we will not here speak. In dismissing +him from this narrative, I desire to say that I wrote to a friend +in July, 1861, an opinion as to the capacity and character of +McClellan as a military leader, which I have not since felt called +on to revise, and one now generally accepted by the thoughtful men +of this country. McClellan was kind and generous, but weak, and +so inordinately vain that he thought it unnecessary to accept the +judgment of men of higher attainments and stronger character. Even +now strong men shudder when they recall the fact that George B. +McClellan apparently had, for a time, in his keeping the destiny +of the Republic. + +To indicate the state of his mind, and likewise the immensity of +his vanity, I here give an extract from a letter, of August 9, +1861, to his wife, leaving the reader to make his own comment and +draw his own conclusions. + +"General Scott is the great obstacle. He will not comprehend the +danger. I have to fight my way against him. To-morrow the question +will probably be decided by giving me absolute control independently +of him. . . . The people call on me to save the country. _I_ must +save it, and cannot respect anything that is in the way. + +"I receive letter after letter, have conversation after conversation, +calling on me to save the nation, alluding to the presidency, +dictatorship, etc. . . . _I would cheerfully take the dictatorship +and agree to lay down my life when the country is saved_," etc.(17) + +General McClellan was not disloyal, nor did he lack a technical +military education. He was a good husband, an indulgent father, +a kind and devoted friend, of pure life, but unfortunately he was +for a time mistaken for a great soldier, and this mistake _he_ +never himself discovered. + +He had about him, while holding high command, many real and professed +friends, most of whom partook of his habits of thought and possessed +only his characteristics. President Lincoln did not fail to +understand him, but sustained and long stood by him for want of a +known better leader for the Eastern army, and because he had many +adherents among military officers. + +Greeley, in the first volume of his _American Conflict_, written +at the beginning of the war, has a page containing the portraits +of twelve of the then most distinguished "Union Generals." Scott +is the central figure, and around him are McClellan, Butler, +McDowell, Wool, Fremont, Halleck, Burnside, Hunter, Hooker, Buell, +and Anderson. All survived the war, and not one of them was at +its close a distinguished commander in the field. One or two at +most had maintained only creditable standing as officers; the others +(Scott excepted, who retired on account of great age) having proved, +for one cause or another, failures. + +In Greeley's second volume, published at the close of the war, is +another group of "Union Generals." Grant is the central figure, +and around him are Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, Meade, Hancock, Blair, +Howard, Terry, Curtis, Banks, and Gilmore--not one of the first +twelve; and he did not even then exhaust the list of great soldiers +who fairly won eternal renown. + +The true Chieftains had to be evolved in the flame of battle, amid +the exigencies of the long, bloody war, and they had to win their +promotions on the field. + +( 1) For a summary life of the writer before and after the war, +see Appendix A. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 48. + +( 3) Colonel Pegram's Rep., _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 267. + +( 4) _Citizen Soldier_ (John Beatty), p. 22. + +( 5) It seems that this orderly did decline to say which flank +Rosecrans was turning, as he must have had doubts after what had +transpired as to his instructions; nevertheless Pegram decided +Rosecrans was passing around his right, and so notified Garnett.-- +_War Records_, vol. ii., pp. 256, 260, 272. + +( 6) _Ibid_., vol. ii., p. 275. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 245. + +( 8) _Ibid_., (Pegram's Report), vol. ii., p. 265. + +( 9) _War Records_ (McClellan's Report), vol. ii., p. 206. + +(10) _Citizen Soldier_ (Beatty), p. 24. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 206. + +(12) _War Records_ (Pegram's Report), vol. ii., p. 267. + +(13) At Beverly lived a sister of Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall), +Mrs. Arnold, who, though her husband was also disloyal, was a +pronounced Union woman and remained devoted to the Union cause +throughout the war. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 287. + +(15) _Ibid_., p. 204. + +(16) _Ibid_., p. 236. + +(17) _McClellan's Own Story_, p. 84. + + +CHAPTER IV +Repulse of General Lee and Affairs of Cheat Mountain and in Tygart's +Valley (September, 1861)--Killing of John A. Washington, and +Incidents, and Formation of State of West Virginia + +General Rosecrans, from headquarters at Grafton, July 25, 1861, +assumed command of the "Army of Occupation in Western Virginia." +He subsequently removed his headquarters to the field on the Kanawha +and there actively participated in campaigns. + +Brigadier-General Joseph J. Reynolds, of Indiana, a regular officer, +was assigned to the first brigade and to command the troops in the +Cheat Mountain region. + +Many of the troops who served under McClellan were three-months' +men who responded to President Lincoln's first call and, as their +terms of service expired, were mustered out, thus materially reducing +the strength of the army in Western Virginia, and as the danger +apprehended at Washington was great, new regiments, as rapidly as +they could be organized, were sent there. + +Already a movement at Wheeling had commenced to repudiate the +secession of Virginia, and to organize a state government, and +subsequently a new State. + +Great efforts were put forth at Richmond by Governor Letcher and +the Confederate authorities to regain possession of Western Virginia +and to suppress this loyal political movement. + +John B. Floyd and Henry A. Wise, both in the Confederate service, +and others were active on the Kanawha and in Southwestern Virginia, +but as the line from Staunton across Cheat Mountain led to Buchannon +and Clarksburg, and also _via_ Laurel Hill to Webster and Grafton, +striking the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at two points, it was +regarded at Richmond as the gateway to Western Virginia which, if +opened, would insure its permanent recovery. + +General R. E. Lee, from the first a favorite of the Confederate +authorities, who had thus far won no particular renown, not even +participating in the Bull Run battle and campaign, was now (about +August 1st) sent to Western Virginia "to strike a decisive blow at +the enemy in that quarter."( 1) + +He established his headquarters at Staunton, but we find him, in +August, with his main army at Valley Mountain (Big Springs), on +the Huntersville road, and about twelve miles south of the Union +camp at Elk Water on the Tygart's Valley River. General W. W. +Loring, late of the United States Army, an officer who won some +fame in the Mexican War, was in immediate command of the Confederate +troops at Valley Mountain. Brigadier-General H. R. Jackson--not +Stonewall Jackson, as so often stated--commanded the Confederate +forces, subject to the orders of Loring, on the Greenbrier, on the +Staunton road leading over Cheat Mountain to Huttonville. On these +two lines Lee soon had above 11,000 effective soldiers present for +duty, and he could draw others from Floyd and Wise in the Kanawha +country.( 2) + +Confronting Lee's army was the command of General Reynolds, with +headquarters at Cheat Mountain Pass,( 3) three miles from Huttonville +on the Staunton pike. Here Colonel Sullivan's 13th Indiana, part +of Loomis' battery, and Bracken's Indiana Cavalry were camped. On +Cheat Mountain, at the middle mountain-top, about nine miles to +the southeast of Huttonville on the Staunton pike, were the 14th +Indiana, 24th and 25th Ohio, and parts of the same battery and +cavalry, Colonel Nathan Kimball of the 14th in command. At Camp +Elk Water, about one mile north of the mouth of Elk Water in the +Tygart's River Valley, and about seven miles southward from +Huttonville on the Huntersville pike, the 15th and 17th Indiana +and the 3d and 6th Ohio Infantry, and still another part of Loomis' +battery, were posted. Reynolds' entire command did not exceed 4000 +available men, and in consequence of almost incessant rains the +roads became so bad that it was difficult to supply it with food +and forage. The troops being new and unseasoned to camp life, +suffered much from sickness. The service for them was hard in +consequence of the necessarily great amount of scouting required +on the numerous paths leading though the precipitous spurs of the +ranges of both Rich and Cheat Mountains, which closely shut in the +valley of the Tygart's. + +The writer was often engaged leading scouting parties through the +mountains. + +(The accompanying map will give some idea of the location of the +troops and the physical surroundings.) + +Whole companies were sometimes posted at somewhat remote and +inaccessible places for observation and picket duty. + +Scouts and spies constantly reported large accessions to the enemy. +Reynolds, therefore, called loudly for reinforcements, but only a +few came. On August 26th five companies of the 9th Ohio (Bob +McCook's German regiment) and five companies of the 23d Ohio (Col. +E. P. Scammon) reached Camp Elk Water. These companies numbered, +present for duty, about eight hundred. + +The two regiments later became famous. Robert L. McCook and August +Willich were then of the 9th, and both afterwards achieved distinction +as soldiers. + +The 23d was originally commanded by Colonel Wm. S. Rosecrans; then +by Colonel E. P. Scammon, who became a Brigadier-General; then by +Colonel Stanley Matthews, who became a United States Senator from +Ohio, and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; then +by Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, who became a Brigadier-General and +Brevet Major-General, and distinguished himself in many battles; +he subsequently became a Representative in Congress, was thrice +Governor of Ohio, and then President of the United States. Its +last commander was Colonel James M. Comly, a brilliant soldier who, +after the war, became a distinguished journalist, and later honorably +represented his country as Minister at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. +Lieutenant Robert P. Kennedy was of this regiment, and not only +became a Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General, but was brevetted +a Brigadier-General, and since the war has been Lieutenant-Governor +of Ohio and four years in Congress. Wm. McKinley was also of this +regiment, serving as a private, Commissary Sergeant, became a Second +and First Lieutenant, then a Captain and Brevet Major, and, since +the war, has served four terms as Representative in Congress, has +been twice Governor of Ohio, and (as I write) the indications are +that he will be nominated in June, 1896, for President, with a +certainty of election the following November.( 4) + +On August 14, 1861, while Captain Henry E. Cunard, of the 3d Ohio, +with part of his company, was on advanced picket on the Brady's +Gate road, privates Vincent and Watson, under Corporal Stiner, +discovered a man stealthily passing around them through the woods, +whom they halted and proceeded to interrogate. + +"He professed to be a farm hand; said his employer had a mountain +farm not far away, where he pastured cattle; that a two-year-old +steer had strayed away, and he was looking for him. His clothes +were fearfully torn by brush and briars. His hands and face were +scratched by thorns. He had taken off his boots to relieve his +swollen feet, and was carrying them in his hands. Imitating the +language and manners of an uneducated West Virginian, he asked the +sentinel if he 'had seed anything of a red steer.' The sentinel +had not. After continuing the conversation for a time he finally +said: 'Well, I must be a-going, it is a-gettin' late and I'm durned +feared I won't get back to the farm afore night. Good-day.' 'Hold +on,' said the sentinel; 'better go and see the Captain.' 'O, no, +don't want to trouble him, it is not likely he has seed the steer, +and it's a-gettin' late.' 'Come right along,' replied the sentinel, +bringing down his gun; 'the Captain will not mind being troubled; +in fact, I am instructed to take such as you to him.'"( 5) + +The boots were discovered by the keen instinct of the inquiring +Yankee to be too neatly made and elegant for a Western Virginian +mountaineer employed at twelve dollars a month in caring for cattle +in the hackings. When asked the price paid for the boots, the +answer was fifteen dollars. The suspect was a highly educated +gentleman, wholly incapable of acting his assumed character. He +had touched the higher education and civilization of men of learning, +and his tongue could not be attuned to lie and deceive in the guise +of one to the manor born. Though at first Captain Cunard hesitated, +he told the gentleman he would take him for further examination to +camp. Finding the Captain, in his almost timid native modesty, +was nevertheless obdurate, the now prisoner, knowing hope of escape +was gone, declared himself to be Captain Julius A. De Lagnel, late +commander of the Confederates in the battle of Rich Mountain, where +he was reported killed. His tell-tale boots were made in Washington. +He was severely wounded July 11th, and had succeeded in reaching +a friendly secluded house near the battle-field, where he remained +and was cared for until his wound healed and he was able to travel. +He had been in the mountains five days and four nights, and just +as he was passing the last and most advanced Union picket he was +taken. + +His little stock of provisions, consisting of a small sack of +biscuits, was about exhausted, and what remained was spoiled. He +was taken to camp, wet, shivering, and exhausted from starvation, +cold, and exposure. It is needless to say his wants of all kinds +were supplied at once by the Union officers. After remaining a +few days in our camp, and meeting General Reynolds, who knew him +in the United States Army, he was sent to join Pegram at Fort +McHenry. Both these officers were soon exchanged, and served +through the war, neither rising to great eminence. Pegram became +a Major-General, and died, February 6, 1865, of wounds received at +Hatcher's Run. De Lagnel became a Brigadier-General, and survived +the war. He had the misfortune of being twice captured, as we have +seen,( 6) once as a Union and once as a Confederate officer; neither +capture, however, occurred through any fault of his. + +The 3d Ohio was encamped on the banks of Tygart's Valley River, +usually an innocent, pleasantly-flowing mountain stream, but, as +it proved, capable of a sudden rise to a dangerous height, as most +streams are that are located to catch the waters from many rivulets, +gulches, and ravines leading from the adjacent mountain sides and +spurs. + +Illustrating the exigencies of camp life, an incident is given of +this river suddenly rising (August 20th) so as to threaten to sweep +away in the flood the 3d Ohio hospital, located by Surgeon McMeans +for health and safety on a small island, ordinarily easy of access. +The hospital tent contained two wounded and a dozen or more sick. +The tents and inmates were at the first alarm removed to the highest +ground on the island by men who swam out thither for the purpose. +By seven in the evening, however, it became apparent that the whole +island would soon be submerged; and logs, driftwood, green trees, +etc., were sweeping down the river at a tremendous speed. To rescue +the wounded, sick, and attendants at the hospital seemed impossible. +Various suggestions were made; a raft was proposed, but this was +decided impracticable as, if made and launched, it would in such +a current be uncontrollable. + +Lieutenant-Colonel John Beatty, of the 3d Ohio, with that Scotch- +Irish will and heroic determination which characterized him in all +things, especially in fighting the enemy, met the emergency. He +got into an army wagon and compelled the teamster to drive into +the rushing stream above the island so that he could move, in part, +with the current. Thus, by swimming the horses, he, with a few +others, escaped the floating timbers and reached the imperiled +hospital. He found at once that it was impossible to carry back +the occupants or even to return with the wagon. He promptly ordered +the driver to unhitch the horses and swim them to shore, and to +return in like manner with two or three more wagons. Two more +wagons reached Beatty, but one team was carried down the stream +and drowned. He placed the three wagons on the highest ground, +though all the island was soon overflowed, chained and tied them +securely together and to stakes or trees. On the wagon boxes the +hospital tent was rolled, and the sick and wounded were placed +thereon with some of the hospital supplies. He, with those +accompanying him, decided to remain and share their fate, and he, +with some who could not get into the wagon, climbed into the trees. +The river at 10 P.M. had reached the hubs of the wagons and threatened +to submerge them, but soon after it commenced to recede slowly, +though a rain again set in, lasting through the night. Morning +found the river fast resuming its normal state, and the Colonel +and his rescuing party, with the hospital occupants, were all +brought safely to the shore. + +Two diverting incidents occurred in the night. A false alarm led +to the long roll being beaten, the noise of which, and of the men +rapidly assembling, could just be heard on the island above the +roar of the water. Francis Union, of Company A of the 3d, was shot +in the dark and killed, without challenge, by a frightened sentinel. +This caused the long roll to be beaten. + +Beatty mentions an entertainment, not on the bill, to which he and +others were treated while clinging to the trees above the flood, +and which was furnished by a soldier teamster (Jake Smith) who had +swum to the aid of the hospital people, and a hospital attendant, +both of whom were so favorably located as to enjoy unrestrained +access to the hospital "commissary." They both became intoxicated, +and then quarrelled over their relative _rank_ and social standing. +The former insisted upon the other addressing him as _Mr._ Smith, +not as "Jake." The Smith family, he asserted, was not only numerous +but highly respectable, and, as one of its honored members, no +person of rank below a major-general should take the liberty of +calling him "_Jake;_" especially would this not be tolerated from +"one who carried out pukes and slop-buckets from a field hospital" +--such a one should not even call him "_Jacob_." This disrespectful +allusion to his calling ruffled the temper of the hospital attendant, +and, growing profane, he insisted that he was as good as _Smith_, +and better, and at once challenged "the bloviating mule scrubber +to get down off his perch and stand up before him like a man." +"Jake" was unmoved by this counter-assault, and towards morning, +with a strong voice and little melody, sang:( 7) + + "Ho, gif glass uf goodt lauger du me, + Du mine fader, mine modter, mine vife; + Der day's vork vas done, undt we'll see + Vot bleasures der vos in dis life. + + "Undt ve sit us aroundt mit der table, + Undt ve speak of der oldt, oldt time, + Ven ve lif un dot house mit der gable, + Un der vine-cladt banks of der Rhine," etc. + +While at camp at Elk Water my wife and three months' old son, Joseph +Warren, Jr., Hon. William White (brother-in-law) and his wife +Rachel, and their son, Charles R. White (then twelve years old), +visited me for a brief experience in camp with the army. They +remained until the morning of September 12th. On the 11th Judge +White accompanied me to Reynolds' headquarters, at Cheat Mountain +Pass, and while there he was, by the General, invited to visit the +camp on Cheat Mountain summit. It was suggested that in doing so +I should, with the Judge, join Lieutenant Wm. E. Merrill, of the +engineers, at Camp Elk Water the following morning, go by the main +road to the summit, thence down the mountain path _via_ the Rosecrans +house to camp. This suggestion we were inclined to adopt, but on +regaining camp I ascertained that the enemy had been seen nearer +our camp than usual, and decided it was safest for the visiting party +to depart for home. They accordingly bade us good-by on the next +morning and proceeded _via_ Huttonville, Beverly, Laurel Hill, +Philippi, Webster, and Grafton, safely to their homes at Springfield, +Ohio. + +Lieutenant Merrill, with a small escort, departed as arranged, and +soon, on the main road, ran into a Confederate force (Anderson's); +he and his party were captured and carried with the retreating +Confederates to Valley Mountain camp, thence to Richmond, where +they remained for a considerable time in Libby Prison. Thus +narrowly, Judge White ( 8) and myself escaped the fate of Lieutenant +Merrill. + +Having disposed of some of the incidents of camp life and spoken +of family and friends, I return to the situation, as stated, of +the opposing forces of Reynolds and Lee. + +At this time Floyd and Wise were actively operating in the Kanawha +country, confronting Rosecrans, who was commanding there in person, +their special purpose then being to prevent reinforcements going +to Reynolds, upon whom the heavy blow was to fall; Lee in person +directing it. + +Lee was accompanied to Valley Mountain by two aides-de-camp, Colonels +John A. Washington and Walter H. Taylor. + +General Loring, who retained the immediate command on this line, +had the 1st North Carolina and 2d Tennessee, under General Donnelson; +a Tennessee brigade, under General Anderson; the 21st and 42d +Virginia and an Irish Virginia regiment, under Colonel Wm. Gilham; +a brigade under Colonel Burke; a battalion of cavalry under Major +W. H. F. Lee; three batteries of artillery, and perhaps other +troops. On the Staunton pike at Greenbriar River, about twelve +miles in front of Kimball's camp on Cheat Mountain, General Jackson +had the 1st and 2d Georgia, 23d, 31st, 37th, and 44th Virginia, +the 3d Arkansas, and two battalions of Virginia volunteers; also +two batteries of artillery and several companies of cavalry. + +Though conscious of superior strength, Lee sought still further to +insure success by grand strategy, hence he caused Loring to issue +a confidential order detailing a plan of attack, which is so +remarkable in its complex details that it is given here. + +"(_Confidential_.) + + "Headquarters, Valley Mountain, + "September 8, 1861. + "(Special Order No. 28.) +"1. General H. R. Jackson, commanding Monterey division will detach +a column of not more than two thousand men under Colonel Rust, to +turn the enemy's position at Cheat Mountain Pass ('summit') at +daylight on the 12th inst. (Thursday). General Jackson, having +left a suitable guard for his own position, with the rest of his +available force, will take post on the Eastern Ridge of Cheat +Mountain, occupy the enemy in front, and co-operate in the assault +of his attacking column, should circumstances favor. The march of +Colonel Rust will be so regulated as to attain his position during +the same night, and at the dawn of the appointed day (Thursday, +12th) he will, if possible, surprise the enemy in his trenches and +carry them. + +"2. The 'Pass' having been carried, General Jackson with his whole +fighting force will immediately move forward towards Huttonville, +prepared against an attack from the enemy, taking every precaution +against firing upon the portion of the army operating west of Cheat +Mountain, and ready to co-operate with it against the enemy in +Tygart's Valley. The supply wagons of the advancing columns will +follow, and the reserve will occupy Cheat Mountain. + +"3. General Anderson's brigade will move down Tygart's Valley, +following the west slope of Cheat Mountain range, concealing his +movements from the enemy. On reaching Wymans (or the vicinity) he +will refresh his force unobserved, send forward intelligent officers +to make sure his further course, and during the night of the 11th +(Wendesday) proceed to the Staunton turnpike, where it intersects +the west top of Cheat Mountain, so as to arrive there as soon after +daylight on the 12th (Thursday) as possible. + +"He will make disposition to hold the turnpike, prevent reinforcements +reaching Cheat Mountain Pass (summit), cut the telegraph wire, and +be prepared, if necessary, to aid in the assault of the enemy's +position on the middle-top (summit) of Cheat Mountain, by General +Jackson's division, the result of which he must await. He must +particularly keep in mind that the movement of General Jackson is +to _surprise_ the enemy in their defences. He must, therefore, +not discover his movements nor advance--before Wednesday night-- +beyond a point where he can conceal his force. Cheat Mountain Pass +being carried, he will turn down the mountain and press upon the +left and rear of the enemy in Tygart's Valley, either by the new +or old turnpike, or the Becky's Run road, according to circumstances. + +"4. General Donnelson's brigade will advance on the right of +Tygart's Valley River, seizing the paths and avenues leading from +that side of the river, and driving back the enemy that may endeavor +to retard the advance of the center, along the turnpike, or to turn +his right. + +"5. Such of the artillery as may not be used upon the flanks will +proceed along the Huntersville turnpike, supported by Major Mumford's +battalion, followed by the rest of Colonel Gilham's brigade in +reserve. + +"6. Colonel Burke's brigade will advance on the left of Tygart's +Valley River, in supporting distance of the center, and clear that +side of the valley of the forces of the enemy that might obstruct +the advance of the artillery. + +"7. The cavalry under Major Lee will follow, according to the +nature of the ground, in rear of the left of Colonel Burke's brigade. +It will watch the movements of the enemy in that quarter, give +notice of, and prevent if possible, any attempt to turn the left +of the line, and be prepared to strike when opportunity offers. + +"8. The wagons of each brigade, properly parked and guarded, under +the charge of their respective quartermasters--who will personally +superintend their movements--will pursue the main turnpike, under +the general direction of their chief quartermaster, in rear of the +army, and out of cannon-range of the enemy. + +"9. Commanders on both lines of operations will particularly see +that their corps wear the distinguishing badge, and that both +officers and men take every precaution not to fire on our own +troops. This is essentially necessary, as the forces on both sides +of Cheat Mountain may unite. They will also use every exertion to +prevent noise and straggling from the ranks, correct quietly any +confusion that may occur, and cause their commands to rapidly +execute their movement when in the presence of the enemy. + +"By order of General W. W. Loring, + + "Carter L. Stevenson, + "Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General." + +General Lee, to stimulate his army to great effort, himself, by +another special order of same date, exhorted it as follows: + +"The forward movement announced to the Army of the Northwest in +special order No. 28, from its headquarters, of this date, gives +the general commanding the opportunity of exhorting the troops to +keep steadily in view the great principles for which they contend, +and to manifest to the world their determination to maintain them. +The eyes of the country are upon you. The safety of your homes +and the lives of all you hold dear depend upon your courage and +exertions. Let each man resolve to be victorious, and that the +right of self-government, liberty, and peace shall in him find a +defender. The progress of this army must be forward."( 9) + +The column from Greenbrier under Colonel Albert Rust, of Arkansas, +was given the initiative, and on its success the plan detailed +pivoted, but the several columns were expected to act at the same +time and in concert. Colonel Rust's command, about 2000 strong, +by a blind road to the Union right reached its designated position +between the Red Bridge and Kimball's fortified position. Here it +captured an assistant commissary, and from him received such an +exaggerated account of the strength of Kimball's camp and the number +of its men that, without awaiting the columns of Donnelson and +Anderson, it retired with the one prisoner. Lee's main army moved +north from Valley Mountain camp, on the turnpike, Anderson and +Donnelson taking their designated routes to the right, the former +passing to the head of Becky's Run, thence through the mountains +to a position on the road in the rear of Cheat Summit camp, arriving +at daylight of the 12th of September. Donnelson, by another path +nearer the road which the principal column under Loring pursued, +marched to Stuart's Run, then down it to the Simmons house, where, +on the 11th, it captured Captain Bense and about sixty men of the +6th Ohio, who were in an exposed position and had not been vigilant. +Donnelson then marched to Becky's Run and to a point where, from +a nearby elevation, he could see the Union camp at Elk Water, and +he was to the eastward of it and partially in its rear. Here, with +his command, he remained for the night. General Lee followed and +joined Donnelson in the early morning of the 12th, and together +they advanced to Andrew Crouch's house, within a mile of Elk Water +camp and fairly in its rear. Lee, however, ordered Donnelson to +retire his column to Becky's Run at the Rosecrans house. Neither +Rust, Anderson, nor Donnelson, though each led a column into the +region between the Elk Water and Cheat Mountain camps (distant +apart through the mountains about six miles) seemed, at the critical +time, to know where the others were, or what they were doing. The +presence of Lee with Donnelson on the morning of the 12th did not +materially improve the conditions in this respect. Donnelson, +before Lee's arrival, contemplated an attack on a body of what he +supposed a thousand men (the detachments of the 9th and 23d Ohio) +camped in rear of the main Union camp and near Jacob Crouch's house. +Colonel Savage of the 16th Tennessee advised against the attempt, +and Lee, on his arrival, must have regarded it as too hazardous. +Lee wrote Governor Letcher five days later that "it was a tempting +sight" to see our tents on Valley River. + +Loring, with the principal command, accompanied by all the artillery, +forced the Union pickets back to the mouth of Elk Water, where he +encountered resistance from a strong grand-guard and the pickets. +Here some shots both of infantry and artillery were exchanged, but +with little result. + +It is due to the truth of history to say that none of the movements +of Lee's army were known or anticipated by Reynolds and his officers, +and whatever was done to prevent its success was without previous +plan or methods. As late as the evening of the 11th, Reynolds was +still with his headquarters at Cheat Mountain Pass, six miles +distant by the nearest route from either camp. On this day Captain +Bense was surprised and his entire company taken where posted some +three miles from Camp Elk Water, but this capture was not known +until the next day. The proximity of Donnelson's command to this +camp was also unknown until after it had withdrawn, and Rust's and +Anderson's presence on the Staunton pike in rear of Cheat Summit +camp was likewise unknown both to Reynolds and Kimball until about +the time they commenced to retreat. True, on the 12th, the presence +of some force in the mountain between the Union camps became known. +Lieutenant Merrill and his party departed from the valley to the +mountain summit on the morning of the 12th entirely ignorant of +any movement of the enemy. But both Reynolds and Kimball acted, +under the circumstances, with energy and intelligence. General +Reynolds moved his headquarters to Camp Elk Water, the better to +direct affairs. On the morning of the 12th of September Kimball +started a line of wagons from his camp to the pass, for the usual +supplies, and it was attacked by Rust's command before it had +proceeded a mile. This attack was reported to Kimball, who supposed +it was made by a small scouting party, but on going to the scene +of it with portions of the 25th Ohio, under Colonel Jones, 24th +Ohio, under Lieutenant-Colonel Gilbert, and Captains Brooks and +Williamson's companies of the 14th Indiana, a body of the enemy +supposed to number 2500 was encountered. Kimball, supposing serious +work was at hand, ordered the position held until further dispositions +could be made to meet the danger. A sharp skirmish ensued, which +ended in Rust's troops precipitately retreating from their position +on the road under cover of the timber, and becoming so demoralized +that they threw away "guns, clothing, and everything that impeded +their progress."(10) + +Rust's command continued its retreat through the mountains, and at +10 P.M. of the 13th Rust dispatched General Loring that "_The +expedition against Cheat Mountain failed_." He indulged in some +criticism on his men, denouncing some ("not Arkansians") as cowards. +At the same time General Jackson reported to Loring that he was in +possession of the first summit of Cheat Mountain in front of +Kimball's position, but only holding it until he should receive +orders, meanwhile hoping something would be done in Tygart's valley. +He, however, did nothing more, and soon withdrew to his former +camp.(11) + +Captain Coons of the 14th Indiana was sent on the evening of the +18th from Cheat Mountain summit with 60 men of the 14th Indiana, +24th and 25th Ohio, on a path leading to Elk Water camp, with +instruction to take position at the Rosecrans house on Becky's Run. +Kimball, on the 12th, sent 90 men under Captain David J. Higgins, +of the 24th Ohio, to relieve Captain Coons. In going thither, when +about two miles from where Colonel Rust was attacked, Higgins ran +unexpectedly into Colonel Anderson's column from Valley Mountain, +and engaged it with great spirit. The enemy was thrown into some +confusion by this unexpected encounter, but the loss on either side +was slight, and when Major Wm. Harrow of Indiana arrived from +Kimball's camp with two more companies, and ascertained that Anderson +had a brigade in the vicinity, he ordered the Union troops withdrawn +to within about one mile of camp. + +Captain Coons, owing to a heavy rain, darkness, and the difficulty +in following the mountain path, did not reach the Rosecrans house +until after daybreak of the 12th. He passed to the rear of Anderson's +brigade as it marched to the pike in rear of Cheat Mountain camp. +When Captain Coons reached the Rosecrans house he found evidence +of troops having been there recently, and soon discovered smoke +and heard the snapping of caps on a mountain spur towards Elk Water +camp. He concluded, however, that he was near a Union picket post +from that camp, and sent forward five men to ascertain who his +neighbors were. As these men ascended the mountain they were fired +on and three were shot down, two killed, and the others captured. +They were not challenged. This was Donnelson's command, General +Lee and his aide, Colonel Taylor, then being with it. Colonel +Savage of Tennessee commanded the troops first encountered. The +Confederates advanced, firing wildly. Captain Coons' men returned +the fire promptly, killed and wounded some, and when they had +checked the enemy retired to higher ground to the eastward and took +position behind fallen timber. As the enemy approached across the +narrow valley, Coons made a most gallant resistance and drove back +the large force attacking him, but feeling his complete isolation, +he finally retired by a trail towards the pike. He had not gone +far, however, until he ran into a bunch of the enemy consisting of +surgeons, quartermasters, and negroes, who, on being fired into, +fled to a main force nearer the pike. This was Anderson's column, +and about the time when Major Harrow and Captain Higgins' men were +firing on it from the other side. + +Thus the several bodies of the enemy, without special design, seemed +to be seriously attacked from many directions and became dismayed. +Captain Coons withdrew safely, and later found his way to camp. + +Rust had failed, and the two other columns having become entangled +in the mountains, and not knowing how soon they would again be +assailed, beat a disorderly retreat, and, like Rust's men, threw +away overcoats, knapsacks, haversacks, and guns. Lee says he +ordered a retreat because the men were short of provisions, as well +as on account of Rust's failure. Had Captain Coons reached his +destination a few hours earlier he would probably have captured +Lee and his escort of ten men, who, in the previous night, having +lost their way, had to remain unprotected near the Rosecrans house +until daybreak. But few prisoners were taken on either side. The +columns of Anderson and Donnelson, broken, disheartened, and +disorganized, reached Loring in the Valley. There was then and +since much contention among Confederate officers as to the causes +of this humiliating failure. + +On the morning of the 13th, at 3 A.M., Reynolds dispatched Sullivan +from the Pass by the main road, and Colonels Marrow and Moss with +parts of the 3d Ohio and 2d Virginia (Union) from Elk Water camp, +by the path leading past the Rosecrans house, to cut their way to +Cheat Mountain summit, but these columns encountered no enemy, and +only found the débris of the three retreating bodies. The real +glory of the fighting in the mountains belonged to the intrepid +Captain Coons, who afterwards became Colonel of his regiment and +fell in the battle of the Wilderness. + +Both Lee and Loring, deeply chagrined, were reluctant to give up +a campaign so hopefully commenced and so comprehensively planned, +but thus far so ingloriously executed. + +They decided to look for a position on Reynolds' right from which +an attack could be made on Elk Water camp in conjunction with a +front attack, and accordingly Colonel John A. Washington, escorted +by Major W. H. F. Lee (son of General Lee) with his cavalry command, +was dispatched to ascertain the character of the country in that +direction. + +Early on the 12th of September I was sent with a detachment of four +companies of the 3d Ohio, as grand-guard at an outpost and for +picket duty as well as scouting, to the point of a spur of Rich +Mountain near the mouth and to the north of Elk Water, west of the +Huntersville pike, and about one mile and a half in advance of the +camp. This position covered the Elk Water road from Brady's Gate, +the pike, the there narrow valley of the Tygart's, and afforded a +good point of observation up the valley towards the enemy. A +portion of the time I had under me a section of artillery and other +detachments. Here Reynolds determined to first stubbornly resist +the approach of the enemy, and consequently I was ordered to +construct temporary works. Another detachment was located east of +the river with like instructions. On the 12th the enemy pushed +back our skirmishers and pickets in the valley and displayed +considerable disposition to fight, but as we exchanged some shots +and showed our willingness to give battle, no real attack was made. +We noticed that each Confederate officer and soldier had a white +_patch_ on his cap or hat. This, as we knew later, was in accordance +with Loring's order, to avoid danger of being fired upon by friends. +From the badge, however, we argued that raiding parties were abroad. + +In the night of the 12th Loring, during a rain and under cover of +darkness, sent a small body to the rear of my position, and thus +having gained a position on the spur of the mountain behind and +above us, attempted by surprise to drive us out or capture us; but +the attack was feebly made and a spirited return fire and a charge +scattered the whole force. + +Colonel Washington, on the 13th, in endeavoring to get on our right +came into Elk Water Valley _via_ Brady's Gate, and descended it +with Major Lee's cavalry as escort. A report came to me of cavalry +approaching, but knowing the road ran through a narrow gorge and +much of the way in the bed of the stream, little danger was +apprehended, especially as the road led directly to my position. +A few troops of an Indiana regiment then on picket duty were, +however, sent up the Elk Water road a short distance, and a company +of the 3d Ohio was dispatched by me along the mountain range skirting +the ravine and road, with instruction to gain the rear of the +approaching cavalry if possible. + +Washington was too eager to give time for such disposition to be +carried out; he soon galloped around a curve and came close upon +the pickets, Major Lee accompanying him. Sergeant Weiler and three +or four others fired upon them as they turned their horses to fly. +Three balls passed through Washington's body near together, coming +out from his breast. He fell mortally wounded. Major Lee was +unhurt, though his horse was shot. Lee escaped on foot for a short +distance and then by mounting Washington's horse.(12) + +When reached, Colonel Washington was struggling to rise on his +elbow, and, though gasping and dying, he muttered, "_Water_," but +when it was brought to his lips from the nearby stream he was dead. +His body was carried to my outpost headquarters, thence later by +ambulance to Reynolds' headquarters at camp. Washington's name or +initials were on his gauntlet cuffs and upon a napkin in his +haversack; these served to identify him. He was richly dressed +for a soldier, and for weapons had heavy pistols and a large knife +in his belt. He also had a powder-flask, field-glass, gold-plated +spurs, and some small gold coin on his person. His sword, tied to +the pommel of his saddle, was carried off by his horse. + +On the next day Colonel W. E. Starke, of Louisiana,(13) appeared +in front of my position bearing a flag of truce, and a letter +addressed to the commanding officer of the United States troops, +reading: + +"Lt. Col. John A. Washington, my aide-de-camp, while riding yesterday +with a small escort, was fired upon by your pickets, and I fear +killed. Should such be the case, I request that you shall deliver +to me his dead body, or should he be a prisoner in your hands, that +I be informed of his condition. + + "I have the honor to be your obedient servant, + "R. E. Lee, + "General Commanding." + +Colonel Milo S. Hascall of the 17th Indiana conveyed Washington's +body, on the 14th, by ambulance, to Lee's line, and there delivered +it to Major Lee. + +One of Colonel Washington's pistols was sent by Reynolds to Secretary +of War Cameron; the Secretary directed the other one to be presented +to Sergeant John J. Weiler, the knife to Corporal Birney, and the +gauntlets to private Johnson, all soldiers of the 17th Indiana. +General Reynolds obtained the field-glass, but subsequently gave +it to Colonel Washington's son George. Hascall took possession of +the spurs and powder-flask, and Captain George L. Rose, of Reynolds' +staff, retained one or more letters (now in possession of his son, +Rev. John T. Rose), through which one or more of the fatal bullets +passed. + +Colonel Washington was buried on his plantation, "Waveland," near +Marshall, Fauquier county, Virginia. + +Thus early, on his first military campaign, fell John Augustine +Washington, born in Jefferson County, Virginia, May 3, 1821, the +great-grandson of General Washington's brother, John Augustine +Washington, and on his mothers' side a great-grandson of Richard +Henry Lee, Virginia's great Revolutionary patriot statesman. He +inherited Mount Vernon, but sold it before the war to an association +of patriotic ladies, who still own it. + +The tragic death of Colonel Washington was a fitting close of the +complex plan of campaign, which, though entered upon under most +favorable circumstances, failed fatally in execution in each and +all important parts, though Generals Lee and Loring, Colonel Savage, +and others of the Confederate officers present with the troops, +had seen much real service in the Mexican War, and many of them +were educated West Point officers. + +Neither Lee or Loring ever made an official report of the campaign, +and both for a time were under the shadow of disgrace because of +its ineffectiveness. + +General Lee was not quite candid with his own army when, on the +14th of September, he announced to it: + +"The _forced_ reconnoissance of the enemy's positions, both at +Cheat Mountain Pass and on Valley River, having been completed, +and the character of the natural approaches and the nature of the +artificial defences exposed, the Army of the Northwest will resume +its former position." + +In a private letter, however, dated Valley Mountain, September 17, +1861, addressed to Governor John Letcher, Lee speaks of the failure +of the campaign with great candor. + +"I was very sanguine of taking the enemy's works on last Thursday +morning. I had considered the subject well. With great effort, +the troops intended for the surprise had reached their destination, +having travelled twenty miles of steep rugged mountain paths; and +the last day through a terrible storm which lasted all night, and +in which they had to stand drenched to the skin in cold rain. +Still their spirits were good. When the morning broke I could see +the enemy's tents on Valley River at the point on the Huttonville +road just below me. It was a tempting sight. We waited for the +attack on Cheat Mountain, which was to be the signal, till 10 A.M. +The men were cleaning their unserviceable arms. But the signal +did not come. All chance for a surprise was gone. The provisions +of the men had been destroyed the preceding day by the storm. They +had had nothing to eat that morning, could not hold out another +day, and were obliged to be withdrawn. The attack to come off from +the east side failed from the difficulties in the way; the opportunity +was lost and our plan discovered. It was a grievous disappointment +to me, I assure you; but for the rain storm I have no doubt it +would have succeeded. This, Governor, is for your own eye. Please +do not speak of it; we must try again. + +"Our greatest loss in the death of our dear friend, Colonel +Washington. He and my son were reconnoitering the front of the +enemy. They came unawares upon a concealed party, who fired upon +them within twenty yards, and the Colonel fell pierced by three +shots. My son's horse received three shots, but he escaped on the +Colonel's horse. + +"His zeal for the cause to which he had devoted himself carried +him, I fear, too far." + +Lee, finding trouble in the Kanawha country, repaired thither, and +on September 21st assumed immediate direction of the forces there. +A violent quarrel had just then arisen between the fiery Henry A. +Wise and Floyd. + +Lee, however, soon returned to Richmond, and though still in favor +with his Governor and President Davis, his failure in Western +Virginia brought him under a cloud from which he did not emerge +until after he succeeded General Joseph E. Johnston on the latter +being wounded while in command of the Confederate Army at Seven +Pines near Richmond, May, 1862.(14) + +The principal part of Reynolds' command assembled at Cheat Mountain, +and, advancing, attacked Jackson in position at Greenbrier, October +3d, but was repulsed. Thereafter active operations ceased in the +Cheat and Rich Mountain and Tygart's Valley region. + +An unimportant and indecisive affair, hardly above a skirmish, +occurred at Scarey Creek, July 17th, between a part of General J. +D. Cox's command and forces under Henry A. Wise; the capture of +Colonels Norton, Woodruff, and De Villiers, with two or three other +officers, being the principal Union loss. No decisive advantage +was gained on either side. Carnifax Ferry, on the Gauley River, +was a more important affair. It was fought, October 10, 1861, +between troops led by Rosecrans and those under Floyd. Floyd was +found strongly posted, but was compelled to precipitately retreat +across the river and abandon his stores. + +The campaign season ended with the Union forces practically in +possession of the forty-eight counties, soon to become the State +of West Virginia.(15) + +A convention held at Wheeling, June 11, 1861, declared the State +offices of Virginia vacant by reason of the treason of those who +had been chosen to fill them, and it then proceeded to form a +regular state government for Virginia, with Francis H. Pierpont +for its Governor, maintaining that the people loyal to the Union +should speak for the whole State. The Pierpont government was +recognized by Congress. This organization, on August 20, 1861, +adopted an ordinance "for the formation of a new State out of a +portion of the territory of this State." This ordinance was approved +by a vote of the people, and, November 26, 1861, a convention +assembled in Wheeling and framed a constitution for the proposed +new State. This also was ratified, April, 1862, by the people, +18,862 voting for and 514 against it. The recognized Legislature +of Virginia, in order to comply with the Constitution of the United +States, May 13, 1862, consented to the creation of a new State out +of territory hitherto included in the State of Virginia. The people +of the forty-eight counties having thus made the necessary preparation, +Congress, December 31, 1862, passed an act for the admission of +West Virginia into the Union, annexing, however, a condition that +her people should first ratify a substitute for the Seventh Section, +Article Eleven of her Constitution, providing that children of +slaves born in her limits after July 4, 1863, should be free; that +slaves who at that time were under ten years of age should be free +at the age of twenty-one; and all slaves over ten and under twenty- +one years of age should be free at the age of twenty-five; and no +slave should be permitted to come into the State for permanent +residence. + +March 26, 1863, the slavery emancipation clause was almost unanimously +ratified by a vote of the people, and, April 20, 1863, President +Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that West Virginia had +complied with all required conditions and was therefore a State in +the Union. + +The anomalous creation and admission of this new State was justified +only by the rebellious times and in aid of the loyal cause. It +is the only State carved out of another or other States. It remains +a singular fact that the day preceding the final Emancipation +Proclamation of Lincoln, he approved a law of Congress admitting +West Virginia as a slave State (with gradual emancipation) into +the Union. The proclamation excepted the counties, commonly then +called West Virginia, from its application. + +The fruit of the successful occupancy of Western Virginia in 1861 +by the Union Army and the consequent failures there in the same +year of the Confederate leaders, Lee, Floyd, Wise, and others, was +the formation of a new State, thenceforth loyal to the flag and +the Constitution. + +We now dismiss West Virginia, where we first learned something of +war, but in time shall return to it again. I have in this chapter +dealt more largely in detail than I intend to do in those to follow, +as the reader, if even inexperienced in war, will have by this time +learned sufficient to enable him to comprehend much belonging to +a great military campaign which is often difficult and sometimes +impossible to narrate. + +( 1) No order assigning Lee to Western Virginia seems to have been +issued, but see Davis to J. E. Johnston of August 1, 1861, _War +Records_, vol. v., p. 767. + +( 2) An abstract of a return of Loring's forces for October, 1861, +shows present for duty 11,700 of all arms.--_War Records_, vol. +v., p. 933. + +( 3) While the Third Ohio was temporarily camped in Cheat Mountain +Pass (July, 1861) word came of the Bull Run disaster, and while +brooding over it Colonel John Beatty, in the privacy of our tent, +early one morning before we had arisen, exclaimed in substance: +"That so long as the Union army fought to maintain human slavery +it deserved defeat; that only when it fought for the liberty of +all mankind would God give us victory." Such prophetic talk was +then premature, and if openly uttered would have insured censure +from General McClellan and others. + +( 4) This prediction has been fulfilled. Major Wm. McKinley was +inaugurated President of the United States March 4, 1897. + +( 5) _Citizen Soldier_ (Beatty), p. 51. + +( 6) _Ante_, pp. 161, 196. + +( 7) _Citizen Soldier_, p. 60-1. + +( 8) William White was then a common pleas Judge; in March, 1864, +he became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, a position he held +until his death. He was appointed by President Arthur and confirmed +by the Senate (March, 1883) United States District Judge for the +Southern District of Ohio; his sudden death prevented his qualifying +and entering upon the duties of the office. He was remarkable for +his judicial learning, combined with simplicity and purity of +character. Born (January 28, 1822) in England, both parents dying +when he was a child, having no brother or sister or very near +relative, poor, and almost a homeless waif, he, when about ten +years of age, came in the hold of a ship to America. From this +humble start, through persevering energy and varying vicissitudes +he, under republican institutions, acquired an education, won +friends, became eminent as a lawyer and jurist, and earned the high +esteem of his fellow-men, dying (March 12, 1883) at Springfield, +Ohio, at sixty years of age, having served as a common pleas Judge +eight years and Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio nineteen years. + +His only son, Charles Rodgers White (born May 25, 1845), also became +a distinguished lawyer and judge, and died prematurely, July 29, +1890, on a Pullman car on the Northern Pacific Railroad, near +Thompson's Falls, Montana, while returning from Spokane Falls, +where he, while on a proposed journey to Alaska, was taken fatally +ill. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. v., p. 192. + +(10) Kimball's Report, _War Records_, vol. v., p. 186. + +(11) Rust's Report, _War Records_, vol. v., p. 291. + +(12) W. H. F. Lee served through the war; was wounded and captured +at Brandy Station, 1863; chiefly commanded cavalry; became a Major- +General and was surrendered at Appomattox. He, later, became a +farmer at White House, Virginia, on the Pamunkey, and was elected +to Congress in 1886. His older brother, George Washington Custis +Lee, a graduate of West Point, served with distinction through the +war; also became a Confederate Major-General, and was captured by +my command at the battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865. Robert +E. Lee, Jr., General Lee's other son, also served in the Confederate +army, but not with high rank. + +(13) Colonel Starke was, as a General, killed at Antietam. His +son, Major Starke, met me March 26, 1865, between the lines in +front of Petersburg, under a flag of truce, while the killed of +the previous day were being removed or buried. On Lee's surrender +I found him, and gave him his supper and a bed for the night. + +(14) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), p. 112. + +(15) West Virginia was admitted as a State in April, 1863, with +forty-eight counties, but Congress consented, by an act approved +March 10, 1866, that the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson should +be added.--_Charters and Cons._, Par II., p. 1993. + + +CHAPTER V +Union Occupancy of Kentucky--Affair at Green River--Defeat of +Humphrey Marshall--Battles of Mill Springs, Forts Henry and Donelson +--Capture of Bowling Green and Nashville, and Other Matters + +The State of Kentucky, with its disloyal Governor (Magoffin), also +other state officers, was early a source of much perplexity and +anxiety at Washington. + +The State did not secede, but her authorities assumed a position +of neutrality by which they demanded that no Union troops should +occupy the State, and for a time also pretended no Confederates +should invade the State. + +It was supposed that if Union forces went into Kentucky her people +would rise up in mass to expel them. This delusion was kept up +until it was found her Legislature was loyal to the Union and civil +war was imminent in the State, when, in September, 1861, both Union +and Confederate armed forces entered the State. + +General Robert Anderson was (August 15, 1861) assigned to the +command of the Department of the Cumberland, consisting of the +States of Kentucky and Tennessee. + +Bowling Green was occupied, September 8th, by General Simon Bolivar +Buckner, a native Kentuckian, formerly of the regular army. It +had been confidently hoped he would join the Union cause. President +Lincoln, August 17th, for reasons not given, ordered a commission +made out for him as Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and placed in +General Anderson's hands to be delivered at his discretion.( 1) + +Buckner decided to espouse the Confederate cause while still acting +as Adjutant-General of the State of Kentucky. The commission, +presumably, was never tendered to him. + +Changes of Union commanders were taking place in the West with such +frequency as to alarm the loyal people and shake their faith in +early success. + +Brigadier-General W. S. Harney, in command of the Department of +the West, with headquarters at St. Louis when the war broke out, +was relieved, and, on May 31, 1861, Nathaniel Lyon, but recently +appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, succeeded him. Lyon +lost his life, August 10th, while gallantly leading his forces at +Wilson's Creek against superior numbers under General Sterling +Price. General John C. Fremont assumed command of the Western +Department, July 25th, with headquarters at St. Louis. He was the +first to proclaim martial law. This he did for the city and county +of St. Louis, August 14, 1861.( 2) + +He followed this (August 30th) with an _emancipation proclamation_, +undertaking to free the slaves of all persons in the State of +Missouri who took up arms against the United States or who took an +active part with their enemies in the field; the other property of +all such persons also to be confiscated. The same proclamation +ordered all disloyal persons taken within his lines with arms in +their hands to be tried by court-martial, and if found guilty, +shot.( 3) + +President Lincoln disapproved this proclamation in the main. He +ordered Fremont, by letter dated September 2d, to allow no man to +be shot without his consent, and requested him to modify the clause +relating to confiscation and emancipation of slaves so as to conform +to an act of Congress limiting confiscation to "_property_ used +for insurrectionary purposes." + +Lincoln assigned as a reason for this request that such confiscation +and liberation of slaves "would alarm our Southern Union friends +and turn them against us; perhaps _ruin our rather fair prospect +for Kentucky_.": Fremont declining to modify his proclamation, +Lincoln, September 11th, ordered it done as stated.( 4) + +But as matters did not progress satisfactorily in Fremont's +Department, he was relieved by General David Hunter, October 24th, +who was in turn relieved by General H. W. Halleck, November 2, +1861.( 4) + +Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, September 1, 1861, assumed command +of the troops in the District of Southeastern Missouri, headquarters +Cairo, Illinois.( 5) + +The most notable event of 1861, in Grant's district, was the spirited +battle of Belmont, fought November 7th, a short distance below +Cairo. Grant commanded in person, and was successful until the +Confederates were largely reinforced, when he was obliged to retire, +which he did in good order. + +The Confederates were led in three columns by Generals Leonidas +Polk, Gideon J. Pillow, and Benjamin F. Cheatham. + +The event, really quite devoid of substantial results to either +side, save to prove the valor of the troops, was the subject of a +congratulatory order by Grant, in which he states he was in "all +the battles fought in Mexico by General Scott and Taylor, save +Buena Vista, and he never saw one more hotly contested or where +troops behaved with more gallantry."( 5) The Confederate Congress +voted its thanks to the Confederate commanders and their troops +for their "desperate courage," by which disaster was converted into +victory.( 5) + +General Robert Anderson was relieved, October 6, 1861, and General +W. T. Sherman was assigned to command the Department of the +Cumberland.( 6) + +Sherman personally informed Secretary of War Cameron and Adjutant- +General Lorenzo Thomas (October 16th) that the force necessary in +his Department was 200,000 men.( 6) This was regarded as so wild +an estimate that he was suspected of being _crazy_, and he was +relieved from his Department November 13th.( 7) Thereafter, for +a time, he was under a cloud in consequence of this estimate of +the number of troops required to insure success in a campaign +through Kentucky and Tennessee. We next hear of him prominently in +command of a division under Grant at Shiloh. + +As the war progressed his conception of the requirements of the +war was more than vindicated, and he became later the successful +commander of more than two hundred thousand men.( 8) + +Brigadier-General Don Carlos Buell relieved Sherman of the command +of the Department of the Cumberland, and was assigned (November +9th) to the Department of Ohio, a new one, consisting of the States +of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, that part of Kentucky east of the +Cumberland River, and Tennessee, headquarters, Louisville.( 9) + +The War Department ordered from the commands of Generals Cox and +Reynolds in Western Virginia certain of the Ohio and Indiana +regiments, and this order caused the 3d Ohio, with others, to +counter-march over November roads _via_ Huttonville, Beverly, Rich +Mountain, and Buchannon to Clarksburg, from whence they were moved +by rail to Parkersburg, thence by steamboat to Louisville. By +November 30th, the 3d was encamped five miles south of the city on +the Seventh Street plank road, and soon became part of the Seventeenth +Brigade, Colonel Ebenezer Dumont commanding, and (December 5th +(10)) of the Third Division, commanded by General O. M. Mitchel, +both highly intelligent officers, active, affable, and zealous; +the latter untried in battle. + +Mitchel's division moved _via_ Elizabethtown to Bacon Creek, where +it went into camp for the winter, December 17, 1861. + +McCook's division was advanced about six miles to Munfordville on +Green River, and General George H. Thomas' division was ordered to +Liberty, where he would be nearer the main army, and later his +headquarters were at Lebanon, and his division, consisting of four +brigades and some unattached cavalry and three batteries of artillery, +was posted there and at Somerset and London.(11) + +December 17th, four companies of the 32d Indiana (German), under +Lieutenant-Colonel Von Treba, from McCook's command, on outpost +duty at Rowlett's Station, south of Green River, were assailed by +two infantry regiments, one of cavalry--Texas Rangers--and a battery +of artillery. The gallantry and superiority of the drill of these +companies enabled them to drive back the large force and hold their +position until other companies of the regiment arrived, when the +enemy was forced to a hasty retreat, both sides suffering considerable +loss. Colonel B. F. Terry (12) of the Texas Rangers forced his +men to repeatedly charge into the ranks of the infantry. In a last +charge he was killed, and the attacking force retired in disorder. +Great credit was due to Colonel Treba and his small command for +their conduct. + +Colonel James A. Garfield was placed in command of the field forces +in the Big Sandy country, Eastern Kentucky, and General Humphrey +Marshall, of Kentucky, who made pretensions to military skill, +confronted him, each with a force, somewhat scattered, of about +five thousand men. Inexperienced as Garfield then was in war, he, +in mid-winter, in a rough country, with desperate roads and with +a poorly equipped command, with no artillery, displayed much energy +and ability in pushing his forces upon the enemy at Prestonburg +and Paintsville, Kentucky. There were skirmishes December 25, +1861, at Grider's Ferry on the Cumberland River, at Sacramento on +the 28th, at Fishing Creek January 8, 1862, and a considerable +engagement at Middle Creek, near Prestonburg, on the 10th, the +result of which was to drive Marshall practically out of Kentucky, +and to greatly demoralize his command and put him permanently in +disgrace. + +Next in importance came the more considerable fight at Logan's +Cross-Roads, on Fishing Creek, Kentucky, commonly called the battle +of Mill Springs, fought January 19, 1862, General George H. Thomas +commanding the Union forces, and General George B. Crittenden the +Confederates. The Confederate troops occupied an intrenched camp +at Beech Grove, on the north side of the Cumberland River, nearly +opposite Mill Springs. General Thomas, with a portion of the Second +and Third Brigades, Kenny's battery, and a battalion of Wolford's +cavalry, reached Logan's Cross-Roads, about nine miles north of +Beech Grove, on the 17th, and there halted to await the arrival of +other troops before moving on Crittenden's position. + +The latter, conceiving that he might strike Thomas before his +division was concentrated, and learning that Fishing Creek divided +his forces, and was so flooded by recent rains as to be impassable, +marched out of his intrenchments at Beech Grove at midnight of the +18th, and about 7 A.M. of the 19th fell upon Thomas at Logan's +Cross-Roads with eight regiments of infantry and six pieces of +artillery. The battle lasted about three hours, when the Confederate +troops gave way and beat a disorderly retreat to their intrenched +camp, closely pursued. They were driven behind their fortifications +and cannonaded by the Union batteries until dark. General Thomas +prepared to assault the works the following morning. With the aid +of a small river steamboat Crittenden succeeded during the night +in passing his troops across the Cumberland, abandoning twelve +pieces of artillery, with their caissons and ammunition, a large +number of small arms and ammunition, about 160 wagons, 1000 horses +and mules, also commissary stores. + +Brigadier-General F. K. Zollicoffer, of Tennessee, who commanded +a Confederate brigade, was killed at a critical time in the battle. +The number actually engaged on each side was about 5000. The Union +loss was 1 officer and 38 men killed, and 13 officers and 194 men +wounded, total 246.(13) The Confederate killed was 125, wounded +309, total 434. This victory was of much importance, as it was +the first of any significance in the Department of the Ohio. It +was the subject of a congratulatory order by the President.(13) + +Notwithstanding this victory, President Lincoln, long impatient of +the delays of the Union Army to advance and gain some decided +success, issued his first (and last, looking to its character, only +(14)) "_General War Order_" in these words: + + "_President's General War Order No. 1._ + "Executive Mansion, Washington + "January 27, 1862. +"_Ordered_, That the 22d of February, 1862, be the day for a general +movement of the land and naval forces of the United States against +the insurgent forces. That especially the army in and about Fortress +Monroe, the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western Virginia, and +army near Munfordville, Ky., the army and flotilla at Cairo, and +a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, be ready to move on that day. + +"That all other forces, both land and naval, with their respective +commanders, obey existing orders for the time, and be ready to obey +additional orders when duly given. + +"That the heads of departments, and especially the Secretaries of +War and of the Navy, with all their subordinates, and the General- +in-Chief, with all other commanders and subordinates of land and +naval forces, will severally be held to their strict and full +responsibilities for prompt execution of this order. + + "Abraham Lincoln." + +Conservative commanding officers criticised this Presidential order +as an assumption on Mr. Lincoln's part of the direction of the war +in the field, and the naming of a day for the army and navy to move +was denounced an unwise and a notice to the enemy. Under other +circumstances, the President would have been open to criticism from +a strategist's standpoint, but the particular circumstances and +the state of the country and the public mind warranted his action. +Foreign interference or recognition of the Confederacy was threatened. +No decided Union victory had been won. McClellan had held the Army +of the Potomac idle for six months in sight of the White House. +Halleck at St. Louis, in command of a large and important department, +had long talked of large plans and so far had executed none. +Matters were at a standstill in Western Virginia. Buell was, so +far, giving little promise of an early forward movement. + +The Confederate forces held advanced positions in Missouri and high +up on the Mississippi. They were fortified at Forts Henry and +Donelson, on the Tennessee and the Cumberland respectively, and at +Bowling Green and other important places in Kentucky. They still +held the Upper Kanawha, the Greenbrier country, Winchester, and +other points in the Shenandoah Valley. The Confederate Army was +holding McClellan almost within the fortifications south of the +Potomac at Washington. The President was held responsible for the +inactivity of the army. Under other circumstances, with other army +commanders, the order would not have been issued. It served to +notify these commanders that the army must attack the enemy, and +it advised the country of the earnestness of the President to +vigorously prosecute the war, and thus aided enlistments, inspired +confidence, and warned meddling nations to keep hands off.(15) + +On January 28, 1862, both General Grant and Commodore A. H. Foote, +Flag Officer United States Naval Forces in the Western waters, +wired Halleck at St. Louis that, with his permission, Fort Henry +on the Tennessee could be taken by them. Authority being obtained, +they invested and attacked it by gunboats on the river side and +with the army by land. The fire of the gunboats silenced the +batteries, and all the garrison abandoned the fort, save General +Lloyd Tilghman (its commander), his staff, and one company of about +70 men, who surrendered February 6th. A hospital boat containing +60 sick and about 20 heavy guns, barracks, tents, ammunition, etc., +also fell into Union hands. The only serious casualty was on the +_Essex_, caused by a shot in her boilers, which resulted in wounding +and scalding 29 officers and men, including Commodore David D. +Porter. + +General Grant reported on the same day that he would take Fort +Donelson, and on February 12, 1862, he sent six regiments around +by water and moved the body of his command from Fort Henry across +the country, distant about twelve miles. + +Three gunboats under Lieutenant-Commander S. L. Phelps went up the +Tennessee as far as Florence, Alabama, while others proceeded to +the mouth of the Cumberland and ascended it to aid the land forces. + +Commander Phelps on his way up the river seized two steamers, caused +six others loaded with supplies to be destroyed, took at Cerro +Gordo a half-finished gunboat, and made other important captures +of military supplies. He discovered considerable Union sentiment +among the inhabitants, some of them voluntarily enlisting to fight +the Confederacy.(16) + +Grant was assigned to the District of West Tennessee February 14, +1862.(17) + +General Grant had, when he commenced the attack of Fort Donelson, +about 15,000 men, in three divisions, commanded, respectively, by +Generals C. F. Smith, John A. McClernand, and Lew Wallace. The +total force of the enemy was not less than 20,000, under the command +of General J. B. Floyd.(18) The investment of the fort commenced +on the 12th, but it was not complete until the evening of the 13th, +on the arrival of the gunboats and the troops sent by water. Flag +Officer Foote opened fire on the enemy's works at 3 P.M. on the +14th, from four gunboats, which continued for an hour and a half +with a brilliant prospect of complete success, when each of the +two leading boats received disabling shots and were carried back +by the current. The other two were soon partially disabled and +hence withdrawn from the fight. Grant then concluded to closely +invest the fort, partially fortify his lines, and allow time for +Commodore Foote to retire, repair his gunboats, and return. But +the enemy did not permit this to be done. He drew out from his +left the principal part of his effective troops under Generals +Gideon J. Pillow, B. R. Johnson, and S. B. Buckner during the night +of the 14th, and at early dawn of the 15th assailed, with the +purpose of raising the siege or of escaping, the extreme right of +Grant's army. A battle of several hours' duration ensued, and for +the most part the Confederates gained ground, driving back the +Union right upon the centre. Grant was absent in consultation with +Commodore Foote (19) when the attack began. Foote was then +contemplating a return to Cairo to repair damages, and was likewise +wounded.(19) Grant on returning to the battle-ground ordered a +counter-attack on the enemy's right by Smith's division, which met +with such success as to gain, at the close of the day, possession +of parts of the Confederate intrenchments. After Smith's charge +had commenced, McClernand and Wallace were ordered to assume the +offensive on the enemy's left flank, which resulted in driving the +Confederates back to the works from whence they had emerged in the +morning. Preparation was then made for an assault all along the +line early next morning. + +Consternation and demoralization prevailed in the Confederate camps +during the night, especially at headquarters. + +A council of war was held at midnight of the 15th between Floyd, +Pillow, and Buckner, at which the number of Grant's army was greatly +magnified, and it was decided that it was impracticable to attempt +to cut through the investment. Floyd pretended to believe that +his capture was of the first importance to the Union cause, and, +although the senior in command, he announced a determination "_not +to survive a surrender there_." Pillow, the next in command, also +assumed the same importance and individual right for himself; hence +Floyd, through Pillow, turned over the command, at the end of the +council, to Buckner, with the understanding that the latter would, +at the earliest hour possible, open negotiations for the surrender +of the forces.(20) Floyd and Pillow, with the aid of two small +steamboats, which arrived from Nashville in the night, succeeded +in ferrying across the river and in getting away with about 1000 +officers and men, principally belonging to Floyd's old brigade. +Some cavalry and small detachments and individual officers with +Colonel Forrest escaped in the night by the river road, which was +only passable, on account of back-water, for mounted men.(21) + +The action of both Floyd and Pillow in not sharing the fate of +their commands, and the conduct of Floyd especially in carrying +off the troops of his old brigade in preference to others, were +strongly condemned by President Davis and his Secretary of War. +Both Generals were, by Davis's orders, relieved,(21) and neither, +thereafter, held any command of importance. The sun of their +military glory set at Donelson. Floyd had been unfaithful to his +trust as Buchanan's Secretary of War, and early, as we have seen, +deserted his post to join the Rebellion. Pillow as a general +officer had won a name in fighting under Taylor and Scott and the +flag of the Republic in Mexico. + +At an early hour on the 16th Buckner sent a note to Grant proposing +"the appointment of commissioners to agree upon the terms of +capitulation of the forces and post" under his command, and suggesting +an armistice until 12 o'clock of that day. To this note Grant +responded thus: + +"Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment of +commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. +_No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be +accepted. I propose to move immediately on your works_." + +General Buckner denominated Grant's terms as "_ungenerous and +unchivalrous_," but accepted them, forthwith capitulating with +about 15,000 officers and men, about 40 pieces of artillery, and +a large amount of stores, horses, mules, and other public property. + +The casualties in Grant's army were 22 officers and 478 enlisted +men killed, and 87 officers and 2021 men wounded, total 2608.(22) +The loss in the navy under Foote was 10 killed and 44 wounded. +The Confederate killed and wounded probably did not exceed 1500,(23) +as they fought, in most part, behind intrenchments. The capture +of Fort Donelson was thus far the greatest achievement of the war, +and won for Grant just renown. + +The writer's regiment, as we have stated, went into camp in December, +1861, at Bacon Creek, Kentucky. The winter was rainy and severe, +the camps were much of the time muddy, and the troops underwent +many hardships. It was their first winter in tents, and many were +sick. + +Colonel Marrow, on one pretence or another, was generally absent +at Louisville, and the responsibility of the drill and discipline +of the regiment devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Beatty, who was +quite equal to it, notwithstanding Marrow said and did much to +prejudice the regiment against him. The writer also had the +Colonel's displeasure. + +On his return to the regiment, January 28th, Beatty handed him, to +be forwarded, charges relating to his disloyalty, unmilitary conduct, +and inefficiency; whereupon he decided to resign and the charges +were withdrawn. Beatty became Colonel and I Lieutenant-Colonel, +February 12, 1862. + +Buell's army commenced to move southward February 10th, Mitchel's +division in the advance. + +The high railroad bridge over Green River at Munfordville had no +railing or protection on the sides, but it was safely passed over +with the teams by moonlight. The scene of the crossing was highly +picturesque, and attracted much attention from the troops just +starting on a new campaign. + +The march of the 14th developed much of interest. There were +evident signs of loyalty at the houses of all who owned no slaves, +and where slaves appeared they exhibited the greatest delight to +see the Union soldiers. All slaves had the belief that we had come +to free them, and there was much difficulty in preventing them from +marching with us. The country through which we passed was cavernous, +and the surface had many bowl-like depressions, at the bottom of +which was, generally, considerable water. Springs and streams were +scarce. The Confederates on retiring drove their disabled, diseased +and broken-down horses, mules, etc., into these ponds and shot +them, leaving them to decay and thus render the water unfit for +use by the Union Army.(24) The troops had no choice but to use +the water from the befouled ponds. We shall hear of them again. + +On this day the division reached Barren River and exchanged a few +artillery shots with the rear of General A. S. Johnston's army, +under the immediate command of General Hardee. The next day--the +last day of fighting at Fort Donelson--the advance of Mitchel's +division crossed the river and occupied Bowling Green, which was +found strongly fortified and a naturally good position for defence. +In its hasty evacuation many stores were burned; others distributed +to the inhabitants, and some abandoned to capture. After an +unaccountable delay here of one week, during which time we heard +of the victory at Fort Donelson, Mitchel's division, still in +advance, resumed its march towards Nashville, distant about seventy +miles. The head of the division reached Edgefield (suburb of +Nashville on the north bank of the Cumberland) on the evening of +the 24th of February, and the following morning the Mayor and a +committee of citizens formally surrendered the city of Nashville +while yet Forrest's cavalry occupied it. General Nelson's division +of Buell's army arrived by boats the night of the 24th, and at once +landed in the city. + +Nashville would have been a rich prize and easily taken if troops +from either Donelson or Bowling Green had been pushed forward +without delay when Fort Donelson fell. + +General A. S. Johnston abandoned the city as early as the 16th, +and concentrated his forces at Murfreesboro, thirty or more miles +distant, leaving only Floyd with a demoralized brigade and Colonel +N. B. Forrest's small cavalry command to remove or destroy the guns +and stores, of which there was an immense quantity. + +Floyd was ordered by Johnston not to fight in the city.(25) +Pandemonium reigned everywhere in Nashville for a week before it +was taken. The mob, in which all classes participated, had possession +of it. The proper officers abandoned their stores of ordnance, +quartermaster and commissary supplies, and such as were portable +were, as far as possible, carried off by anybody who might desire +them. No kind of property was safe, private houses and property +were seized and appropriated. No other such disgraceful scene has +been enacted in modern times.(26) + +Johnston had a right to expect the arrival of the Union Army as +early as the 18th, and had wise counsel prevailed, Nashville might +have been taken on that or an earlier day. + +A diversity of views led to delays in the movement of Buell's army. +Buell early expressed himself favorably to moving directly on +Nashville _via_ Bowling Green or by embarking his divisions at +Louisville on steamboats and thence by water up the Cumberland.(27) + +Halleck pronounced the movement from Bowling Green on Nashville as +not good strategy, and this opinion he telegraphed both Buell and +McClellan. Success at Fort Donelson did not change Halleck's views, +and Grant was condemned for advancing Smith's division to Clarksville. +After Buell reached Nashville he became panic-stricken, and, though +he had 15,000 men, possessed of an idea he was about to be overwhelmed. +He assumed, therefore, to order Smith's command of Grant's army to +move by boat from Clarksville to his relief.(28) + +The first time I saw Grant was on the wharf at Nashville, February +26, 1862. He was fresh from his recent achievements, and we looked +upon him with interest. He was then only a visitor at Nashville. +His quiet, modest demeanor, characteristic of him under all +circumstances, led persons to speak of him slightingly, as only a +common-looking man who had, by luck, or through others, achieved +success. He was then forty years old,(29) below medium height and +weight, but of firm build and well proportioned. His head, for +his body, seemed large. His somewhat pronounced jaw indicated +firmness and decision. His hands and feet were small, and his +movements deliberate and unimpassioned. He then, as always, talked +readily, but never idly or solely to entertain even his friends. + +Both Halleck and Buell were apparently either jealous of Grant or +they entertained or assumed to entertain a real contempt for his +talents. Buell paid him little attention at Nashville, and Halleck +reported him to the War Department for going there, although the +city was within the limits of his district. His going to Nashville +was subsequently assigned as a reason for practically relieving +him of his command.(30) + +Reports that Grant was frequently intoxicated, and that to members +of his staff and to subordinate commanders he was indebted for his +recent victories, were at this time freely circulated. Grant, like +most great generals in war, had to develop through experience, and +even through defeats. He, however, early showed a disposition to +take responsibilities and to seize opportunities to fight the enemy. +He had the merit of obstinacy, a quality indispensable in a good +soldier. + +In contrast with him, Halleck and Buell, each pretending to more +military education and accomplishments, lacked either confidence +in their troops or in themselves, and hence were slow to act. +Complicated and difficult possible campaigns were talked of by them +but never personally executed. They were each good organizers of +armies on paper, knew much of the equipment and drilling of troops, +also of their discipline in camp, but the absence in each of an +eagerness to meet the enemy and fight him disqualified them from +inspiring soldiers with that confidence which wins victories. Mere +reputation for technical military education rather detracts from +than adds to the confidence an army has in its commander. Such a +commander will be esteemed a good military clerk or adjutant-general, +but not likely to seek and win battles. + +The 3d Ohio, with the brigade, marched through Nashville on the +27th of February, and went into camp at a creek on the Murfressboro +turnpike about four miles from the city. Quiet was restored in +Nashville, the inhabitants seeming to appreciate the good order +preserved by the Union troops, especially after the recent experience +with the mob. + +At Nashville the 3d Ohio's officers (especially Colonel Beatty) were +charged with harboring negro slaves, and Buell gave some slave- +hunters permission to search the regiment's camp for their escaped +"_property_." The Colonel ordered all the colored men to be +assembled for inspection, but it so happened that not one could be +found. One of the slave-hunters proposed to search a tent for a +certain runaway slave, and he was earnestly told by Colonel Beatty +that he might do so, but that if he were successful in his search +it would cost him his life. No further search was made. One of +the runaway slaves, "Joe," a handsome mulatto, _borrowed_ (?) from +Colonel Beatty, Assistant Surgeon Henry H. Seys, and perhaps others, +small sums of money and disappeared. Some time afterwards I saw +"Joe" in the employ of Hon. Samson Mason in Springfield, Ohio. + +On the 8th of March, John Morgan, the then famous partisan irregular +cavalry raider, dashed from a narrow road along the west side of +the Insane Asylum, located about five miles from Nashville on the +Murfreesboro pike, and captured, in daylight, a part of a wagon +train inside our lines and made off over a by-road with Captain +Braden of General Dumont's staff, who had the train in charge, the +teamsters, and about eighty horses and mules. Colonel John Kennett, +with a portion of his regiment (4th Ohio Cavalry) pursued and +overtook Morgan, killed and wounded a portion of his raiders, and +recaptured Captain Braden and the drivers; also the horses and +mules. About this time Mitchel organized a party of infantry to +be rapidly transported in wagons, and some cavalry, to move by +night upon Murfreesboro, with the expectation of surprising a small +force there. The expedition started, but had not proceeded far +when about nine o'clock at night the head of the expedition was +met by Morgan and about twenty-five of his men with a flag of truce, +he pretending to desire to make some inquiry. The flag of truce +at night was so extraordinary that he and his party were escorted +to the Asylum grounds, and there detained until Buell could be +communicated with. The expedition was, of course, abandoned, and +about midnight Morgan and his escort were dismissed. + +Columbus, Kentucky, regarded as a Gibraltar of strength, strongly +fortified and supplied with many guns, most of which were of heavy +calibre, deemed necessary to prevent the navigation of the Mississippi, +was occupied by General Leonidas Polk with a force of 22,000 men, +but on being threatened with attack by Commodore Foote and General +W. T. Sherman, was evacuated March 2, 1862.(31) The State of +Kentucky thus became practically free from Confederate occupancy, +and the Mississippi, for a considerable distance below Cairo was +again open to navigation from the North. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. iii., pp. 255, 442. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. iii., pp. 255, 442. + +( 3) _Ibid_., pp. 466, 469, 485, 553, 567. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. iii., pp. 466, 469, 485, 533, 567 + +( 5) _Ibid_., pp. 144, 274, 312. + +( 6) _Ibid_., vol. iv., pp. 296-7, 300, 314, and 333, 341. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. v., p. 570. + +( 8) Sherman was, in January, 1861, Superintendent of the Military +Academy at Alexandria, Louisiana, over the door of which, chiselled +in marble, was its motto: "_By the liberality of the General +Government of the United States. The Union--Esto perpetua_." + +As early as January 9th, an expedition of five hundred New Orleans +militia under Colonel Wheat, accompanied by General Braxton Bragg, +went by boat to Baton Rouge and captured the United States arsenal +with a large amount of arms and ammunition. The Confederates sent +two thousand muskets, three hundred Jäger rifles and a quantity of +ammunition to Sherman at Alexandria, to be by him received and +accounted for. Finding himself required to become the custodian +of stolen military supplies from the United States, and having the +prescience to know that war was inevitable, he, January 18, 1861, +resigned his position, settled his accounts with the State, and +took his departure North. + +Later we find him in St. Louis, President of the Fifth Street +Railroad, and when, May 10th, the rebels at Camp Jackson were +surrounded and captured, he, with his young son, "Willie"--now +Father Sherman, and high in the Catholic Church--were on-lookers +and in danger of losing their lives when the troops, returning from +camp, were assailed and aggravated to fire upon the mob, killing +friend and foe alike. Sherman fled with his boy to a gulley, which +covered him until firing ceased.--Sherman's _Memoirs_, vol. i., +pp. 155, 174. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. iv., pp. 349, 358. + +(10) The Seventeenth Brigade consisted of the 3d, 10th and 13th +Ohio, and 15th Kentucky.--_War Records_., vol. vii., p. 476. + +(11) _Ibid_., p. 479. + +(12) Colonel Terry was a brother of David S. Terry, who, while +Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, killed David C. +Broderick, then a United States Senator, in a duel at Lake Merced, +Cal. + +Davis S. Terry, for alleged grievances growing out of a decision +of the U. S. Circuit Court of California against his wife (formerly +Sarah Althea Hill), setting aside an alleged declaration of marriage +between the late millionaire, Senator Wm. Sharon and herself, in +a railroad dining-room at Lathrop, Cal. (August 14, 1889), assaulted +Justice Stephen J. Field, of the Supreme Court of the United States, +and was himself twice shot and instantly killed by David Neagle, +a deputy marshal, who accompanied Justice Field to protect him from +threatened assaults of the Terrys. The Supreme Court, on _habeas +corpus_, discharged Neagle from state custody, where held for trial +charged with Terry's murder. Justice Lamar and Chief-Justice +Fuller, adhering to effete state-rights notions, denied the right +to so discharge him, holding he should answer for shooting Terry +to state authority, that the Federal Government was powerless to +protect its marshals from prosecution for necessary acts done by +them in defence of its courts, judges or justices while engaged in +the performance of duty.--_In re_ Neagle, 135 _U. S._, 1, 52, 76. + +(13) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 82, 102, 108. + +(14) Only two other orders were issued (March 8, 1862) denominated +"President's General War Orders"; one relates to the organization +of McClellan's army into corps, and the other to its movement to +the Peninsula and the security of Washington.--_Mess. and Papers +of the Presidents_, vol. vi., p. 110. + +(15) The taking by Captain Wilkes (Nov. 8, 1861) from the British +steamer _Trent_ of the Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, +came so near causing a war with England, although they were, with +an apology, surrendered (January 1, 1862) to British authority, +that great fear existed that something would produce a foreign war +and consequent intervention. + +(16) _War Records_, vol. vii., p. 155. + +(17) _Ibid_., vol. viii., p. 555. + +(18) Grant estimates his own force on the surrender of the fort +at 27,000, but not all available for attack, and the number of +Confederates on the day preceding at 21,000--_Memoirs of Grant_, +vol. i., p. 314. + +(19) _War Records_, vol. viii., pp. 160, 167. + +(20) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 269, 283, 288. + +(21) _Ibid_., pp. 274, 254. + +(22) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 167, 270. + +(23) _Ibid_., pp. 269, 283, 288. + +(24) General Beatty accuses me, justly, of depriving him, at Bell's +Tavern when very hungry, of a supper, by too freely commenting, +when we were seated at the mess-table, on the _soupy_ character +and the _color_ of the mule hairs in the coffee.--_Citizen Soldier_, +p. 106. + +(25) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 426, 433. + +(26) Forrest's Rep., _Ibid_., vol. vii., p. 429. + +(27) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 619-621, 624. + +(28) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. i., p. 320. + +(29) Grant was born April 27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont +Co., Ohio. + +(30) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. i, p. 326; _War Records_, vol. vii., +pp. 683-3. + +(31) _War Records_, vol. vii., p. 853. + + +CHAPTER VI +Battle of Shiloh--Capture of Island No. 10--Halleck's Advance on +Corinth, and Other Events + +General Albert Sidney Johnston, while at Murfreesboro (February 3, +1862) assumed full command of the Central Army, Western Department, +and commenced its reorganization for active field work, and on the +27th commenced moving it, with a view to concentrate to Corinth, +Miss.( 1) + +General P. G. T. Beauregard, March 5th, assumed command of the Army +of the Mississippi. On the 29th the Confederate armies of Kentucky +and the Mississippi were consolidated at Corinth under the latter +designation, Johnston in chief command, with Beauregard as second, +and Generals Leonidas Polk, Braxton Bragg, Wm. J. Hardee, and Geo. +B. Crittenden, respectively, commanding corps. Later, General John +C. Breckinridge was assigned to the Reserve Corps, relieving +Crittenden. The total strength of this army was 59,774, and present +for duty (April 3d) 49,444.( 2) This was, then, the most formidable +and best officered and organized army of the Confederacy for active +field operations. To confront this large force there was the Army +of the Tennessee, with an aggregate present for duty of 44,895, of +all arms.( 3) Grant had sixty-two pieces of artillery, and his +troops consisted of five divisions commanded, respectively, by +Generals John A. McClernand, W. H. L. Wallace, Lew Wallace, Stephen +A. Hurlburt, W. T. Sherman, and B. M. Prentiss. + +On April 3, 1862, the Army of the Mississippi was started for +Shiloh, about twenty miles distant, under a carefully prepared +field-order, assigning to each corps its line of march and place +of assembling and giving general and detailed instructions for the +expected battle, the purpose being to surprise the Union army at +daylight on Saturday, the 5th. Hardee's corps constituted the left +of the Confederate army, and on reaching the battle-ground his left +was to rest on Owl Creek, a tributary of Snake Creek, his right +extending toward Lick Creek. Bragg's corps constituted the +Confederate right, its right to rest on Lick Creek. Both these +corps were to be formed for the battle in two lines, 1000 yards +apart, the right wing of each corps to form the front line. Polk's +corps was to move behind the two corps mentioned, and mass in column +and halt on the Back Road, as a reserve. The Reserve Corps under +Breckinridge was ordered to concentrate at Monterey and there take +position from whence to advance, as required, on either the direct +road to Pittsburg Landing or to Hamburg. Other instructions were +given for detachments of this army. The order was to make every +effort in the approaching battle to turn the left of the Union +Army, cut it off from the Tennessee, and throw it back on Owl Creek, +and there secure its surrender.( 4) + +Johnston issued this address: + +"_Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi:_ + +"I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your +country. With the resolution and disciplined valor becoming men +fighting, as you are, for all worth living or dying for, you cannot +but march to decisive victory over agrarian mercenaries, sent to +subjugate and despoil you of your liberties, property, and honor. +Remember the precious stake involved. Remember the dependence of +your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your children on the +result. Remember the fair, broad, abounding land, the happy homes, +and ties that will be desolated by your defeat. The eyes and hopes +of 8,000,000 of people rest upon you. You are expected to show +yourselves worthy of your valor and lineage; worthy of the women +of the South, whose noble devotion in this war has never been +exceeded in any time. With such incentives to brave deeds and with +the trust that God is with us, your generals will lead you confidently +to the combat, assured of success." + +Five of Grant's divisions were encamped at or in front of Pittsburg +Landing, between Owl and Lick Creeks; Sherman's division (except +Stuart's brigade) being in front, near and to the right of Shiloh +Church, was most advanced. McClernand's division was located about +one half mile to his rear, covering his left. Prentiss' division +lay within about one half mile (a little retired) of McClernand's +left in the direction of the mouth of Lick Creek, and Stuart's +brigade was still to Prentiss' left on the Hamburg road. Hurlburt's +and Smith's divisions--the latter on the right, commanded on the +field by General W. H. L. Wallace in consequence of Smith's absence +at Savannah sick--were about a mile in rear of McClernand and +Prentiss, and about three quarters of a mile from Pittsburg Landing.( 5) + +Lew Wallace's division, numbering present for duty 7302 men, with +ten pieces of artillery, was near Crump's Landing on the west bank +of the Tennessee, five miles below Pittsburg Landing and four miles +above Savannah.( 6) + +By a straight line Savannah is seven miles below Pittsburg Landing. +Hamburg is four miles above this landing, on the same side of the +river and above the mouth of Lick Creek. Shiloh Church, a log +structure about two and a half miles from the river, gave the name +to the battle. + +We left Buell's army at Nashville. It remained there from February +25 to March 15, 1862, when his cavalry started for Savannah, where +the Army of the Tennessee was then partially assembled under General +C. F. Smith. Halleck had, March 4th, relieved Grant from any active +command in the field, and ordered him to place Smith in command of +the "expedition," and himself to remain at Fort Henry. Grant chafed +much under this treatment, and repeatedly asked to be relived of +further service under Halleck. Grant's recent success at Forts +Henry and Donelson, and his exceptional character for assuming +responsibilities and fighting, led to a public demand for his +restoration, which reached Washington and Halleck, and forced the +latter, on the 13th of March, to restore him to the command of his +army and district. Grant reached Savannah on the 17th of March, +and found Smith fatally ill, and a portion of the troops already +at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the Tennessee. He +subsequently ordered other divisions to the Landing, and although +the question of intrenching was considered, his chief engineer +officer, Colonel (afterwards Major-General) James B. McPherson, +reported against the necessity or practicability of employing the +raw troops in constructing defensive works. It was decided the +undisciplined and undrilled soldiers (as most of them were) could +be better prepared for the impending campaign by drilling them. + +Grant made his headquarters at Savannah (east of the Tennessee), +leaving Sherman in charge of that portion of the army in front of +Pittsburg Landing. + +Besides some troops of Buell's army who were left to hold Nashville, +Mitchel's division was detached to operate on a line through +Murfreesboro south into Alabama or to Chattanooga, as might seem +best. + +McCook's division left Nashville March 16th, following the cavalry, +and other divisions of Buell's army followed at intervals. At +Columbia, Tennessee, McCook was detained, reconstructing a burned +bridge over Duck River, until the 30th. Nelson reached this river, +and by fording crossed his division on the 29th, and was then given +the advance. Buell did not hasten his march nor did Grant, it +would seem, regard his early arrival important. The purpose was +to concentrate the Army of the Ohio at Savannah, not earlier than +Sunday and Monday, the 6th and 7th of April. + +Nelson's division reached there the evening of the 5th, of which +Grant had notice. Buell arrived about the same time, but did not +report his arrival, or attempt to do so until 8 A.M. the 6th, when +Grant had gone to Pittsburg Landing to take personal command in +the battle then raging with great fury. + +It is well to remember that General Grant, on whom the responsibility +of the campaign and impending conflict rested, had been actually +present with his army but twenty days when the battle commenced; +that he did not select the position of the advance divisions of +his army, and could not, if he had chosen to do so, have changed +the place of the junction of Buell's army with his, as Halleck had +fixed upon Savannah as that place, and Buell was slowly marching +towards it before Grant's arrival there. + +The unfriendly disposition of Halleck and the lack of cordiality +of Buell towards Grant made matters extremely embarrassing. Buell +was Grant's junior, but he had commanded a department for a +considerable time while Grant only commanded a district, and this +alone may account for a natural reluctance on Buell's part to serve +under him. Had Buell's army arrived promptly on the Tennessee, +the battle of Shiloh would not have been fought, as both Johnston +and Beauregard determined the attack was only practicable before +Grant's and Buell's armies united. + +Grant was seriously injured, after dark on the 4th of April, while +returning to Pittsburg Landing in a rain storm from investigating +some unusual picket firing at the front. His horse had fallen on +him, injuring his leg and spraining an ankle so much that his boot +had to be cut off. He was unable to walk without the aid of crutches +for some days after the battle.( 7) + +In the controversy as to whether the Union Army at Shiloh was +surprised on the morning of the first day I do not care to enter. +The testimony of Sherman and his brigade commander, General Ralph +P. Buckland, as well as that of Grant, will all of whom I have +conversed on this point, should be taken as conclusive, that as +early as the 4th of April they knew of the presence of considerable +organizations of Confederate cavalry, and that on the evening of +the 5th they had encountered such numbers of the enemy as to satisfy +the Union officers on the field that the enemy contemplated making +an attack; yet it is quite certain these officers did not know on +the evening of April 5th that the splendidly officered and organized +Confederate Army was in position in front and close up to Shiloh +Church as a centre, in full array, with a definite plan, fully +understood by all its officers, for a battle on the morrow. Nothing +had gone amiss in Johnston's plan, save the loss of _one day_, +which postponed the opening of the attack from dawn of Saturday to +the same time on Sunday. The friends of the Confederacy will never +cease to deplore the loss, on the march from Corinth of this _one_ +day. Many yet pretend to think the fate of slavery and the +Confederacy turned on it. Grant was not quite so well prepared +for battle on Saturday as on Sunday, and no part of the Army of +the Ohio could or would have come to his aid sooner than Sunday. +Grant, however, says he did not despair of success without Buell's +army,( 7) + +Grant, when the battle opened, was nine miles by boat from Pittsburg +Landing, which was at least two more miles from Shiloh Church, +where the battle opened. Up to the morning of the battle he had +apprehensions that an attack might be made on Crump's Landing, Lew +Wallace's position, with a view to the destruction of the Union +stores and transports.( 7) He heard the first distant sound of +battle while at Savannah eating breakfast,( 7) and by dispatch-boat +hastened to reach his already fiercely assailed troops, pausing +only long enough to order Nelson to march to Pittsburg Landing and, +while _en route_, to direct Wallace, at Crump's Landing, to put +his division under arms ready for any orders. Certain it is that +the Union division commanders at Shiloh did not, on retiring the +night of the 5th, anticipate a general attack on the next morning. +They took, doubtless, the usual precautions against the ordinary +surprise of pickets, grand-guards, and outposts, but they made no +preparation for a general battle, the more necessary as three of +the five divisions had never been under fire, and most of them had +little, if any, drill in manoeuvres or loading and firing, and few +of the officers had hitherto heard the thunder of an angry cannon- +shot or the whistle of a dangerous bullet. But it may be said the +private soldiers of the Confederate Army were likewise inexperienced +and illy disciplined. In a large sense this was true, though many +more of the Confederate regiments had been longer subjected to +drill and discipline than of the Union regiments, and they had +great confidence in their corps and division commanders, many of +whom had gained considerable celebrity in the Mexican and Indian +Wars. + +The corps organization of the Confederate Army, in addition to the +division, gave more general officers and greater compactness in +the handling of a large army. At this time corps were unknown in +the Union Army. And of still higher importance was the fact that +one army came out prepared and expecting battle, with all its +officers thoroughly instructed in advance as to what was expected, +and the other, without such preparation, expectancy, or instruction, +found itself suddenly involved against superior numbers in what +proved to be the greatest battle thus far fought on the American +continent. The Confederate hosts in the early morning moved to +battle along their entire front with the purpose of turning either +flank of the imperfectly connected Union divisions, but their +efforts were, in no substantial sense, successful. The reckless +and impetuous assaults, however, drove back, at first precipitately, +then more slowly, the advance Union divisions, though at no time +without fearful losses to the Confederates. These heavy losses +made it necessary soon to draw on the Confederate reserves. The +Union commanders took advantage of the undulations of the ground, +and the timber, to protect their men, often posting a line in the +woods on the edge of fields to the front, thus compelling their +foes to advance over open ground exposed to a deadly fire. The +early superiority of the attacking army wore gradually away, and +while it continued to gain ground its dead and wounded were numerous +and close behind it, causing, doubtless, many to straggle or stop +to care for their comrades. It has been charged that much +disorganization arose from the pillage of the Union captured camps. +The divisions of Hurlburt and W. H. L. Wallace were soon, with the +reserve artillery, actively engaged, and, save for a brief period, +about 5 P.M., and immediately after, and in consequence of the +capture at that hour of Prentiss and about 2000 of his division, +a continuous Union line from Owl Creek to Lick Creek or the Tennessee +was maintained intact, though often retired. + +In the afternoon, so desperate had grown the Confederate situation, +and so anxious was Johnston to destroy the Union Army before night +and reinforcements came, that he led a brigade in person to induce +it to charge as ordered, during which he received a wound in the +leg, which, for want of attention, shortly proved fatal. To his +fall is attributed the ultimate Confederate defeat, though his +second, Beauregard, had written and was familiar with the order of +battle, and had then much reputation as a field general. He had, +in part at least, commanded at Bull Run. Beauregard now assumed +command, and continued the attack persistently until night came. +No reinforcements arrived for either army in time for the Sunday +battle. Through some misunderstanding of orders, and without any +indisposition on his part, General Lew Wallace did not reach the +battle-field until night, and after the exhausted condition of the +troops of both armies had ended the first day's conflict. The Army +of the Tennessee, with a principal division away, had nobly and +heroically met the hosts which sought to overwhelm it; some special +disasters had befallen two of its five divisions in the battle; +General W. H. L. Wallace was mortally wounded, and Prentiss captured, +both division commanders; the Union losses in officers and men were +otherwise great, probably reaching 7000 (first day of battle), yet +when night came the depleted Army of the Tennessee stood firmly at +bay about two miles in rear of its most advanced line of the morning. +Colonel Webster, of Grant's staff, had massed, near and above +Pittsburg Landing, about twenty pieces of artillery (pointed +generally south and southwest) on the crest of a ridge just to the +north of a deep ravine extending across the Union left and into +the Tennessee. Hurburt's division was next on the right of this +artillery, extending westward almost at right angles with the river. +A few troops were placed between the artillery and the river. The +gunboats _Tyler_ and _Lexington_, commanded, respectively, by naval +Lieutenants Grim and Shirk, were close to the mouth of the ravine, +and when the last desperate attack came their fire materially aided +in repulsing it. Next on Hurlburt's right came McClernand's +division, also extending westward; then Sherman's, making almost a +right angle by extending its right northward towards Snake Creek, +to the overflowed lands and swamp just below the mouth of Owl Creek. +Broken portions of other divisions and organizations were intermixed +in this line, the three divisions named being the only ones on the +field still intact.( 8) In this position Grant's army received at +sunset and repelled the last Confederate assault, hurling back, +for the last time on that memorable Sunday, the assailing hosts. +Dismayed, disappointed, disheartened, if not defeated, the Confederate +Army was withdrawn for bivouac for the night to the region of the +Union camps of the morning. After firing had ceased, Lew Wallace +reached the field on Sherman's right. + +It is known that many stragglers appeared during the day in the +rear of the Union Army, and soon assembled near the Tennessee in +considerable numbers. The troops were new and undisciplined, and +it was consequently hard for the officers to maintain the organizations +and keep the men in line; but it is doubtful whether the number of +stragglers, considering the character of the battle, was greater +than usual, and they were not greater than, if as great as, in the +rear of the Confederate Army. An advancing and apparently successful +army in battle usually has comparatively few stragglers in the +rear, but the plan of fighting adopted by Johnston and Beauregard, +in masses, often in close column by regiments, proved so destructive +of life as to cause brave men to shrink from the repeated attacks. + +However, the gallantry displayed by the attacking force, and the +stubborn defensive battle maintained by the Union Army, have seldom, +if ever, been excelled or equalled by veteran troops in any war by +any race or in any age. + +Union officers of high rank may perhaps be justly criticised for +not having been better prepared for the battle by intrenchments, +concentration, etc., but certainly both officers and soldiers +deserve high commendation for their heroic, bloody, and successful +resistance after the conflict began. About twenty-five per cent. +of those actually engaged fell dead or wounded, and at least a like +number of the enemy was disabled. Napoleon fought no single battle +in one day where the proportionate losses, dead and wounded, in +either contending army were so great; and no battle of modern times +shows so great a proportionate loss in the numerically weaker army, +which was forced to retire steadily during an entire day, and yet +at night was still defiantly standing and delivering battle, and +its commander giving orders to assume the offensive at dawn on the +morrow. + +Grant was not perfection as a soldier at Shiloh, but who else would +or could have done so well? If not a war genius, he was the +personification of dogged, obstinate persistency, never allowing +a word of discouragement or doubt to escape during the entire day, +not even to his personal staff, though suffering excruciating pain +from the recent injury from the fall of his horse. To him and to +the valor of his officers and soldiers the country owes much for +a timely victory, though won at great cost of life and limb. To +him and them are due praise, not blame. + +Thus far the Army of the Ohio is given no credit for participation +in the Sunday battle. Buell and Nelson's division of that army +were at Savannah on the evening of the 5th, but Buell refrained +from attempting to report his presence to Grant until the next +morning. Grant had then departed for the battle-field. Grant was +eating his breakfast at Savannah when the battle opened, and at +first determined to find Buell before going to his army; but the +sound of guns was so continuous, he felt that he should not delay +a moment, and hence left a note for Buell asking him to hasten with +his reinforcements to Pittsburg Landing, gave an order for Nelson +to march at once, and then proceeded by boat up the river. Buell, +after reiterating Grant's instructions to Nelson to march to opposite +the Landing, himself about noon proceeded by boat to that place +with his chief of staff, Colonel James B. Fry.( 9) + +Buell seems to have been much impressed by the number and temper +of the stragglers he saw on his arrival, and he made some inquiry +as to Grant's preparations for the retreat of his army. Grant, +learning that Buell was on board a steamboat at the Landing, sought +him there, hastily explained the situation and the necessity for +reinforcements, and again departed for the battle-field. He had +before that been in the thick of the fight, where his sword and +scabbard had been shot away. Not until 1 or 1.30 P.M.( 9) did +the head of Nelson's column move, Ammen's brigade leading, for +Pittsburg Landing, and then by a swampy river road over which +artillery could not be hauled. The artillery went later by boat. +At 5 or 6 P.M. the advance,--eight companies of the 36th Indiana +(Col. W. Grose)--reached a point on the river opposite the Landing. +These companies were speedily taken across the Tennessee in steamboats +and marched immediately, less than a quarter of a mile to the left +of the already massed artillery, to the support of Grant's army, +then engaged in its struggle to repel the last assault of the +Confederates for the day. Other regiments (6th Ohio, Colonel N. +L. Anderson, 24th Ohio, Colonel F. C. Jones) of Ammen's brigade +followed closely, but only the 36th Indiana participated in the +engagement then about spent. This regiment lost one man killed.(10) +The expected arrival of the Army of the Ohio and the presence of +such of it as arrived may have had a good moral effect, but its +late coming gives to it little room to claim any credit for the +result of the first day's battle. + +As always, those who only see the rear of an army during a battle +gain from the sight and statements of the demoralized stragglers +exaggerated notions of the condition and situation of those engaged. +That Grant's army was in danger, and in sore need of reinforcements, +cannot be doubted. That the Confederate Army had been fearfully +punished in the first day's fighting is certain. Beauregard reports +that he could not, on Monday, bring 20,000 men into action (11)-- +less than half the number Johnston had when the battle began. The +arrival of Nelson's and Lew Wallace's divisions six hours earlier +would have given a different aspect, probably, to the fist day's +battle. The Army of the Ohio was then composed, generally, of +better equipped, better disciplined and older troops, though unused +to battle, than the majority of those of the Army of the Tennessee. + +Though night had come, dark and rainy, when the four divisions of +Buell's army reached the west bank of the Tennessee, and Lew +Wallace's division arrived on the right, Grant directed the ground +in front to be examined and the whole army to be put in readiness +to assume the offensive at daybreak next morning. Wallace was +pushed forward on the extreme right above the mouth of Owl Creek, +and Sherman, McClernand, and Hurlbut, in the order named, on +Wallace's left, then McCook (A. McD.),(12) Crittenden (Thomas T.), +and Nelson (Wm.) were assigned positions in the order named, from +Hurlburt to the left, Nelson on the extreme left, well out towards +Lick Creek; all advanced (save McCook) during the night a considerable +distance from the position of the Army of the Tennessee at the +close of the battle.(13) + +Buell's artillery arrived and went into battery during the night. +General George H. Thomas' division and one brigade of General Thomas +J. Wood's division did not arrive in time for the battle. There +were present, commanding brigades in the Army of the Ohio, Brigadier- +Generals Lovell H. Rosseau, J. T. Boyle, Colonels Jacob Ammen, W. +Sooy Smith, W. N. Kirk (34th Illinois), and William H. Gibson (49th +Ohio). These Colonels became, later, general officers. + +Soon after 5 o'clock in the morning the entire Union Army went +forward, gaining ground steadily until 6 A.M., when the strong +lines of Beauregard's army with his artillery in position were +reached, and the battle became general and raged with more or less +fury throughout the greater part of the day, and until the Confederate +Army was beaten back at all points, with the loss of some guns and +prisoners, besides killed and wounded. The last stand of the enemy +was made about 3 P.M. in front of Sherman's camp preceding the +first day's battle. Both Grant and Buell accompanied the troops, +often personally directing the attacks, as did division and brigade +commanders. Grant, late in the day, near Shiloh Church, rode with +a couple of regiments to the edge of a clearing and ordered them +to "_Charge_." They responded with a yell and a run across the +opening, causing the enemy to break and disperse. This practically +ended the two days' memorable battle at the old log church where +it began.(14) + +The Confederate Army of the Mississippi which came, but four days +before, so full of hope and confidence, from its intrenched camp +at Corinth, was soon in precipitate retreat. Its commander was +dead; many of its best officers were killed or wounded; its columns +were broken and demoralized; much of its material was gone; hope +and confidence were dissipated, yet it maintained an orderly retreat +to its fortifications at Corinth. Beauregard claimed for it some +sort of victory.(15) + +From Monterey, on the 8th of April, Beauregard addressed Grant a +note saying that in consequence of the exhausted condition of his +forces by the extraordinary length of the battle, he had withdrawn +them from the conflict, and asking permission to send a mounted +party to the battle-field to bury the dead, to be accompanied by +certain gentlemen desiring to remove the bodies of their sons and +friends. To this Grant responded that, owing to the warmth of the +weather, he had caused the dead of both sides to be buried +immediately.(16) + +The total losses, both days, in the Army of the Tennessee, were 87 +officers and 1426 enlisted men killed, 336 officers and 6265 enlisted +men wounded, total killed and wounded 8114. The captured and +missing were 115 officers and 2318 men, total 2433, aggregate +casualties, 10,547.(16) + +The total losses in the Army of the Ohio were 17 officers and 224 +privates killed, 92 officers and 1715 privates wounded, total 2048. +The captured were 55.(16) The grand total of the two Union armies +killed, wounded, captured, or missing, 12,650. + +The first reports of casualties are usually in part estimated, and +not accurate for want of full information. The foregoing statement +of losses is given from revised lists. Grant's statement of losses +does not materially differ from the above.(17) + +The losses of the Confederate Army in the two days' battle, as +stated in Beauregard's report of April 11th, were, killed 1728, +wounded 8012; total killed and wounded, 9740, missing 959, grand +total, 10,699.(16) Grant claimed that Beauregard's report was +inaccurate, as above 1728 were buried, by actual count, in front +of Sherman's and McClernand's divisions alone. The burial parties +estimated the number killed at 4000.(17) + +Besides Johnston, the army commander, there were many Confederate +officers killed and wounded. Hon. George W. Johnson, then assuming +to act as (Confederate) Provisional Governor of Kentucky, was killed +while fighting in the ranks on the second day; General Gladden was +killed the first day, and Generals Cheatham, Clark, Hindman, B. R. +Johnson, and Bowen were wounded. + +Thenceforth during the war there was little boasting of the superior +fighting qualities of Southern over Northern soldiers. Both armies +fought with a courage creditable to their race and nationality. +Americans may always be relied upon to do this when well commanded. +I have already taken more space than I originally intended in giving +the salient features of the battle of Shiloh, and I cannot now +pursue the campaign further than to say General Halleck arrived at +Pittsburg Landing April 11th, and assumed command, for the first +and only time in the field. He soon drew to him a third army (Army +of the Mississippi), about 30,000 strong, under General John Pope. + +Island No. 10, in the bend of the Mississippi above New Madrid, +was occupied early by the Confederates with a strong force, well +fortified, with the hope that it could be held and thus close the +Mississippi River against the Union forces from the North. Early +after Fort Donelson was taken, Flag Officer Foote took his fleet +of gunboats into the Mississippi, and in conjunction with the army +under General John Pope sought the capture of the island. Pope +moved about 20,000 men to Point Pleasant, on the west bank of the +river, March 6, 1862, which compelled the Confederates, on the +14th, to evacuate New Madrid, on the same side of the river, about +ten miles above Point Pleasant and the same distance below the +island. Pope cut, or "_sawed_," a canal from a point above Island +No. 10 through a wood to Wilson's and St. John's Bayou, leading to +New Madrid.(18) The position of the Confederates was still so +strong with their batteries and redoubts on the eastern shore of +the river that Pope with his army alone could not take it. Attacks +were made with the gunboats from the north, but they failed to +dislodge the enemy. Foote, though requested by Pope, did not think +it possible for a gunboat to steam past the batteries and go to +the assistance of the army at Point Pleasant. With the assistance +of gunboats Pope could cross his army to the east side and thus +cut off all supplies for the Confederate Army on the island. +Captain Henry Walke, U.S.N., having expressed a willingness to +attempt to pass the island and batteries with the _Carondelet_, +was given orders to do so. He accordingly made ready, taking on +board Captain Hottenstein and twenty-three sharpshooters of the +42d Illinois. The sailors were all armed; hand-grenades were placed +within reach, and hoses were attached to the boilers for throwing +scalding water to drive off boarding parties. Thus prepared, the +_Carondelet_, on the night of April 4th, "in the black shadow of +a thunderstorm," safely passed the island and batteries. It was +fired on, but reached New Madrid without the loss of a man. The +_Pittsburg_, under Lieutenant-Commander Thompson, in like manner +ran the gauntlet without injury, also in a thunderstorm, April 7th. +These two gunboats the same day attacked successfully the Confederate +batteries on the east shore and covered the crossing of Pope's +army. Seeing that escape was not possible, the garrison on the +island surrendered to Flag Officer Foote on April 7th, the same +day the Confederates were driven from the field of Shiloh. Pope +pursued and captured, on the morning of the 8th, nearly all the +retreating troops. General W. W. Mackall, commanding at Island +No. 10, and two other general officers, over 5000 men, 20 pieces +of heavy artillery, 7000 stand of arms, and quantities of ammunition +and provisions were taken without the loss of a Union soldier.(19) + +Not until April 30th did Halleck's army move on Corinth. Grant, +though nominally in command of the right wing, was little more than +an observer, as orders were not even sent through him to that wing. +For thirty days Halleck moved and intrenched, averaging not to +exceed two thirds of a mile a day, until he entered Corinth, May +30th, to find it completely evacuated. He commenced at once to +build fortifications for 100,000 men. But the dispersion of this +grand army soon commenced; the Army of the Ohio (Buell's) was sent +east along the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, with +orders to repair the road as it proceeded. We shall soon meet this +army and narrate its future movements to the Ohio River--in retreat +_after_ Bragg's army. + +Grant, chafing under his treatment, on Corinth being occupied, at +his own request was relieved from any duty in Halleck's department. +Later, on Sherman's advice, he decided to remain, but to transfer +his headquarters to Memphis, to which place he started, June 21st, +on horseback with a small escort. + +Halleck was, July 11, 1862, notified of his own appointment to the +command of all the armies, with headquarters at Washington. Grant +was therefore recalled to Corinth again. He reached that place +and took command, July 15th, Halleck departing two days later, +never again to take the field in person. The latter was not under +fire during the war, nor did he ever command an army in battle. +We here leave Grant and his brilliant career in the West. We shall +speak of him soon again, and still later when in command of all +the armies of the Union (Halleck included), but with headquarters +in the field with the Army of the Potomac. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 904, 911. + +( 2) _Ibid_., vol. x., Part I., p. 398 (396). + +( 3) _Ibid_., vol. x., Part I., p. 112. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp. 392-7. + +( 5) _War Records_, atlas, Plate XII. + +( 6) _Ibid_., vol. x., Part I., p. 112. + +( 7) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., p. 466. + +( 8) For maps showing positions of troops of each army both days +see _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., pp. 470, 508. + +( 9) General Ammen's diary, Nelson's and Ammen's reports, _War +Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp. 323, 328, 332. + +(10) Ammen, _Ibid_., vol. x., Part I., pp. 334,337. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 391 (398). + +(12) McCook did not arrive until early on the 7th. _War Records_, +vol. x., Part I., p. 293. + +(13) Official map, _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., p. 598. + +(14) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. i., p. 351. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. x., Part II., pp. 384-5, 424, 482 (407-8). + +(16) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp. 111, 105, 108, 391. + +(17) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., p. 485. + +(18) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., p. 460. + +(19) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., pp. 446, etc. + + +CHAPTER VII +Mitchel's Campaign to Northern Alabama--Andrews' Raid into Georgia, +and Capture of a Locomotive--Affair at Bridgeport--Sacking of +Athens, Alabama, and Court-Martial of Colonel Turchin--Burning of +Paint Rock by Colonel Beatty--Other Incidents and Personal Mention +--Mitchel Relieved + +General Mitchel's division (to which I belonged) of the Army of +the Ohio we left at Nashville, ready to move on an independent +line. When the other divisions had started for Savannah, Mitchel, +March 18, 1862, resumed his march southward, encamping the first +night at Lavergne, fifteen miles from Nashville. The next day we +marched on a road leading by old cotton fields, and felt we were +in the heart of the slaveholding South. The slaves were of an +apparently different type from those in Kentucky, though still of +many shades of color, varying from pure African black to oily-white. +The eye, in many instances, had to be resorted to, to decide whether +there was any black blood in them. But these negroes were shrewd, +and had the idea of liberty uppermost in their minds. They had +heard that the Northern army was coming to make them free. Their +masters had probably talked of this in their hearing. They believed +the time for their freedom had come. Untutored as they all were, +they understood somehow they were the cause of the war. As our +column advanced, regardless of sex, and in families, they abandoned +the fields and their homes, turning their backs on master and +mistress, many bearing their bedding, clothing, and other effects +on their heads and backs, and came to the roadsides, shouting and +singing a medley of songs of freedom and religion, confidently +expecting to follow the army to immediate liberty. Their number +were so great we marched for a good part of a day between almost +continuous lines of them. Their disappointment was sincere and +deep when told they must return to their homes: that the Union Army +could not take them. Of course some never returned, but the mass +of them did, and remained until the final decree of the war was +entered and their chains fell off, never to be welded in America +on their race again. They shouted "_Glory_" on seeing the _Stars +and Stripes_, as though it had been a banner of protection and +liberty, instead of the emblem of a power which hitherto had kept +them and their ancestors in bondage. The "_old flag_" has a peculiar +charm for those who have served under it. It was noticeable that +wherever we marched in the South, particularly in Kentucky, Tennessee, +and Virginia, we found men at the roadside who had fought in the +Mexican War, often with tears streaming down their cheeks, who +professed sincere loyalty to the flag and the Union. + +We reached Murfreesboro on the 20th without a fight, the small +Confederate force retiring and destroying bridges as we advanced. + +The division was kept busy in repairing the railroad, and especially +in rebuilding the recently destroyed railroad bridge near Murfreesboro +across Stone's River. I worked industriously in charge of a detail +of soldiers on this bridge. In ten days it was rebuilt, though +the heavy timbers had to be cut and hewed from green timber in the +nearby woods. The Union Army never called in vain for expert +mechanics, civil or locomotive engineers. + +I took a train of ninety wagons, starting to Nashville on the 31st, +for quartermaster, commissary, and ordnance supplies, with instructions +to repair, while on the way, broken places in the railroad. In +consequence of the destruction of bridges the train and guard had +to travel a longer route than the direct one, making the distance +above forty miles. We repaired the railroad, and reached Nashville +and loaded my wagons by the evening of the second day. The city +was a demoralizing place for soldiers. A few of my men of the 10th +Ohio became drunk, and while I was engaged in the night trying to +move the train and guard out of the city, some one threw a stone +which struck me in the back of the head, cutting the scalp and +causing it to bleed freely. I got the train under way about +midnight, and then searched for a surgeon, but at that hour could +find none. Knowing that Mrs. McMeans, the wife of the surgeon of +the 3d Ohio, was at the City Hotel, I had her called, and she +performed the necessary surgery, and stopped the flow of blood. +Long before sunrise my train was far on the road, and by 8 P.M. of +the 2d of April it was safely in our camps at Murfreesboro. It +was attacked near Lavergne by some irregular cavalry, or guerillas, +but they were easily driven off. Such troops did not, as a rule, +care to fight. The conduct of a supply-train through a country +infested by them is attended with much responsibility and danger, +and requires much energy and skill. + +Mitchel, now being supplied, marched south, April 3d, and we reached +Shelbyville the next day--a town famed for its great number of +Union people. Loyalty seemed there to be the rule, not the exception. +The Union flag was displayed on the road to and at Shelbyville by +influential people. Our bands played as we entered the town, and +there were many manifestations of joy over our coming. This is +the only place in the South where I witnessed such a reception. +I recall among those who welcomed us the names of Warren, Gurnie, +Story, Cooper, and Weasner. + +While here Colonel John Kennett, with part of his 4th Ohio Cavalry, +made a raid south and captured a train on the Nashville and +Chattanooga Railroad and some fifteen prisoners. + +A short time before we reached Shelbyville, Mitchel sent a party +of eight soldiers, in disguise, under the leadership of a citizen +of Kentucky, known as Captain J. J. Andrews, to enter the Confederate +lines and proceed _via_ Chattanooga to Atlanta, with some vague +idea of capturing a train of cars or a locomotive and escaping with +it, burning the bridges behind them. The party reached its +destination, but for want of an engineer who had promised to join +it at Atlanta, the plan was abandoned, and each of the party returned +in safety, joining their respective regiments at Shelbyville. +Andrews, still desiring to carry out the plan, organized a second +party, composed of himself and another citizen of Kentucky, Wm. +Campbell, and twenty-four soldiers, detailed from Ohio regiments, +seven from the 2d, eight from the 33d, and nine from the 21st.( 1) +This party started from Shelbyville, Monday night, April 7, 1862, +disguised as citizens, professing to be driven from their homes in +Kentucky by the Union Army and going South to join the Confederate +Army. They were to travel singly or in couples over roads not +frequented by either army, but such as were usually taken by real +Kentucky refugees to Chattanooga or some station where passage on +cars could be taken to Marietta, Georgia, where the whole party +were to assemble in four days ready to take a train northward the +following (Friday) morning. Each man was furnished by Andrews with +an abundance of Confederate money to pay bills. It was understood +that if any were suspected and in danger of capture they were to +enlist in the Southern army until an opportunity for escape presented. +Mitchel, it was known to Andrews and his party, was to start for +Huntsville, Alabama, in a day or two, and Andrews hoped to be able +to escape with his captured train through Chattanooga, thence west +over the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and join Mitchel at some +point east of Huntsville. + +The distance was too great for all the party to reach their +destination before Friday, and on the way Andrews managed to notify +most of his men that the enterprise would not be undertaken until +Saturday. About midnight of the 11th of April the members reached +Marietta, and, with two exceptions, spent the night at a small +hotel near the depot. Big Shanty (where passengers on the early +morning train were allowed to take breakfast), north of Marietta, +was the place where the party proposed to seize the locomotive and +such part of the train as might seem practicable, the engineer +(Brown) of the party to run it north, stopping at intervals only +long enough to cut telegraph wires, to prevent information being +sent ahead, tear up short portions of the track to prevent pursuit, +and to burn bridges, the latter being the principal object of the +raid. Porter and Hawkins of the party, who had lodging at a +different hotel from the others, were not awakened in time, and +consequently did not participate in the daring act for which the +party was organized. + +During the night Andrews carefully instructed those at his hotel, +each man being told what was expected of him. The party were almost +to a man strangers to him until five days before, and hardly two +of them, though of the same regiment, until then knew each other. +Never before, for so extraordinary an attempt, was so incongruous +a band assembled. I knew one of them--Sergeant-Major Marion A. +Ross, of the 2d Ohio. He had no previous training, and no special +skill for such an expedition. He was a farmer boy (Champaign Co., +Ohio) of more than ordinary retiring modesty, with no element of +reckless daring in his nature. He had almost white silky flaxen +hair, and at Antioch College, where I first met him, he rarely +associated with his schoolmates in play or amusement. He was called +a ladies' man; and this because he did not care for the active +pursuits usually enjoyed by young men. + +It is said that when Ross ascertained the number of trains, regular +and irregular, with which the exigencies of war had covered the +railroad, and considered also the distance to be passed over, he +tried at the last moment to dissuade Andrews from undertaking the +execution of the enterprise. In this he failed, but Andrews gave +any of the party who regarded the design too hazardous the right +to withdraw.( 2) Not one, however, availed himself of this liberty. +Ross saw that the scheme must fail, but was too manly to abandon +his comrades. + +Saturday morning before daylight the party was seated in one +passenger car, moving north. In this and other coaches there were +several hundred passengers.( 3) At sunrise, when eight miles from +Marietta, the train stopped, and the trainmen shouted: "_Big Shanty +--twenty minutes for breakfast_." At this, conductor, engineer, +fireman, and train-hands, with most of the passengers, left the +train. Thus the desired opportunity of Andrews and his party was +presented. They did not hesitate. Three cars back from the tender, +including only box-cars, the coupling-pin was drawn, and the +passenger cars cut off. Andrews mounted the engine, with Brown +and Knight as engineers and Wilson as fireman. Others took places +as brakemen, or as helpers and guards, and, to the amazement of +the bystanders, the locomotive moved rapidly north. The conductor, +engineer, and train-men were dazed. The capture was accomplished, +but how were the trains and the stations to be passed on the long +journey to Chattanooga; and how was that place to be passed, and +still a run of a hundred miles made over the Memphis and Charleston +Railroad before they were within the Union lines at Huntsville? +The train proceeded only a short distance when it was stopped and +the telegraph wires cut, then it moved on again, stopping now and +then long enough to enable Andrews and his men to tear up the track +behind them. They reached Kingston, thirty-two miles north, where +a stop had to be made, but by claiming their train was a powder +train hastening to Beauregard's army, they were allowed to pass +on; so the flight continued until Dalton and the tunnel north of +it were passed. The conductor, Fuller, started from Big Shanty +with a small party on foot, then procured a hand-car and at Dalton +a locomotive. His pursuit was both energetic and intelligent. At +Dalton he succeeded in getting a telegram through to Chattanooga +giving notice of the coming of the raiders. The locomotive seized, +known as _General_, proved a poor one, and fuel soon gave out, and +finally the pursuers came in sight. Cars were dropped and bridges +were fired, but the pursuers pushed the cars ahead and put out the +flames. At last, not far from Chattanooga, the _General_ was +abandoned, and the raiders scattered to the woods and, generally +singly, sought to evade capture; but as the whole country was +aroused and Confederate soldiers were at hand, most of the party +were soon captured; one or two evaded discovery by going boldly to +recruiting stations and enlisting in the Confederate Army. The +history of the suffering, trials, and fate of this daring band is +one of the most thrilling and tragic of the war. It is too long +to be here told. The captured were imprisoned at Chattanooga, and +Andrews, the leader (after making one attempt to escape), was +heavily ironed, and a scaffold was prepared at Chattanooga for his +execution, but for some reason he and his companions were transferred +to Atlanta, where, on the day of their arrival, he was taken to a +scaffold and hung, and his body buried in an unmarked and still +unknown grave.( 3) He died bravely, resigned to his fate. He was +a man of quiet demeanor, of extraordinary resolution, and more than +ordinary ability. He was tried and sentenced by a sort of drum- +head court-martial, charged with being disloyal to the Confederacy +and hanged as a spy.( 3) Other men of more fame have died on the +gallows, and others of less merit have occupied high positions. + +Seven of the band were taken to Knoxville, and in June, 1862, tried +by court-martial and condemned to be hanged as spies. Campbell, +Wilson, Ross, Shadrack, Slaven, Robinson, and Scott were hanged +June 18th, by order of General E. Kirby Smith, at Atlanta.( 3) +Their bodies were buried in a rude trench at the foot of the +scaffold. A grateful government has caused this trench to be opened +and the mortal remains of these unfortunate heroes of cruel war to +be removed to the beautiful National Cemetery near Chattanooga and +buried amidst the heroes of Chickamauga, there to rest until the +Grand Army of Soldier-dead shall be summoned to rise on the +resurrection morn. + +Eight others, Brown, Knight, Porter, Wood, Wilson, Hawkins, Wallam, +and Dorsey, after suffering more than the pangs of death in prison, +in various ways and at different times escaped; and after like +suffering, six others, Parrot, Buffem, Bensinger, Reddick, Mason, +and Pittenger were (March, 1863) exchanged. These fourteen were, +save Wood and Buffem, living in 1881, honored and upright citizens. +Pittenger was a member of the New Jersey Methodist Episcopal +Conference, and the author of _Capturing a Locomotive_, in which +is given the story of the tragic affair in all its painful details. + +Mitchel's division resumed its march southward April 9th, and +reached Fayetteville the next day; two brigades--Turchin's and +Sill's--continued the march towards Huntsville on the Memphis and +Charleston Railroad. At Fayetteville the inhabitants seemed to be +wholly disloyal, and extended no welcome. Huntsville was surprised +and captured before daylight on April 11th. A large number of cars +and fifteen locomotives were taken.( 4) One train was found at +the depot loaded with recruits for Beauregard's army at Corinth. +Many Confederates who had been wounded at Shiloh were captured and +paroled. The next day, at Stevenson, five more locomotives and a +large amount of rolling stock were taken.( 4) + +The only instance witnessed by me during the war of a body of +soldiers refusing to obey orders was of the 10th Ohio when it was +ordered at Fayetteville to prepare to march, each man carrying his +knapsack. On some occasions prior to this time the company wagons +carried the knapsacks of the men. Colonel Wm. H. Lytle (then +commanding a brigade), being greatly chagrined and enraged at the +insubordination of his regiment, ordered a section of a battery +pointed on it, took out his watch, and gave the men two minutes to +take up their knapsacks and be ready to march. The order was obeyed +complainingly, and the incident was not again repeated. This +regiment was a good one, and later it was distinguished for valor +and good soldierly conduct. + +As we proceeded south into the cotton regions, the slaves were more +numerous and still flocked to the roadsides, seeking and desiring +to follow the army. All believed the "Yankee army" had come solely +to free them. + +Colonel John Beatty was made Provost-Marshal and President of a +Board of Administration for Huntsville. + +Huntsville was a beautiful, aristocratic little Southern city. A +feature of it was a large spring near its centre which furnished +an abundant supply of water for the men and animals of a large +army. It was the home of the Alabama Clays, all disloyal; of ex- +Senator Jerry Clemens, who had early been a Union man, but later +was disposed to accept secession as an accomplished fact; then, on +the Union occupancy of Northern Alabama, he boldly advocated a +restoration of the State to the Union. Colonel Nick Davis, likewise +an original Union man, at first opposed secession; then, after Bull +run, accepted a colonelcy in an Alabama rebel regiment; then declined +it, and thereafter tried to remain loyal to the Union. The conduct +of such strong men as Clemens and Davis is not to be wondered at +when their surroundings are considered. There were many who, +feeling bound to continue their residence in the South, and believing, +after Bull Run, that the Confederacy was established, yielded their +opposition to it. + +Reverend Frederick A. Ross, a distinguished Presbyterian minister, +who preached the divinity of slavery, resided here.( 5) Reverend +Ross was arrested by General Rousseau and sent north to prison for +publicly _praying_ in his church at Huntsville (while occupied by +the Union Army) for the success of the Confederacy, the overthrow +of the Union, and the defeat of its armies. + +There were some men, among whom were Hon. George W. Lane (later +appointed a United States Judge), who adhered firmly to the Union. +That part of Alabama north of the Tennessee had opposed secession. + +Clement Comer Clay, a lawyer, who had been a soldier in the Creek +Indian War, Chief-Justice of his State, and had served in both +branches of Congress and as Governor of Alabama, was arrested and +tried at Huntsville, when seventy-three years of age, by a military +commission of which I was president. There were several charges +against him, the most serious of which was for aiding and advising +guerillas to secretly shoot down Union soldiers, cut telegraph +lines, and wreck trains. This charge he vehemently denied until +a letter in his own handwriting was produced, recently written to +a guerilla chief, advising him and his band to do the things +mentioned. He was not severely dealt with, but was sent to Camp +Chase, Ohio, for detention. He was later liberated, and died in +Huntsville in 1866. His son, Clement Claiborne Clay, had been a +judge, and subsequently a United States Senator. He withdrew from +the Senate in February, 1861, and was formally expelled in March, +1861. He became a Senator in the Confederate Congress in 1862, +and during the last two years of the war was the secret agent of +the Confederacy in Canada, where he plotted raids on the Northern +frontier. + +General O. M. Mitchel held advanced notions on the subject of the +treatment and disposition of slaves of masters in arms against the +government. The slaves of such masters, he thought, should be +confiscated. He used some slaves as spies to gain information of +the enemy, and to located secreted Confederate supplies, and to +them he promised protection, if not freedom. Secretary Stanton +approved his action and views in this matter.( 6) + +But Buell, his immediate commander, wholly disapproved of all +employment or use of slaves in any manner as instruments to put +down the rebellion. Mitchel, therefore, soon fell into disfavor +with him. Buell, on learning that Mitchel had employed some able- +bodied escaped slaves to aid the soldiers in constructing stockades +to protect railroad bridges, necessary to be maintained to enable +supplies to be brought up, ordered Mitchel to send an officer to +see that slaves thus employed were forthwith returned to their +masters. I was accordingly directed by Mitchel to take a small +guard, and, with a locomotive and car, go to the bridges west of +Huntsville and north of the Tennessee River, on the line of railroad +from Decatur through Athens towards Nashville, to execute this +order of Buell's. I executed it to the _letter--only_. While on +this unpleasant duty I came to a place where a scouting party, +commanded by a lieutenant sent out by Mitchel, had two citizen- +disguised Confederate guerillas, just taken in the act of cutting +the telegraph wires, an offence, by a proclamation of Mitchel, +punishable by death. The scouting party proceeded to hang them +with wire to telegraph poles. I did not approve the summary +punishment, but was powerless and without authority over the officer; +and was then engaged only in returning slaves to their owners. + +Prior to this order of Buell's, Congress had passed an act, as an +Article of War, prohibiting the employment of any of the United +States forces "for the purpose of returning fugitives from service +or labor who may have escaped, and any officer found guilty, by a +court-martial, of violating this article to be dismissed from the +service."( 7) The order, and my execution of it, were alike in +violation of the law, for the issuing and execution of which both +Buell and I could have been dismissed from the service. Just after +the capture of Fort Donelson Grant issued an order prohibiting the +return of the fugitive slaves with his army and of all slaves at +Fort Donelson at the time of its capture.( 8) + +Both Stevenson and Decatur, to the east and west of Huntsville, +were, by the use of captured locomotives and cars, seized by Mitchel +on the 12th of April, and his command was soon so extended as to +hold the one hundred miles of railroad between Stevenson and +Tuscumbia. The last of the same month, however, the troops were +withdrawn from Tuscumbia and south of the Tennessee. The 3d and +10th Ohio being in occupancy of Decatur, evacuated it under orders, +and, on the night of April 27th, burned the railroad bridge (one +half mile in length) over the Tennessee River. + +An expedition started the same day for Bridgeport, where the railroad +again crosses the Tennessee, and where General Danville Leadbetter +had command of a small force on the west side of the river, somewhat +intrenched. The expedition consisted of two companies of cavalry, +two pieces of artillery, and six regiments of infantry, Mitchel +commanding. Owing to the destruction by the Confederates of a +bridge over Widow's Creek, it was impossible to transport by rail +the artillery with caissons and horses nearer than four miles of +Bridgeport. By the use of cotton bales the two guns were floated +over the deep stream, and the artillery horses and caissons with +extra ammunition were left behind. The guns were dragged by two +companies of the 3d Ohio, and the whole expedition pushed on to a +ridge within about five hundred yards of Leadbetter's redoubts near +the north end of the bridge. The enemy was surprised or demoralized, +and Leadbetter did not decide either to retreat or fight until a +shot or two from our cannon emptied his redoubts and intrenched +position near the end of the bridge. + +Precipitately his guns were loaded on a platform-car, and a hasty +retreat was made across the Tennessee by the railroad bridge; but +before all the Confederate troops had succeeded in crossing Leadbetter +caused to be exploded two hundred pounds of powder, with a view of +blowing up the east span of the bridge. The explosion did not do +the work, hence the drawbridge at the east end was fired, to complete +its destruction.( 9) But few captures were made. Leadbetter also +abandoned his camp east of the river, and was forced to abandon +two guns placed in position on the east bank. One of the Andrews +raiders of the 33d Ohio, who, to save himself from capture and +punishment, had joined Captain Kain's battery, and was acting as +artillery sergeant with the two guns captured, hid under the river +bank and signalled his desire to be allowed to surrender. He was +permitted to cross over to us, and, his old regiment being present, +he at once rejoined it. + +Mitchel moved his command on Bridgeport with great rapidity and +skill, but he showed a nervous temper, which gave the impression +that in a great battle he would become too much excited for a +commanding officer. + +Just after Leadbetter's retreat a body of cavalry appeared below +Bridgeport in an open field, not knowing the place had been taken, +and would have been captured had Mitchel not ordered them fired on +before they came near enough to be cut off. + +I was sent on the morning of the 30th, in command of a detachment, +across the Tennessee to reconnoitre towards Chattanooga. We +improvised rafts from logs and timber to carry the men, and a few +horses for mounted officers were forced into the stream, and by +holding their heads to the rafts compelled to swim the east channel +of the Tennessee. We secured the two guns mentioned, some muskets +and supplies at the enemy's camps, and found evidence of a hasty +flight of the Confederates. By a détour we came into a valley +flanked to the east by Raccoon Mountain, and we visited a large +saltpetre works at Nick-a-Jack Cave. These works we destroyed by +breaking the large iron kettles and by burning all combustible +structures. A portion of the detachment was sent under cover of +the thick woods to the railroad east of Shellmound, a station near +the river, where we expected to cut off a train of cars engaged in +loading, for removal, supplies of provisions. The engineer, a few +moments before the party reached the railroad, had run his engine +to a water-station located east of the point of our intersection, +and it thus escaped capture. We, however, captured one captain +and about a dozen men; also the cars of the train and considerable +supplies, all of which we were obliged to destroy, save some choice, +much-needed hams. These we loaded on a flat car, which we pushed +about ten miles to the east abutment of the broken bridge. This +raid caused great consternation at Chattanooga for several days. +The detachment was reported as 5000 strong at Shellmound, and +Leadbetter ordered "all bridges on the railroad and country roads" +burned, and a retreat to Lookout Mountain.(10) It would have been +easy then to have taken Chattanooga. A year and a half later it +cost many lives and became about the only Union trophy of the battle +of Chickamauga. + +I learned on this raid, from prisoners, that Farragut and Butler +had, on April 29, 1862, obtained possession of New Orleans. This +was the first information of their success received at the +North.(11) + +My expedition was the first armed one of the war upon the mainland +of Georgia. + +On my return to the west side of the river I found my regiment, +with others, under orders to march at 9 o'clock at night for +Stevenson, destination Athens, Alabama. The enemy, under Colonel +J. S. Scott, attacked (May 1st) and drove out of Athens the 18th +Ohio, under Colonel T. R. Stanley. The affair was not a creditable +one to either side. The troops under Scott were said to have been +harbored in houses from which they fired on Stanley's men as the +latter fled through the streets, and it was claimed citizens aided +in shooting down Union soldiers, though this was never shown to be +true. Scott, in his report to Beauregard, dated the day of the +fight, boasted that the "boys took few prisoners, their shots +proving singularly fatal."(11) + +The affair itself was of but little consequence, as Colonel Scott +was driven out of Athens the succeeding night, and the next day +across the Tennessee, he only having captured Stanley's baggage, +four wagons, and twenty men, having suffered in killed and wounded +a greater loss than he had inflicted. + +Out of this incident arose one of the most exceptional occurrences +of the whole war. + +Colonel John Basil Turchin, of the 19th Illinois, in command of a +brigade in Mitchel's division, reached Athens, May 2d, and, it was +said, in retaliation for the alleged bad conduct of its citizens +the day preceding, he retired to his tent and gave the place up +for two hours to be sacked by his command. It was asserted that +private houses were invaded during this time, money and valuables +seized and carried off, and revolting outrages committed. Turchin +was a Russian,(12) a soldier of experience, and a military man, +educated in the best schools of Europe. He had served on the +general staff of the Czar of Russia and in the Imperial Guard, +rising to the rank of Colonel, and he had served his Czar also in +the Hungarian War, 1848-49, and in the Crimean War of 1854-56. + +It is more than possible that he had imbibed notions as to the +manner and believed in methods of treating the enemy's property, +including their slaves, and of dealing with captured towns and +cities and their inhabitants, not in harmony with modern and more +humane and civilized rules of war. + +He did not believe war could be successfully waged by an invading +army with its officers and soldiers acting as missionaries of mercy +for and protectors and preservers of the property of hostile +inhabitants. Later, and after General McCausland burned Chambersburg, +Penna., less criticism fell on Turchin for his behavior at Athens. + +His conduct and that of his command were doubtless exaggerated in +many particulars, but enough was true to excite much comment and +fierce denunciation and condemnation. The affair was especially +unfortunate as to place, Athens being justly celebrated for the +number of inhabitants who honestly adhered to the Union cause. + +General Mitchel repaired to Athens on hearing it had been sacked, +addressed the citizens, induced them to organize a committee to +hear and report on all complaints; then ordered the brigade commander +to cause every soldier under him to be searched, and every officer +to state in writing, upon honor, that he had no pillaged property. +The committee subsequently reported, but no charge was made against +any officer or soldiers by name. The bills of forty-five citizens, +however, were presented by it, aggregating $54,689.80, for alleged +depredations. The search was made without finding an article and +the reports of officers showed that they had no stolen property. + +Strict orders against pillaging and plundering were issued and +thereafter enforced in Mitchel's division. The outrages upon women, +if any occurred, were greatly magnified.(13) + +Buell caused Turchin to be placed in arrest, and he was later tried, +convicted, and sentenced to be dismissed the service of the United +States, the court having found him guilty of "neglect of duty, to +the prejudice of good order and military discipline," and of +"disobedience of orders," and of certain specifications to the +charges, among others one embodying the allegation that he did "on +or about the 2d of May, 1862, march his brigade into the town of +Athens, State of Alabama, and having had the arms of the regiments +stacked in the streets, did allow his command to disperse, and in +his presence, or with his knowledge and that of his officers, to +plunder and pillage the inhabitants of said town and of the country +adjacent thereto, without taking adequate steps to restrain them." +He pleaded guilty to one specification only, namely, that of +permitting his _wife_ to be with him in Athens, and to accompany +him while serving with troops in the field. This court-martial +was ordered by Buell, July 5, 1862, and it met first at Athens and +then at Huntsville, Alabama, July 20th.(14) General James A. +Garfield was its President, and Colonels John Beatty, Jacob Ammern, +Curran Pope, J. G. Jones, Marc Mundy, and T. D. Sedgwick were the +other members. + +During the session of the court, General Garfield and Colonel Ammen +were the guests of Colonel Beatty and myself at our camp near +Huntsville. Though I had met Garfield, I had no previous acquaintance +with either of them. They were even them remarkable men--both +accomplished and highly educated, Ammen having previously had a +military education. We were enabled to get intimately acquainted +with them at our meals and during the long evenings spent in discussing +the war and all manner of subjects. Both were fine talkers and +enjoyed controversial conversation. Ammen, though not alone from +vanity, was disposed to occupy the most of the time, and sometimes +he would occupy an entire evening telling stories, narrating an +event, or maintaining his own side of a controversy. He was the +oldest of the party, and always interesting, so he was tolerated in +this--_generally_. He was superstitious, and believed in the +supernatural to a certain extent, denying that such belief was a +weakness, else "Napoleon and Sir Walter Scott were the weakest of +men." General Beatty relates an incident of an evening's talk +(July 24th) at our camp thus: + +"We ate supper, and immediately adjourned to the adjoining tent. +Before Garfield was fairly seated on his camp stool, he began to +talk with the easy and deliberate manner of a man who had much to +say. He dwelt eloquently on the minutest details of his early +life, as if they were matters of the utmost importance. Keifer +was not only an attentive listener, but seemed wonderfully interested. +Uncle Jacob undertook to thrust in a word here and there, but +Garfield was much too absorbed to notice him, and so pushed on +steadily, warming up as he proceeded. Unfortunately for his scheme, +however, before he had gone far he made a touching reference to +his mother, when Uncle Jacob, gesticulating energetically, and with +his forefinger levelled at the speaker, cried: 'Just a word--just +one word right there,' and so persisted until Garfield was compelled +either to yield or be absolutely discourteous. The General, +therefore, got in his word; nay, he held the floor for the remainder +of the evening. The conspirators made brave efforts to put him +down and cut him off, but they were unsuccessful. At midnight, +when Keifer and I had left, he was still talking; and after we had +got into bed, he, with his suspenders dangling about his legs, +thrust his head into our tent-door, and favored us with the few +observations we had lost by reason of our hasty departure. Keifer +turned his face to the wall and groaned. Poor man, he had been +hoisted by his own petard. I think Uncle Jacob suspected that the +young men had set up a job on him."(15) + +The court having concluded the case, Buell, August 6, 1862, issued +an order approving its proceedings and sentence of dismissal from +the service, and declaring that Colonel Turchin ceased "to be in +the service of the United States."(16) + +Although the charges against him and his trial were notorious, and +well known at the War Department and to the country, President +Lincoln, the day preceding Buell's order of dismissal, appointed +Colonel Turchin a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and the Senate +promptly confirmed the appointment, and thus he came out of his +trial and condemnation with increased rank. He accepted the +promotion, served in the field afterwards, was distinguished in +many battles, and left the army October 4, 1864. + +Turchin at the time he entered the Union Army was, and still is, +a resident of Illinois. + +There were many excellent men of foreign birth and residence who +found places in the Union Army and filled them with credit.(17) + +At Paint Rock, on the railroad east of Huntsville, the train on +which the 3d Ohio was being transported from Stevenson (May 2d) +was fired upon from ambush by guerillas, and six or eight men more +or less seriously wounded. + +Colonel Beatty stopped the train, and after giving the citizens +notice that all such acts of bushwhacking would bring on them +certain destruction of property, as it was known that professed +peaceful citizens were often themselves the guilty parties or +harbored the guilty ones, himself fired the town as an earnest of +what a repetition of such deeds would bring. + +Many fruitless small expeditions were undertaken to drive out the +constant invasions made by Wheeler's, Morgan's, Adams', and Scott's +cavalry north of the Tennessee and upon our lines of communication. + +On May 18th, having become restless in camp, I volunteered as +special aide to Colonel Wm. H. Lytle on an expedition to Winchester, +Tennessee. We passed through a region thickly infested with the +most daring bands of guerillas, and at Winchester had an encounter +with some of Adams' regular cavalry, who, after making a rash charge +into the town while we occupied it and losing a few men, retreated +eastward to the mountains. + +On May 13th General James S. Negley led a force from Pulaski against +Adams' cavalry at Rogersville, north of the Tennessee opposite the +Muscle Shoals, and with slight loss drove it across the river. +Later there was a more determined effort by the Confederates to +occupy, with considerable bodies of cavalry and light artillery, +the country north of the Tennessee below Chattanooga, but June 4th, +an expedition under Negley, composed of troops selected from +Mitchel's command, surprised Adams with his principal force twelve +miles northwest of Jasper, and routed him, killing about twenty of +his men and wounding and capturing about one hundred more; also +capturing arms, ammunition, commissary wagons, and supplies.(18) +Negley pushed his command over the mountains up to the Tennessee, +threatening to cross to the south side at Shellmound, and at other +points, and finally took position opposite Chattanooga. + +The expedition caused much consternation among the rebels, though +little was actually accomplished. The attack made on Chattanooga, +June 7th and 8th, failed, and Negley's command returned.(19) +Colonel Joshua W. Sill, 33d Ohio, afterwards Brigadier-General, +and killed at the battle of Stone's River, commanded a brigade +under Mitchel and in the Chattanooga expedition. He was an +accomplished, educated officer, modest almost to a fault, yet brave +and capable of great deeds. His body is buried at Chillicothe, +Ohio. + +Mitchel's position in Northern Alabama was at all times precarious; +he covered too much country; lacked concentration, and was constantly +in danger of being assailed in detail; besides, his relations to +Buell, his immediate commander, were not cordial. He complained +frequently directly to the Secretary of War for want of support. +Shortly after Buell's arrival from Corinth, the last of June, +Mitchel tendered his resignation and asked to be granted immediate +leave of absence, but the next day (July 2d) he was, by the Secretary +of War, ordered to repair to Washington,(20) and General Lovell H. +Rousseau, a Kentuckian, who also believed in a vigorous prosecution +of the war, succeeded him. General Mitchel on reaching Washington +was selected by President Lincoln for command of an expedition on +the Mississippi, but Halleck opposed his suggestion and failed to +give the necessary orders for the contemplated movement, consequently +Mitchel remained inactive until September, when he was assigned +the command of the Department of the South, headquarters Hilton +Head. He was stricken with yellow fever and died at Beaufort, +South Carolina, October 30, 1862. He is buried at Greenwood +Cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y. + +( 1) Pittenger, _Capturing a Locomotive_, pp. 26, 40. + +( 2) _Capturing a Locomotive_, pp. 66-8. + +( 3) _Capturing a Locomotive_, pp. 204-5, 182, 224, 353. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 641; Part II., p. 104. + +( 5) _Ante_, p. 5. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. x., Part II., pp. 115, 162-5, 195. + +( 7) Quoted in Lincoln's 22d of September, 1862, proclamation. + +( 8) McPherson, _History of Reconstruction_, p. 293. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 657. + +(10) Leadbetter's report, _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 658. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 878. + +(12) Russian name--Ivan Vasilevitch Turchinoff. Turchin, _Battle +of Chickamauga_, pp. 5, 6. + +(13) _War Records_, vol. x., Part II., pp. 204, 212, 290, 294-5. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part II., pp. 99, 273. + +(15) _Citizen Soldier_, p. 159. + +(16) _War Records_, vol. xvi., p. 277. + +(17) My last letter from Gen. Robert C. Schenck speaks of meeting, +while Minister in England, a former Ohio soldier. I give his +letter, omitting unimportant parts. + + "Marshall House, York Harbor, Maine, July 10, 1889. +"My Dear General Keifer,--Your letter came to me just as I was +leaving Washington. . . . I keep fairly well and vigorous for an +old fellow so near to the octogenarian line. Accept my thanks for +your kind remembrance and good wishes. You want to know about +Colonel John DeCourcey, who commanded the [16th] regiment of Ohio +Infantry for some time during our late war. I have not much to +tell you of him, except that I made his acquaintance afterwards as +a British nobleman. He was appointed a Union officer, I believe, +by Governor Dennison, and had had, as I understand, some previous +military experience and training. + +"One night, in a party at the house of a friend in London, about +1872, I was told that Lord Kinsale desired especially to be presented +to me. I said of course it would be agreeable. On being introduced +he explained that, besides a general desire to pay his respects to +the American Minister, he took an interest in me as being from +Ohio. I was a little surprised to find an English gentleman having +any particular knowledge about Ohio. He went on to tell me he had +not been in London for some time, and had been ill, or he would +have called on me before that time, for that he had served as +commander of an Ohio regiment during our late war. This surprised +me, but he explained that he was not then Lord Kinsale, else the +fact might have attracted some attention, but only John DeCourcey, +having succeeded rather unexpectedly to the title. I think he said +on the death of a cousin, and perhaps the end of two or three other +lives intervening. He was himself then an invalid, apparently, +and has since died. I found him an agreeable gentleman. + +"The Barony of Kinsale is an old title. I believe this Lord Kinsale +was the 31st or 32d Baron. His ancestor, Earl of Ulster, for +defending King John, in single combat, with a champion provided by +Philip Augustus of France, was granted the privilege for himself +and heirs, _forever to go with covered head in the presence of +Royalty_. This, my dear general, must be about all that I told +you of John DeCourcey, or could remember when I met you on the +occasion you mention, at Springfield. Hope you are in good heart +and health, I am + + "Very sincerely yours, + "Robt. C. Schenck." + +(18) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp. 904, 919-920. + +(19) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp, 904, 919-920. + +(20) _Battles and Leaders_, etc., vol. ii., pp. 706-7; _War +Records_, vol. xvi., Part II., p. 92. + + +CHAPTER VIII +Confederate Invasion of Kentucky (1862)--Cincinnati Threatened, +and "Squirrel Hunters" Called Out--Battles of Iuka, Corinth, and +Hatchie Bridge--Movements of Confederate Armies of Bragg and Kirby +Smith--Retirement of Buell's Army to Louisville--Battle of Perryville, +with Personal and Other Incidents + +As we have seen, Halleck's great army at Corinth was dispersed, +the Army of the Ohio going eastward. It spent the month of June, +1862, in rebuilding bridges, including the great bridge across the +Tennessee at Decatur, but recently burned under his direction, and +soon again to be abandoned to the Confederates. + +The Confederate authorities projected an invasion on two lines and +with two armies,--one under General E. Kirby Smith and the other +under General Braxton Bragg,--the Ohio River and the cities of +Louisville and Cincinnati being the objective points; the design +being, also, to recruit the Confederate armies in Kentucky, obtain +supplies, and force the evacuation by the Union Army of Alabama +and Tennessee, and especially of Nashville. Early in August, 1862, +these two Confederate armies were assembled at Knoxville and +Chattanooga and along the Upper Tennessee, Kirby Smith's main force +at the former and Bragg's at the latter place. The objectives of +these armies were soon known, and the Army of the Ohio was therefore +ordered to concentrate from its scattered situation at Decherd and +Winchester, Tennessee. + +General Robert L. McCook, late Colonel of the 9th Ohio, commanding +a brigade under General George H. Thomas, while riding in an +ambulance at the head of his command, ill and helpless, was shot +and mortally wounded, August 5th, about three miles eastward of +New Market, Alabama, by a body of ambushed men, said to have been +guerillas in citizens' dress. He died at 12 M., August 6th. His +command, in retaliation, laid the country waste around the scene +of his death.( 1) McCook had fought in Western Virginia; at Mill +Springs (where he was wounded), at Shiloh, and elsewhere. He was +one of the ten sons of Major Daniel McCook, who was killed (July +21, 1863), at sixty-five years of age, near Buffington's Island, +during the Morgan raid in Ohio, while leading a party to cut off +Morgan's escape across the Ohio River. Two brothers of his were +killed in battle--Charles M., at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and Daniel +at Kenesaw, July 21, 1864. Alexander McDowell McCook commanded a +corps, and all the brothers had honorable war records. Dr. John +McCook, brother of the senior Daniel McCook, likewise served and +died in the war. He had five sons, three of whom served with +distinction in the volunteer army and two in the navy. I knew +John's son, General Anson George McCook, first in Mitchel's division +as Major and Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2d Ohio, then in the Forty- +fifty, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses, and later as +Secretary of the United States Senate. + +The killing of General R. L. McCook, under the circumstances, was +regarded as murder, and excited deep indignation both in and out +of the army. Even Buell issued orders to arrest every able-bodied +man of suspicious character within a radius of ten miles of the +place where McCook was shot, to take all horses fit for service +within that circuit, and to pursue and destroy bushwhackers.( 2) +With the arrest of a few men and the taking of some horses, however, +the incident closed so far as official action was concerned. + +Memphis was taken, on June 6, 1862, by Flag Officer C. H. Davis, +who had with him a Ram Fleet under Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr., and an +Indiana brigade under Colonel G. N. Fitch.( 3) + +The plan of the Confederate invasion, as already stated, was to +operate on two lines. Kirby Smith from Knoxville was first to move +on and take Cumberland Gap, then held by General George W. Morgan. +Bragg was at Tupelo, Mississippi, July 18th, but, fired with the +idea that on Kentucky being invaded her people would flock to arms +under the Confederate standard, he commenced transferring his army +to the new field of operations and removed his headquarters, July +29th, to Chattanooga. + +Kirby Smith took the field August 13th, moving on Cumberland Gap, +but, finding it impregnable by direct attack, he left General +Stevenson with a division to threaten it and advanced on Lexington. +John Morgan with a considerable body of cavalry preceded Smith into +Middle Kentucky, and his incursion was taken as a forerunner of +the greater one to follow. Alarm over the audacious movement was +not limited to Kentucky; it spread to Ohio, and there were fears +for the safety of Cincinnati. + +General Horatio G. Wright was assigned to a new Department of the +Ohio, composed of the States of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, +Wisconsin, and Kentucky east of the Tennessee River, including +Cumberland Gap, and he assumed command of it August 23d, headquarters +at Cincinnati.( 4) On the 16th, Buell had ordered General Wm. +Nelson from the vicinity of Murfreesboro, with some artillery and +infantry, to Kentucky, to there organize troops to keep open +communications and operate against John Morgan.( 5) Wright, on +the 23d, ordered Nelson to Lexington to assume command of the troops +in that vicinity and relieve General Lew Wallace. Nelson, with +insufficient, and mainly new, undrilled, and undisciplined troops, +moved to Richmond, Ky., where (August 30th) he was assailed by +Kirby Smith's army and his forces disastrously routed with much +loss, principally in captured. He was himself wounded in the leg +by a musket ball. There were few organized Union troops now between +Smith's army and the Ohio River, and such organizations as could +be assembled were new and unable to cope with the Confederate +veterans. The news of the defeat at Richmond reached Cincinnati +the same evening, and it was at once assumed that Lexington and +Frankfort would soon be in the enemy's hands, and Kirby Smith's +army would forthwith march on Covington, Newport, and Cincinnati. +The assumption proved correct, as the defeated troops retreated +through Frankfort and Lexington. + +The Mayor (George Hatch) and City Council of Cincinnati acted with +courage and energy to meet the impending emergency, and the loyal +people earnestly responded to all requirements and submitted to +the military authorities, either to take up arms or to work on +intrenchments. Lew Wallace, assigned by Wright to the immediate +command of the three cities, proclaimed martial law to be executed +(until relieved by the military) by the police; and business +generally was suspended. + +The Mayor, with Wallace's sanction, permitted the banks to remain +open from 1 to 2 P.M.; bakers to pursue their occupation; physicians +to attend their patients; employees of newspapers to pursue their +business; funerals to be permitted, but mourners only to leave the +city; all druggists were allowed to do business, but all drinking +saloons, eating-houses, and places of amusement were to be kept +closed. Governor David Tod, September 1st, authorized the reception +of armed citizens from throughout the State, who were denominated +"_Squirrel Hunters_." The patriotism of the people of Ohio and +Indiana was heroically shown, and their rushing in large numbers +to the defence of Cincinnati and other threatened cities may have +had its influence, and was, at least, highly commendable; yet, if +a real attack had been made on these cities, it is hardly likely +that the "Squirrel Hunters" would have proved efficient as soldiers. +Kirby Smith entered Lexington, Ky., September 1st, and two days +later he dispatched General Heth with about six thousand men to +threaten Cincinnati. Heth was joined the next day by Morgan and +his raiders. By the 10th these forces were near Covington and +threatened a serious attack. There were some artillery shots fired +and some light skirmishing, but the next day it was ascertained +the Confederates had commenced a retreat, and in a few days the +"_Squirrel Hunters_" returned to their homes amid the plaudits of +a loyal people, and business was resumed in the Queen City. A +single act of disorder is reported in Cincinnati on the part of +some citizens who began tearing up a street railroad because it +was believed to be invidious to allow it to do business "when lager- +beer saloons could not."( 6) + +The Legislature of Ohio authorized the presentation by the Governor +of a lithographic discharge to each "_Squirrel Hunter_." + +Before narrating the movements of Bragg's army from the Tennessee +to the vicinity of Louisville, and of Buell's army in pursuit on +Bragg's flank and rear, an attempt by another Confederate column +to co-operative with Bragg in carrying out his general plan of +invading Kentucky should be mentioned. + +General Sterling Price, hitherto operating in Arkansas and Missouri, +immediately after Shiloh, had been transferred with his army to +Corinth to reinforce Beauregard, and when Bragg, who succeeded +Beauregard, decided upon his plan of invasion, and had concentrated +the bulk of his army at Chattanooga for that purpose, he assigned +General Earl Van Dorn to the District of Mississippi and Price to +the District of Tennessee, the latter to hold the line of the Mobile +and Ohio Railroad, and both were to confront and watch Grant and +prevent him from sending reinforcements to Buell. Price was left +at Tupelo, Mississippi, with about 15,000 men. Later, September +11th, President Davis ordered Van Dorn to assume command of both +his own and Price's army, the latter then on its march to Iuka, +Mississippi, intending to move thence into Middle Tennessee if it +should be found, as Bragg was led to believe, that Rosecrans (who, +June 11th, had succeeded Pope in command of the Army of the +Mississippi) had gone with his army to Nashville to reinforce Buell. +Two of Grant's divisions, Paine's and Jeff C. Davis', had gone +there, leaving the force for the defence of North Mississippi much +reduced. Price entered Iuka September 14th, the garrison retiring +without an engagement. Price, on learning that Rosecrans had +retired on Corinth, telegraphed Van Dorn that he would turn back +and co-operate in an attack on Corinth. Bragg telegraphed him to +hasten towards Nashville. Rosecrans wired Grant to "watch the old +wood-pecker or he would get away from them." September 17th, +Halleck telegraphed Grant to prevent Price from crossing the +Tennessee and forming a junction with Bragg. Grant telegraphed he +would "do everything in his power to prevent such a catastrophe," +and he began concentrating his troops against Price at Iuka. +General E. O. C. Ord was moved to Burnsville, where Grant established +his headquarters, and Rosecrans marched his two divisions to Jacinto, +with orders to move on Iuka, flank Price, and cut off his retreat. +General Stephen A. Hurlburt was ordered to make a strong demonstration +from Bolivar, Tennessee, against Van Dorn, then near Grand Junction +with about 10,000 effective men, and lead him to believe he was in +immediate danger of an attack, and thus prevent him from making a +diversion in aid of Price by marching on Corinth. This ruse was +successful. Orders were given by Grant and preparation was made +by Ord to attack Price at Iuka as soon as Rosecrans' guns on the +Jacinto road were heard. About 4 P.M., September 19th, C. S. +Hamilton's division, under Rosecrans, attacked Little's division +of Price's army on the Jacinto road, and a severe combat ensued +until night, with varying success, both sides at dark claiming a +victory. Neither Grant nor Ord heard the sound of the battle in +consequence of the intervening dense woods and an unfavorable wind. +Rosecrans did not or could not advise Grant of the state of affairs, +and the latter did not learn of the battle until 8.30 A.M. of the +20th. Price retreated in the night with his forces towards Baldwyn, +on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, whither Grant ordered Ord with +Hamilton's and Stanley's divisions and the cavalry to pursue. The +pursuit was ineffectual. The battle of Iuka was fought after 4 +P.M., principally by two opposing brigades, each about 4000 strong. +The Union loss was, killed 141, wounded 613, missing 36, total 790. + +The Confederate loss, as reported, was, killed 85, wounded 410, +missing 40, total 535.( 7) + +After Iuka Rosecrans was placed in command at Corinth, Grant having +established his headquarters at Jackson, Tennessee. Hurlburt was +at Bolivar, Tennessee, with his division. Though Halleck had partly +constructed defensive works around Corinth on occupying it in May, +1862, they were too remote from the town and too elaborate for a +small army. + +Grant had, more recently, partly constructed some open batteries +with connecting breastworks on College Hill. These Rosecrans +further completed, and also constructed some redoubts to cover the +north of the town. + +From Ripley, Mississippi, September 29th, Van Dorn, with his own +and Price's army, his force numbering about 25,000, by a rapid +march advanced on Corinth, where Rosecrans could assemble not +exceeding 18,500 men, consisting of the divisions of Generals David +S. Stanley and C. S. Hamilton and the cavalry division of Colonel +John K. Mizner, of the Army of the Mississippi, and the divisions +of Generals Thomas A. Davies and Thomas J. McKean, of the Army of +the Tennessee. It was not known certainly until the 3d of October +whether Van Dorn designed to attack Bolivar, Jackson, or Corinth. +The advance of Van Dorn and Price was met on the Chewalla road by +Oliver's brigade of McKean's division, which was steadily driven +back, together with reinforcements until, at 10 A.M., all the Union +troops were inside the old Halleck intrenched line, and by 1.30 +P.M. the Confederates had taken it and were pushing vigorously +towards the more recently established inner line of intrenchments. +Price's army formed on the Confederate left and Van Dorn's on the +right. The brunt of the afternoon battle fell on McKean's and +Davies' divisions. General Hackleman of Davies' division was +killed, and General Richard J. Oglesby of the same division was +severely wounded. The Union troops engaged lost heavily. One +brigade of Stanley's division and Sullivan's brigade of Hamilton's +division late in the day came to the relief of the heavily pressed +Union troops. The coming of night put an end to the battle, but +with the Confederate Army within six hundred yards of Corinth and +the Union troops mainly behind their inner and last line of defence. +The situation was critical. The morning of the 4th found Rosecrans' +army formed, McKean on the left, Stanley and Davies to his right +in the order named, one brigade of Hamilton on the extreme right +and the rest of Hamilton's division in reserve behind the right.( 8) + +Van Dorn opened fire at 4.30 A.M. with artillery, but he did not +advance to the real attack until about 8 A.M. It came from north +of town and fell heaviest on Davies' division. His front line gave +way, and later his command was broken, and some of the Confederates +penetrated the town and to where the reserve artillery was massed. +Stanley's reserves, however, speedily fell on them and drove them +out with great loss. Then the attack came on Battery-Robinett, to +the westward near the Union centre. Three successive charges were +made in column on this battery and on the centre with the greatest +determination, and much close fighting occurred until the last +assault was repulsed about 11 A.M. (October 4, 1862), when the +enemy fell back under cover beyond cannon-shot. Van Dorn had hoped +to take Corinth on the 3d, and now, being repulsed at every point, +he beat a retreat, knowing Grant would not be inactive. It was +not until about 2 P.M. that Rosecrans ascertained the enemy had +commenced a retreat.( 9) General James B. McPherson arrived, +October 4th, from Jackson with five regiments, but too late for +the battle. The engagement was a severe one; both armies fought +with desperation and skill; the Union troops, being outnumbered, +made up the disparity by fighting, in part, behind breastworks. + +The losses were heavy, especially in officers of rank. The Union +loss was, killed 27 officers and 328 men, wounded 115 officers and +1726 men, captured or missing 5 officers and 319 men; grand total, +2520.(10) The Confederate loss (as stated in Van Dorn's report +(11)), including casualties at Hatchie Bridge (October 5th), was, +killed 594, wounded 2162, prisoners or missing 2102; grand total, +4858. + +Grant, besides sending McPherson to Rosecrans' support, had directed +Hurlburt at Bolivar to march with his division on the enemy's rear. +Hurlburt started on the 4th by way of Middletown and Pocahontas. +At the former place he encountered the enemy's cavalry and forced +them by night to and across the Big Muddy, where the division +encamped, one brigade having taken and crossed the bridge to the +east side. Hurlburt's orders from Grant were to reach Rosecrans +at all hazards.(12) The situation for Hurlburt was critical. He +had in front of his single division both Van Dorn and Price. But +the situation was in a high degree desperate for the retreating +army. If its retreat were arrested long enough for Rosecrans' +column to assail it in the rear it must be lost or dispersed. It +was this that Grant confidently calculated on. On the morning of +the 5th Hurlburt pushed vigorously forward to Davis' Bridge over +the Hatchie. General Ord arrived about 8 A.M. and took command of +Hurlburt's forces. The movement had hardly commenced when strong +resistance was met with. Ord pushed the enemy back for about three +miles with General Veatch's brigade, taking a ridge--Metamora--about +one mile from the Hatchie. Here a severe battle ensued, the enemy +was driven from the field across the bridge, and a portion of Ord's +command gained a position just east of the river, though not without +much loss. Ord was himself wounded at the bridge, and the command +again devolved on Hurlburt. The latter soon thereafter secured a +permanent lodgement on the east of the Hatchie, thus effectively +stopping the retreat of Van Dorn by that route and forcing him to +fall back and find another less desirable one. Under cover of +night Van Dorn retreated upon another road to the southward, and +crossed the Hatchie at Crum's Mill, six miles farther up the +river.(13) + +The success of Ord and Hurlburt was so complete that Grant believed +Van Dorn's army should have been destroyed.(14) + +Rosecrans did not move from Corinth until the morning of the 5th +of October, and then not fast or far enough to overtake Van Dorn +in the throes of battle with Ord and Hurlburt or in time to cut +off his retreat by another route. Rosecrans gave as an excuse the +exhausted condition of his troops after the battle of the 4th. At +2 P.M., the last day of the battle, he was certain the enemy had +decided to retreat, yet he directed the victorious troops to proceed +to their camps, provide five days' rations, take food and rest, +and be ready to move early the next morning.(15) McPherson, having +arrived with a fresh brigade, could have been at once pushed upon +the rear of Van Dorn's exhausted troops. Rosecrans' army went into +camp again in the afternoon of the 5th, while Ord and Hurlburt were +fighting their battle. Although the pursuit was resumed by Rosecrans +on the 6th, and thereafter continued to Ripley, it was after the +flying enemy had passed beyond reach. But while it is possible +that Rosecrans could have done better, it is certain that he and +his troops did well; Van Dorn's diversion in favor of Bragg's grand, +central invasion, at any rate, failed amid disaster. + +But we must return to Bragg and Buell, the principal actors in the +march to Kentucky. + +Bragg's army commenced to cross the Tennessee at Chattanooga August +26, 1862, and immediately set out to the northward, his cavalry, +under Wheeler, keeping well towards the foot of the mountains to +the westward, covering and masking the real movement. Buell's +army, as we have stated, was concentrated in the neighborhood of +Dechard, Tennessee, with detachments of it still holding Huntsville, +Battle Creek, and Murfreesboro. + +Numerous and generally unimportant skirmishes took place at Battle +Creek and other places. Murfreesboro was surprised and disgracefully +surrendered to Forrest's cavalry July 13th, and Morgan's forces +captured Gallatin, Tennessee, August 12th; but these places were +not held. + +Bragg continued his march through Pikeville and Sparta, Tennessee, +crossing the Cumberland at Carthage and Gainesborough. Uniting +his army at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, he proceeded through Glasgow +to Munfordville, on Green River, where there was a considerable +fortification, occupied by Colonel J. T. Wilder with about 4000 men. + +Buell, after having sent some of his divisions as far east into +the mountains as Jasper, Altamont, and McMinnville, with no results, +moved his army to Nashville, thence with the reinforcements from +Grant (two divisions), leaving two divisions and some detachments +under Thomas to hold that city, through Tyree Springs and Franklin +to Bowling Green, Kentucky, the advance arriving there September +11th.(16) Bragg was then at Glasgow. General James R. Chalmers +and Colonel Scott, each with a brigade, the former of infantry, +the other of cavalry, attacked, and Chalmers' brigade assaulted +Wilder's position September 14th. The assault was repelled with +much slaughter, Chalmers' loss being 3 officers and 32 men killed +and 28 officers and 225 men wounded.(17) Chalmers then retired to +Cave City, but returned with Bragg's main army on the 16th. Bragg +having his army up, and Polk's corps north of Munfordville and +Hardee's south of the river, opened negotiations for the surrender +of the place. Being completely surrounded, with heavy batteries +on all sides, Wilder capitulated, including 4133 officers and men. +Chalmers was designated to take possession of the surrendered works +on the morning of the 17th. Had Buell marched promptly on Munfordville +from Bowling Green he would have found Bragg with one half of his +army south of Green River and Polk with the other half north of +it, and Wilder still holding a position on the river between the +two. + +Bragg, after the surrender, concentrated his army south of Green +River opposite Munfordville along a low crest of hills. He had +not yet formed a junction with Kirby Smith, and his force then in +position probably did not much exceed 20,000.(18) + +The position had no special advantages, was well known to many of +Buell's officers, and should have been to Buell himself. In case +of defeat, Bragg's army must have been lost and Kirby Smith's left +to the same fate. Green River, passable in few places in Bragg's +rear and to the north, would have rendered retreat impossible for +a defeated army, and, besides, Bragg had no base north to retreat +to. The situation was well understood in our army, except by Buell, +who seemed to fear a junction with Kirby Smith had been formed, +though Wilder (just paroled) and others of his officers on the day +of the surrender informed Buell that no junction had been made. +Wilder, however, had an exaggerated opinion of Bragg's strength at +Munfordville. The junction of the two Confederate armies did not +take place until October 9th, at Harrodsburg, the day succeeding +the battle of Perryville.(19) + +Buell had, south of Bragg, not less than 50,000 effective men. He +since admits he had 35,000 men present before he ordered Thomas' +division and other troops up from Nashville.(19) Thomas arrived +on the 19th and 20th. There was some skirmishing on the 20th, and +Bragg was then permitted to withdraw without further molestation +across the river, whence he marched northward. The slowness of +the movement of Buell's army from Nashville to Bowling Green and, +after delaying there five days, thence towards Munfordville, was +freely commented on by his army at the time. It was composed of +seasoned and experienced troops, eager to find the enemy and give +him battle.(20) In the history of no war was a more favorable +opportunity presented to fight and reap a victor's fruits than at +Green River, but the time and men for great and controlling success +were not yet come. + +The water supply northward of Bowling Green, already spoken of, +was at best poor and deficient, especially in the hot September +weather. The pools or ponds, befouled by the shooting in the +February preceding of diseased and broken-down animals of Hardee's +army on its retirement from Bowling Green, contained the most +noxious and revolting water, yet it was at one time, for a large +part of the army, all that was to be had for man or beast. I +remember Colonel John Beatty and I, on one occasion near Cave City, +stood in a hard rain storm holding the corners of a rubber blanket +so as to catch a supply of water to slake our thirst. The army, +however, as was generally the case when moving, suffered little +from sickness. + +The wagon train of Buell's army was dispatched with a cavalry guard +from Bowling Green on a road to the westward of Munfordville through +Brownsville, Litchifield, and Big Spring to West Point at the mouth +of Salt River on the Ohio, thence to Louisville.(21) + +Bragg continued his march unmolested and unresisted north from +Green River along the railroad to near Nolin, thence northwestward +by Hodgensville to Bardstown, then through Perryville to Harrodsburg, +some part of his army going as far as Lawrenceburg, Lexington, and +Frankfort.(21) + +Buell marched _after_ Bragg to near Nolin, thence keeping to the +west through Elizabethtown and West Point to Louisville, the advance, +General Thomas' division, arrived there September 25th, and the +last division the 29th. Both train and army reaching the city in +safety had the effect, at least, of relieving the place from further +danger of capture, and for this Buell had due credit, though the +country and the authorities at Washington were highly displeased +with the result of his campaign. + +Cumberland Gap, for want of supplies, was, on the night of the 17th +of September, evacuated by General George W. Morgan, and though +pursued by General Stevenson and John Morgan's cavalry, he made +his way through Manchester, Booneville, West Liberty, and Grayson +to Greenup, on the Ohio, arriving there the 2d of October. Stevenson +then rejoined Kirby Smith at Frankfort. + +It is true Nashville was still held of the Union forces, but Northern +Alabama and nearly all else in Middle Tennessee occupied during +the campaigns of the previous spring were lost or abandoned. Grant +alone held his ground in Northern Mississippi and Western Tennessee, +and his army had been dangerously depleted to reinforce Buell. + +Clarksville, on the Cumberland below Nashville, in Grant's department, +was captured, August 18th, 1862, and some steamboats and some +supplies were there taken and destroyed. Colonel Rodney Mason +(71st Ohio) was in command, and had under him at the time only +about 225 men. His position was not a good one for defence; he +had no fortifications, and was without cavalry to give him information +of the approach or strength of the enemy. It was variously claimed +that Mason surrendered to only a few irregular cavalry with no +artillery, and without firing a gun, on being deceived into the +belief that he was surrounded by a superior force with six pieces +of artillery.(22) The War Department, somewhat hastily, August +22d, by order, without trial, dismissed Colonel Mason from the +service. This order was revoked March 22, 1866.(22) Twelve officers +of the regiment signed a statement to the effect that they had +advised the surrender. For this the War Department mustered them +out August 29, 1862. The President directed the order revoked as +to Captain Sol. J. Houck, because he signed the statement under a +misapprehension of its contents.(23) The order dismissing the +others was revoked after the war, except as to Lieutenant Ira L. +Morris, who enlisted in 1864 as a private soldier, and was thereupon +honorably discharged as a Lieutenant. + +The Confederate Army was now in occupancy of Frankfort, Lexington, +Cumberland Gap, and most of middle Kentucky. Buell's army, largely +reinforced by fresh troops and numbering, present for duty, +65,886,(24) was apparently besieged at Louisville. Nelson had +retired there from his disaster at Richmond (August 30th), and had +collected a very considerable army and thrown up some breastworks. + +At West Point I obtained permission to proceed with the advance of +the army to Louisville, having previously been notified of my +appointment as Colonel of a newly-organized regiment. + +On reaching Louisville I first saw President Lincoln's 22d of +September Proclamation, announcing that on January 1, 1863, he +would proclaim all slaves within States or designated parts of a +State, the people whereof should be in rebellion, "thenceforward +and forever free." The idea of prosecuting the war for the liberation +of slaves in rebellious States had, to say the least, had not been +fostered in Buell's army, hence there was much criticism of this +proclamation by officers, and some foolish threats of resigning +rather than "fight for the freedom of the negro." Even the army, +fighting patriotically to suppress the rebellion, did not then +fully appreciate that it was not in God's divine plan that peace +should ever come to our stricken country until our banner of liberty +waved over none but freemen. + +On the 24th of September the President issued an order creating +the Department of the Tennessee and assigned to its command Major- +General George H. Thomas; and the same day Buell was ordered to +turn his command over to him and to retire to Indianapolis.(25) +These orders were forwarded by Colonel McKibben, but not delivered +until the 29th.(26) Buell immediately turned over his command to +Thomas, but the latter, with his natural modesty, protested against +accepting it in the emergency. Halleck suspended the order, and +Buell again resumed command, announcing Thomas as second in +command.(26) + +More than a year elapsed before General Thomas was again given so +important a command as the one he thus declined, and then he relieved +Rosecrans and took command of the Army of the Cumberland when it +was besieged by Bragg at Chattanooga. Thomas, though diffident to +a degree, was one of our greatest soldiers. He served uninterruptedly +from the opening to the close of the war, distinguishing himself +in many battles, especially at Stone's River, at Chickamauga, on +the Atlanta campaign (1864), and at Nashville, December 15 and 16, +1864. He was admired, almost adored, by the soldiers of the Army +of the Cumberland, and he deserved their affection. His principal +characteristics differed from those of Grant, Sherman, Meade, or +Sheridan, who, though great soldiers, each differed in disposition, +temper, and quality from the others. General Thomas, being a +Virginian by birth, was at first expected and coaxed to go into +the rebellion, then later he was abused and slandered by statements +coming from the South to the effect that he had contemplated going +with his State. There is no evidence that he ever wavered in his +loyalty to the Union. + +I had Grant's opinion of General Thomas as a commanding officer +when I was making an official call on him at City Point, December +5, 1864, just at the time Hood was besieging Nashville. Grant had +been urging Thomas to fight Hood and raise the siege, fearing, as +Grant then said, Hood would cross the Cumberland and make a winter +raid into Kentucky. Thomas refused to fight until fully ready. +Grant, after inquiring of me about the roads and hills around the +south of Nashville, of which I had acquired some knowledge in the +spring and fall of 1862, said, somewhat impatiently: + +"Thomas is a great soldier, and though able, at any time, with his +present force to whip Hood, he lacks confidence in himself and the +disposition to assume the offensive until he has seventy-five per +centum of the chances of battle, in his own opinion, in favor of +success." + +Thomas was born July 31, 1816, and died in San Francisco, March +28, 1870. His body is buried at Troy, N. Y. Sherman, in command +of the army, in announcing his death, said: + +"The very impersonation of honesty, integrity and honor, he will +stand to posterity as the _beau-ideal_ of the soldier and gentleman. +Though he leaves no child to bear his name, the old Army of the +Cumberland, numbered by tens of thousands, called him father, and +will weep for him in tears of manly grief." + +I witnessed, in principal part, a great tragedy resulting from a +quarrel between high officers of the Union Army. This occurred +September 29, 1862, at the Galt House, Louisville, whither I had +repaired to tender my resignation to Buell as Lieutenant-Colonel +of the 3d Ohio Infantry, to enable me to accept promotion. + +General Jeff C. Davis had been in command of a division under +General William Nelson at Louisville, and had in some way incurred +Nelson's censure. Nelson relieved him of command and ordered him +to report to Wright, the department commander, at Cincinnati. +Wright ordered Davis to return to Louisville and report to Buell +for duty. Davis, being from Indiana, returned _via_ Indianapolis, +and from there was accompanied to Louisville by Governor Oliver P. +Morton, who, with another friend, was with Davis in the vestibule +of the Galt House about 9 A.M. when Davis accosted Nelson, demanding +satisfaction for the injustice he claimed had been done him, and, +it was said, at the same time flipped a paper wad in Nelson's +face.(27) Nelson retorted by slapping Davis in the face with the +back of his hand, and then, after denouncing Morton as Davis' +"abettor of the deliberate insult," at once passed from the vestibule +to adjoining hallway and started up the steps of a stairway, +apparently going towards his room. He soon, however, returned to +the hall and walked quietly in the direction of Davis. The latter +meantime had obtained a pistol from his friend, and as Nelson +approached fired on him, the bullet striking Nelson in the left +breast, just over the heart, producing what proved, in half an +hour, to be a mortal wound.(27) The incident was a deplorable one. +Nelson was an able, valuable officer, and had proved himself such +on many fields. He was known to be hasty, and sometimes unwarrantably +rough in his treatment of others, yet he promptly repented of any +act of injustice and made amends as far as possible. Davis was +placed in military arrest by Buell, but later was released, by +orders from Washington, to be allowed to become amenable to civil +authority. Still later he was restored to the command of a division, +then given a corps, and, by his gallantry, soldierly bearing, and +general good conduct to the end of the war, atoned in some degree +for the bloody deed. + +My resignation was accepted on this memorable 29th of September, +1862, and thenceforth my official connection with my first regiment, +its gallant officers and soldiers, and with the noble Army of the +Ohio and the other great armies of the West, ceased, and forever, +and not without the deepest regret, especially in parting from +Colonel John Beatty, with whom I had, as more than a friend and +companion, eaten and slept, marched and bivouacked, on the closest +terms of confidence, without receiving from him an unkind or +ungenerous word, for seventeen months, although he was my immediate +superior officer, and we had both gone through many hardships and +vexatious trials together. This was the more remarkable as we were +each of sanguine temperament and obstinate by nature. + +Beatty was appointed by President Lincoln a Brigadier-General of +Volunteers, November 29, 1862, and he thereafter, as before at +Perryville, especially distinguished himself at Stone's River and +Chickamauga. He has since served three terms in Congress with +distinction. + +It was my good fortune to meet and shake hands, one year and about +eight months later, with some of the survivors of this Western army +at Greensborough, North Carolina, after Lee's surrender, and on +the occasion of the surrender of Joe Johnston's army to Sherman. + +Although my humble connection with Buell's army ceased at Louisville, +I will summarize its history, covering a few days longer. + +Polk's and Hardee's corps constituting Bragg's army we left in the +vicinity of Bardstown and Harrodsburg, with some portions at +Frankfort and Lexington. Kirby Smith was at Salvisa, about twenty +miles northeast of Perryville, with the main body of his army, and, +believing he would be the first attacked, called loudly for +reinforcement, and Bragg sent him, on the eve of Perryville, Withers +and Cheatham's divisions from Polk and Hardee's corps. Bragg placed +Polk in command of his army in the vicinity of Perryville, and +repaired to Frankfort to witness the inauguration (October 4th) of +a new Secession Provisional Governor of Kentucky--Richard Hawes +(28)--her former one, George W. Johnson, having been killed at +Shiloh while fighting as a private soldier. + +Buell, being further reinforced with new troops, mostly from Ohio +and Indiana, commenced, October 2d, a general movement against both +Bragg and Smith. General Joshua W. Sill's division of General +Alexander McD. McCook's corps, followed by General Ebenezer Dumont +with a raw division, moved through Shelbyville towards Frankfort. +McCook, with the two remaining divisions of the First Corps, +commanded, respectively, by Generals L. H. Rousseau and James S. +Jackson, moved from Bloomfield to Taylorsville, where he halted +the second night. Crittenden's corps marched _via_ Bardstown on +the Lebanon and Danville road, which passed about four miles to +the south of Perryville, with a branch to it. Gilbert's corps +moved on the more direct road to Perryville. Thomas, second in +command, accompanied Crittenden on the right, and Buell kept his +headquarters with Gilbert's corps, the centre one in the movements. +As the Union columns advanced, the armies of Bragg and Kirby Smith +found it necessary to commence concentrating. For some reason, +not warranted by good strategy, two points of concentration were +designated by Bragg, Perryville and Salvisa, twenty miles apart. +Smith persisted in the belief he would be the first to be struck +by the advancing army. + +General Sill, on the road to Frankfort, encountered some opposition +on the 3d, but on the 4th pressed the enemy back so close that the +booming of his cannon interrupted Richard Hawes in the reading of +his inaugural address. Bragg, while witnessing the ceremony, +received dispatches announcing the near approach of the Union +columns.(29) This led to a general stampede of the assembly, most +of which was Confederate military, and the inaugural was never +finished. Hawes fled from the capital, half inaugurated, accompanying +the army, and this was about the last heard of a secession Governor +of Kentucky. + +Bragg personally hurried to Harrodsburg and there met Polk, who +gave him news of the movements of his army and of the approach of +the Union columns. Bragg reached the conclusion that the wide +front covered by the Union forces (about fifteen miles) afforded +an opportunity to beat a part of them in an early engagement, and +he therefore, at 5.40 P.M. of the 7th, ordered Polk to recall +Cheatham's division, hitherto ordered to reinforce Smith, and to +form a junction with Hardee's corps near Perryville, and there give +battle immediately, and then move to Versailles, whither Smith was +ordered with his army.(30) McCook was turned directly on Perryville +and Sill was ordered in the same direction. Buell, at 7 P.M. of +the 7th, seemed to be aware that stubborn resistance would be met +with the next day at Perryville. He so advised General Thomas.(31) +Polk, with Cheatham's division, reached Perryville about midnight +of the 7th, and the troops were placed in position on a line +previously established with the expectation that a battle would be +opened early the following morning. The Confederate troops thus +in position numbered about 18,000, while immediately opposed to +them were no divisions yet in position, and, in fact, no real +preparation for battle had been made on the Union side. There was +some skirmishing on the Confederate extreme left in the night, +between Colonel Dan McCook's brigade of Sheridan's division, for +the possession of the water in Doctor's Fork, but nothing more. + +Bragg, at Harrodsburg, not hearing the battle open at dawn, hastened +to Perryville, and there learned at 10 A.M. that a council of +Confederate generals had been held, on Polk's suggestion, at which +it was determined to act only on the defensive. He, however, after +some reconnoissances and adjustment of the lines, ordered Polk to +bring on an engagement.(32) + +McCook with his two divisions came within about three miles of +Perryville about 10.30 A.M. of the 8th, and there encountered some +resistance, and later his troops were advanced and formed with the +right of Rousseau's division, resting near a barn south of the +Perryville and Mackville road, its left extending on a ridge through +a corn field to a wood occupied by the 2d and 33d Ohio. The right +of General William R. Terrill's brigade of Jackson's division rested +on woods to the left of Rousseau, his left forming a crotchet to +the rear. Starkweather and Webster's brigades of Rousseau and +Jackson's divisions, respectively, were posted by McCook in support +of the line named. Sheridan and R. B. Mitchell's divisions of the +Third Corps were posted, not in preparation for battle, several +hundred yards to McCook's right, but supposed to be near enough to +protect it.(33) + +Save some clashes of the skirmish lines and bodies seeking positions, +no fierce engagement took place until 2 P.M., when a determined +attack in force fell on Terrill's brigade, causing it to soon give +way, General James S. Jackson, division commander, being killed at +the first fire, and Terrill fell soon after. McCook had previously +(about 12.30 P.M.) ridden to Buell's headquarters, about two and +a half miles distant, and informed him of the situation, but this +did not awaken him to the apprehension that a battle was about to +be fought. McCook's entire command present on the field was soon +engaged against great odds. Of this Captain Fisher of McCook's +staff informed Buell in his tent at 3.30 or 4 P.M., and Buell +claimed it was his first news that a battle had been raging on his +front. + +Polk, with three divisions of infantry and a complement of artillery, +and with cavalry on each flank, had fallen on the two unsupported +divisions of McCook, choosing his place and manner of attack +skilfully. Rousseau's right was struck soon after Terrill's brigade +was driven back, and the whole of his division was soon in action. +The Confederates advanced under cover of their artillery fire, +outflanking Rousseau's right. His troops stood to their work +against odds and made a most gallant resistance. Their right was +turned, when Gilbert's idle corps was near enough to have come at +once into action and afforded it protection. McCook's command, +though suffering much, was not driven from the field. My old +regiment occupied the crest of a hill, its right behind a hay-barn. +In this position, under Colonel John Beatty, it fought, exposed to +a heavy fire from the enemy's batteries and to a front and flank +fire from his infantry. The barn at last took fire, and its flames +were so hot the right of the regiment was forced to temporarily +give way. Its loss was 190 of its then 500 men in line, including +Captains Cunard and McDougal and Lieutenants St. John and Starr +among the killed. Colonel W. H. Lytle, commanding the brigade, +was wounded and captured. + +The Confederates gained possession temporarily of only portions of +the battle-ground, and night found McCook's corps still confronting +them. + +Sheridan and R. B. Mitchell's divisions of the Third Corps in the +evening made some diversion, driving back and threatening Polk's +left. Buell late in the day ordered reinforcements sent to McCook, +but they reached him too late for the battle. Polk claimed a +victory, but while he had some temporary success, both armies slept +on the field. + +The failure of Buell to know or hear of the battle until too late +to put his numerous troops near the field into it was the subject +of much comment. Had Crittenden and Gilbert been pushed forward +while Bragg's forces were engaged with McCook, his army should have +been cut off, captured, or dispersed; Kirby Smith's lying farther +to the north, would also have been imperilled. + +Such an opportunity never occurred again in the war. It is said +Buell was in his tent and the winds were unfavorable. But where +were his staff officers, who should furnish eyes and ears for their +General? + +The Union loss was 39 officers and 806 men killed, 94 officers and +2757 men wounded, total 3696; and captured or missing 13 officers +and 502 men, grand total 4211. Of these Rousseau's division lost +18 officers and 466 men killed, and 52 officers and 1468 men wounded, +total 2004; and Jackson's division lost 6 officers and 81 men +killed, and 8 officers and 338 men wounded, total 433; grand total, +two divisions, 2437. The few others killed and wounded were of +the three divisions of the Third Corps.(34) + +The Confederate loss, as reported by General Polk, was 510 killed +and 2635 wounded, total 3145; captured 251, grand total 3396.(34) + +Bragg withdrew from the field of Perryville during the night after +the battle and united his army with Smith's at Harrodsburg. +Commencing October 13th, he retreated through Southeastern Kentucky +_via_ Cumberland Gap to the Tennessee, thence transferred his army +to Murfreesboro, to which place Breckinridge, also Forrest's cavalry, +had been previously sent. + +Thus the great invasion ended. It bore none of the anticipated +fruits. Both Bragg and Kirby Smith felt keenly the disappointment +that Kentucky's sons did not rally under their standards. Bragg +frequently remarked while in Kentucky: "The people here have too +many fat cattle and are too well off to fight." + +From Bryantsville he wrote the Adjutant-General at Richmond: + +"The campaign here was predicated on the belief and the most positive +assurances that the people of this country would rise in mass to +assert their independence. No people ever had so favorable an +opportunity, but I am distressed to add there is little or no +disposition to avail of it."(35) + +The conception of the invasion was admirable, and the execution of +the campaign was vigorous, and, under all the circumstances, skilful, +but if the Army of the Ohio had been rapidly moved and boldly +fought, together with its numerous auxiliaries, both Bragg and +Kirby Smith's armies would have been separately beaten and +destroyed. + +Buell's army pursued the enemy from Kentucky, and finally concentrated +in front of Nashville. By direction of the President, October 24, +1862, the State of Tennessee east of the Tennessee River and Northern +Alabama and Georgia became the Department of the Cumberland, and +General W. S. Rosecrans was assigned to its command, his troops to +constitute the Fourteenth Army Corps.(36) Buell was, at the same +date, ordered to turn over his command to Rosecrans. The latter +relived Buell at Louisville October 30th. Buell retired to +Indianapolis to await orders. He was never again assigned to active +duty, though he held his Major-General's commission until May 23, +1864. He was not without talent, and possessed much technical +military learning; was a good organizer and disciplinarian, but +was better qualified for an adjutant's office than a command in +the field. Many things said of him were untrue or unjust, yet the +fact remains that he failed as an independent commander of an army +during field operations. With great opportunities, he did not +achieve _success_--the only test of greatness in war--possibly in +any situation in life. He was not, however, the least of a class +developed and brought to the front by the exigencies of war, who +were not equal to the work assigned them, or who could not or did +not avail themselves of the opportunities presented. + +Rosecrans, while in command of the Army of the Cumberland, won the +battle of Stone's River (December 31, 1862); then pushed Bragg across +the Tennessee and fought the great battle of Chickamauga, September +19 and 20, 1863. He was relieved at Chattanooga by Thomas, October +19, 1863, and was assigned to the Department of Missouri, January +28, 1864. In this new field Rosecrans displayed much activity and +performed good service, but he was relieved again, December 9, +1864, and thereafter was on waiting orders at Cincinnati. +Notwithstanding some mistakes, his character as a great soldier +and commanding general will stand the severe scrutiny of military +critics. He was a man of many attainments, a fine conversationalist, +and a genial gentleman who drew to him many devoted friends. + +This chapter, already of greater length than was originally designed, +must here end, as I must turn to other campaigns, armies, and fields +of battle more nearly connected with my further career in the War +of the Rebellion. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 838-841. + +( 2) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 290. + +( 3) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 910. + +( 4) _Ibid_., vol. xvi., Part II., p. 404. + +( 5) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., p. 39, and see _War Records_, +vol. xvi., Part II., pp. 394, 395. + +( 6) _Ohio in the War_, vol. i., p. 93. + +( 7) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. ii., p. 736. + +( 8) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. ii., p. 744, map. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. xvii., Part I., pp. 158, 170; _Battles +and Leaders_, vol. ii., p. 752. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xvii., Part I., p. 176. + +(11) _Ibid_., p. 381 (382-4). + +(12) _Ibid_., p. 158, 308. + +(13) _War Records_, vol. xvii., Part I., pp. 205-8, 302, 322. + +(14) _Ibid_., p. 158; Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. i., p. 417. + +(15) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. ii., p. 753; _War Records_ +(Rosecrans' Report), vol. xvii., Part I., p. 170. + +(16) Atlas, _War Records_, Part V., plate 24. + +(17) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., p. 978. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 966, 970. + +(19) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., pp. 603-42. + +(20) While the army was massed at Dripping Springs, a beef-ox +escaped from a herd about midnight, and in wild frenzy rushed back +and forth through the army, jumping on and running over the bivouacked +sleeping soldiers, seriously injuring many, until a large part of +the army was alarmed and called up. He was finally surrounded and +bayoneted to death. + +(21) Atlas, _War Records_, Part V., plate 24. + +(22) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 862-8. + +(23) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., p. 862-8. + +(24) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 564. + +(25) _Ibid_., pp. 539, 554-5, 560. + +(26) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part II., pp. 554-5, 560. + +(27) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., pp. 43, 61. + +(28) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., pp. 47, 602. + +(29) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., pp. 602, 47. + +(30) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 1092-6. + +(31) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 580. + +(32) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 1092-3. + +(33) _Ibid_., p. 1040. + +(34) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 1033, 1112. + +(35) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., p. 1088. + +(36) _Ibid_., Part II., pp. 641, 654. + + +CHAPTER IX +Commissioned Colonel of 110th Ohio Volunteers--Campaigns in West +Virginia under General Milroy, 1862-3--Emancipation of Slaves in +the Shenandoah Valley, and Incidents + +On September 30, 1862, I arrived at Columbus, Ohio, from Louisville, +and was at once commissioned Colonel of the 110th Ohio Volunteer +Infantry. My regiment was at Camp Piqua, Ohio, not yet organized +and without arms or clothing. I found the camp in command of a +militia colonel, appointed for the purpose. + +The men of the 110th Ohio were for the most part recruited from +the country, and were being fed in camp, in large part, by home- +food voluntarily furnished by their friends. They were a fine body +of young men, but none of the officers had seen military service. + +I declined to assume command of the camp or regiment until clothing +and arms could be procured. Three or four days sufficed to obtain +these supplies, but only percussion-cap smooth-bore .69 calibre +muskets could be obtained. These guns were heavy, long, and +unwieldy, and much inferior to the Springfield .58 calibre rifle, +but I accepted them temporarily rather than be delayed in the drill +and discipline of the regiment, which was impossible without them. + +On assuming command, I called the officers of the regiment together +and explained to them their duties as well as my own, and especially +informed each company commander that he would be required to qualify +himself to command his company, and that all times he would be held +responsible for its soldierly conduct. A school of officers was +established, and the whole camp soon wore a military aspect. The +work thus commenced in time transformed these raw volunteers into +officers and soldiers as good as ever fought in any war or country.( 1) + +The environments of Camp Piqua were not favorable to discipline, +but on October 19, 1862, the regiment took cars and proceeded _via_ +Columbus to Zanesville, thence by water to Marietta, and from the +latter place on foot to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where it first +occupied and camped in what was called the enemy's country. An +early but severe snow-storm came during the first night of our +encampment, and suggested the hardship and suffering which were +not to cease until the final victory at Appomattox. Drill and +discipline went on satisfactorily. New troops will bravely stand +to their work in battle if they can be manoeuvred successfully, +and also know how to use their arms. General J. D. Cox, in command +of the District of West Virginia, with his uniform courtesy welcomed +me by telegraph to my new field of operations. In a few days I +was ordered to Clarksburg and to a section familiar to me when +serving under McClellan. + +At Parkersburg I first me the 122d Ohio Infantry, commanded by Col. +Wm. H. Ball. He was my junior in date of muster eight days and, +consequently, in more than two years our regiments served together, +I generally commanded him. He was not an educated soldier, and +did not aspire to become one, nor did he take pains to appear well +on drill or on parade, yet he was a most valuable officer, loyal +and intelligently brave, possessing enough mental capacity to +successfully fill any position. He did not aspire to high command, +but at all times faithfully performed his duty in camp and on the +battle-field. His loyalty to me, while my senior in years, still +claims my gratitude. + +His regiment, like the volunteer regiments generally, had in it +many men who became prominent in the war, and, still later, in +peace. Lieutenant-Colonel Moses M. Granger was a most accomplished +officer, and deserved a higher rank. In addition to the distinction +won by him as a soldier he has attained a high reputation as a +citizen, lawyer, and jurist. + +The first surgeon (Thaddeus A. Reamy) of the 122d, though not long +in the field, has taken a first place in his profession, as has +also its next surgeon, Wm. M. Houston, and its assistant surgeon, +Wilson G. Bryant. Its chaplain, Charles C. McCabe, was one of the +best and most efficient in the war. His zeal in the performance, +under all circumstances, of the high duties of his office, and his +cheerful disposition, aided in trying times to keep up the spirits +and courage of the soldiers. He ministered to the wounded and the +dying on the battlefield, and to the sick and disabled in hospital. +He was famed throughout the armies he served with for singing at +appropriate times, with a strong, melodious voice, patriotic and +religious songs, in which, often even on the march, a large part +of the army would join. + +He has since achieved success in the Methodist Episcopal Church, +in which he is now a bishop. William T. Meloy, D. D., of the United +Presbyterian Church--now in Chicago--was a lieutenant in this +regiment. He has become eminent for his learning and high character. +Those named of these companion regiments are examples only of others +who voluntarily and heroically endured the trying ordeal of war. + +A false report that Stonewall Jackson was threatening a raid on +the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at New Creek (now Keyser), West +Virginia, caused a precipitate transfer by rail of my command to +that place. There I came first under the direct command of Major- +General Robert H. Milroy, then distinguished for his zeal for the +Union and for personal bravery. He was tall and of commanding +presence. His head of white, shocky, stiff hair led his soldiers +to dub him the "Gray Eagle." He had much military learning, and +had fought in many of the bloodiest battles of the war, notably at +the second Bull Run under Pope. He had seen service also in the +Mexican War. Notwithstanding his excessive impetuosity, he was a +just, generous, kind-hearted man, and possessed the confidence of +his troops to a high degree. He incurred the ill-will of Secretary +of War Stanton, and, regarding himself as unjustly treated, more +than reciprocated the Secretary's dislike. He ardently admired +President Lincoln, and only criticised him for delay in emancipating +the slaves. He believed the slaves of those in rebellion should +have been given their freedom from the beginning of the war. He +was so bitterly hostile to slavery and to individual Secessionists, +and so radical in his methods, that Jefferson Davis, by proclamation, +excepted him and his officers from being treated, if captured, as +prisoners of war. He was charged with making assessments on +inhabitants and of requiring them to take an oath to support the +Constitution and the Union. He also had the distinction of being +mentioned by Davis in a Message to the Confederate Congress, January +12, 1863. There was much correspondence between the opposing +authorities on the subject of his mode of conducting the war,( 2) +and it seems General Halleck disavowed and condemned Milroy's +alleged acts. Much charged against Milroy was false, though it +was true he believed in prosecuting the war with an iron hand. He +regarded the Confederate soldier in the field with more favor than +the Confederate stay-at-home who acted as a spy, or who, as a +guerilla, engaged in shooting from ambush passing soldiers or +teamsters and cutting telegraph wires. He did require certain +influential persons who resided within his lines to take an oath +of allegiance to the United States and to West Virginia or to +forfeit all right to the protection of his division. Further than +this he did not go. + +At New Creek I first met G. P. Cluseret, a French soldier of fortune, +but recently appointed a Brigadier-General. He held a command +under Milroy in the Cheat Mountain Division. He assumed much +military and other learning, was imperious and overbearing by +nature, spoke English imperfectly, and did not seem to desire to +get in touch with volunteers. With him I had my only personal +difficulty of a serious nature during the war. + +At New Creek a constant drill was kept up. To avoid surprises by +sudden dashes, the companies as well as the battalion were taught +to form squares quickly and to guard against cavalry. Early in +December Milroy marched to Little Petersburg, on the South Branch +of the Potomac, and I was assigned to command a post at Moorefield +to include Hardy County, West Virginia, Milroy's headquarters being +ten miles distant. General Lee ordered General W. E. Jones, then +temporarily in command in the Shenandoah Valley, to retake the +county we occupied. A feeble effort to do this failed. We were +kept constantly on the alert, however, by annoying attacks of +Captain McNeil's irregular cavalry or guerillas. Late in December, +1862, it was decided to make a raid into the lower Shenandoah +Valley, and, if found practicable, occupy it permanently. I was +designated to lead the raid with about two thousand infantry, +cavalry, and artillery. This made it necessary for me to be relieved +of the command of the post. Cluseret was therefore ordered from +Petersburg to relieve me. He arrived late in the evening with his +staff and escort, showed his orders, and I suggested that he assume +the command at once. This he declined to do until he ascertained +the position of the troops, roads, etc. I provided him comfortable +quarters, and everything would have gone along pleasantly but for +an unexpected incident. + +Before Cluseret's arrival, a lieutenant-colonel of a West Virginia +regiment applied for leave to go to Petersburg to visit a lady +friend. This I refused, and he undertook to go without leave. +After he had proceeded along the river road by moonlight about +three miles, he was halted by a man who, from behind a tree, pointed +a musket at him and demanded his surrender and that he deliver up +his sword, pistols, overcoat, horse, and trappings, all of which +he did promptly, and accepted a parole. The man who made the +capture claimed to be a regular Confederate soldier returning from +a furlough to his command. With the colonel's property and on the +horse he proceeded by a mountain path on his journey. The colonel +walked back to Moorefield and related his adventure. I at once +ordered Captain Rowan with a small number of his West Virginia +cavalry to pursue the Confederate. As there was snow on the ground, +his pursuit was easy, and before midnight the Captain had captured +him and all the colonel's property was returned to Moorefield. +When the man was brought before me, I made some examination of him +and then ordered him taken to the guard-house. At this time Cluseret +appeared on the scene, and in an excited way demanded that I should +order the prisoner to be shot forthwith. This being declined, he +again produced his order to supersede me, and declared he would at +once take command and himself order the man shot that night. I +could not deny his right to assume command notwithstanding what +had taken place, but I strongly denied his authority to shoot the +captive, and insisted that there was no cause for shooting him +summarily; that only through a court-martial or military commission +could he be condemned, and a sentence to death would, to carry it +out, require the approval of the President. (It was not until +later in the war that department, district, or army commanders +could approve a capital sentence.) Cluseret vehemently denounced +the authorities, including the President, for their mild way of +carrying on the war, and talked himself into a frenzy. As he was +preparing an order to require the Provost-Marshal to shoot the man +without trial, I repaired to the telegraph office and made Milroy +acquainted with the situation, whereupon he ordered me to retain +command of the post until further orders. Milroy, on coming to +Moorefield the next day, sustained me, and the soldier was treated +as an ordinary prisoner of war. Cluseret pretended to be satisfied, +and later succeeded in getting himself assigned to command the +expedition to the Shenandoah Valley--not a very desirable one in +mid-winter. He reached Strasburg, and moved through the Valley +northward to Winchester, but was pursued by a small force under +Jones. This made it necessary to reinforce him, and I started +under orders for that place _via_ Romney and Blue's Gap, and was +joined on the way by Milroy with the body of his division. On +leaving Moorefield, on the 30th of December, I with two orderlies +rode ahead about a mile to the South Branch of the Potomac to +examine the ford, as we had no pontoons, and, having crossed the +river, awaited the approach of the wagon train and its guard, which +was to take the advance, as no enemy was known to be in that +direction. As the head of the train reached the ford Captain J. +H. McNeil (whose home was near by), with about fifty of his guerilla +band, attacked it by emerging from ambush on the Moorefield side +of the river. A short fight ensued, during which I recrossed the +river and joined in it. McNeil was driven off with little loss, +but for a brief time I was in much danger of capture, at least. + +On this day a colored boy, an escaped slave, whom we named Andrew +Jackson, joined me. He became my servant to the end of the war. +He was always faithful, honest, good-natured, and brave. He was +a full-blood African, and during a battle would voluntarily take +a soldier's arms and fight with the advance lines. He became widely +known throughout the Army of the Potomac and other armies in which +I served, and was kindly treated and welcomed wherever he went. +He resided after the war in Springfield, Ohio, and died there (1895) +of an injury resulting from the kick of a horse. + +On the night of December 31, 1862, the command bivouacked on the +western slope of the Alleghany Mountains in a fierce snow-storm, +and early the next morning my troops led the way in the continuing +storm over the summit. Shortly after the head of the column +commenced the eastern descent, and when the chilling winter blasts +had caused the lowest ebb of human enthusiasm to be reached, shouts +were heard by me, at first indistinctly, then nearer and louder. +This was so unusual and unexpected under the depressing circumstances +that I ordered the column to halt until I could go back and ascertain +the cause. My first impression was that a sudden attack had been +made on the rear of the troops, but as the shouts came nearer I +took them to be for a great victory, news of which had just arrived. +When I reached the crest of the mountain I descried, through the +flying snow, General Milroy riding along the line of troops and +halting at intervals as though to briefly address the men. I +awaited his approach, and on his arrival accosted him with the +inquiry, "What is the matter, General?" He had his hat and sword +in his right hand, and with the other guided his horse at a reckless +gallop through the snow, his tall form, shocky white hair fluttering +in the storm, and evident agitation making a figure most picturesque +and striking. He pulled up his horse abruptly to answer my question. +A natural impediment in his speech, affecting him most when excited, +caused some delay in his first vehement utterance. He said: + +"_Colonel, don't you know that this is Emancipation Day, when all +slaves will be made free?_" + +He then turned to the halted troops and again broke forth: + +"_This day President Lincoln will proclaim the freedom of four +millions of human slaves, the most important event in the history +of the world since Christ was born. Our boast that this is a land +of liberty has been a flaunting lie. Henceforth it will be a +veritable reality. The defeats of our armies in the past we have +deserved, because we waged a war to protect and perpetuate and to +rivet firmer the chains of slavery. Hereafter we shall prosecute +the war to establish and perpetuate liberty for all mankind beneath +the flag; and the Lord God Almighty will fight on our side, and he +is a host, and the Union armies will triumph_." + +This is the character of speech that aroused the soldiers to voiceful +demonstrations on the summit of the Appalachian chain on this cold +and stormy mid-winter morning. The sequel shows how Milroy's +prophecy was fulfilled; but not always did victory come to the +Union arms. As in the days of the Crusades, when the Lord was +supposed to battle on the side of the Crusaders, victory was not +uniformly with them. Charles Martel, believing in prayer for divine +aid on going into battle, yet testified that the "Lord always fights +on the side of the heaviest battalions"; which was only another +way of saying, "The Lord helps those who help themselves." + +Milroy's command debouched into the Valley of the Shenandoah, +already memorable for its many bloody conflicts, and destined to +become yet more memorable by reason of still other and far bloodier +battles. + +This war-stricken valley, from Staunton to the Potomac, was beautiful +and rich, and its inhabitants were, prior to the war, proud and +boastful; they possessed many slaves to till the soil and for +personal servants. It was also a breeding-ground for slaves which, +in a more southern market, brought great profit to their owners. +Winchester was the home of the Masons and others, distinguished as +statesmen and soldiers through all the history of Virginia. + +But not all the inhabitants of the Shenandoah valley were disloyal. +A majority of its voting population was, before the war actually +commenced, in favor of the Union, and its Representatives voted +against an Ordinance of Secession. I have seen an address of Philip +Williams, Esq., an old, respected, and distinguished lawyer of +Winchester, made when the question of Secession was pending, in +which he attempted to depict the horrors of the war that would +follow an attempt to set up an independent government. He prophesied +that the valley would be a battle-ground for the contending hosts; +that the fields would be overrun, the crops destroyed, grain and +stock confiscated; and the slaves carried off and set free. His +address brought him for a time into ridicule. He lived to see his +word-picture appear as only a vain, faint representation of the +reality. When the war came, and his sons and friends joined the +Confederate Army, his sympathies were with the South. He often +recurred, however, to his more than fulfilled prophecy. He lived +to see the valley for ninety or more miles of its length reek with +blood; the houses, whether in city or village, turned into hospitals, +and the war-lit fires of burning mills, barns, and grain stacks +illuminate the valley and the mountain slopes to the summits of +the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies on its east and west. Pen cannot +adequately describe the hell of agony, desolation, and despair +witnessed in this fertile region in the four years of war; and long +before the conflict ended not a human slave was held therein. It, +however, has long since, under a new civilization, recovered its +wonted prosperity, and no inhabitant thereof, though many are the +sons and daughters of slaveholders, desires to again hold slaves. +Not all the affluent ante-bellum inhabitants of this valley owned +slaves or believed in slavery. Many were Quakers, others Dunkards +(or Tunkers), all of whom were, by religious training and conviction, +opposed to human slavery, hence opposed to Secession and a slave +power. Some of the younger men of Quaker or Dunkard families +through compulsion joined the Confederate Army, but the number was +small. Though opposed to war, no more loyal Union people could be +found anywhere. Their Secession neighbors called them "_Tories_," +and the Quakers descendants of Tories of the Revolution. It was +common to hear related the story of the imprisonment at Winchester, +under General Washington's order, of certain Quakers of Philadelphia, +claimed to have been Tories, who were given a twenty-mile prison- +bound limit, and who, when peace came, coveting the rich lands of +the valley, and being humiliated over their imprisonment, sent for +their families and settled there permanently. Whether or not this +story gives the true reason for the early settlement of the Quakers +in Virginia, certain it is that they were loyal to the Union that +Washington helped to found and opposed to human bondage. + +Milroy's enthusiasm over Emancipation was put in practice when he +entered Winchester. Without seeing the Proclamation of the President, +and without knowing certainly it was issued and made applicable to +the Shenandoah Valley district, Milroy issued a proclamation headed, +"Freedom to Slaves." This had the effect of causing those within +the lines of his command at once to leave their masters. Though +the slaves could not read, not one failed during the succeeding +night to hear that liberty had been proclaimed, and all, even to +the most trusted and faithful personal or house servant, regardless +of age, sex, or previous kind treatment, so far as known, asserted +their freedom. In some way it had been inculcated into the minds +of these people that if they, by word or act, however simple or +unimportant it might be, after the Proclamation acquiesced in their +previous condition they would again for life become slaves. They +probably derived this notion from the Bible story of Hebrew slavery, +wherein it is said that after six years' service the slave should +become free, save when, preferring slavery, he voluntarily permitted +his former master to bore his ears with an awl at the door-post +and thus consecrate himself to slavery forever.( 3) + +So it turned out that many aristocratic matrons and maidens, reared +in luxury and accustomed to the personal service of servants, had +to cook their own breakfasts or go hungry, as no amount of persuasion, +kind treatment, or promises would induce the former slave to do +the least act that by possibility could be construed to be an +acquiescence in a previous condition of servitude. Even the +assurance of a Union officer could not shake their position. The +"Year of Jubilee," of which they had sung in their hearts, had been +long coming for them, and there was no use for awls and door-posts +for their ears, nor were they going to take chances. Many of them, +though offered food for their own use by their masters, would not +cook it, lest it might be construed as a recognition of a master's +continuing authority over them. Most of them gathered up their +little property with marvellous dispatch and presented themselves +ready to emigrate. General Milroy used the otherwise empty trains +going north for supplies to carry these freed people from the land +of their birth to where a slave condition could not overtake them. +Most of the knew the story of John Brown, and many of them had, in +some way, been supplied with cheap wood-cut pictures of this early +champion of their liberty. In some way they had learned also to +sing songs of John Brown, and other songs of liberty. When the +trains proceeded towards the Potomac freighted with these people +they commingled songs of freedom and the religious hymns peculiar +to their race with the universal but more cheerful music of the +fiddle and banjo. + +They were light-hearted and free from care, though abandoning all +of home they had ever known, and going whither, for home and +protection, they knew not,--all was compensated for with them, if +only they were forever free. The prompt emancipation of slaves +was exceptional in the Shenandoah Valley, especially at Winchester. +Most of these freed people soon found homes and employment, some +of the younger men with the army, later as soldiers, and others on +farms, or as house servants North, where the war had called away +the able-bodied men. It was not until after the war that the great +trials of the freedmen came. + +It must not be assumed that the slave owners in the Valley were, +in war times at least, cruel to their slaves; on the contrary, +kindness and indulgence were the rule. This was probably true in +ante-war days, save when members of families were sold and separated +to be transported to distant parts. I recall no word of censure +to the blacks for accepting freedom. Pity was in some cases +expressed. Tokens of remembrance were offered and accepted with +emotion. Those who had been house or personal servants often +evinced feelings of compassion for the pitiable and helpless +condition of those whom they had so long served. It must be +remembered that, regardless of estates once owned, the war had +impoverished the people of this Valley, and but few of them could, +even with money, secure enough food, clothing, and help to enable +them to live in anything approaching comfort. And the future then +had no promise of relief. + +The plight of some of the affluent people might well excite sympathy. +I remember an excellent Winchester family of four ladies, a mother +and three grown daughters, who were educated and accomplished, +unused to work, and thus far wholly dependent on their slaves. +White or black servants could not, after the Proclamation, be +procured for money. These ladies therefore held a consultation to +determine what could be done. The mother would not attempt to do +what she deemed menial service. The daughters at length decided +to work "week about," and in this way each could be a _lady_ two +weeks out of three. This plan seemed to operate well, and they +soon became quite cheerful over it, and boastful of domestic +accomplishments. + +Cluseret while on his raid into the Valley brooded over the incident +which resulted in his being prevented from taking command of the +post at Moorefield, and pretended to believe that I had wronged +him. He went so far as to talk freely to officers about the +incident, and to declare that if he should meet me again he would +shoot me unless I made amends. These threats came to me on my +arrival at Winchester, and my friends seemed to apprehend serious +consequences. As I always deprecated personal conflicts, and was +careful to avoid them, I was somewhat annoyed. I knew little of +Cluseret or his character, except that he was an adventurer or +soldier of fortune. I announced nothing as to what I should do if +he attempted to assault me, but I took pains to carry a revolver +with which I purposed, if attacked, to kill him if possible before +I received any serious injury. I soon met, saluted, and passed +him without receiving and recognition in return except a fierce, +vicious stare. After this, on several occasions, I passed him +about the camps or on the roads without noticing him, and although +his threats were repeated I was not molested by him. Soon the +incident and his subsequent conduct led to some trouble between +him and Milroy. Milroy placed him in arrest, and he was later +ordered from the command. On March 2, 1863, he was permitted to +resign, having served as a Brigadier-General of Volunteers from +October 11, 1862, and having previously, from March 10, 1862, been +a Colonel and acting aide-de-camp. He repaired to New York, and +there did some newspaper work in which he assailed President Lincoln +and the conduct of the war, and subsequently disappeared. Afterwards +he became the Secretary of War of the Commune in Paris, near the +close of the Franco-Prussian War. He escaped from Paris at its +close, and years later, being pardoned, he returned to France, and +is now, I am informed, a Socialist member of the Chamber of +Deputies. + +There were many such adventurers as Cluseret from foreign countries +who received commissions in our volunteer army on account of their +supposed military knowledge or experience, who almost without +exception proved failures or worse. They were generally domineering, +and of a temperament not suited to command the American volunteer +soldier. They had, in fact, no affinity with him, and did not gain +his confidence. This was not true, however, of General John B. +Turchin, the Russian, and perhaps a very few others. + +Milroy's command during the winter was chiefly engaged in holding +the Valley and in protecting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from +the raids of small bodies of Confederates. In this it was successful. +We were now in the Middle Department, commanded by General Robert +C. Schenck, whose headquarters were at Baltimore. Schenck was +appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers May 17, 1861, and a +Major-General August 30, 1862. Prior to his assignment to this +department he served with distinction in the Eastern army, and was +elected to Congress in 1862, but retained his commission until +Congress met, December 5, 1863. Schenck, though without military +education or experience, was a man of military instincts and +possessed many of the high qualities of a soldier. He was a trained +statesman, lawyer, and thinker, and an earnest, energetic, forceful, +successful man. + +For the most part, while at Winchester I commanded a brigade composed +of infantry and artillery, located on the heights, but I was for +a time under Brigadier-General Washington L. Elliott, a regular +officer, who was amiable and capable in all that pertained to +military discipline, but timid and unenterprising. He performed +all duty faithfully to orders, but little further. Milroy, on the +other hand, was restless and constantly on the alert, eager to +achieve all it was possible for his command to accomplish, hence +we were frequently sent on raids up the Valley to Staunton, Front +Royal, and through the mountains. Colonel Mosby's guerillas infested +the country east of the Valley, and frequently dashed into it +through the gaps of the Blue Ridge and attacked our supply trains +and small scouting parties and pickets, accomplishing little save +to keep us on the alert. + +Imboden and Jenkins' cavalry held the upper valley in the neighborhood +of Mount Jackson and New Market, but generally retired without +fighting when an expedition moved against them. As we were in the +enemy's country, our movements were generally made known promptly +to the Confederates, and our expeditions usually proved fruitless +of substantial results. I led a force of about one thousand men +in January, 1863, to Front Royal, then held by a small cavalry +force which I hoped to surprise and capture, but I succeeded in +doing nothing more than take a few prisoners and drive the enemy +from the place, with little fighting. We took Front Royal late in +the evening of a very cold night, and decided to hold it until the +next day. Not being sure of our strength, and to avoid a surprise, +I was obliged to keep my men on duty throughout the night. A feeble +attack only was made on us at daybreak. + +Illustrating the way Union officers were regarded and treated by +the Secession inhabitants, I recall an incident which occurred at +Front Royal. A member of my staff arranged for supper at the house +of Colonel Bacon, an old man and Secessionist. The Colonel treated +us politely, but while we were eating a number of ladies of the +town assembled in an adjoining parlor in which there was a piano, +threw the communicating door open, and proceeded to sing such +Confederate war-songs as _Stonewall Jackson's Away_ and _My Maryland_. +We of course accepted good humoredly this concert for our benefit, +but when we had finished supper, uninvited, Chaplain McCabe--now +Bishop McCabe--and I stepped into the parlor. We were not even +offered a seat, and in a short time the music ceased and the lady +at the piano left it. Chaplain McCabe at once seated himself at +the piano, and, to the amazement of the ladies, commenced singing, +with his extraordinarily strong, sonorous voice, "We are coming, +Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more." The ladies stood +their ground courageously for a time, but while the Chaplain, +playing his own accompaniment, was singing _My Maryland_, with +words descriptive of Lee's invasion and retreat from Maryland, +including the words, "And they left Antietam in their track, in +their track," the ladies threw open the front door and rushed +precipitately to the street and thence to their homes. It was +afterwards said that we were ungallant to these ladies. + +While at Winchester, besides the usual camp duty and participation +in an occasional raid, I was President of a Military Commission +composed of three officers, with an officer for recorder. It was +modelled on the military commission first established, I believe, +by General Scott in Mexico for the trial of citizens for offences +not punishable under the Articles of War. There was a necessity +for some authority to take jurisdiction of common law crimes, as +all courts in the valley were suspended. Besides citizens charged +with such crimes, there were referred to the commission for trial +citizens charged with offences against the Union Army, such as +shooting soldiers from ambush, etc. The constitutionality of the +commission was questioned, yet it tried on only formal charges +citizens charged with murder, larceny, burglary, arson, and breaches +of the peace. Generally its findings and sentences were approved +by the War Department or the President, even when the accused was +sentenced to imprisonment in a Northern penitentiary. There were +one or two cases where the accused were sentenced to be shot, but +in no case did the President allow such a sentence to be carried +out. During the trial for murder of an old man by the name of +Buffenbarger, I learned that he had, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, been +a friend of my father when both were young men.( 4) It turned out +that Buffenbarger had killed a young and powerful man who had +assaulted him violently without good cause. A majority of the +commission found him guilty of manslaughter, and the commission +gave him the lightest sentence--one year in a penitentiary. His +early friendship for my father perhaps caused me to find grounds +on which to favor his acquittal. Counsel were allowed in all cases; +generally Philip Williams, Esq., an old and distinguished lawyer +of Winchester, represented the accused, and Captain Zebulon Baird, +Judge-Advocate on Milroy's staff (an able Indiana lawyer), appeared +for the prosecution. + +( 1) For special mention of the officers of this regiment, see +Appendix B. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxi., p. 1054. + +( 3) Ex. xxi., 6; Deut. xv., 17. + +( 4) My father, Joseph Keifer, was born at Sharpsburg, February +28, 1784. + + +SLAVERY AND +FOUR YEARS OF WAR + +A POLITICAL HISTORY OF SLAVERY +IN THE UNITED STATES + +TOGETHER WITH A NARRATIVE OF THE CAMPAIGNS +AND BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR IN WHICH +THE AUTHOR TOOK PART: 1861-1865 + +BY +JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER +BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS; EX-SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF +REPRESENTATIVES, U. S. A.; AND MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS, +SPANISH WAR. + +ILLUSTRATED + +VOLUME II. +1863-1865 + +G. P. Putnam's Sons +New York and London +The Knickerbocker Press +1900 + + +Copyright, 1900 + +BY +JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER + +The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I +General Observations on Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville +--Battles at Winchester under General Milroy--His Defeat and Retreat +to Harper's Ferry--With Incidents + +CHAPTER II +Invasion of Pennsylvania--Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg--Lee's +Retreat Across the Potomac, and Losses on Both Sides + +CHAPTER III +New York Riots, 1863--Pursuit of Lee's Army to the Rappahannock--Action +of Wapping Heights, and Skirmishes--Western Troops Sent to New York +to Enforce the Draft--Their Return--Incidents, etc. + +CHAPTER IV +Advance of Lee's Army, October, 1863, and Retreat of the Army of +the Potomac to Centreville--Battle of Bristoe Station--Advance of +the Union Army, November, 1863--Assault and Capture of Rappahannock +Station, and Forcing the Fords--Affair Near Brandy Station, and +Retreat of Confederate Army Behind the Rapidan--Incidents, etc. + +CHAPTER V +Mine Run Campaign and Battle of Orange Grove, November, 1863--Winter +Cantonment (1863-4) of Army of the Potomac at Culpeper Court-House, +and its Reorganization--Grant Assigned to Command the Union Armies, +and Preparation for Aggressive War + +CHAPTER VI +Plans of Campaigns, Union and Confederate--Campaign and Battle of +the Wilderness, May, 1864--Author Wounded, and Personal Matters-- +Movements of the Army to the James River, with Mention of Battles +of Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Other Engagements, and Statement +of Losses and Captures + +CHAPTER VII +Campaign South of James River and Petersburg--Hunter's Raid--Battle +of Monocacy--Early's Advance on Washington (1864)--Sheridan's +Movements in Shenandoah Valley, and Other Events + +CHAPTER VIII +Personal Mention of Generals Sheridan, Wright, and Ricketts, and +Mrs. Ricketts; also Generals Crook and Hayes--Battle of Opequon, +under Sheridan, September 1864, and Incidents + +CHAPTER IX +Battle of Fisher's Hill--Pursuit of Early--Devastation of the +Shenandoah Valley (1864)--Cavalry Battle at Tom's Brook, and Minor +Events + +CHAPTER X +Battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, with Comments thereon-- +also Personal Mention and Incidents + +CHAPTER XI +Peace Negotiations--Lee's Suggestion to Jefferson Davis, 1862-- +Fernando Wood's Correspondence with Mr. Lincoln, 1862--Mr. Stephens +at Fortress Monroe, 1863--Horace Greeley, Niagara Falls Conference, +1864--Jacquess-Gilmore's Visits to Richmond, 1863-4--F. P. Blair, +Sen., Conferences with Mr. Davis, 1865--Hampton Roads Conference, +Mr. Lincoln and Seward and Stephens and Others, 1865--Ord-Longstreet, +Lee and Grant, Correspondence, 1865; and Lew Wallace and General +Slaughter, Point Isabel Conference, 1865 + +CHAPTER XII +Siege of Richmond and Petersburg--Capture and Recapture of Fort +Stedman, and Capture of Part of Enemy's First Line in Front of +Petersburg by Keifer's Brigade, March 25, 1865--Battle of Five +Forks, April 1st--Assault and Taking of Confederate Works on the +Union Left, April 2d--Surrender of Richmond and Petersburg, April +3d--President Lincoln's Visit to Petersburg and Richmond, and His +Death + +CHAPTER XIII +Battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6th--Capitulation of General Robert +E. Lee's Army at Appomattox Court-House, April 9, 1865--Surrender +of Other Confederate Armies, and End of the War of The Rebellion + +APPENDICES + +_A_ +General Keifer + Ancestry and Life before the Civil War + Public Services in Civil Life + Service in Spanish War + +_B_ +Mention of Officers of the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry + +_C_ +Farewell Order of General Keifer in Civil War +Casualties in Keifer's Brigade + +_D_ +Correspondence between Generals Wright and Keifer Relating to Battle +of Sailor's Creek + +_E_ +Letter of General Keifer to General Corbin on Cuba + +_F_ +List of Officers who Served on General Keifer's Staff in Spanish War + +_G_ +Farewell Order of General Keifer in Spanish War + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Major-General George Gordon Meade, U.S.A., August 18, 1864 + +Brigadier-General Wesley Merritt [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Major-General Robert C. Schenck [From a photograph taken 1863.] + +Major-General Frank Wheaton [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Brevet Brigadier-General J. Warren Keifer [From a photograph taken +1865.] + +Major-General William H. French [From a photograph taken 1863.] + +Map of Orange Grove Battle-Field, Mine Run, Va. [November 27, 1863.] + +Brevet Brigadier-General John W. Horn, Sixth Maryland Volunteers +[From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Brevet Brigadier-General M. R. McClennan, 138th Pennsylvania +Volunteers [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Brigadier-General Joseph B. Carr [From a photograph taken since +the war.] + +Colonel James W. Snyder, Ninth New York Heavy Artillery [From a +photograph taken 1865.] + +Major Wm. S. McElwain, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1863.] + +Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Aaron Spangler, 110th Ohio Volunteers +[From a photograph taken 1863.] + +Major-General Horatio G. Wright [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Major-General James B. Ricketts [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Fanny Ricketts [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Captain Wm. A. Hathaway, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1863.] + +Brevet Major Jonathan T. Rorer, 138th Pennsylvania Volunteers [From +a photograph taken 1865.] + +General Philip H. Sheridan, U.S.A. [From a photograph taken 1885.] + +Battle-Field of Opequon, Va. [September 19, 1864. From the official +map, 1873.] + +Brevet Major-General Rutherford B. Hayes [From a photograph taken +from a painting.] + +Brevet Colonel Moses M. Granger, 122d Ohio Volunteers [From a +photograph taken 1864.] + +Lieutenant-Colonel Aarom W. Ebright, 126th Ohio Volunteers [From +a photograph taken 1864.] + +Battle-Field of Fisher's Hill, Va. [September, 1864. From the +official map.] + +Major-General George Crook, U.S.A. [From a photograph taken 1888.] + +Major-General Geo. W. Getty [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Brigadier-General Wm. H. Seward [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Map of Cedar Creek Battle-Field, Va. [October 19, 1864.] + +Captain J. C. Ullery, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1865.] + +Brevet Colonel Otho H. Binkley, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a +photograph taken 1865.] + +Petersburg, Va., Fortifications, 1865 + +Brevet Colonel Clifton K. Prentiss, Sixth Maryland Volunteers [From +a photograph taken 1865.] + +Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. N. Foster, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a +photograph taken 1863.] + +John W. Warrington, Private, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1899.] + +John B. Elam, Private, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1899.] + +Brevet Major-General J. Warren Keifer and Staff, 1865, Third +Division, Sixth Army Corps + +J. Warren Keifer, Major-General of Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1898.] + +President McKinley and Major-Generals Keifer, Shafter, Lawton, and +Wheeler [From a photograph taken on ship-deck at Savannah, Ga., +December 17, 1898.] + + +SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS +OF WAR + +CHAPTER I +General Observations on Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville +--Battles at Winchester under General Milroy--His Defeat and Retreat +to Harper's Ferry--With Incidents + +The Confederate Army, under Lee, invaded Maryland in 1862, and +after the drawn battle of Antietam, September 17th, it retired +through the Shenandoah Valley and the mountain gaps behind the +Rappahannock. + +McClellan had failed to take Richmond, and although his army had +fought hard battles on the Chickahominy and at Malvern Hill, it +won no victories that bore fruits save in lists of dead and wounded, +and his army, on being withdrawn from the James in August, 1862, +did not effectively sustain General John Pope at the Second Bull +Run. On being given command of the combined Union forces at and +about Washington, McClellan again had a large and splendidly equipped +army under him. He at first exhibited some energy in moving it +into Maryland after Lee, but by his extreme caution and delays +suffered Harper's Ferry to be taken (September 15, 1862), with +10,000 men and an immense supply of arms and stores, and finally, +when fortune smiled on his army at Antietam, he allowed it to lay +quietly on its arms a whole day and long enough to enable Lee to +retreat across the Potomac, where he was permitted to leisurely +withdraw, practically unmolested, southward. The critical student +of the battle of Antietam will learn of much desperate fighting on +both sides, with no clearly defined general plan of conducting the +battle on either side. As Lee fought on the defensive, he could +content himself with conforming the movements of his forces to +those of the Union Army. Stonewall Jackson, after maintaining a +short, spirited battle against Hooker's corps, withdrew his corps +from the engagement at seven o'clock in the morning and did not +return to the field until 4 P.M.( 1) + +Generally the Union Army was fought by divisions, and seldom more +than two were engaged at the same time, often only one. In this +way some of the divisions, for want of proper supports, were cut +to pieces, and others were not engaged at all. Acting on interior +lines, Lee was enabled to concentrate against the Union attacks +and finally to repulse them. Notwithstanding this mode of conducting +the battle, the Confederate Army was roughly handled and lost +heavily. + +General Ambrose E. Burnside late in the day succeeded in crossing +Antietam Creek at the Stone Bridge and planting himself well on +the Confederate right flank. McClellan also had, at night, many +fresh troops ready and eager for the next day's battle. Considerable +parts of his army had not been engaged, and reinforcements came. +The two armies confronted each other all day on the 18th, being +partly engaged in burying the dead, as though a truce existed, and +at night Lee withdrew his army into Virginia.( 2) + +Indecisive as this battle was, it is ever to be memorable as, on +its issue, President Lincoln kept a promise to "himself and his +Maker."( 3) On September 22, 1862, five days later, he issued a +preliminary proclamation announcing his purpose to promulgate, +January 1, 1863, a war measure, declaring free the slaves in all +States or parts of States remaining at that time in rebellion. He +had long before the battle of Antietam contemplated taking this +action, and hence had prepared this proclamation, and promised +himself to issue it on the Union Army winning a victory. The +driving of Lee's army out of Maryland, and thus relieving Washington +from further menace, was accepted by him as a fulfilment of the +self-imposed condition. + +McClellan was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac +while at Orleans, Virginia, November 7, 1862, and Burnside became +his successor. McClellan never again held any command. + +Burnside moved the army to Falmouth, Virginia, opposite Fredericksburg, +on the Rappahannock. Though only urged to prepare for the offensive, +he precipitated an attack on the Confederate Army, then strongly +intrenched on the heights of Fredericksburg. He suffered a disastrous +repulse (December 14, 1862) and next day withdrew his army across +the Rappahannock to his camps. + +Burnside was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac +January 25, 1863, and Major-General Joseph Hooker succeeded him. + +The battle of Chancellorsville was fought, May 1 to 5, 1863, in +the Wilderness country, south of the Rapidan, and resulted in the +defeat of the Union Army and its falling back to its former position +at Falmouth. + +The defeats at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville led to a general +belief that another invasion of the North would be made by Lee's +army. Such an invasion involved Milroy's command at Winchester, +then in the Middle Department, commanded by Major-General Robert +C. Schenck, whose headquarters were at Baltimore. + +This much in retrospect seems necessary to give a better understanding +of the events soon to be mentioned. + +Soon after Chancellorsville, the Confederate forces in the upper +Shenandoah Valley became more active, and frequent indecisive +conflicts between them and our scouting parties took place. Our +regular scouts, who generally travelled by night in Confederate +dress, brought in rumors almost every day of an intended attack on +Winchester by troops from Lee's army. In May I was given special +charge of these scouts. So uniform were their reports as to the +proposed attacks that I gave credence to them, and advised Milroy +that unless he was soon to be largely reinforced it would be well +to retire from his exposed position. He refused to believe that +anything more than a cavalry raid into the Valley or against him +would be made, and he felt strong enough to defeat it. He argued +that Lee would not dare to detach any part of his infantry force +from the front of the Army of the Potomac. But in addition to the +reports referred to, I learned as early as the 1st of June, through +correspondence secretly brought within our lines from an officer +of Lee's army to which I gained access, that Lee contemplated a +grand movement North, and that his army would reach Winchester on +June 10, 1863. The Secessionists of Winchester generally believed +we would be attacked on that day. I gave this information to +Milroy, but he still persisted in believing the whole story was +gotten up to cause him to disgracefully abandon the Valley.( 4) + +The 10th of June came, and the Confederate Army failed to appear. +This confirmed Milroy in his disbelief in a contemplated attack +with a strong force, and my credulity was ridiculed. As early, +however, as June 8th, Milroy wired Schenck at Baltimore that he +had information that Lee had mounted an infantry division to join +Stuart's cavalry at Culpeper; that the cavalry force there was +"probably more than twice 12,000," and that there was "doubtless +a mighty raid on foot."( 5) Colonel Don Piatt, Schenck's chief of +staff, visited and inspected the post at Winchester on the 10th +and 11th, and when he reached Martinsburg, Va., on his return on +the 11th, he dispatched Milroy to immediately take steps to remove +his command to Harper's Ferry, leaving at Winchester only a lookout +which could readily fall back to Harper's Ferry.( 6) This order +was sent in the light of what Piatt deemed the proper construction +of a dispatch of that date from Halleck to Schenck, and from the +latter to him. Milroy at once wired Schenck of the receipt of the +Piatt dispatch, saying: + +"I have sufficient force to hold the place safely, but if any force +is withdrawn the balance will be captured in twenty-four hours. +All should go, or none." + +This brought, June 12th, a dispatch from Schenck to Milroy in this +language: + +"Lt.-Col. Piatt has . . . misunderstood me, and somewhat exceeded +his instructions. You will make all the required preparations for +withdrawing, but will hold your position in the meantime." + +On the 12th Milroy reported skirmishes with Confederate cavalry on +the Front Royal and Strasburg roads, adding: + +"I am perfectly certain of my ability to hold this place. Nothing +but cavalry appears yet. Let them come." + +As late as the 13th, Halleck telegraphed Schenck, in answer to an +inquiry, that he had no reliable information as to rebel infantry +being in the Valley, and the same day Schenck wired his chief of +staff at Harper's Ferry to "Instruct General Milroy to use great +caution, risking nothing unnecessarily, and be prepared for falling +back in good order if overmatched." + +Milroy advised Schenck of fighting at Winchester on the 13th, and +from General Kelley, on the same day, Schenck learned for the first +time that General Lee was on his way to drive Milroy out of +Winchester. Schenck at once _attempted_ to telegraph Milroy to +"fall back, fighting, if necessary, and to keep the road to Harper's +Ferry." + +Halleck wired Schenck on the 14th: "It is reported that Longstreet +and Ewell's corps have passed through Culpeper to Sperryville, +towards the Valley."( 7) + +This was the first intimation that came from Halleck or Hooker that +Lee's army contemplated moving in the direction of the Valley, or +that there was any apprehension that it might escape the vigilance +of the Army of the Potomac, supposed to be confronting it or at +least watching its movements. Another dispatch came on the 14th +to General Schenck as follows: + +"Get Milroy from Winchester to Harper's Ferry if possible. He will +be 'gobbled up' if he remains, if he is not already past salvation. + + "A. Lincoln, + "President United States." + +It remains to narrate what did take place at Winchester, and then, +in the full light of the facts, to decided upon whom censure or +credit should fall. + +When, on the 14th, Halleck announced that Longstreet and Ewell's +corps "have passed through Culpeper to Sperryville towards the +Valley," we had been fighting Ewell's corps, or parts of it, for +two days at Winchester, three days' march from Culpeper, and other +portions of Lee's army had reached the Valley and Martinsburg. +The report that Winchester was to have been attacked on June 10th +was true, but the advance of the Union cavalry south of the +Rappahannock, and its battle on the 9th at Brandy Station, north +of Culpeper Court House (Lee's then headquarters), so disorganized +the Confederate cavalry as to cause a delay in the movement of +Ewell's corps into the Valley, then proceeding _via_ Front Royal. + +On the night of the 12th of June my scouts found it impossible to +advance more than four or five miles on the Front Royal, Strasburg, +and Cedar Creek roads before encountering Confederate cavalry +pickets. This indicated, as was the fact, that close behind them +were heavy bodies of infantry which it was desired to closely mask. +At midnight I had an interview at my own solicitation with Milroy +at his headquarters, when the whole subject of our situation was +discussed. I was not advised of the orders or dispatches he had +received, nor of his dispatches to Schenck expressing confidence +in his ability to hold Winchester. Milroy persisted in the notion +that only cavalry were before him, and he was anxious to fight them +and especially averse to retreating under circumstances that might +subject him to the charge of cowardice. He also sincerely desired +to hold the Valley and protect the Union residents. He reminded +me fiercely that I had believed in the attack coming on the 10th, +and it had turned out that I was mistaken. I could make no answer +to this save to suggest that the cavalry battle at Brandy Station +had operated to postpone the attack. + +During my acquaintance with Milroy he had evinced confidence in +and friendship for me; now he manifested much annoyance over my +persistence in urging him to order a retreat at once, and finally +he dismissed me rather summarily.( 8) + +Early the next morning I received an order to report with my regiment +near Union Mills on the Strasburg pike, and to move upon the Cedar +Creek road, located west of and extending, in general, parallel +with the Strasburg pike. It was soon ascertained that the enemy +had massed a heavy force upon that road about three miles south of +Winchester. A section of Carlin's battery under Lieutenant Theaker +reported to me, and with it my regiment moved about a mile southward, +keeping well on the ridge between the pike and the Cedar Creek +road. The enemy kept under cover, and not having orders to bring +on an engagement I retired the troops to the junction of the two +roads. About 2 P.M. I was informed that Milroy desired me to make +a strong reconnoissance and develop the strength and position of +the enemy. To strengthen my forces, the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, +Lieutenant-Colonel Moss, and a squadron of the 13th Pennsylvania +Cavalry, were assigned to me. I moved forward promptly with the +12th on the left on the plain, the infantry and artillery in the +centre covering the Strasburg pike, and the squadron on the ridge +to my right, which extended parallel with the pike. We proceeded +in this order about a mile, when my skirmishers became closely +engaged with those of the enemy. It was soon apparent to me that +the enemy extended along a wide front, has advance being only a +thin cover. But as my orders were to develop the enemy, I brought +my whole command into action, drove in his advance line and with +the artillery shelled the woods behind this line. We suffered some +loss, but pressed forward until the enemy fell back to the woods +on the left of Kearnstown. My artillery opened with canister, and +for a few moments our front seemed to be cleared. But my flankers +now reported the enemy turning my right with at least a brigade of +infantry. I therefore withdrew slowly and in good order, embracing +every possible opportunity to halt and open fire. Reinforcements +were reported on the way. I directed that they should, on their +arrival, be posted on the high ground to the right of the pike in +front of the bridge at Union (or Barton's) Mills to cover our +retreat, which must be made with the artillery and infantry over +this bridge. + +Colonel Moss, not believing he could cross the tail-race with its +embankments and the stream below the Mills, commenced moving his +cavalry towards the bridge. I turned him back with imperative +orders to cover the left flank as long as necessary or possible, +then find a crossing below the Mills. Unfortunately, when the +artillery reached the bridge in readiness to cross, it was found +occupied by the 123d Ohio, Colonel T. W. Wilson commanding, marching +by the flank to my relief under the guidance of Captain W. L. Shaw, +a staff officer of General Elliott. This regiment was directed, +as soon as it cleared the bridge, to deploy to the right, advance +upon the high ground, and engage the enemy then pressing forward +in great numbers. Before Colonel Wilson could get his regiment +into battle-line it was under a destructive fire and lost heavily. +Nevertheless, though the regiment was a comparatively new one, it +soon successfully engaged the enemy, and drove back his advance. +A more gallant fight, under all the circumstances, was never made. +It enabled me to take the artillery over the bridge, and to withdraw +to a new position from which we could cover the bridge with our +artillery and easily repulse the enemy. Colonels Wilson and Moss +were each withdrawn in good order, the former above and the latter +below the bridge. Gordon's brigade of Early's division, in an +attempt to cross the bridge, was driven back with considerable loss, +and night came to end this opening battle of Winchester. A +Confederate prisoner was taken to General Milroy (who, with General +Elliott, joined me at nightfall), who frankly said he was of Hays' +Louisiana brigade, Early's division, Ewell's corps; that Ewell was +on the field commanding in person. Milroy until then was unwilling +to believe that troops other than cavalry were in his front. + +Besides Early's division of Ewell's corps, we fought Maryland troops +which had long been operating in the upper Valley, consisting of +a battalion of infantry (Colonel Herbert), a battalion of cavalry +(Major W. W. Goldsborough), and a battery of artillery.( 9) I was +not forced to order a retreat until the object of the advance had +been fully attained, and then only when Hays' Louisiana brigade +appeared on my right flank, and the cavalry there were broken and +driven back. General John B. Gordon (10) (since Senator from +Georgia), who confronted me with five infantry regiments, reports +of this battle: + +"About 4 o'clock in the afternoon I deployed a line of skirmishers, +and moved forward to the attack, holding two regiments in reserve. +After advancing several hundred yards, I found it necessary to +bring into line these two regiments on the right and on the left. +The enemy's skirmishers retreated on his battle-line, a portion of +which occupied a strong position behind a stone wall, but from +which he was driven. A battery which I had hoped to capture was +rapidly withdrawn. In this charge my brigade lost seventy-five +men, including some efficient officers."(11) + +The total loss of the enemy in this engagement must have been at +least as many more. The Union loss, of all arms, was not more than +one hundred. It was now obvious Milroy's command could not hold +Winchester. I assumed a retreat would be undertaken in the night, +but in a brief interview with Milroy at the close of the battle he +said nothing on the subject, and the reproof of the night before +warned me to make no further suggestions to him with respect to +his duty in this emergency. + +General Elliott, my immediate superior, informed me, as I rode late +at night through Winchester to my camp on the heights northwest of +the city, that he thought it was too late to retreat on Harper's +Ferry. I suggested that the Romney, Pughtown, and Apple-Pie Ridge, +or Back Creek roads were open, and that we could safely retire over +one or more of them. He said he would call Milroy's attention to +my suggestion and recommend these lines of retreat, but if he did +the suggestion was not favorably considered. At daybreak on the +14th of June I received a written order to take the 110th Ohio +Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel W. N. Foster, one company +of the 116th Ohio Infantry, commanded by Captain Arkenoe, and L +Company of the 5th Regular Battery, six guns, commanded by Lieutenant +Wallace F. Randolph, and occupy an open, isolated earthwork located +three fourths of a mile west of the fortifications on the heights +between the Romney and Pughtown roads, but in sight of the main +works. The earthwork was barely sufficient for one regiment. The +troops assigned me were soon in position, and quiet reigned in my +front. The enemy appeared to be inactive. Milroy advised me that +the Pughtown and Romney roads were picketed and patrolled by cavalry, +and I was not, therefore, charged with the duty of watching them. +About 3 P.M. I rode to the main fort, and directed my horse to be +unsaddled and fed while I sought an interview with Milroy. I found +him in high spirits. He complimented me on the strong fight I put +up the previous day, and declared his belief that the enemy were +only trying to scare him out of the Valley. He referred to the +quiet of the day as evidence that they had no purpose to assail +him in his works. He said the cavalry had just reported no enemy +in my front on any of the roads. + +About 4 P.M. I started leisurely to get my horse to return to the +earthwork, when, from the face of Round Mountain, about one mile +to the southwest of my command, not less than twenty guns opened +fire on it. I dismounted a passing wagon-master, and on his horse +in less than five minutes reached the foot of the hill on which +the earthwork was situated, and then, hastening on foot through a +storm of shot and exploding shell, I was soon in it. Lieutenant +Randolph with his six rifle guns replied to the enemy as long as +possible, but his battery was soon largely disabled, the horses +mostly killed, and most of the ammunition chests exploded. Two of +his guns only could be kept in position for the anticipated assault. +About 6 P.M., under cover of the cannonade, and protected by some +timber and the nature of the ground, Hays' Louisiana brigade of +five regiments, supported by Smith and Hoke's brigades, advanced +to the assault. My men stood well to their work, and the two guns +fired canister into the enemy. Many Confederate officers and men +were seen to fall, and the head of the column wavered, but there +were no trenches or abattis to obstruct the enemy's advance. There +was stubborn fighting over the low breastworks, and some fighting +inside of them, but not until our exposed flanks were attacked did +I order a retreat. The battery was lost, but most of the command +reached the main fortification safely, though exposed to the fire +of the enemy for most of the distance. Captain Arkenoe was killed, +and Lieutenant Paris Horney of the 110th Ohio was captured. Our +loss in killed, wounded, and captured was small. General Milroy, +from an observation-stand on a flag-staff at the main fort, witnessed +this affair. In his report of it he says: + +"The enemy opened upon me with at least four full batteries, some +of his guns being of his longest range, under cover of which fire +he precipitated a column at least _ten thousand_ strong upon the +outer work held by Colonel Keifer, which, after a stubborn resistance, +he carried."(12) + +General Early, in his report, says twenty guns under Colonel Jones +opened fire on this position. General Hays reports his loss, 14 +killed, 78 wounded, 13 missing. + +Part of the guns left in the earthworks we had abandoned, and the +artillery of Colonel Jones now opened on our fortifications. An +artillery duel ensued which was maintained until after dark. No +other hard fighting occurred on this day, only some slight skirmishing +took place with Gordon's brigade south and with portions of Johnson's +division east of Winchester. + +The most notable event of the day was the opening fire of a score +of artillery pieces in broad daylight from a quarter where no enemy +was known to be. Captain Morgan (13th Pennsylvania Cavalry), who +was charged with the duty of patrolling the Romney and Pughtown +roads, was censured for failing to discover and report the presence +of the enemy. In a large sense this censure was unjust. His +report, made about 2 P.M., that no enemy was found on these roads +or near them, was doubtless then true, yet an hour later Early with +three of his brigades reached them about one mile in front of the +earthwork occupied by me. At that time Captain Morgan had finished +his reconnoissance and returned to camp. There was, however, a +lack of vigilance on the part of somebody; possibly General Milroy +was not altogether blameless. + +As has already been stated, I was not charged with the duty of +ascertaining the movements of the enemy; on the contrary, I had +been informed that pickets and scouts covered my front. It is the +only instance, perhaps, in the war of such a surprise. + +The situation of Milroy's command was now critical. He had about +7000 men able for duty, more troops than could be used in the forts +or protected by them. Colonel A. T. McReynolds, of the 1st New +York Cavalry, who commanded Milroy's Third Brigade at Berryville, +some ten miles eastward of us, was attacked on the 13th, and, +pursuant to orders, retired, reaching Winchester at 9 P.M. It was +certainly known on the 14th that Ewell had at least 20,000 men of +all arms, and it was clear that while we might stand an assault, +our artillery ammunition would soon be exhausted, and the surrender +of the entire command, if it remained, become inevitable. About 11 +A.M. I was present in the principal fort at what was called a +council of war, but my opinion was not asked or expressed as to +the propriety of undertaking to escape. I ventured, however, to +suggest that if a surrender were contemplated, I could take my +infantry command out that night, with perhaps others, by the Back +Creek or Apple-Pie Ridge road without encountering the enemy, and +could safely reach Pennsylvania by keeping well to the west of +Martinsburg. It was decided about midnight, however, to spike the +guns, abandon all wagons, and all sick and wounded and stores of +all kinds, and evacuate Winchester. The teamsters, artillerists, +and camp followers were to ride and lead the horses and mules, +following closely the armed troops, who were to move at 1 A.M. on +the Martinsburg road. If the enemy were encountered, we were to +attack him, and, if possible, cut through. The movement did not +commence until 2 A.M., and the night was dark. The great body of +horses and mules, being ridden by undisciplined men and unused to +riders, fell into great confusion as they crowded on the pike close +on the heels of the infantry. The mules brayed a chorus seldom +heard, and as if prompted by a malicious desire to notify the enemy +of our departure. My regiment was in the advance on the turnpike. +Milroy did not accompany the head of the column. Elliott was, +however, with it a portion of the time. When we had proceeded +about three miles the familiar _chuck_ of the hubs of artillery +wheels was heard to the eastward, and it soon became apparent the +enemy was moving towards the pike, intending to strike it on our +front. Some of our troops were then moving on a line parallel with +the pike, eastward of it. When the head of the column had proceeded +about four miles, and as it approached Stephenson's Depot (located +a short distance east of the Martinsburg pike), firing in a desultory +way commenced on my right and soon extended along a line obliquely +towards one front. The column was moved by the flank to the left, +at right angles with the road, my regiment being followed by the +122d Ohio Regiment. A line of battle was formed with these regiments +in the darkness, and skirmishers thrown forward. The line advanced +northward, feeling for the enemy, but it was soon halted, and the +troops were again moved by the flank. My regiment, being on the +left, again took the advance, keeping about one hundred yards +westward of the pike. I had been informed that the whole army was +to follow and share our fate. When about five miles from Winchester, +and when the head of the column was about west of the Depot named, +some straggling shots notified us that the enemy were on the pike +near us. I halted and faced the men in line of battle towards the +pike, and, though still dark, a personal investigation revealed +the fact that the Confederates were in confusion, and the commands +they were giving indicated also that they were greatly excited. +I found Elliott some distance in the rear, and obtained his consent +to charge them. Colonel Wm. H. Ball, with the 122d Ohio, was +requested to support me on the right. My command charged rapidly +across the road without firing. It fortunately struck the enemy's +flank. We took a few prisoners and drove the enemy's right through +the woods for about two hundred yards and upon his approaching +artillery. Our line then halted and opened fire into the enemy's +ranks, causing great confusion and killing and wounding large +numbers. A battery now opened upon us, but this we soon silenced +by killing or driving away its gunners. The enemy retreated for +protection to a railroad cut,(13) and the woods were cleared in +my front, but my right was unprotected, and at this juncture a +considerable force of infantry and two pieces of artillery threatened +that flank. I withdrew a short distance, changed direction to the +right, and again advanced. Colonel Ball came up gallantly with +his regiment on my right, and in twenty minutes our front was +cleared, the enemy's guns silenced, the gunners shot down or driven +away, and the artillery horses killed. We were only prevented from +taking possession of the guns by the appearance of another and +larger body of the enemy on our right. Daylight was now approaching. +Without waiting the enemy's fire, I ordered both my regiments +withdrawn, which was effected in good order, to the west of the +pike. The enemy at once reoccupied the woods in our front in +superior force, but obviously without a good battle-line. Again +I ordered the two regiments to a charge, which was splendidly +responded to, although a promised attack in our support was not +made. Elliott I did not see or receive any order from after the +battle began. Milroy was trying to maintain the fight nearer +Winchester, to the east of the pike, and he gave no order that +reached me. + +After a conflict in which the two lines were engaged in places not +twenty feet apart, the enemy gave way, and our line advanced to +his artillery, shooting and driving the gunners from their pieces +and completely silencing them, the Confederates again taking refuge +in the railroad cut. I could learn nothing of the progress of the +fight at other points, and could hear no firing, save occasional +shots in the direction of Winchester. I concluded the object of +the attack was accomplished so far as possible, and that the non- +combatants had had time to escape. It was now day-dawn, and we +could not hope to further surprise the enemy or long operate on +his flank. About 5 A.M., therefore, I ordered the whole line +withdrawn from the woods, and resumed the march northward along +the Martinsburg road. I was soon joined by Generals Milroy and +Elliott and by members of their staffs, but with few men. Milroy +had personally led a charge with the 87th Pennsylvania and had a +horse shot under him, but there was no concert of action in the +conduct of the battle. Colonel Wm. G. Ely and a part of the brigade +he commanded were captured between Stephenson's Depot and Winchester, +having done little fighting, and a portion of McReynolds' brigade +shared the same fate. + +The cavalry became panic-stricken and, commingling with the mules +and horses on which teamsters and others were mounted, all in great +disorder took wildly to the hills and mountains to the northwest, +followed by infantry in somewhat better order; the mules brayed, +the horses neighed, the teamsters and riders indulged in much +vigorous profanity, but the most of the retreating mass reached +Bloody Run, Pennsylvania, marching _via_ Sir John's Run, Hancock, +and Bath. Citizens on Apple-Pie Ridge who witnessed the wild scene +describe it as a veritable bedlam.(14) + +Captain Z. Baird, of Milroy's staff, who joined me while engaged +in the night fight in the woods, but who was under the erroneous +impression Elliott had ordered the attack, in his testimony before +the Milroy Court of Inquiry, gives this account of the engagement: + +"General Elliott ordered Colonel Keifer with the 110th Ohio to +proceed into the woods. The order was promptly obeyed. As soon +as the regiment reached the woods, a severe firing of musketry +occurred. General Elliott remarked to me that the enemy must be +there in force, and that the 110th should be immediately supported +by the 122d Ohio. I volunteered to deliver the order to Colonel +Ball of the 122d Ohio, and to guide him to the woods, so as to +place him on the right flank of the 110th Ohio, and to avoid shooting +our own men by mistake. The 122d Ohio arrived on the right flank +of the 110th in tolerably good order, and immediately commenced +firing. Both regiments then advanced, and drove the enemy out of +the woods. There were indications of a surprise to the enemy by +the suddenness of their attack. They took one of their caissons +or passed it. We could look into their camp and see that their +artillery horses were ungovernable. We were so close that we could +hear the orders given by their officers in endeavoring to restore +order. The fire of the enemy, though rapid, went over us, both of +small arms and artillery. As we progressed, we saw evidences from +the wounded and slain of the enemy that our fire had been efficient. +After this contest had lasted perhaps an hour Colonel Keifer +requested me to return to the rear and learn what dispositions were +going on on the right to sustain Colonel Ball and himself. I +complied with his order. When I arrived at the rear, I noticed +the 87th Pennsylvania, the 18th Connecticut, and the 123d Ohio +advancing on the right in line of battle, under the immediate +command of Colonel Ely of the 18th Connecticut. General Milroy +was also present, but dismounted, his horse being, as I supposed, +disabled. He was engaged in changing horses. Without reporting +to General Milroy, as I now recollect, I returned with all possible +expedition to Colonel Keifer, to notify him of the support which +he was about to have on the right. I supposed at the time that +from the effect of the fire of the 110th and 122d Ohio, that when +Colonel Ely with his force attacked on the right we would rout +them. I met, however, the 110th and 122d Ohio falling back. The +officers were so busy in preserving order that I could not communicate +with them. After we had fallen back to the Martinsburg road, I +saw Generals Milroy and Elliott. I was informed by the former that +the retreat was again in progress."(15) + +Colonel Wm. H. Ball (122d Ohio), in his official report speaks of +the fight thus: + +"I was ordered to follow the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which +had been moved off the field some time before, and was out of sight. +The regiments being so separated, I did not engage the enemy as +soon as the 110th. I formed on the right of the 110th Ohio Volunteer +Infantry, and the two regiments advanced within the skirt of the +woods and engaged the enemy, who occupied the woods with infantry +and artillery. After a sharp action, the line was advanced at +least 100 yards and to within twenty paces of the enemy's artillery, +where a terrible fire was maintained for fifteen or twenty minutes +by both parties. The artillery was driven back over 100 yards, +and for a time silenced by the fire of our rifles. By order of +Colonel Keifer the two regiments then retreated beyond the range +of the enemy's infantry, reformed, and again advanced within the +woods, and, after a sharp engagement, retreated, by order of Colonel +Keifer, the enemy then moving on our flank." + +The contemplated attack by Colonel Ely and others was not made. + +We marched _via_ Smithfield (Wizzard's Clip), Charlestown, and +Halltown, and reached Harper's Ferry about 3 P.M., having marched +thirty-five miles and fought two hours on the way. + +Berryville, held by McReynolds' brigade of Milroy's command, was +taken by Rodes' division of five brigades on the 13th of June; +Bunker Hill, on the direct road to Martinsburg from Winchester, +was occupied by the enemy early the morning of the 14th; and +Martinsburg was taken (all by the same division) the evening of +that day. General Daniel Tyler and Colonel B. F. Smith (126th +Ohio), with a small command of infantry and cavalry and one battery, +made a gallant stand for a few hours, to enable their baggage and +supply trains, escorted by a small number of cavalry, to escape +_via_ Williamsport. A portion of the battery was captured, but +Tyler and Smith's troops retreated on Shepherdstown, thence to +Harper's Ferry. + +We pursued, in the retreat from Stephenson's Depot, the only possible +route then open to us to Harper's Ferry. About 2000 men of all +arms reached Harper's Ferry with us, and others straggled in later. +But much the larger part of Milroy's command escaped with the +animals to Pennsylvania; 2700 soldiers assembled at Bloody Run +alone. The losses in captured, including the sick and wounded left +in hospital, and the wounded left on the field, were about 3000. +The losses in my command, considering the desperate nature of the +fighting, were small, and but few of my officers and soldiers, fit +for duty and not wounded in battle, were captured. Lieutenants T. +J. Weakley and C. M. Gross, through neglect of the officer of the +day, were left on picket near Winchester, with 60 men of the 110th +Ohio, and, consequently captured. The surgeons, with their +assistants, were left at the hospital and on the field in charge +of the sick and wounded. Chaplain McCabe remained to assist in +the care of the wounded left on the battle-field. The enemy's loss +in killed and wounded much exceeded the Union loss on each of the +three days' fighting. I was bruised by a spent ball on the 13th, +and slightly wounded by a musket fired by a soldier not ten feet +from me near the close of the fight at the earthwork on the 14th, +and my horse was shot under me in the night engagement at Stephenson's +Depot. We fought the best of the troops of Lee's army. General +Edward Johnson's division of Ewell's corps, in the night engagement, +consisted of Stewart, Nicholl, and Walker's (Stonewall) brigades. +Johnson was censured for not having reached and covered the +Martinsburg road earlier in the night of the 14th of June. He +reported his command in a critical situation for a time after our +attack upon it; that "two sets of cannoniers (13 out of 16) were +killed or disabled."(16) + +The war furnishes no parallel to the fighting at Winchester, and +there is no instance of the war where a comparatively small force, +after being practically surrounded by a greatly superior one, cut +its way out. + +Johnson's division was so roughly handled on the morning of the +15th that it did not pursue us, nor was it ordered to march again +until some time the next day. The plan of Lee was for Ewell's +corps to push forward rapidly into Pennsylvania. His delay at +Winchester postponed Lee's giving the order to Ewell "to take +Harrisburg" until June 21st.(17) The loss of three or more days +at Winchester most likely saved Pennsylvania's capital from capture. + +The disaster to the Union arms at Winchester was, by General Halleck, +charged upon General Milroy, and General Schneck was ordered by +Halleck to place Milroy in arrest. In August, 1863, a Court of +Inquiry convened at Washington to investigate and report upon +Milroy's conduct and the evacuation of Winchester. Schenck's action +in relation to the matter was also drawn in question. The court +was in session twenty-seven days, heard many witnesses, including +Generals Schenck and Milroy, and had before it a mass of orders +and dispatches. I was a known friend of Milroy, hence was not +called against him, and he did not have me summoned because I had +differed so radically with him as to the necessity of evacuating +Winchester. The testimony, while doing me ample justice, did not +disclose much of the information communicated by me to Milroy, nor +my views with respect to the judgment displayed by him in a great +emergency. Milroy and his friends maintained, with much force, +that his holding Winchester for about three days delayed, for that +time or longer, Lee's advance into Pennsylvania, and thus saved +Harrisburg from capture, and gave the Army of the Potomac time to +reach Gettysburg, and there force Lee to concentrate his army and +fight an unsuccessful battle. The Court of Inquiry made no formal +report, but Judge-Advocate-General Holt reviewed the testimony, +and reached conclusions generally exonerating Milroy from the charge +of disobedience of orders and misconduct during the evacuation, +but reflecting somewhat on Schenck for not positively ordering the +place evacuated. President Lincoln made a characteristic indorsement +on this record, not unfavorable to either Schenck or Milroy, +concluding with this paragraph: + +"Serious blame is not necessarily due to any serious disaster, and +I cannot say that in this case any of the officers are deserving +of serious blame. No court-martial is deemed necessary or proper +in this case."(18) + +Halleck did not, however, cease in his hostility to Milroy, and +not until in the last months of the war did the "Gray Eagle" have +another command in the field. He was a rashly-brave and patriotic +man, and his whole heart was in the Union cause. In battle he +risked his own person unnecessarily and without exercising a proper +supervision over his entire command. He died at Olympia, Washington, +March 29, 1890, when seventy-five years of age. The colored people +of America should erect a monument to his memory. He was their +friend when to be so drew upon him much adverse criticism. + +( 1) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), pp. 242, 257, 401. + +( 2) _Ibid_., 263. + +( 3) _Abraham Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. vi., p. 159. + +( 4) In letters, dated in May, 1863, to Col. Wm. S. Furay (then +a correspondent (Y. S.) of the Cincinnati _Gazette_ with Rosecrans' +army in Tennessee, I detailed the general plan of Lee's advance +northward, and gave the date when the movement would commence. + +( 5) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part III., p. 36. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 125. Piatt, June +11th, wired Schenck from Winchester, after inspecting the place, +that Milroy "can whip anything the rebels can fetch here."--_Ibid_., +p. 161. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 130-7, 159-81. + +( 8) A few days before this event I peremptorily ordered all +officers' wives and citizens visiting in my command to go North, +but the ladies held an indignation meeting and waited on General +Milroy, with the request that he countermand my order, which he +did, at the same time saying something about my being too apprehensive +of danger. I had the pleasure of meeting and greeting these same +ladies in Washington, July 5th, on their arrival from Winchester +_via_ Staunton, Richmond, _Castle-Thunder_, the James and Potomac +Rivers. + +( 9) _War Records_, Early's Rep., vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 460. + +(10) His son, Major Hugh H. Gordon, served efficiently on my staff +in Florida, Georgia, and Cuba (Spanish War), as did Captain J. E. +B. Stuart, son of the great Confederate cavalry General; also +Major John Gary Evans (ex-Governor South Carolina), and others +closely related to distinguished Confederate officers. See Appendix F. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 491. + +(12) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 46. + +(13) General Johnson's Report (Confederate), _War Records_, vol. +xxvii., Part II., p. 501. + +(14) An orderly who attempted to carry on horseback a valise +containing papers, etc., of mine, threw it way in a field as he +rode into the mountains. A Quakeress, Miss Mary Lupton, witnessed +the act from her home, and found the valise and returned it to me +with all its contents, after the battle of Opequon, Sept. 19, 1864. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 136. + +(16) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 501-2. + +(17) _Ibid_., p. 443. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 88-197. + + +CHAPTER II +Invasion of Pennsylvania--Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg--Lee's +Retreat Across the Potomac, and Losses in Both Armies + +At Harper's Ferry, June 16th, I was assigned to command a brigade +under General W. H. French, a regular officer. General Joseph +Hooker, in command of the Army of the Potomac, June 25th, ordered +French to be ready to march at a moment's notice. French took +position on Maryland Heights, where, June 27th, Hooker visited him +and gave him orders to prepare to evacuate both the Heights and +Harper's Ferry. French had under him there about 10,000 effective +men. Halleck, on being notified of Hooker's purpose to evacuate +these places and to unite French's command with the Army of the +Potomac for the impending battle, countermanded Hooker's order; +thereupon the latter, by telegram from Sandy Hook, requested to be +relieved from the command of that army. His request being persisted +in, he was, on June 28th, relieved, and Major-General George G. +Meade was, by the President, assigned to succeed him. Meade, also +feeling in need of reinforcements, on the same day asked permission +to order French, with his forces, to join him. Halleck, though +placing French under Meade's command, did not consent to this. +French, however, with all his troops (save my brigade), under orders +from Washington, abandoned Harper's Ferry and Maryland Heights, +and became a corps of observation to operate in the vicinity of +Frederick, Maryland, in the rear of the Army of the Potomac. And +though no enemy was threatening, nor likely to do so soon, I was +ordered to dismantle the fortified heights, load the guns and stores +on Chesapeake and Ohio Canal boats, and escort them to Washington, +repairing the canal and locks on the way. This work was done +thoroughly, and we arrived with a fleet of twenty-six boats in +Washington shortly after midnight, July 4, 1863. It was my first +visit to that city. + +Under orders from Halleck, I started on the 6th, by rail, to reoccupy +Harper's Ferry, but was stopped by Meade at Frederick, and there +again reported to French. French had been assigned to command the +Third Army Corps (to succeed General Daniel E. Sickles, wounded at +Gettysburg), and his late command became the Third Division of that +corps, under Elliott; my brigade, consisting of the 110th and 122d +Ohio, 6th Maryland, and 138th Pennsylvania Infantry regiments, +became the Second Brigade of this division. This brigade (with, +later, three regiments added) was not broken up during the war, +and was generally known as "_Keifer's Brigade_." + +It is not my purpose to attempt to write the full story of the +battle of Gettysburg, the greatest, measured by the results, of +the many great battles of the war. Gettysburg marks the high tide +of the Rebellion. From it dates the certain downfall of the +Confederacy, though nearly two years of war followed, and more +blood was spilled after Lee sullenly commenced his retreat from +the heights of Gettysburg than before. + +About this stage of the war, President Lincoln took an active +interest in the movements of the armies, although he generally +refrained from absolutely directing them in the field. It was not +unusual for army commanders to appeal to him for opinions as to +military movements, and he was free in making suggestions, volunteering +to take the responsibility if they were adopted and his plans +miscarried. Hooker, in an elaborate dispatch (June 15th) relating +to the anticipated movements of Lee's army from the Rappahannock +to the northward, said: + +"I am of opinion that it is my duty to pitch into his rear, although +in so doing the head of his column may reach Warrenton before I +can return." + +The President, answering, said: + +"I have but one idea which I think worth suggesting to you, and +that is, in case you find Lee coming to the north of the Rappahannock, +I would by no means cross to the south of it. If he should leave +a rear force at Fredericksburg, tempting you to fall upon it, it +would fight in intrenchments and have you at disadvantage, and so, +man for man, worst you at that point, while his main force would +in some way be getting the advantage of you northward. In one +word, I would not take any risk of being entangled upon the river, +_like an ox jumped half over the fence and liable to be torn by +dogs front and rear, without a fair chance to gore one way or kick +the other_."( 1) + +The President, answering another dispatch from Hooker, June 10th, +said: + +"I think Lee's army, and not Richmond, is your objective point. +If he comes towards the upper Potomac, follow him on his flank and +on his inside track, shortening your lines while he lengthens him. +Fight him, too, when opportunity offers. If he stays where he is, +_fret him and fret him_."( 2) + +When deeply concerned about the fate of Winchester (June 14th), +this dispatch was sent: + +"Major General Hooker: + +"So far as we can make out here, the enemy have Milroy surrounded +at Winchester and Tyler at Martinsburg. If they could hold out a +few days, could you help them? _If the head of Lee's army is at +Martinsburg, and the tail of it on the plank road between Fredericksburg +and Chancellorsville, the animal must be very slim somewhere. +Could you not break him?_" + + "A. Lincoln."( 2) + +Hooker did not cross the river and attack the rear of Lee's army, +nor did he "_fret_" Lee's army, nor "_break_" it, however "_slim_" +"_the animal_" must have been, and hence Milroy was sacrificed, +and the rich towns, cities, and districts of Maryland and Pennsylvania +were overrun by a hungry and devastating foe; but Gettysburg came; +the Union hosts there being successfully led by another commander +--Meade! + +George Gordon Meade came to the command of the Army of the Potomac +under the most trying circumstances. The situation of that army +and the country was critical. He had been distinguished as a +brigade, division, and corps commander under McClellan, Burnside, +and Hooker; in brief, he had won laurels on many fields, especially +at Fredericksburg, where he broke through the enemy's right and +reached his reserves, yet he never had held an independent command. +He was of Revolutionary stock (Pennsylvania), though born in Cadiz, +Spain, December 31, 1815, where his parents then resided, his father +being a merchant and shipowner there. He was graduated at West +Point; was a modest, truthful, industrious, studious man, with the +instincts of a soldier. He was wounded at New Market, or Glendale, +in the Peninsula campaign (1862). He was commanding in person, +and ambitious to succeed, prudent, yet obstinate, and when aroused +showed a fierce temper; yet he was, in general, just. On the third +day after he assumed command of the army its advance corps opened +the battle of Gettysburg. What great soldier ever before took an +army and moved it into battle against a formidable adversary in so +short a time? It must also be remembered that the troops composing +his army were not used to material success. They had never been +led to a decisive victory. Some of them had been defeated at Bull +Run; some of them on the Peninsula; some of them at the Second Bull +Run; some of them were in the drawn battle of Antietam; some of +them had suffered repulse at Fredericksburg, and defeat at +Chancellorsville, and the army in general had experienced more of +defeat than success, although composed of officers and soldiers +equal to the best ever called to battle. When Meade assumed command, +Lee's army was, in the main, far up the Cumberland Valley, and +pressing on; Ewell had orders to take Harrisburg, and was then, +with most of his corps, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. York and +Wrightsville, Pa., were taken on the 28th by Gordon of Early's +division. On the 29th Ewell ordered his engineer, with Jenkins' +cavalry, to reconnoitre the defences of Harrisburg, and he was +starting for that place himself on the same day when Lee recalled +him and his corps to join the main army at Cashtown, or Gettysburg.( 3) + +Longstreet's corps marched from Fredericksburg, June 3d, _via_ +Culpeper Court-House, thence up the Rappahannock and along the +eastern slope of the Blue Ridge; on the 19th occupied Ashby's and +Snicker's Gaps, leading to the Valley; on the 23d marched _via_ +Martinsburg and Williamsport into Maryland, reaching Chambersburg +on the 27th; thence marched on the 30th to Greenwood, and the next +day to Marsh Creek, four miles from Gettysburg, Pickett's division +and Hood's brigade being left, respectively, at Chambersburg and +New Guilford.( 4) + +A. P. Hill's corps did not leave Fredericksburg until the 14th of +June, just after Hooker put the Army of the Potomac in motion to +the northward. Hill marched into the Valley and joined Longstreet +at Berryville, and from there preceded him to Chambersburg, and by +one day to Cashtown and Gettysburg.( 5) + +General J. E. B. Stuart, in command of the Confederate cavalry, +crossed the upper Rappahannock, June 16th, and moved east of the +Blue Ridge on Longstreet's right flank, leaving only a small body +of cavalry on the Rappahannock, in observation, with instructions +to follow on the right flank of Hill's corps. Severe cavalry +engagements took place at Aldie, the 17th, and at Middleburg, +Uppeville, and Snicker's Gap, without decisive results, both sides +claiming victories. On the 24th Stuart, with the main body of his +cavalry, succeeded in eluding the Union cavalry and Hooker's army +(then feeling its way north), and passed east of Centreville, thence +_via_ Fairfax Court-House and Dranesville, and crossed, July 27th, +the Potomac at Rowser's Ford, and captured a large supply train +between Washington and Rockville. Stuart's cavalry caused some +damage in the rear and east of the Army of the Potomac, but, on +the whole, this bold movement contributed little, if any, towards +success in Lee's campaign. Stuart's advance reached the Confederate +left _via_ Dover and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, late on the afternoon +of the second day of the battle, his troopers and horses in a +somewhat exhausted condition. The consensus of opinion among +military critics was then, and since is, that Lee committed a great +strategic error in authorizing his main cavalry force to be separated +from close contact with the right of his moving army. General Lee +seems to have come to this conclusion himself, as frequently, in +his official reports of the campaign, he deplores the absence of +his cavalry and his consequent inability to obtain reliable +information of the movements of the Army of the Potomac.( 6) +Longstreet severely criticises Stuart's raid, and attributes to +the absence of the cavalry, in large part, the failure of the +Gettysburg campaign.( 7) Cavalry, under an energetic commander, +are the _eyes and ears_ of a large army, especially when it is on +an active campaign against a vigilant enemy. + +Having with some particularity traced the main bodies composing +Lee's army, as to time and routes, to the vicinity of Gettysburg, +it remains to briefly follow the Army of the Potomac to the same +place. While some of its corps moved earlier, the headquarters of +that army did not leave Falmouth until the 14th of June, when it +was established at Dumfries; on the next day at Fairfax Station, +on the 18th at Fairfax Court-House, on the 26th at Poolesville, +Maryland, and the next day at Frederick, Maryland, where Meade +succeeded Hooker. Before the Army of the Potomac left Falmouth a +division of the Sixth Corps had been thrown across the river to +observe the enemy, but it did not attack him, and was withdrawn on +the 13th. + +Meade found his army, mainly, in the vicinity of Frederick, though +some of his corps had passed northward and others were moving up +by converging lines, the Sixth Corps having just arrived at +Poolesville from Virginia. June 29th, Meade moved his headquarters +from Frederick to Middleburg, the next day to Taneytown, Maryland, +about fifteen miles south of Gettysburg. + +The movements of the Army of the Potomac were such as to cover +Washington and Baltimore, and at the same time bring, as soon as +possible, the invading army to battle. + +The First, Eleventh, and Third Corps, under Major-General John F. +Reynolds, were in the advance on Gettysburg on July 1st, the First +Corps leading, and preceded only by General John Buford's division +of cavalry. Lee was then rapidly concentrating his army at +Gettysburg. Reynolds found Buford fiercely engaging infantry of +Hill's corps as they were debouching through the mountains on the +Cashtown road. He promptly moved the First Corps to Buford's +support, and it soon became hotly engaged. The Eleventh Corps, +commanded by General Oliver O. Howard, was ordered to hasten to +join in the battle. Howard arrived about 11.30 A.M., just as +Reynolds fell mortally wounded, and the command of the field devolved +on Howard. He pushed forward two divisions of the Eleventh to the +support of the First Corps, then engaged on Seminary Hill, northeast +of Gettysburg, and posted a third division on Cemetery Ridge, south +of the town. The battle continued with great fierceness on the +Cashtown road. For a time the Union success was considerable, and +the Confederates were forced back, and numerous prisoners, including +General Archer, were captured; but reinforcements from Cashtown +and the unexpected arrival, at 1.30 P.M., over the York and Harrisburg +roads, of Ewell's corps on Howard's right left him outnumbered and +outflanked. He maintained the unequal contest until about 4 P.M., +then ordered a withdrawal to Cemetery Ridge, which was accomplished +with considerable loss, chiefly in prisoners taken in the streets +of Gettysburg. Meade, learning of Reynolds' death, dispatched +General W. S. Hancock to represent him on the field. Hancock +arrived in time to aid Howard in posting the troops advantageously +on the Ridge, where they handsomely repulsed an attack on the right +flank. Slocum and Sickles' corps arrived about 7 P.M., and were +posted on the right and left, respectively, of those in position. +Hancock reported to Meade the position held was a strong one, and +advised that the army be concentrated there for battle. At 10 P.M. +Meade left Taneytown and reached the battle-field at 1 A.M. of the +2d of July, having, on the reports received, decided to stand and +give general battle there.( 8) The Second and Fifth Corps and the +rest of the Third arrived early on the 2nd. The Second and Third +Corps went into position on the Union left on a continuation of +the ridge towards Little Round Top Mountain. The Fifth was held +in reserve until the arrival of the Sixth at 2 P.M., when it was +moved to the extreme left, the Sixth taking its place in reserve +owing to the exhaustion of its troops, they having just accomplished +a thirty-two mile march from 9 P.M. of the day previous. The Third, +under Sickles, was moved by him to a peach orchard about one half +mile in advance, and out of line with the corps on its right and +left. Here it received the shock of battle, precipitated about 3 +P.M. by Longstreet's corps from the Confederate right. The Second +and Fifth Corps were hastened to cover the flanks of the Third. +The battle raged furiously for some hours and until night put an +end to it. The Third was forced, after a desperate conflict, to +retire on its proper line. Sickles was severely wounded, losing +a leg. The Fifth, after a most heroic conflict, succeeded in +gaining and holding Round Top (big) Mountain, the key to the position +on the Union left, as were Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill, on its +right. Longstreet, at nightfall, after suffering great loss, was +forced to retire, having gained no substantial advantage. The +Sixth and part of the First Corps, having been ordered to the left, +participated in this battle and aided in Longstreet's repulse. +Geary's division of the Twelfth, moving from the extreme right, +had also reinforced the left. It was this withdrawal from the +right which enabled Ewell's corps to capture and occupy a part of +the Union line in the vicinity of Culp's Hill. An assault was made +about 8 P.M. on the Eleventh Corps at Cemetery Hill, where the +enemy penetrated to a battery, over which a _melée_ took place, +the Confederates, after a hand-to-hand fight, being driven from +the hill and forced to retreat. Thus the second day's fighting at +Gettysburg ended, neither side having gained any decisive advantage. +Most of the Union Army had been, however, more or less engaged, +while Longstreet's corps (save Pickett's division), and only portions +of Ewell's corps of the Confederate Army, had been seriously in +battle. There had been some spirited artillery duels, but these +rarely contribute materially to important results. + +The third day opened, at early dawn, by Geary's division (returned +from the left) attacking, and after a lively battle retaking its +former position on the right. A spirited contest also raged on +the right at Culp's Hill and along Rock Creek all the morning, in +which Wheaton's brigade of the Sixth Corps participated. With this +exception, quiet reigned along the lines of the two great armies +during the forenoon of the 3d. + +Lee, flushed with some appearance of success on the first and second +days, and over-confident of the fighting qualities of his splendid +army, born of its defeats of the Army of the Potomac on the +Rappahannock, decided to deliver offensive battle, though far from +his natural base. Orders were accordingly given to Longstreet to +mass a column of not less than 15,000 men for an assault, under +cover of artillery, on the Union left centre, to be supported by +simultaneous real or pretended attacks by other portions of the +Confederate Army. + +Longstreet did not believe in the success of the attack, and hence +offered many objections to it, and predicted its failure. He +advised swinging the Confederate Army by its right around the Union +left, and thus compel Meade to withdraw from his naturally strong +position.( 9) Lee would not listen to his great Lieutenant. +Pickett's division of three brigades was assigned to the right of +the column, and it became the division of direction. Kemper's +division of four brigades from Hill's corps was formed on the left +of Pickett, and Wilcox's brigade of Hill's corps was placed in +echelon in support on Pickett's right, and the brigades of Scales +and Lane of Hill's corps, under Trimble, were to move in support +of Kemper's left. The whole column of ten brigades, composed of +forty-six regiments, numbered about 20,000 men. + +Generals Pendleton and Alexander, chiefs of artillery of the Army +of Northern Virginia and of Longstreet's corps, respectively, massed +150 guns on a ridge extending generally parallel to the left of +the Union Army and about one mile therefrom, and so as to be able +to pour a converging fire on its left centre.(10) While this +preparation for decisive battle went on in the Confederate lines, +the Union Army stood at bay, in readiness for the battle-storm +foreboded by the long lull and the active preparations observed in +its front. At 1 P.M. Longstreet's batteries opened, and the superior +guns of the Union Army, though not in position in such great number, +promptly responded. This terrific duel lasted about two hours. +Meade, recognizing the futility of his artillery fire, and in +anticipation of the assault soon to come, ordered a large portion +of his artillery withdrawn under cover, to give the guns time to +cool and to be resupplied with ammunition. This led the enemy to +believe he had silenced them effectively, and the assaulting column +went forward.(11) The Union artillery, with fresh batteries added, +was again quickly put in position for its real work. The close +massed column of assault, well led, gallantly moved to the charge +down the slope and across the open ground, directed against a +portion of the Union line partially on Cemetery Ridge. The supporting +Confederate batteries now almost ceased firing. As the assaulting +column went forward the Union guns turned on it, cutting gaps in +it at each discharge. These were generally closed from the support, +but when the head of the column got well up to, and in one place +into, the Union breastworks, the fire of the Union infantry became +irresistible. Longstreet ordered the divisions of McLaws and Hood, +holding his line on the right of the assaulting column, to advance +to battle. Union forces moved out and attacked Pickett's supporting +brigade on the right. Under the fierce fire of infantry and +artillery the head of the great Confederate column fast melted +away. Generals Garnett, Pender, Semmes, Armistead, and Barksdale +were killed, Generals Kemper, Trimble, Pettigrew, and many other +officers fell wounded, and many Confederate colors were shot down. +The Confederates who penetrated the Union line were killed or +captured. When success was demonstrated to be impossible, Pickett +ordered a retreat, and such of his men as were not cut off by the +fire that continued to sweep the field escaped to cover behind the +batteries, leaving the broad track of the assaulting column strewn +with dead, dying, and wounded. The great battle was now substantially +ended. Meade did not draw out his army and pursue the broken +Confederates, as their leaders expected him to do. Lee, while +personally aiding in restoring the lines of his shattered troops, +recognized the fearful consequences of Pickett's assault, and +magnanimously said to an officer, "_It is all my fault_." + +Generals Hancock and Gibbon and many important Union officers were +wounded. This, together with other causes, prevented Meade from +assuming the offensive. Two-thirds of the Confederate Army had +not been engaged actively in the last struggle, and the day was +too far spent for Meade to make the combinations indispensable to +the success of an immediate attack. + +Longstreet withdrew McLaws and Hood from their advance position. +Kilpatrick moved his cavalry division to attack the Confederate +right, and Farnsworth's cavalry brigade made a gallant charge on +the rear of Longstreet's infantry, riding over detachments until +the dashing leader lost his life and his command was cut to pieces +by the terrific fire of the enemy's artillery and infantry. A +great fight also ensued on the Union right near Rock Creek, between +the Confederate cavalry under Stuart and the main body of the Union +cavalry under General Alfred Pleasanton, in which our cavalry held +the field and drove back Stuart from an attempt to penetrate behind +the Union right. The infantry corps of the two armies were not +again engaged at Gettysburg. Lee drew in his left to compact his +army, holding his cavalry still on his left. + +At nightfall, July 4th, Lee, having previously sent in advance his +trains and ambulances filled with sick and wounded, commenced a +retreat by the Fairfield and Emmittsburg roads through Hagerstown +to the Potomac at Williamsport and Falling Waters, his cavalry +covering his rear. The Sixth Corps and our cavalry followed in +close pursuit on the morning of the 5th, but the main body of the +Army of the Potomac marched on the Confederate flank, directed on +Middletown, Maryland. French (left at Frederick) had pushed a +column to Williamsport and Falling Waters, and destroyed a pontoon +bridge and captured its guard and a wagon train. Buford's cavalry +was sent by Meade to Williamsport, where it encountered Lee's +advance, destroyed trains, and made many captures of guns and +prisoners. Recent heavy rains had swollen the Potomac so that it +could not be forded. Most of the Confederate sick and wounded +were, with great effort, ferried over the swollen river in improvised +boats, but not without several days' delay. Lee's army reached +the Potomac on the 11th, having suffered considerable loss during +its retreat in prisoners, arms, and trains. It took up a strong +position, covering Williamsport and Falling Waters, and intrenched. + +The Union Army, after reaching Middletown and being reinforced by +French's command and somewhat reorganized, deployed on the 11th +for battle, and on the 12th moved close up to the front of the +Confederate Army. Orders were issued looking to an attack on the +morning of the 13th, but the day was spent in reconnoissances and +further preparations. On the following morning the enemy had +succeeded in crossing the river, and only a rear-guard was taken. + +Great disappointment was felt that Meade did not again force Lee +to battle north of the Potomac. Certain it is that Lee's army was +deficient in ammunition for all arms, and rations were scarce. +Lee, in dispatches to Jefferson Davis, dated July 7th, 8th, and +10th, showed great apprehension as to the result of a battle if +attacked in his then situation.(12) + +Meade's army was also greatly impeded by circumstances beyond human +control. When, on the 13th of July, a general attack was contemplated, +rain fell in torrents, and the cultivated fields were so soft as +to render the movement of artillery and troops almost impossible. +The wheels of the gun-carriages sunk so deep in the soft earth as +to forbid the guns being fired safely. Meade was urged, by dispatches +from Halleck, and by one from President Lincoln, to attack Lee +before he crossed the Potomac.(13) Meade was fully alive to the +importance of doing this, but he displayed some timidity peculiar +to his nature, and sought to have all the conditions in his favor +before risking another battle. His combinations were made with +too much precision for the time he had to do it in. + +A less cautious commander might, during the first few days, have +assailed Lee precipitately on his front or flank, or both +simultaneously, relying on his not being able to concentrate his +army to resist it. But after Lee had concentrated his forces and +intrenched in a well selected position, covering Williamsport and +Falling Waters, the result of an attack would have been doubtful, +yet, in the light of what was later known, one should have been +made. Meade, however, had done well under the circumstances at +Gettysburg, and a two-weeks'-old independent commander, not yet +accustomed to fighting a large army in aggressive battle, is entitled +to considerate judgment. + +The revised lists of losses in the battle and campaign of Gettysburg +in the Army of the Potomac show 246 officers and 2909 enlisted men +killed, 1145 officers and 13,384 enlisted men wounded, total 17,684; +also 183 officers and 5182 enlisted men captured, grand total +23,049. The First and Eleventh Corps lost, chiefly on the first +day, in captured, 3527.(14) + +The imperfect lists of losses in the Army of Northern Virginia do +not show the number of killed and wounded officers separately from +enlisted men, and from some of the commands no reports are found, +yet, so far as made, they show 2592 killed and 12,709 wounded, +total 15,301, and 5150 captured, grand total 20,541.(15) The +records of prisoners of war in the Adjutant-General's Office, +U.S.A., give the names of 12,227 wounded and unwounded Confederates +captured at Gettysburg, July 1st to 5th, inclusive.(15) + +When the Gettysburg campaign ended I was fairly in the Army of the +Potomac, destined to be with it and of it and to share its fortunes +for two years and to the end of the war. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part I., pp. 30-1. + +( 2) _Ibid_., pp. 35, 39. + +( 3) Ewell's Report, _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 443. + +( 4) Longstreet's Report, _Ibid_., 358. + +( 5) Lee's Report, _Ibid_., 317. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 316, 321-2. + +( 7) _Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 342-3, 351-9, 362. + +( 8) Meade's Report, _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part I., p. 115. + +( 9) _Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 386-7. + +(10) Pendleton's Report, _War Records_., vol. xxvii., Part II., +p. 352. + +(11) _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 392. + +(12) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 299-302. + +(13) _Ibid_., p. 82-3. + +(14) _Ibid_., p. 187. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., 346. + + +CHAPTER III +New York Riots, 1863--Pursuit of Lee's Army to the Rappahannock-- +Action of Wapping Heights, and Skirmishes--Western Troops Sent to +New York to Enforce the Draft--Their Return--Incidents, etc. + +During the Gettysburg campaign the organized militia of New York +City and the volunteer and regular troops stationed there were sent +to Pennsylvania to aid in repelling the invading army, thus leaving +that city without its usual protection. + +Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of New York in 1863, was +not, at all times, in harmony with President Lincoln and the War +Department with respect to the conduct of the war, the necessity +for raising troops, and the means by which they were obtained. +His opposition to the draft was well understood, and gave encouragement +to a turbulent population in New York City who were opposed to the +war, and, consequently, to all radical measures to fill the city's +quota. The poor believed they had a just ground of complaint. A +clause in the Enrollment Act of Congress allowed a drafted man to +be discharged upon the payment of three hundred dollars commutation. +This gave the wealthier people a right the poor were not able to +avail themselves of. + +The city of New York had responded loyally with men and money in +support of the Union at the breaking out of the war, but as the +struggle progressed and the burdens of the city increased and many +calls for men came, there occurred some reaction in public sentiment, +especially among the masses, who imagined they were the greatest +sufferers. Her Mayor, Fernando Wood, prior to the war (January 6, +1861), in a Message to her Common Council, denominated the Union +as only a "confederacy" of which New York was the "Empire City"; +and said further that dissolution of the Union was inevitable; that +it was absolutely impossible to keep the States "together longer +than they deemed themselves fairly treated"; that the Union could +"not be preserved by coercion or held together by force"; that with +the "aggrieved brethren of the slave States" the city had preserved +"friendly relations and a common sympathy," and had not "participated +in a warfare upon their constitutional rights or their domestic +institutions," and, "therefore, New York has a right to expect, +and should endeavor to preserve, a continuance of uninterrupted +intercourse with every section." He denounced other parts of New +York state as a "foreign power" seeking to legislate for the city's +government; claimed that "much, no doubt," could "be said in favor +of the justice and policy of a separation," and that the Pacific +States and Western States as well as the Southern States would each +soon set up an independent Republic. But Mayor Wood, not content +with all this disunion nonsense, said further: + +"Why should not New York City, instead of supporting by her +contributions in revenue two thirds of the expenses of the United +States, become also equally independent? As a _free city_, with +but nominal duty on imports, her local government could be supported +without taxation upon her people. Thus we could live free from +taxes, and have cheap goods nearly duty free. In this she would +have the whole and united support of the Southern states, as well +as all the other States to whose interests and rights under the +Constitution she has always been true; and when disunion has become +a fixed and certain fact, why may not New York disrupt the bonds +which bind her to a venal and corrupt master--to a people and party +that have plundered her revenues, taken away the power of self- +government and destroyed the Confederacy of which she was the proud +Empire City? Amid the gloom which the present and prospective +condition of things must cast over the country, New York, as a Free +City, may shed the only light and hope of a future reconstruction +of our once blessed Confederacy."( 1) + +This most audacious communication ante-dated all Ordinances of +Secession save that of South Carolina, and preceded President +Lincoln's inauguration by about two months. The proposed secession +of New York City involved disrupting the bonds which bound her to +the State as well as the nation, and could not therefore possess +even the shadow of excuse of separate sovereignty, such as was +claimed for a State. + +The dangerous doctrine of this Message and the suggestions for +making New York a _free city_, and other like political teaching, +bore fruit, and had much to do with building up a public sentiment +which culminated in resistance to the draft and the monstrous, +bloody, and destructive riots that ensued in New York City. + +The significance of the defeat of the Confederate Army at Gettysburg +and the capture of Vicksburg on the 4th of July, 1863, were not +well understood in New York when, on Saturday, July 11, 1863, +pursuant to instructions, Provost-Marshal Jenkins commenced the +initial work on the corner of 46th Street and Third Avenue, by +drawing from the wheel the names of those who must respond to the +call of the Government or pay the commutation money. + +The first day passed without any open violence, and with even some +good-humored pleasantry on the part of the great crowd assembled. +The draft was conducted openly and fairly, and the names of the +conscripts were publicly announced and published by the press of +Sunday morning. It appeared that the names of many men, too poor +to pay the commutation, had been drawn from the wheel, and these +would therefore have to go to the army in person regardless of +inclination or ability to provide for their families in their +absence. Others not drawn were apprehensive that their fate would +be the same. On Sunday, therefore, in secret places, inhabitants +of the district where the draft had commenced, met, and resolved +to resist it even to bloodshed. The absence of the organized +militia and other regular and volunteer soldiers was, by the leaders +of the movement, widely proclaimed, to encourage the belief that +resistance would be successful. The police, though efficient, were +not much feared, as they would have to be widely scattered over +the city to protect persons and property. In the promotion of the +scheme of resistance to Federal authority, organized parties went +early Monday morning to yard, factory, and shop, and compelled men +to abandon their labor and join the procession wending its way to +the corner of Third Avenue and 46th Street. + +Captain Jenkins and his assistants, not apprehending any danger, +recommenced the draft in the presence of a great multitude, many +of whom had crowded into his office, and a few names had been called +and registered when a paving-stone was hurled through a window, +shivering the glass into a thousand pieces, knocking over some +quiet observers in the room and startling the officials. This was +the initial act of the celebrated New York riots. A second and a +third stone now crashed through the broken window at the fated +officers and reporters, and with frantic yells the crowd developed +into a mob, and, breaking down the doors, rushed into the room, +smashed the desks, tables, furniture, and destroyed whatever could +be found. The wheel alone was carried upstairs and eventually +saved. The Marshal escaped alive, but his deputy, Lieutenant +Vanderpoel, was horribly beaten and taken home for dead. The +building wherein the office was located was fired, and the hydrants +were taken possession of by the mob to prevent the Fire Department +from extinguishing the flames, and in two hours an entire block +was burned down. Police Superintendent Kennedy was assailed by +the rioters and left for dead. The most exaggerated rumors of the +success of the mob spread through the city, and other anti-conscript +bands were rapidly formed, especially in its southern parts. + +While General Sanford of the State Militia, Mayor Opdyke of the +city, and General John E. Wool were hastily consulting, and, in +the absence of any military force adequate to suppress the already +formidable riot, were trying to devise means for its suppression, +the mob, joined by numerous gangs of thieves and thugs, grew to +the size of a great army, and feeling possessed of an irresistible +power, moved rapidly about the apparently doomed city, engaging in +murder, pillage, and arson. Neither person nor property was +regarded. Peaceful citizens were openly seized, maltreated, and +robbed wherever found. Those who tried to resist were often dragged +mercilessly about the streets, stamped upon, and left for dead. +A brown-stone block on Lexington Avenue was destroyed. An armed +detachment of marines, some fifty strong, was sent to quell the +riot. At the corner of 43d Street these marines attempted to +disperse the mob by firing on it with blank cartridges, but they +were rushed upon with such fierce fury that they were broken and +overpowered, their guns were taken from then, several of them +killed, and all terribly beaten. A squad of the police attempted +to arrest some of the leaders at this point, but it was defeated, +badly beaten, and one of its number killed. Elated with these +triumphs, and excited by the blood already spilled, the passion of +the mob knew no bounds, and it proposed an immediate onslaught upon +the principal streets, hotels, and public buildings. The city was +filled with consternation; all business ceased, public conveyances +stopped running, and terror seized the public authorities as well +as the peaceful citizens. + +The negroes seemed to be the first object of the mob's animosity; +public places where they were employed were seized, and the colored +servants there employed were maltreated, and in some instances +killed. The Colored Half-Orphan Asylum, on Fifth Avenue, near 43d +Street, the home for about 800 colored children, was visited, its +attendants and inmates maltreated, the interior of the building +sacked, and in spite of the personal efforts of Chief Decker, it +was fired and burned. Robbery was freely indulged in, and many +women who were of the rioters carried off booty. + +The armory on Second Avenue, in which some arms and munitions were +stored, although guarded by a squad of men, was soon taken possession +of, its contents seized, and the building burned. This was not +accomplished until at least five of the mob were killed and many +more wounded by the police. In the lower part of the city the +assaults of the rioters were mainly upon unoffending colored men. + +At least one dozen were brutally murdered, while many more were +beaten, and others driven into hiding or from the city. One colored +man was caught, kicked, and mauled until life seemed extinct, and +then his body was suspended from a tree and a fire kindled beneath +it, the heat of which restored him to consciousness. + +A demonstration was made against the _Tribune_ newspaper office. +The great mob from the vicinity of 46th Street reached the park +near this office about five o'clock in the evening, and some of +its leaders, breaking down the doors, rushed into the building and +commenced destroying its contents, and preparing to burn it. A +determined charge of the police, however, drove them out, and the +building was saved. + +The police, though heroic in their efforts to protect the city, +were only partially successful. The draft was suspended. The +building on Broadway near 28th Street, in part occupied as an office +by Provost-Marshal Marriere, was fired, and the entire block burned. +The Bull's Head Hotel on 44th Street was likewise burned to the +ground because its proprietor declined to furnish liquor to the +mob. The residences of Provost-Marshal Jenkins and Postmaster +Wakeman and two brown-stone dwellings on Lexington Avenue were also +destroyed by fire, and several members of the police and marines +were stoned to death, and others fatally injured. + +The Board of Aldermen met and adopted a resolution instructing a +committee to report a plan whereby an appropriation could be made +to pay the commutation ($300) of such of the poorest citizens as +might be conscripted. General Wool, who commanded the Department, +issued a call to the discharged returned soldiers to tender their +services to the Mayor for the defence of the city. This call met +with some response on the following morning, and General Harvey +Brown assumed command of the troops in the city. The second day +(14th) the riot was even more malignant than on the first. The +mob had complete control of the city and spread terror wherever it +moved. + +Governor Horatio Seymour now reached the city, and promptly issued +a proclamation, commanding the rioters to disperse to their homes +under penalty of his using all power necessary to restore peace +and order. The riot continuing, he, on the same day, issued another +proclamation, declaring the city in a state of insurrection, and +giving notice that all persons resisting any force called out to +quell the insurrection would be liable to the penalties prescribed +by law. These proclamations, however, had little effect. The +second day was attended with still further atrocities upon negroes. +The mob in its brutality regarded neither age, infirmity, nor sex. +Whenever and wherever a colored population was found, death was +their inexorable fate. Whole neighborhoods inhabited by them were +burned out. + +On several occasions the small military force collected on the +second day met and turned back the rioters by firing ball cartridges. +Lieutenant Wood, in command of 150 regular troops from Fort Lafayette, +in dispersing about 2000 men assembled in the vicinity of Grand +and Pitt Streets, was obliged to fire bullets into them, killing +about a score, and wounding many, two children among the number. +This mob was dispersed. Citizens organized to defend themselves +and the city. + +Governor Seymour spoke to an immense gathering from the City Hall +steps, and counselled obedience to the law and the constituted +authorities. He read a letter to show that he was trying to have +the draft suspended, and announced that he had information that it +was postponed in the city of New York. This announcement did +something to allay the excitement and to prevent a spread of the +riot. + +Colonel O'Brien, with a detachment of troops, was ordered to disperse +a mob in Third Avenue. He was successful in turning it back, but +sprained his ankle during the excitement, and stopped in a drug +store on 32d Street, while his command passed on. A body of rioters +discovering him, surrounded the store and threatened its destruction. +He stepped out, and was at once struck senseless, and the crowd +fell upon his prostrate form, beating, stamping, and mutilating +it. For hours his body was dragged up and down the pavement in +the most inhuman manner, after which it was carried to the front +of his residence, where, with shouts and jeers, the same treatment +was repeated. + +The absent militia were hurried home from Pennsylvania, and by the +15th the riot had so far spent itself that many of its leaders had +fallen or were taken prisoners, and the mob was broken into fragments +and more easily coped with. Mayor Opdyke, in announcing that the +riot was substantially at an end, advised voluntary associations +to be maintained to assure good order, and thereafter business was +cautiously resumed. + +Archbishop John Hughes caused to be posted about the city, on the +16th, a card inviting men "called in many of the papers rioters" +to assemble the next day to hear a speech from him. At the appointed +hour about 5000 persons met in front of his residence, when the +Archbishop, clad in his purple robes and other insignia of his high +sacerdotal function, spoke to them from his balcony. He appealed +to their patriotism, and counselled obedience to the law as a tenet +of their Catholic faith. He told them "no government can stand or +protect itself unless it protects its citizens." He appealed to +them to go to their homes and thereafter do no unlawful act of +violence. This assembly dispersed peaceably, and the great riot +was ended. + +But the draft had been suspended for the time, and Governor Seymour +had given some assurance it would not again be resumed in the city. +The municipal authorities had passed a bill to pay the $300 +commutation, or substitute money, to drafted men of the poorer +classes. + +The total killed and wounded during the riots is unknown. Governor +Seymour, in a Message, said the "number of killed and wounded is +estimated by the police to be at least one thousand." The rioters, +as usual, suffered the most. Claims against the city for damages +to property destroyed were presented, aggregating $2,500,000, and +the city paid claimants about $1,500,000. + +This brief summary of the great New York riot is given to explain +movements of troops soon to be mentioned. But in order to afford +the reader a fuller conception of the opposition encountered by +Federal officers in the enforcement of the conscript laws, it should +be said in this connection that draft riots, on a small scale, took +place in Boston, Mass.; Troy, N. Y.; Portsmouth, N. H., and in +Holmes County, Ohio, and at other places. + +We left the Army of the Potomac in Maryland, at the close of the +arduous Gettysburg campaign, watching the Army of the Northern +Virginia, just escaped across the Potomac. + +Harper's Ferry had been reoccupied by Union troops as early as July +6, 1863. Meade moved his army to that place, and promptly crossing +the Potomac and the Shenandoah River near its mouth, took possession +of the gaps of the Blue Ridge, and marched southward along its +eastern slope. Passing through Upperville and Piedmont towards +Manassas Gap and Front Royal, he threatened Lee's line of retreat +to his old position behind the Rapidan, and thus compelled the +Confederate Army to evacuate the Shenandoah Valley somewhat +precipitately. + +At Wapping Heights, near Manassas Gap, on the 23d of July, a somewhat +lively action took place between portions of the two armies in +which my troops were engaged and suffered a small loss. The enemy +were driven back, and one corps of Lee's army was forced to retreat +_via_ routes higher up the valley. There were lively skirmishes +between the 14th of July and August 1st, at Halltown, Shepherdstown, +Snicker's Gap, Berry's Ferry, Ashby's Gap, Chester Gap, Battle +Mountain, Kelly's Ford, and Brandy Station, but each and all of +these were without material results. By the 26th of July the Army +of the Potomac arrived in the vicinity of Warrenton, Virginia, and +occupied the north bank of the Rappahannock, while the Army of +Northern Virginia took position behind the Rapidan, covering its +fords. Both of these great armies were now allowed by their +commanders to remain quiet to recuperate. Occasional collisions +occurred between picket posts and scouting detachments, but none +worthy of special notice. + +It having been determined by the War Department to enforce the +draft in New York and Brooklyn, and a recurrence of the riots being +again imminent, orders were issued to send veteran troops to New +York harbor for such disposition and service as the exigencies +might require. Western troops were mainly selected, and, with a +view to sending me upon this service, I was ordered on the 14th of +August to Alexandria with the 110th and 122d Ohio, the former in +command of Lieutenant-Colonel Foster and the latter in that of +Colonel Wm. H. Ball. On the 16th I embarked these regiments and +the 3d Michigan on a transport ship at Alexandria, with instructions +from Halleck to report on my arrival in New York Harbor to General +E. R. S. Canby.( 2) On reaching our destination, my troops, with +others from the Army of the Potomac, were distributed throughout +both cities. My own headquarters were for a short time on Governor's +Island, then more permanently at Carroll Park, Brooklyn. + +The threatened riots and the incipient movements to again prevent +the draft were easily averted, as it was evident that no unlawful +assemblage of persons would be tolerated by the authorities when +backed by veteran soldiers. This service proved to be a great +picnic for the men. Officers and soldiers were received warmly +everywhere in the cities, and socially feasted and flattered. It +was evident, however, that the good people had not yet recovered +from the terrors of the recent riots, and they manifested a painful +apprehension that a recurrence of these would take place. The +draft, however, went on peacefully, and when all danger seemed past +the troops were ordered to return to their proper corps in the Army +of the Potomac. + +At a public breakfast given to the soldiers of the 110th Ohio in +Carroll Park, Brooklyn, a very aged man appeared with a morning +paper, and asked and was granted permission to read President +Lincoln's memorable and characteristic letter of August 26, 1863, +addressed to Hon. James C. Conkling, of Illinois, in response to +an invitation to attend a mass-meeting at Springfield, "of +unconditional Union men." The letter answered many objections +urged against the President on account of the conduct of the war, +his Emancipation Proclamation, and his purpose to enlist colored +men as soldiers. For perspicuity, terseness, plainness, and +conclusiveness of argument this letter stands among the best of +all President Lincoln's writings. It came at an opportune time, +and it did much to silence the caviler, to satisfy the doubter, +and to reconcile honest people who sincerely desired the complete +restoration of the Union. Its effect was especially salutary and +satisfying to the soldiers in the field, who, somehow, felt that +the burden of maintaining the Union rested unequally upon them. + +Addressing those who were dissatisfied with him, and desired _peace_, +he said: + +"You desire peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But +how can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways. First, +to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to +do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you +are not for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against +this, Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If +you are not for force, nor yet for _dissolution_, there only remains +some imaginable _compromise_. I do not believe that any compromise +embracing a maintenance of the Union is now possible." + +To those who opposed the Emancipation Proclamation, and desired +its revocation, he said: + +"You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I think +the Constitution invests its Commander-in-Chief with the law of +war in the time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, +is, that slaves are property. Is there, has there ever been, any +question that by the laws of war, property, both of enemies and +friends, may be taken when needed?" + +And further: + +"But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. +If it is not valid it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot +be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life." + +And still further: + +"You say that you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them +seem willing to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then, +exclusively to save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on purpose +to aid you in saving the Union. . . . I thought that whatever +negroes can be got to do as soldiers leaves just so much less for +white soldiers to do in saving the Union. + +"The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed +to the sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor yet wholly +to them. Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, +Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny +South, too, in more colors than one, also lent a helping hand. On +the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in black and +white. The job was a great national one, and let none be slighted +who bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared +the great river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is +hard to say that anything has been more bravely and well done than +at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on fields of less note. +Nor must Uncle Sam's web feet be forgotten. At all the watery +margins they have been present, not only on the deep sea, the broad +bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and +wherever the ground was a little damp they have been and made their +tracks. Thanks to all." + +During my stay in New York my wife visited me, and accompanied me +with the troops to Alexandria. + +On the 6th of September the Ohio troops of my command took ship, +and when landed at Alexandria, Virginia, marched to Fox's Ford on +the Rappahannock, and on the 14th rejoined the Third Corps, having +been absent one month. + +The next day the whole army moved across the river and encamped +around Culpeper Court-House. + +( 1) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), p. 42. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part II., pp. 46, 54. + + +CHAPTER IV +Advance of Lee's Army, October, 1863 and Retreat of the Army of +the Potomac to Centreville--Battle of Bristoe Station--Advance of +the Union Army, November, 1863--Assault and Capture of Rappahannock +Station, and Forcing the Fords--Affair near Brandy Station and +Retreat of Confederate Army Behind the Rapidan--Incidents, etc. + +Events occurred elsewhere that affected the aspect of affairs in +Virginia. + +General Rosecrans, early in September, commenced to move the Army +of the Cumberland across the Tennessee River into Georgia, his +objective being Chattanooga. Burnside at about the same time began +a movement towards Knoxville, and on the way recaptured Cumberland +Gap. The Confederate authorities, fearing Bragg was in danger, +decided to send large reinforcements to his army, and, on September +9, 1863, Longstreet, with two divisions of his corps and a complement +of artillery, was dispatched by rail from Lee to reinforce Bragg. +The sanguinary battle of Chickamauga was fought on the 19th and +20th of September. It resulted in Rosecrans and his army gaining +possession of Chattanooga, and Bragg and his army being left in +possession of the battlefield. Rosecrans held Chattanooga in little +less than a state of siege; his communications were in danger of +being effectively cut off, and to aid his imperilled forces the +Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of the Army of the Potomac were, on +September 24th, ordered west, in command of General Joseph Hooker. + +The loss of these corps reduced the relative strength of Meade's +army to Lee's materially below what it was before Longstreet's two +divisions were detached from the latter's army. + +Elliott was relieved of the command of the Third Division, Third +Corps of the Army of the Potomac, October 3, 1863, and ordered to +report to Rosecrans. General Joseph B. Carr (Troy, N. Y.) succeeded +him. Carr was a charming man socially, of fine appearance, amiable +and lovable, but not strong as a soldier. He was understood to be +a favorite of the President, who appointed him Brigadier-General +September 7, 1862; the Senate, however, failing to confirm him, +the President reappointed him in March, 1863, with rank from date +of first appointment, thus giving him high rank in spite of the +Senate. He was finally confirmed, on a third appointment in 1864, +through some compromise, after a sharp controversy between the +President and the Senate, but with junior rank, and then ordered +to Butler's army.( 1) + +For a time active operations were not contemplated by Meade. But +Lee, about the 9th of October, crossed the Rapidan and commenced +a movement around Meade's right, threatening his rear. This +compelled Meade to retire across the Rappahannock, and by the 14th +to Centreville and Union Mills, near the first Bull Run battle- +field. + +On the 13th, while my brigade, with a New York battery temporarily +attached to it, was holding "Three Mile Station," near Warrenton, +and skirmishing with the enemy, ballot-boxes were opened, and a +_regular_ election was held for the Ohio troops, both the boxes +and ballots being carried to the voters along the battle-line so +they might vote without breaking it.( 2) + +The Third Corps was encamped that night at Greenwich. The next +morning I was ordered with my brigade and Captain McKnight's battery +(N. Y.) to cover, as a rear-guard, the retreat of the Third Corps +to Manassas Heights _via_ Bristoe Station. My orders were to avoid +anything like a general engagement, but to beat back the advancing +enemy whenever possible, prevent captures, and baffle him in his +endeavors to delay or reach the main column. The successful conduct +of a rear-guard of a retreating army, when pursued by an energetic +foe, requires not only bravery but skill and tact. After the main +body of my corps had left camp on its march towards Bristoe, and +soon after daylight, the head of Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill's +corps appeared from the direction of Warrenton. I displayed my +troops with as much show of strength as possible, and with a few +shots from the battery forced the enemy to halt his head of column +and form line of battle. I thereupon retired by column quickly, +and resumed the march until the enemy again pushed forward by the +flank too near for my safety, when, in a chosen position, my troops +were again speedily brought into line and a fire opened, which +necessarily compelled him to halt and again make disposition for +battle. This movement was frequently repeated. At each such halt +the enemy necessarily consumed much time, thus giving the main body +of the corps ample opportunity to proceed leisurely towards its +destination. The weak or broken-down men of the rear-guard were +not required to halt and fight, but were allowed to make such speed +as they could. The day was almost spent when a courier reached me +from French with the information that the corps had passed Bristoe +Station, and was on the north side of Broad Run. Having now no +further responsibility than for the safety of my own command, I +moved more rapidly, and by 4 P.M. I had safely passed Bristoe +Station to the high ground north of Broad Run, from whence I could, +from a distance of less than a mile, see Bristoe, and, for a +considerable distance, the line of railroad running, in general +direction, north and south. The Third Corps had moved on out of +sight towards the heights at Manassas. My command was much wearied, +and I halted it for a short rest, but I soon ordered it forward +where it took position in obedience to an order of General Meade +to cover a blind road over which he feared the enemy might march +to seize the heights. + +General A. P. Hill, in his report of the day, says: + +"From this point (Greenwich) to Bristoe we followed close upon the +rear of the Third Corps, picking up about 150 [?] stragglers. Upon +reaching the hills this side of Broad Run, and overlooking the +plain on the north side, the Third Corps was discovered resting, +a portion of it just commencing the march toward Manassas. I +determined that no time must be lost, and hurried up Heth's division, +forming it in line of battle along the crest of the hills and +parallel to Broad Run. Poague's battalion was brought to the front +and directed to open on the enemy. They were evidently taken by +surprise, and retired in the utmost confusion [?]. Seeing this, +General Heth was directed to advance his line until he reached the +run, and then to move by the left flank, cross at the ford, and +press the enemy. This order was being promptly obeyed, when I +perceived the enemy's skirmishers making their appearance on this +side of Broad Run, and on the right and rear of Heth's division. +Word was sent to General Cooke, commanding the right brigade of +Heth's division, to look out for his right flank, and he promptly +changed front of one of his regiments and drove the enemy back. . . . +In the meantime I sent back General Anderson to send McIntosh's +battalion to the front, and to take two brigades to the position +threatened and protect the right flank of Heth. . . . The three +brigades advanced in beautiful order and quite steadily, Cooke's +brigade, upon reaching the crest of the hill in their front, came +within full view of the enemy's line of battle behind the railroad +embankment (the Second Corps), and of whose presence I was unaware."( 3) + +Hill was unexpectedly caught in a fatal trap. He was mistaken +about seeing any considerable portion of the Third Corps north of +Broad Run, or as to any of it being taken by surprise and retiring +in confusion. But for my halting my command to rest he would have +seen little of it. We had baffled the head of his column all day, +and had passed beyond danger for the time, and, according to his +report, we had killed and wounded many more than we had lost. The +stragglers he reported captured could not have been of my command, +as it left no men behind. + +The fortuitous circumstance of Warren arriving at Bristoe with the +head of the Second Corps moving on a road paralleling the railroad, +just at the moment Hill was deploying his forces for an attack on +the Third Corps, led to a serious and bloody battle. When the rear- +guard of the Third Corps passed Bristoe Station, no part of the +Second was in sight. I saw no part of it until after Hill commenced +arraying his troops on the crest of the hills south of Broad Run. +Seeing a battle was on, and my own command too far on its way and +too much exhausted to be recalled in time to participate in it, I +dismounted from a tired horse and, with a single staff officer, +ate a lunch from my orderly's haversack ( 4) and watched the progress +of the engagement. It is a rare occurrence that any person has an +opportunity to quietly witness the whole of a considerable battle. +From my position I could see between the lines of the opposing +forces; I could note the manoeuvres of each separate organization; +and I could almost anticipate to a certainty the result of the +attacks and counter attacks. It was at first plainly evident that +each commander knew little of what he had to meet. Lieutenant- +General Hill's formation, as described by him in his report, was +arranged with reference to a supposed force north of Broad Run, +and was consequently very faulty. Warren had no notice of the +presence of an enemy until Hill ran unexpectedly into his line of +march. Hill seemed to be eager for a fight with the Third Corps, +then far beyond his reach, and found one with the Second Corps, +which was quietly marching to a concentration near Centreville. +General Warren's command was strung out upon the road, and he had +no order of battle. Hill, with two divisions, and others soon to +arrive, was better prepared, though his formation was bad, to meet +the Second Corps. Warren wisely used the slightly raised railroad +bed for a breastwork, and promptly opened the battle without giving +the enemy time for a change of position or for new formations. +The battle was at first with musketry, but artillery soon arrived +on both sides and opened fire at short range. Warren, in his +report, after describing the preliminary movements of his command +for position, says: + +"A more inspiring scene could not be imagined. The enemy's line +of battle boldly moving forward, one part of our own steadily +awaiting it, and another moving against it at double-quick, while +the artillery was taking up a position at a gallop and going into +action. . . . Under our fire the repulse of the enemy soon became +assured, and Arnold's battery arrived in time to help increase the +demoralization and reach the fugitives. + +"The enemy was gallantly led, as the wounding of three of his +general officers in this attack shows, and even in retiring many +retired but sullenly. An advance of a thin line along our front +secured 450 prisoners, two stand of colors, and five field pieces."( 5) + +The battle was of short duration, but owing to the exposed position +of the Confederates their losses were great, and out of proportion +to short engagements generally. General Warren and his officers +justly won honors for meeting the emergency so handsomely. + +Hill's command was so signally defeated that the Second Corps +remained in possession of the field until 9 P.M., when it pursued +its march unmolested to a junction with the main army. Hill reported +his loss, killed, wounded, and missing, at 1378,( 6) but it was +claimed on good authority to have been much larger. The loss in +the Second Corps at Bristoe is not given separately, but its total +losses in two engagements of the day, including Bristoe, were 546.( 6) + +Hill's conduct was criticised, and his report bears, of dates in +November, 1863, the following indorsements: + +"General Hill explains how, in his haste to attack the Third Army +Corps of the enemy, he overlooked the presence of the Second, which +was the cause of the disaster that ensued. + + "R. E. Lee, General." + +"The disaster at Bristoe Station seems due to a gallant but over- +hasty pressing on of the enemy. + + "J. A. Seddon, Secretary of War." + +"There was a want of vigilance, by reason of which it appears the +Third Army Corps of the enemy got a position, giving great advantage +to them. + + "J. D." (Davis) ( 7) + +The last two indorsements do not show that Seddon and Davis clearly +comprehended the real situation. + +Lee by continued flank movements indicated a purpose to force the +Union Army back into its intrenchments at Alexandria, but this plan +was abandoned after the disaster at Bristoe. Soon the Confederates +commenced falling back towards the Rappahannock, destroying the +railroad track and bridges, and Lee finally put his army into camp +on the Botts plantation, near Brandy Station. He built winter +quarters there, keeping possession of the fords of the Rappahannock, +and strongly fortifying north of the river at Rappahannock Station. + +The Union Army commenced a cautious forward movement on the 19th +of October, keeping close to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. +On the 21st I encamped on the battlefield of Bristoe, and we finished +the burial of the dead. On the 26th, about 9 P.M., an order came +advising me that General John Buford's cavalry division was threatened +and in peril near Catlett's Station, and directing me to go to his +relief. My brigade, with a battery attached, reached him about +midnight, and under his direction formed line of battle, my left +resting on the railroad, the cavalry on the flanks. He had been +attacked at dark by what seemed to be an overwhelming force of +infantry and cavalry, but he had stubbornly held his ground. Buford +was an accomplished soldier and a hard fighter. He it was who +opened the battle of Gettysburg on Seminary Hill. + +When the best possible dispositions had been made for the expected +attack of the morning, he invited me to an excuse for a headquarters, +consisting of a tattered tent-fly. The night was dark and rainy, +and everybody was wet and uncomfortable. The bronzed old soldier, +from some hidden recess, had an orderly produce a bottle of whisky, +the corkage of which was perfect, and, in the absence of a corkscrew, +presented a problem. He said, "All right, you hold the candle." +He then held the bottle in his left hand, and with his sword in +the right struck the neck of it so skillfully as to cut it off +smoothly. The problem was solved. Further details are unnecessary. +I understood the art of making drinking-cups by cutting a bottle +in two with a strong string, but this feat of Buford's was new to +me.( 8) + +John Buford died of disease, December 16, 1863, a Major-General of +Volunteers. He had won great renown as an able, fighting soldier. + +Lee was not to be allowed to rest in his chosen winter quarters. +On the 7th of November the Army of the Potomac moved to the fords +on the Rappahannock, and preparation was made to pass then, although +they were strongly defended by the enemy. The Third Corps massed +at Kelly's Ford, some five miles below Rappahannock Station. This +corps forced a crossing about 5 P.M., and massed in battle order +on the bluffs near the river. My command did no fighting this day. +The Third Brigade, with some assistance from the Second Brigade of +the First Division of the Sixth Corps, at dusk, under the leadership +of the accomplished General David A. Russell, gallantly assaulted +and carried the strongly fortified _tęte-de-pont_ on the north of +the river at Rappahannock Station. The principal parts of Hoke's +and Hays' brigades of Early's division of Ewell's corps were +captured, numbering, including killed and wounded, 1630. Russell's +loss in this affair, all told, was 327. He captured seven battle +flags and Green's battery of four rifled guns.( 9) Lee had intended +to hold this position as a centre, and then fall, alternately, on +the divided portions of the Army of the Potomac after they crossed +the river above and below it.(10) Its loss forced him to retire +from the river and take position in front of Culpeper Court-House, +with his right resting on Mount Pony. + +The next day the principal part of Meade's army, having succeeded +in crossing the river, was moved forward to tender battle. Late +in the afternoon I was ordered to dislodge the enemy from a hill +(Miller's) about two miles in front of Brandy Station. The place +was held by artillery and infantry, flanked by cavalry. This was +Lee's most advanced position, and it was held firmly as a point of +observation. My command was disposed for the attack in the following +order: The 138th Pennsylvania (Colonel McClennan) was moved on +the left of the railroad to threaten the enemy on his right; the +122d Ohio (Colonel W. H. Ball) followed in support. The 110th Ohio +(Lieutenant-Colonel Foster) was put on the right of the railroad, +with orders to move directly on the height occupied by the enemy; +the 6th Maryland (Colonel John W. Horn) in support, but some distance +to the right. There was no artillery at hand, and the attack was +ordered at once. The distance to the hill was about one half mile. +The 138th drew the enemy's artillery fire, but continued its advance. +The 6th pushed forward into a wood on the right to make a demonstration, +and in person I led the 110th to the real work. Not a gun was +fired by my men as they advanced to the charge. I made every +exertion possible to hasten the troops, but when they reached the +foot of the hill the enemy's artillery was withdrawn, and his +infantry made a precipitate retreat. I was the first to gain the +crest, being mounted, and with pistol fired on the retiring troops +not two hundred feet away. A Confederate was reported wounded with +a pistol ball at this place. This is the nearest I can come to +having personally injured, in any way, any person in battle. We +pushed on to Brandy Station without further orders, driving the +enemy until we met a more formidable force, with several batteries +of artillery, which compelled us to halt. Night came on, and the +day's work ended by our going into bivouac at the Station. Captain +Andress of the 138th was the only officer of my command killed, +and my loss was otherwise light. We made the charge with the +commanding General--Meade--and much of his army looking on. It +was Meade's belief that behind the heights assaulted would be found +Lee's army arrayed for battle. + +Though Lee had selected a strong position (as already stated) in +front of Culpeper Court-House, and fortified it somewhat, he decided +it was not a good one, and therefore declined battle north of the +Rapidan,(11) and, by the morning of the 9th of November, his army +was south of this historic stream. + +The Army of Northern Virginia never again crossed the Rapidan or +Rappahannock. Henceforth it was to be confined to a narrower +theatre of operations, and a closer defence of the capital of the +Confederate States, but this defence was still to be most memorable +and bloody, even in comparison with what had gone before. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part II., p. 34. + +( 2) This was in the famous Brough-Vallandigham Ohio election for +Governor. + +( 3) _War Records_, vol. xxi., Part I., p. 426. + +( 4) This lunch consisted of a box of sardines and "hardtack." + +( 5) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 242. + +( 6) _Ibid_., pp. 250, 428. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 428. + +( 8) A string tightly drawn around a bottle where the cut is +desired to be made, and then rapidly drawn back and forth until +the friction heats the glass, renders it easy to be separated by +a sharp jar against the hand or some hard substance. + +( 9) Three of these had belonged to Randolph's battery, lost at +Winchester.--_War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 626. + +(10) _Ibid_., pp. 613-616. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., pp. 611, 616 (Lee's +Report). + + +CHAPTER V +Mine Run Campaign and Battle of Orange Grove, November, 1863--Winter +Cantonment (1863-64) of Army of the Potomac at Culpeper Court- +House, and its Reorganization--Grant Assigned to Command the Union +Armies, and Preparation for Aggressive War + +Though the roads were bad from frequent rains and much use, and +November winds warned that winter was at hand to stop further field +campaigning on an extended scale, and though all attempts to cross +the Rapidan in the fine weather of the spring and summer had failed, +yet, when the Army of the Potomac was again bivouacked at Culpeper, +the public cry was heard--"On to Richmond!" + +Lee's last campaign was looked upon in high quarters as a big bluff +that should have been "called" by Meade while the Army of Northern +Virginia was north of the Rappahannock. Meade, however, acted +persistently and conscientiously on his own judgment, formed in +the light of the best knowledge he could obtain. He would not +stand driving, and was something of a bulldozer himself, and +sometimes--said to have been caused by fits of dyspepsia--was +unreasonably irascible, and displayed a most violent temper towards +superiors and inferiors. Notwithstanding this, he never lost his +equipoise or acted upon impulse alone, and he never permitted mere +appearances to move him. Nor could his superiors induce him to +act against his judgment as to a particular military situation. +It will be remembered that he was urged to fight Lee north of the +Potomac after Gettysburg. He was urged to bring on a battle before +the departure of the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps for the West, and +when Lee moved north on his flank his opportunity seemed to have +come to fight a battle, but his fear of the same strategy displayed +by the Confederate Army in the second Bull Run campaign against +Pope induced him to be over-cautious, and to so concentrate his +army as to avoid the possibility of its being beaten in detachments. + +The next day (October 16th), after Meade reached Centreville, the +President, in his anxiety that Lee should not again escape without +a general battle, addressed this characteristic note to Halleck: + +"If General Meade can now attack him (Lee) on a field no more than +equal for us, and do so with all the skill and courage which he, +his officers, and men possess, the honor will be his if he succeeds, +and the blame may be mine if he fails. + + "Yours truly, + "A. Lincoln." + +This note was forwarded to Meade. + +To this he answered that it had been his intention to attack the +enemy when his exact whereabouts was discovered; that lack of +information as to Lee's position and intentions and the fear of +jeopardizing his communications with Washington had prevented his +doing so sooner. But the pressure continued. Halleck, the 18th, +wired Meade: + +"Lee is unquestionably bullying you. If you cannot ascertain his +movements, I certainly cannot. If you pursue and fight him, I +think you will find out where he is. I know of no other way." + +This was too much for Meade's temper. He responded: + +" . . . If you have any orders to give me I am prepared to receive +and obey them, but I must insist on being spared the infliction of +such truisms in the guise of opinion as you have recently honored +me with, particularly as they have not been asked for. I take this +occasion to repeat what I have before stated, that if my course, +based on my own judgment, does not meet with approval, I ought to +be, and I desire to be, relieved from command." + +Although Halleck apologized "if he had unintentionally given +offence," and Meade thanked him for the "explanation," these and +other like occurrences had their influence on Meade's conduct. + +As he had failed to bring Lee to bay at Culpeper, the only +opportunity to do so must be sought south of the Rapidan. Meade +was not averse to battle. + +On November 26, 1863, Meade's army was put in motion with a view +to a general concentration south of the Rapidan, at Robertson's +Tavern on the turnpike road, by evening of that day. Lee's army +of about 50,000 men was mainly massed and in winter quarters in +front of Orange Court-House, with an intrenched line in its front +across the plank road and turnpike, extending to the river. + +Meade's design was, by a rapid movement, to carry this line before +Lee had time to concentrate behind it. + +The Fifth Corps (Sykes) was directed to cross the Rapidan at +Culpeper Mine Ford, and thence move by the plank road to Parker's +Store and the junction of the road to Robertson's Tavern; the First +Corps (Newton), with two divisions, to follow the Fifth. The Second +Corps (Warren) was to force a crossing at Germanna Ford, thence +march directly to Robertson's Tavern, and there await the arrival +of other corps. + +The Third Corps (General William H. French), followed closely by +the Sixth (Sedgwick), was directed to cross at Jacob's Ford (Mill), +and continue the march, bearing to the left, to Robertson's Tavern. +Jacob's Ford, with its steep banks, proved so difficult to pass +that some delay occurred, and the artillery had to be sent around +by Germanna Ford, and did not rejoin the corps until the morning +of the 27th. Jacob's Ford was the highest up the river, and +consequently brought French, on passing it, in close proximity to +the enemy. Lee, by the evening of the 26th, had thrown forward +cavalry and some infantry of Hill's corps to the vicinity of +Robertson's Tavern, though not in sufficient force to prevent Warren +taking his designated position. Nor was Sykes seriously interfered +with. The cavalry crossed at Ely's and other fords. French, with +the aid of pontoons, safely passed the river, but he did not advance +on the 26th more than three miles beyond the crossing, time having +been lost in hunting blind country roads, waiting for artillery to +arrive, and reconnoitering. A force of the enemy showed itself on +intersecting roads to his right, where were a number of such roads +leading from Sisson, Witchell, Tobaccostick and Morton's Fords, +and one which led from Raccoon Ford--still higher up the river--to +an intersection at Jones' house, with the most direct road to the +Tavern. The enemy's intrenchments covered a considerable part of +this last road, from which he could easily debouch and attack the +flank and rear or the trains of the marching columns.( 1) These +conditions rendered French's situation perilous, and caused him to +move with extreme caution, as the Sixth Corps could not arrive +until he was out of the way. Notwithstanding French had some miles +farther to march than Warren, and unusual difficulties to overcome +or guard against, Meade dispatched him, as early as 1 P.M. of the +26th, that his delay was retarding the operations of Warren, and +again at 3 P.M. he dispatched French: + +"I would not move forward farther from the river than to clear the +way for General Sedgwick, until he comes up and crosses." + +The Second Division, General Henry Prince, with some cavalry, was +in the advance; the Third, Carr's, and the First, General David B. +Birney's, following in the order named. At the Widow Morris', a +somewhat obscure road bore off abruptly to the left, but which, +somewhat circuitously, led to Robertson's Tavern. The head of +Prince's column, however, was on the more direct road to Tom Morris' +house, with flankers and cavalry well to the right. These were +soon attacked and driven in or recalled. + +It seems Prince was led to believe he was in communication with +Warren's left.( 2) + +It soon became evident that the head of French's column was near +the Raccoon Ford road, and the intrenchments held by at least two +divisions of Ewell's corps of Lee's army, and there seemed to be +no possible chance to extricate it without a battle. + +At 11.45 A.M., on the 27th, Meade dispatched French: + +"If you cannot unite with Warren by the route you are on, you must +move through to him by the left." + +At 1.45 P.M. Meade again dispatched French: + +"Attack the enemy in your front immediately, throwing your left +forward to connect with General Warren at Robertson's Tavern. The +object of an attack is to form junction with General Warren, which +must be effected immediately." + +Prince had, by this time, formed line of battle and engaged the +enemy. Carr's division was ordered forward to take position on +Prince's left, and at 3 P.M. Birney's division was ordered to form +in support of Carr. + +Prince covered the road leading to a junction with the Raccoon Ford +road. The First Brigade of Carr's division (General W. H. Morris) +moved to the left of Prince, my brigade--the Second--was ordered +to pass behind Morris, and take position on his left, and Colonel +B. F. Smith's brigade--the Third--was sent to my left. + +Morris became somewhat entangled in a ravine and in thick timber, +and was slow in forming good line. In this position he was fired +upon from a ridge not two hundred yards from his front, the bullets +falling among my men as they passed his rear. I appealed to Morris +to face to the front, charge, and take the ridge, but he declined +to do so for want of orders. + +As soon as I could get my two leading regiments, 110th and 122d +Ohio, on Morris' left, I led them to the crest of the ridge, captured +some prisoners, and posted the regiments in good position behind +a fence on the summit. My other regiments, 6th Maryland and 138th +Pennsylvania, successively, on their arrival, took position on the +left of the Ohio troops. The ridge which extended to my right +along Morris' front was still held by the enemy in strong force, +and both my flanks were threatened. Through a misunderstanding of +orders the Ohio regiments fell back a short distance, but soon +retook the crest and were again fiercely engaged, though under an +enfilading fire of artillery and a galling fire of musketry. The +ground being somewhat open to the front, I could see the enemy +massing for an attack. I again, but vainly, appealed to Morris to +advance and close the gap, as otherwise his position in the ravine +and thick woods could not be held. The assault came, and Morris +was forced, in some confusion, to retire. By refusing my right +somewhat, I maintained my isolated position and threatened the +enemy's right. The First Brigade, though composed in part of +regiments not before in strong battle, was quickly re-formed, and, +under Carr's order, soon obtained full possession of the ridge by +a splendid charge, and thus the gap was closed. The battle by this +time raged furiously all along the front. Colonel Smith, passing +too far to the rear, lost his way in the thickets, and failed to +come up on my left. He did not rejoin the division until the battle +was over. This misfortune was hard to account for, as Colonel +Smith was an intelligent, brave, and skilled officer--a graduate +of West Point. He met some scouting parties of the enemy, and, as +directed, sought to find a connection with troops of Warren's corps. +His failure caused my left to remain uncovered. + +Two assaults were made upon my line by the enemy in columns not +less than three lines deep. The first came in front of Horn's +regiment, but was anticipated, and McClennan's regiment, moving +into the open ground, struck the right flank of the enemy and +(firing buck and ball from .69 calibre muskets) did great execution. +McClennan was severely wounded, and in consequence was obliged to +leave the field. + +The battle raged with unabated fury until dark, and as late as 8 +P.M. enfilading shells from heavy guns on our right screamed and +crashed through the timber over our heads, bursting with loud noise, +producing a most hideous and weird appearance, but really doing +little damage. + +As night approached, the ammunition of my regiments gave out, and +all my command, save one regiment, was relieved by regiments of +Birney's division.( 3) + +The bravery and fighting skill of Colonels Ball, Horn, and McClennan, +also of Lieutenant-Colonels M. M. Granger and W. N. Foster, and +Major Otho H. Binkley, and others, was most conspicuous. Lieutenant +James A. Fox of the 110th here lost his life. He had risen from +the ranks, but was a proud-spirited and promising officer. We +buried him at midnight, in full uniform, wrapped in his blanket, +behind a near-by garden fence. + +I wish to bear testimony also, at this late day, to the quiet +gallantry and high soldierly qualities of the long-since-dead +General David B. Birney.( 4) He did not obey orders to the letter +only. His division being in reserve and support, he took position +where he could watch the progress of the battle, and note in time +when and where he was needed. He made no display on the field. +When he noticed, by the slackening fire of my men, that their +ammunition was about exhausted, he rode to my side and quietly +suggested that he be allowed to order regiments from his own command +to take their places. That there might not be, even momentarily, +a break in the line, his regiments were moved up, and my men lay +down while his stepped over them and opened fire. The relieved +troops were then withdrawn and resupplied with ammunition. + +While the battle was in progress, the Sixth Corps, still some +distance to the rear, was directed by another road on Robertson's +Tavern, and during the night the Third Corps was ordered to withdraw +and follow the Sixth. + +The enemy retired at the close of the battle, leaving in our +possession his dead, unburied, and his wounded on the field and in +hospitals. We fought a great part, if not all, of Ewell's corps. + +Casualties were reported in thirteen Confederate brigades, in forty- +four regiments, and in the artillery of Early, Johnson, and Rodes' +divisions, total 601.( 5) + +The losses in the Third Corps were 10 officers and 115 enlisted +men killed, 28 officers and 719 enlisted men wounded, total 872. + +The brigades of Morris and Keifer suffered the most severely, +although Prince's division was first engaged. My own killed and +wounded numbered 172, those of Prince's division 163. There were +no captured or missing men of my command. + +This engagement has been called by the Confederates the battle of +Payne's Farm;( 5) but by the Union side it is generally known as +the battle of Orange Grove; the place, however, is sometimes referred +to as Locust Grove, and by both sides it is often mentioned as Mine +Run, though in no proper sense did the contest occur on that stream. + +The battle, fought by French under the circumstances narrated, gave +rise to much crimination and recrimination between Generals Meade +and French, and probably led to a reorganization of the Army of +the Potomac four months later. + +Meade attributed the miscarriage of the campaign to French's failure +on the 26th, and his further failure on the 27th, to connect with +Warren's left at Robertson's Tavern. He claimed that if such +junction had been made he could have fallen on the portion of Lee's +army on the turnpike and destroyed it, and that he would then have +been able to seize the line behind Mine Run before Lee could occupy +it with his united forces. Meade further contended that, on the +27th, French got on the wrong road, and, consequently, had to fight +a fruitless battle alone, while the other corps of the army were +standing idle, waiting for him. French stoutly insisted that his +march, being on the extreme right and exposed flank, on the longest +line, and _via_ a difficult ford, without a good guide and over +blind roads, with a doubt as to which one should be taken, warranted +him in acting with caution, and in fighting where he did when he +found his command attacked; and he further claimed that when he +brought Ewell's corps to battle, Meade should have fallen on the +enemy in Warren's front and overwhelmed it; that by fighting when +and where he did, he was doing more than he otherwise could have +done to prevent a concentration of the Confederate Army, especially +in preventing it from massing in front of Robertson's Tavern. A +considerable part of the Union Army sympathized with French, yet +the fact remained that Meade's plan of concentration and of battle +at the appointed time and place failed. + +On the 28th the armies were brought face to face, the Confederate +army in fortifications behind and along the high west bank of Mine +Run, both armies extending from a short distance south of the plank +road to the north of the turnpike, in the direction of the battle- +field of the 27th.( 6) The Third Corps held the Union centre. +Warren's corps, with a division of the Third Corps, was sent to +reconnoitre for a point of attack on the Confederate right. Warren +reported an attack there feasible. Other reconnoissances were made +on the 29th, and Meade decided to assault from both flanks the next +morning, the Sixth and Fifth Corps under Sedgwick on the enemy's +left and the Second Corps and two divisions of the Third on his +right. Carr's division of the Third marched at 4 A.M. two miles +to the left and joined Warren's column. The night was cold and +there was much suffering. + +Warren had about 20,000 men in readiness, and was to attack at 8 +A.M. at a signal from the batteries of the centre. Sedgwick was +to attack an hour later. The signal batteries opened, and we stood, +in grand array, soberly withing for the order to charge. The +enemy's strong works, with guns bristling in the morning sun, were +in our immediate front. Minutes of delay were as hours to the +waiting troops. Many sent up silent prayers for safety, and not +unfrequently through the column there could be seen on a soldier's +breast a paper giving his name, company, regiment, and home address, +so, if killed, his body could be identified. Warren hesitated, +and just before 9 A.M. dispatched Meade, then four miles distant: + +"The full light of sun shows me that I cannot succeed." + +Meade suspended Sedgwick's attack, then in progress, and hastened +to Warren. I saw the two men at a small, green, pine wood fire, +earnestly discussing the critical situation. Meade seemed to be +censuring Warren, yet the latter adhered to his view that the +assault could not be successfully made, and Meade yielded. Somehow +the troops of the great column, before the final decision was +announced, came to believe the charge would not be made, and they +cautiously commenced badgering each other, soldier like, over wasted +prayers. The different commands were later ordered to their former +positions. + +French opposed an assault on the centre. The enemy's position, +naturally a strong one, had been greatly strengthened by labor. +The wisdom of not making any assault, in the light of all the facts, +was, I think, generally recognized. The season was unfavorable; +Meade was a long distance from his base; success could only have +been temporary and could not have been followed up, and defeat +under the circumstances would have been a fatal catastrophe. Even +Grant, in 1864, was "all summer" in trying to gather fruits of what +were called successes. + +The 1st of December was spent by both armies in watching each other, +and behaving as if they dared each other to attack. + +"One was afraid and the other dare not"--but which? + +The campaign had been delayed beyond all expectation; all hope of +gaining an advantage by a surprise or otherwise was passed, food +was becoming scarce, and hence Meade decided to retire his army to +its base of supplies. At dusk of the 1st, therefore, the Union +Army moved by different roads to various fords of the Rapidan, the +Third Corps to Culpeper Mine Ford, the farthest down the river of +any used, and by 8 A.M. of the coming morning all had recrossed, +and on the 3d they were in their former camps at Brandy Station. +The Army of the Potomac lost in this campaign, killed and wounded, +1272.( 7) + +Thus ended the Mine Run campaign; not bloodless, yet disappointing, +as were many others. In it Meade demonstrated his willingness to +fight, and that his army was loyal to him. Another opportunity to +fight a great battle in independent command on the field never came +to him. His chief glory for all time must rest on Gettysburg. + +Lee, the night of December 1st, feeling certain Meade would not +assault him in his strong position, and knowing the latter was far +from his base, in an unfamiliar country, encumbered with trains, +determined to assume the offensive by throwing two of his divisions +against Meade's left on the following morning. But Meade was safely +away when morning came, and pursuit impossible. + +Lee, it is said, was greatly chagrined over his lost opportunity, +and exclaimed to his generals: + +"I am too old to command this army; we should never have permitted +these people to get away."( 8) + +Before starting on this campaign Meade expressed a purpose to take +position in front of Fredericksburg, but Halleck disapproved the +plan.( 9) + +The Army of the Potomac, having ended its historic work of the +memorable year 1863, went into winter quarters around Culpeper +Court-House, with Brandy Station for its base of supplies. My +brigade occupied log huts on John Minor Botts' (10) farm, partly +constructed by the Confederates prior to November 8th. + +The caring, in winter, for a large army calls for great vigilance, +skill, and energy. The season not permitting much opportunity for +drill, discipline is hard to maintain. Sickness becomes prevalent, +and there is much unrest, both of officers and soldiers. + +Camp guards, however, had to be maintained; also grand-guards and +pickets around the front and flanks of the whole army. The freezing +and thawing and the constant moving of supply trains caused deep +mud in the roads and camps. The brigade commanders of the Third +Corps, and of other corps as well, were, alternately, detailed as +corps officer-of-the-day, the duties of which lasted twenty-four +hours, and required the officer to be with the advance-guard and +on the corps' picket lines to see that vigilance was preserved; +that orders were understood and obeyed, and to report any unusual +occurrences. He was required to visit all guards and pickets, +personally, at least once by day and once by night. The Third +Corps' advance line was from Mt. Pony, its left, around the front +of Culpeper Court-House, covering the Madison Court-House road; +in length about five miles. This service was arduous, trying, and, +by night, attended with danger. + +During my service as corps officer-of-the-day, in March, 1864, +Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Townsend (106th N. Y.), in charge of +the grand-guard on the Sperryville road, in violation of orders, +admitted some refugee ladies, who presented a pass from an officer +of an outer cavalry picket. The orders were to recognize no pass +for a citizen not emanating from army headquarters. The Colonel +reported the occurrence to me, and I disapproved his action, but +made no report of it. The ladies, on some errand, reached +headquarters, and told of their admittance on this road. Meade +ordered me to report the delinquent officer, which I did, giving +all excuses I could for him, but they were unavailing. I was +ordered to prefer charges against Colonel Townsend, "for disobedience +of orders." A general court-martial was called for his trial, of +which General D. B. Birney was President, and, notwithstanding I +had preferred the charges, I was made a member of it. + +On the trial I protested my interest and asked the court to excuse +me from sitting, but my request was refused. The court found +Townsend guilty and sentenced him: "To be suspended from rank and +pay for two months." This sentence was approved by General Meade, +April 1st, but Townsend's suspension from rank was remitted, and +he was ordered to duty. He was a gallant and accomplished officer, +and, feeling keenly the disgrace, rushed to his death at Cold Harbor +just after the sixty days' suspension of pay elapsed. The incident +illustrates the severity of discipline and the fate of war. + +The soldiers of the army, as far as possible, were kept active, +but the cold winter, with frequent rains, caused much discomfort, +and many were in hospital; few were furloughed. Many rude log +chapels were erected and used, often alternately, for religious +worship, lectures, concerts, readings, and dances. Civilian visitors +were, at times, numerous. One most notable army ball was given at +the headquarters of General Joseph B. Carr. This event took place +January 25, 1864, and was attended generally by officers of the +army, by some military officials from Washington and elsewhere, by +officers' wives and their friends visiting the army, and by invited +ladies and gentlemen from Washington, New York, Philadelphia, +Boston, and Baltimore. Over four thousand attended. The ball was +held in large communicating tents, erected for the purpose. Ample +floors were laid for promenades and dancing. Dinner was provided, +where everything obtainable from land or sea was served, with +liquors and wines without stint. The night was entirely devoted +to it. It was brilliant beyond descriptions. To hundreds it was +their last ball, or appearance in social life. + +Notwithstanding the necessarily promiscuous character of the +participants, and though no scandal attended it, and all decorum +usual on such occasions was observed, it was at the time the subject +of much severe criticism through the press, from the pulpit, and +by people generally. General Carr and his good wife were adepts +in social affairs, and are entitled to the distinction of having +assembled and directed the most numerously attended ball of its +kind ever held in the United States. + +Horse racing and other sports were indulged in, especially by the +cavalry. But all these were mere diversions, and did not indicate +that the army was not preparing for the bloody work yet ahead of it. + +Grant, with the armies under General George H. Thomas, W. T. Sherman, +and Joseph Hooker, November 25, 1863, drove Bragg from his perch +on Missionary Ridge and to a precipitate retreat, and the Army of +the Tennessee under Sherman subsequently relieved Burnside, besieged +at Knoxville by Longstreet, thus closing the campaigns of 1863 in +the West about the time they closed in the East. Soon thereafter +rumors were current that Grant was to be promoted to chief command +of all the Union armies. A law passed Congress February 29, 1864, +reviving the grade of Lieutenant-General, and President Lincoln, +the next day, appointed Ulysses S. Grant to the office, and the +Senate, the succeeding day, confirmed the appointment. March 10, +1864, Halleck was relieved from duty as General-in-Chief, and became +thereafter Chief of Staff of the Army. Grant was, the same day, +assigned by the President, "pursuant to the act of Congress, to +command the Armies of the United States," headquarters of the Army +to be in Washington, and "with General Grant in the field." Grant +established his field-headquarters at Culpeper Court-House, March +26, 1864, and remained with the Army of the Potomac until Appomattox +came. Just prior to his joining the Army of the Potomac, March +23, 1864, it was reorganized, the First and Third Corps being broken +up as separate organizations, and the troops composing them +distributed to the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps, they retaining +their former corps badges. Hancock resumed command of the Second +Corps. Warren was assigned to command the Fifth. Carr was +transferred to the Second. The Third Division, Third Corps, became +the Third Division of the Sixth (Sedgwick's) Corps, the old Third +Division of the Sixth being consolidated with its other divisions. + +General H. Prince was assigned to command the Third Division of +the Sixth. The Second Brigade (Keifer's) of this division, with +the 126th Ohio (Colonel Smith) and the 67th Pennsylvania (Colonel +Staunton) added, was placed under the command of General David A. +Russell,(11) but he was soon transferred to another command, and +Colonel B. F. Smith for a time succeeded him. Major-General James +B. Ricketts, before April 30, 1864, relieved General Prince, and +thereafter the Third Division of the Sixth Corps was known as +"Ricketts' Division." + +Much bad feeling existed on the part of Generals French, Sykes, +Newton, and others over the breaking up of their commands and their +being relieved from field duty. The consolidation of divisions +and brigades in the corps retained, also caused much discontent, +and excited jealousies towards the organizations from the disbanded +corps which took their old designations. This was the second time +troops I commanded had this experience. While in camp or on marches +an officer may become disliked by his men, but a great battle in +which he does his duty will always restore him to popularity. The +Third Corps badge was a diamond; the Sixth a Greek cross. The +Third Division for a time adhered to the _diamond_, but later, wore +both proudly, and finally rejoiced alone under the _Greek cross_. + +The Army of the Potomac was for the first time reduced to three +corps. There was, however, belonging to this army, a large artillery +reserve, not attached to any corps, but under a chief, General +Henry J. Hunt; also a cavalry corps, consisting of three divisions +and a reserve brigade, which Major-General Philip H. Sheridan was +assigned (April 5, 1864) to command.(12) To each corps was attached +an artillery brigade. This army, like any other well-appointed +one, also had (each with a chief officer) its Commissary, Quartermaster, +Ordnance, and Medical Departments; also a Provost-Guard, consisting +of a brigade of infantry and a regiment of cavalry under a Provost +Marshal-General;(13) also Signal and Engineer Corps, and other +minor and somewhat independent organizations, such as body-guards +to commanding generals, pioneers, pontoniers, etc. + +The Army of the Potomac, thus organized, commanded, and appointed, +with the new commander of all the armies of the Union with it, now +awaited good weather to enter upon the bloodiest campaign civilized +man has ever witnessed. + +( 1) See sketch attached to Meade's report, _War Records_, vol. +xxix, Part I., p. 19. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 738. + +( 3) Birney's Report, _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part I., p. 750. + +( 4) He died of disease October 18, 1864. + +( 5) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., pp. 836-8. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 19. (Sketch). + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 686. + +( 8) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., p. 241 (Col. Venable). + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 18. + +(10) Botts was then on his farm--a Union man. He had been an old +line Whig, and was personally hostile to Jeff. Davis. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. xxxiii., pp. 717, 722, 732, 745. + +(12) _Ibid_., 798, 806. + +(13) A badge for each fighting corps of the Union Army was adopted +(January, 1863), its color indicating the number of the division +in a corps. Three divisions of three brigades each usually +constituted a corps. Each officer and soldier wore on his hat or +cap his proper corps badge; the first division being red, second +white, and third blue. The badge appeared prominently in the centre +of all headquarters flags. Division flags were square, brigade, +tri-cornered, all of white ground save those of a second division +which were blue; the flag of a second brigade had a red border next +to the pole, and of a third brigade a red border on all sides. + + +CHAPTER VI +Plans of Campaigns, Union and Confederate--Campaign and Battle of +the Wilderness, May, 1864--Author Wounded, and Personal Matters-- +Movements of the Army to the James River, with Mention of Battles +of Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Other Engagements, and Statement +of Losses and Captures + +A full detailed history of the great campaign of the Wilderness +and of the many battles fought in the spring and summer of 1864 in +Southeast Virginia and around Richmond and Petersburg will not here +be attempted. I shall confine myself to a general story of the +campaign, with dates, results of engagements and losses, and some +details of the fighting participated in by troops I was immediately +connected with or interested in. + +General Grant (April 9, 1864), in a confidential communication to +General Meade,( 1) outlined his plan for the early movements of +all the principal Union armies. Texas was to be abandoned, save +on the Rio Grande, and General Banks, then on Red River, was to +concentrate a force, not less than 25,000 strong, at New Orleans +to move on Mobile. Sherman was to leave Chattanooga at the same +time Meade moved, "Joe Johnston's army being his objective point +and the heart of Georgia his ultimate aim"; if successful, Sherman +was to "secure the line from Chattanooga to Mobile, with the aid +of Banks." General Franz Sigel (then in command of the Department +of West Virginia ( 2)), was to start two columns, one from Beverly +under General Ord, to endeavor to reach the Tennessee and Virginia +Railroad west of Lynchburg, and the other from Charleston, West +Virginia, under General George Crook, to strike at Saltville and +go thence eastward to join Ord. General Quincy A. Gilmore was to +be transferred, with 10,000 men, from South Carolina to General B. +F. Butler at Fortress Monroe, and the latter General was to organize +a force of about 23,000 men, under the immediate command of General +W. F. Smith, with which, and Gilmore's command, he should "seize +City Point and operate against Richmond from the south side of the +river," moving simultaneously with Meade's army. To Meade he said: +"_Lee's army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee goes there +you will go also_." General Burnside, then at Annapolis organizing +the Ninth Army Corps, was to reinforce Meade with probably 25,000 +men. There was to be naval co-operation on the James. Grant had +not then determined on which flank to attack Lee, or whether he +would cross the Rapidan above or below the Confederate Army. + +All baggage was reduced to the lowest standard possible. "Two +wagons to a regiment of 500 men . . . for all baggage, exclusive +of subsistence stores and ordnance stores. One wagon to a brigade +and one to a division headquarters, . . . and about two to corps +headquarters." + +Meade subsequently made a further reduction, and allowed only one +wagon to a regiment. + +When it was finally determined to move by Lee's right flank, Meade +was ordered to have supplies forwarded to White House, on the +Pamunkey.( 3) + +Sigel was directed to advance a column in co-operation from +Martinsburg up the Shenandoah Valley. + +Grant, in a confidential dispatch,( 4) April 29th, to Halleck, +fixed May 4th as the date for putting the Army of the Potomac in +motion, saying: + +"My own notions about our line of march are entirely made up, but +as circumstances beyond my control may change them, I will only +state that my effort will be to bring Butler's and Meade's forces +together." + +The next day, on the authority of a rebel officer arrested in +Baltimore, who left Lee's army on April 17th, Halleck wired Grant +that Lee was about to move Longstreet by the mountain road westward +over the Blue Ridge with 20,000 men; that Hill, 50,000 strong, was +to force Grant's right at Culpeper, and with three divisions form +a junction at Warrenton with Ewell; that all Confederate troops +from East Tennessee were to strengthen Lee; that Breckinridge, with +25,000 men in West Virginia, accompanied by Morgan's cavalry, was +to force his way down the Kanawha into Ohio, near Gallipolis; that +if Lee reached Pennsylvania, Breckinridge was to join him, Morgan's +cavalry destroying all railroads to east and west; that Lee's +general direction was to be towards Wheeling and Pittsburg; that +Richmond's defence was to be left to Beauregard, with Pickett's +division of 15,000 men, the Maryland Line, details from hospitals, +conscripts, militia of Governor Smith's call (fifty to fifty-five +years of age), and a foreign legion of forced aliens.( 5) + +This plan, if ever formed, comprehensive as it may have been in +conception, was never to be even partially put in execution. It +probably originated in the fertile imagination of the rebel officer +from whom Halleck obtained it. + +In March, 1864, an equally comprehensive plan was conceived by +Longstreet, then at Greenville, Tennessee, by which Beauregard was +to lead an advance column from the borders of North Carolina through +the mountain passes, Longstreet to follow through East Tennessee, +uniting with Beauregard in Kentucky, and, together, move against +the line of railway from Louisville, and thus force Sherman to +retire from Johnston's front, allowing him to advance northward, +avoiding general battle until all the Confederate columns could +form a grand junction on or near the Ohio River. This plan was +approved by Lee, and by both Lee and Longstreet laid before President +Davis and the War Department at Richmond. Davis disapproved it. + +Another plan, submitted by Bragg (then "Commander-in-Chief near +the President"), received the approval of Davis. By this Johnston +was to march to the headwaters of the Little Tennessee River, +Longstreet to the east of Knoxville and join Johnston, and, united, +they were to march west into Middle Tennessee and break the Union +line of supplies about Nashville. Though some orders were issued +looking to the execution of this plan, it was not seriously attempted, +as Joe Johnston regarded it as impracticable.( 6) Longstreet, with +the part of his command that had served in Virginia, was, early in +April, transferred to the Rapidan. Grant alone moved his armies +to the execution of his campaigns as planned. + +_Wilderness_ + +Not until May 2d did Meade send orders to his corps for the movement +on the 4th across the Rapidan. On the day of starting he issued +a stirring and patriotic address to his soldiers.( 7) Grant had +determined to attack and turn Lee's right flank.( 8) + +As soon in the early morning as engineers could lay pontoons the +cavalry crossed the river at Ely and Germanna Fords, and cleared +the way for the infantry. Hancock's (Second) corps crossed at +Ely's Ford and marched to the vicinity of Chancellorsville. Warren's +(Fifth) corps, with Sedgwick's (Sixth) following, crossed at Germanna +Ford. Warren proceeded to the Old Wilderness Tavern. Sedgwick +bivouacked on the heights south of the river. The reserve artillery +crossed at Ely's Ford, and subsistence and other trains at this +and Culpeper Mine Ford. All these movements took place as ordered.( 9) + +No serious resistance was met with the first day. On the night of +the 4th I encamped immediately south of the Rapidan on the height +just above the ford. I was ordered to cover the ford and protect +the pontoon bridge until the head of Burnside's column should reach +it. The whole army slept without tents. On rising in the early +morning, and while standing on a bluff overlooking the river, Major +Wm. S. McElwain of my regiment, in a quiet but somewhat troubled +way, ventured to suggest that unless I was more prudent than usual +I would never recross it. I told him the chances of war were hardly +lessened by prudence where duty was involved, and that my chances +of going North alive were probably as good as his. He seemed to +have no concern about himself. + +General Grant, his staff, and escort, rode by while we waited. He +was on a fine, though small, black horse, which he set well; was +plainly dressed, looked the picture of health, and bore no evidence +of anxiety about him. His plain hat and clothes were in marked +contrast with a somewhat gaily dressed and equipped staff. He +saluted and spoke pleasantly, but did not check his horse from a +rather rapid gait. + +About 10 A.M. Burnside, at the head of his command, reached the +ford. His corps, the Ninth, had been recently organized by him at +Annapolis, Maryland, and officers and soldiers were, in general, +newly equipped and clothed, and all regiments and headquarters had +new flags. The long line, as displayed for miles, moving slowly +over the lowlands to the crossing, was most imposing, and gave rise +to varied reflections. But the time for strong battle had come. +The head of the Fifth Corps was pushed forward on the Orange and +Fredericksburg plank road, the purpose being to avoid the intrenchments +of Mine Run, but the enemy appearing on the turnpike running, in +general, parallel with the plank road and to the north of it, the +Sixth Corps (except the Second Brigade, Third Division) moved to +position on the right of the Fifth, save Getty's division, which +was sent to the intersection of the Brock and Orange plank roads +with instructions to hold it, at all hazards, until the arrival of +Hancock's corps from Todd's Tavern. About noon two divisions of +Warren's corps had a sharp combat with the head of Ewell's corps +on the pike, driving it back some distance when, being outflanked, +they were in turn forced back, losing two guns. Wadsworth's division +of this corps having been sent to the plank road was withdrawn to +a junction with Warren's other divisions. Warren suffered some +loss in prisoners taken from Crawford's division. Getty, on his +arrival on the plank road, found our cavalry being pressed back by +Hill's corps, but he deployed on each side of the road, and opening +fire on the enemy checked him. Getty was able to hold his position +until Hancock arrived about 2 P.M. Hancock, with his corps and +Getty's division, assailed the enemy furiously, and for a time +successfully, though meeting with stubborn resistance. General +Alexander Hays was killed in this action while repairing a break +in our line. The enemy moved troops from the turnpike to Hill's +relief, and Meade, seeing this, sent Wadsworth's division and +Baxter's brigade of the Fifth Corps to Hancock. Night came, and +the battle ceased on this part of the field before the reinforcements +arrived, both armies holding their positions. + +The Sixth Corps (Getty's division absent with Hancock) with much +difficulty made its way through the dense low pine thicket, and +about 2 P.M. was in position, principally deployed, on the right +of the Fifth, Ricketts' division (Second Brigade absent) on the +left, and Wright on the right. Soon after the head of Burnside's +column reached Germanna Ford, my brigade moved to the battle-ground. +As we advanced, firing along the extended front soon told us where +serious work had begun. General Truman Seymour (of Olustee fame) +was assigned this day to command the brigade, but he did not promptly +join it. As we approached the battle, I was ordered by a staff +officer of Sedgwick to conduct the brigade to the right of that +part of the Sixth Corps already in line and partly engaged. This +order being executed, we became the extreme right of the army. +The other brigades of the Third Division being in position on the +left of the corps, I was not in touch with them, and reported to +General H. G. Wright, commanding the First Division. + +Heavy firing already extended along the line of the Sixth Corps to +the left of us. The brigade, about 2 P.M., was put by me in position +in two lines, the 6th Maryland and 110th Ohio, from left to right, +in the front, and the 122d and 126th Ohio and the 138th Pennsylvania +on the rear line and in reserve. Skirmishers were advanced, who +pressed the enemy's skirmishers back a short distance to his main +line, and a sharp engagement ensued, lasting until about 5 P.M., +when, proper support being promised, an aggressive attack was made. + +I quote from my official report, dated November 1, 1864: + +"I received orders to assume general charge of the first line, to +press the enemy, and, if possible, outflank him upon his left. +The troops charged forward in gallant style, pressing the enemy +back by 6 P.M. about one half mile, when we came upon him upon the +slope of a hill, intrenched behind logs which had been hurriedly +thrown together. During the advance the troops were twice halted +and the fire opened, killing and wounding a considerable number of +the enemy. + +"The front line being upon the extreme right of the army, and the +troops upon its left failing to move forward in conjunction with +it, I deemed it prudent to halt without making an attack upon the +enemy's line. After a short consultation with Col. John W. Horn, +I sent word that the advance line of the brigade was unsupported +upon either flank, and that the enemy overlapped the right and left +of the line, and was apparently in heavy force, rendering it +impossible for the troops to attain success in a further attack. + +"I soon after received an order to attack at once. + +"Feeling sure that the word I sent had not been received, I delayed +until a second order came to attack. I accordingly made the attack +without further delay. + +"The attack was made about 7 P.M. The troops were in a thick and +dense wilderness. The line was advanced to within 150 yards of +the enemy's works, under a most terrible fire from the front and +flanks. It was impossible to succeed; but the two regiments, +notwithstanding, maintained their ground and kept up a rapid fire +for nearly three hours, and then retired under orders, for a short +distance only. + +"I was wounded about 8.30 P.M. by a rifle ball passing through both +bones of the left forearm, but did not relinquish command until 9 P.M. + +"The troops were required to maintain this unequal contest under +the belief that other troops were to attack the enemy upon his +flank. + +"In this attack the 6th Maryland lost in killed, two officers and +sixteen men, and eight officers and 132 men wounded; and the 110th +Ohio lost one officer and thirteen men killed, and six (6) officers +and ninety-three (93) men wounded, making an aggregate in the two +regiments of 271. + +"Major William S. McElwain, 110th Ohio, who had won the commendations +of all who knew him, for his skill, judgment, and gallantry, was +among the killed. + +"Lieutenant Joseph McKnight, 110th Ohio, and Captain Adam B. Martin, +6th Maryland, were mortally wounded, and have since died. + +"Captain J. B. Van Eaton and Lieutenants H. H. Stevens and G. O. +McMillen, 110th Ohio, Major J. C. Hill, Captains A. Billingslea, +J. T. Goldsborough, J. J. Bradshaw and J. R. Rouser, and Lieutenants +J. A. Swarts, C. Damuth and D. J. Smith, 6th Maryland, were more +or less severely wounded. + +"All displayed the greatest bravery, and deserve the thanks of the +country. + +"Colonel John W. Horn, 6th Maryland, and Lieutenant-Colonel O. H. +Binkley, 110th Ohio, deserve to be specially mentioned for their +courage, skill, and ability. + +"Captains Brown, 110th Ohio, and Prentiss, 6th Maryland, distinguished +themselves in their successful management of skirmishers. + +"From reports of this night attack published in the Richmond papers +it is known that the rebel Brigadier-General J. M. Jones, (commanding +the Stonewall Brigade) and many others were killed in the attack." + +In consequence of my wound I was absent from the brigade after the +battle of the Wilderness until August 26, 1864, and I am therefore +unable to give its movements and operations from personal knowledge. +Colonel Ball succeeded me on the field in command of the brigade, +and Colonel Horn in charge of the advance line in the night attack. +Seymour was not present with the attacking troops. He was captured +the next day, and the command of the brigade devolved on Colonel +B. F. Smith. + +To enable the reader to follow it through the battle I quote further +from my report of November 1, 1864. + +"Early on the morning of the 6th of May, the brigade formed in two +lines of battle and assaulted the enemy's works in its front, the +122d and 126th Ohio and 138th Pennsylvania in the front line, and +the 110th Ohio and 6th Maryland in the rear line. The brigade was +still the extreme right of the army. The assault was most vigorously +made, but the enemy was found to be in too great numbers and too +strongly fortified to be driven from his position. After suffering +very heavy loss, the troops were withdrawn to their original +position, where slight fortifications were thrown up. In the charge +the troops behaved most gallantly. The 122d and 126th Ohio and +138th Pennsylvania lost very heavily. + +"About 2 P.M. Brigadier-General Shaler's brigade, of the First +Division, Sixth Army Corps, took position upon the right of this +brigade, and became the extreme right of the army. + +"Skirmishing continued until about sunset, when the enemy turned +the right of the army and made an attack upon its flank and rear, +causing the troops to give way rapidly, and compelling them to fall +back for some distance before they were reformed. So rapid was +the enemy's advance upon the flank and rear, that time was not +given to change front to meet him, and some confusion occurred in +the retreat. Few prisoners were lost in the brigade. The lines +were soon re-established and the progress of the enemy stopped. +An attack was made by the enemy upon the re-established line about +8 P.M., but was handsomely repulsed. + +"Unfounded reports were circulated that the troops of this brigade +were the first to give way, when the first attack of the enemy was +made. + +"It is not improper to state here that no charges of bad conduct +are made against the troops upon its right, but that this brigade +remained at its post and successfully resisted a simultaneous attack +from the front, until the troops upon its right were doubled back +and were retreating in disorder through and along its lines." + +The presence of a general officer in authority, or an intelligent +staff officer representing him, would have averted the useless +slaughter of the evening of the 5th, and the disaster of the evening +of the 6th, which, for a time, threatened the safety of the whole +army. A brigade or more of troops thrown on the enemy's left by +a little _détour_ on either evening would have doubled it back and +given us, with little loss, that part of the field and a free swing +for the next day. + +The success in gaining ground on the 5th left our right in the air, +bent to the front, with the enemy on its flank, thus inviting the +attack made the next day by General J. B. Gordon, which drove back +the main part of the Sixth Corps on the Union centre. Gordon's +attack was a repetition of Stonewall Jackson's flank movement at +Chancellorsville, and it should have been so far anticipated as to +cause its disastrous failure. + +In field-hospital, on seeing a staff officer of mine (Captain Thomas +J. Black, who was having a wounded hand dressed), I discussed the +situation, and predicted the enemy would seize the favorable +opportunity of attacking. Anticipating the attack, my servant +(Andy Jackson), in his eager solicitude for my safety, kept by +horse near the tent, saddled, so I might, when it came, be assisted +on him, and escape. Gordon's men advanced far enough for their +bullets to pass through the hospital tents, but the hospital was +not taken. + +General Shaler's brigade of the First Division, Sixth Corps, having +been placed on the extreme right of the Sixth, was the first to +give way; then, the enemy being well on the rear of the Second +Brigade as well as on its flank, and it being at the same time +attacked from the front, it also gave way in some confusion, but, +under its brave officers, Colonels Ball, Horn, and McClennan, +Lieutenant-Colonels Granger, Ebright, Binkley, and others, it was +soon assembled in good line in front of Gordon's advancing column, +where it did much to arrest it. Generals Seymour and Shaler being +separated from their brigades, while searching for them were both +captured.(10) + +But somebody needed, and sought, a "_scapegoat_." There were only +three regiments in the Second Brigade--6th Maryland, 110th and 122d +Ohio, which had served under Milroy in the Shenandoah Valley in +1863. Somebody reported to the press, and probably to Grant, that +on the evening of the 6th of May troops that had fought there under +Milroy were on the extreme right of the army, and were the first +to give way. This was necessarily false, as these troops were not +then on the extreme right at all, and did not retire until the +force to their right had been broken and routed. General Grant to +Halleck, in an excusatory and exculpatory letter (May 7th), as to +the disaster on his right, said: "Milroy's old brigade was attacked +and gave way in great confusion, almost without resistance, carrying +good troops with them."(10) This statement may have been made to +tickle Halleck's ear, as he was known to hate Milroy and his friends, +but it was, nevertheless, untrue and grossly unjust. Of the three +regiments from the Shenandoah Valley, 494 (one third their number) +fell dead or wounded on that field, through inefficiency and blunders +of high officers who were never near enough to it to hear the fatal +thud or passing whiz of a rifle ball. Many others of these regiments +had fallen (nearby) on the heights of Orange Grove, the November +before. Grant, long after, acknowledged the injustice of his +statement. + +After I had been wounded, though yet in command of the attacking +force, a Major rode up from the left, and reported to me that his +officers and men were falling fast, and expressed the fear that +they could not be long held to their work. He was directed to +cheer them with the hope that the expected support would soon +arrive. As he swung his horse around to return, it was shot, fell, +and the Major, lighting on his feet, without a word quickly +disappeared (as seen by the light of flashing rifles) among the +dense scrub pines. He never was seen again, nor his body found. +He must have been killed, and his body consumed late by the great +conflagration which, feeding on the dry timber and _débris_, swept +the battle-field, licking up the precious blood and cremating the +bodies of the martyr dead. This was the gallant McElwain, who, in +the early morning, expressed so much anxiety for my safety. + +Colonel William H. Ball, on hearing, late at night, of my wound, +inquired particularly as to its nature, and being assured it was +serious, characteristically exclaimed: "Good! he will get home +now and survive the war; his fighting days are over." Not so, nor +yet with him. As I was borne to the left along the rear of the +line on a stretcher towards the field-hospital, about midnight, a +quickened ear caught the sound of a voice, giving loud command, +familiar to me years before at my home city. I summoned the officer, +and found him to be my fellow-townsman, Colonel Edwin C. Mason, +then commanding the 7th Maine. A day or two more and he, too, was +severely wounded. + +I had seen something of war, but, for the first time, my lot was +now cast with the dead, dying, and wounded in the rear. A soldier +on the line of battle sees his comrades fall, indifferently generally, +and continues to discharge his duty. The wounded get to the rear +themselves or with assistance and are seen no more by those in +battle line. Some of the medical staff in a well organized army, +with hospital stewards and attendants, go on the field to temporarily +bind up wounds, staunch the flow of blood, and direct the stretcher- +bearers and ambulance corps in the work of taking the wounded to +the operating surgeons at field-hospital. The dead need and generally +receive no attention until the battle is ended. + +On my arrival at hospital, about 2 P.M., I was carried through an +entrance to a large tent, on each side of which lay human legs and +arms, resembling piles of stove wood, the blood only excepted. +All around were dead and wounded men, many of the latter dying. +The surgeons, with gleaming, sometimes bloody, knives and instruments, +were busy at their work. I soon was laid on the rough board +operating table and chloroformed, and skilful surgeons--Charles E. +Cady (138th Pennsylvania) and Theodore A. Helwig (87th Pennsylvania) +--cut to the injured parts, exposed the fractured ends of the +shattered bones, dressed them off with saw and knife, and put them +again in place, splinted and bandaged. I was then borne to a pallet +on the ground to make room for--"_Next_." The sensation produced +by the anaesthetic, in passing to and from unconsciousness, was +exhilarating and delightful. For some hours, exhausted from loss +of blood as I was, I fell into short dozes, accompanied with fanciful +dreams. Not all have the same experience. + +From this hospital, on the 7th, I was taken by ambulance, in the +immense train of wounded, towards Spotsylvania Court House, but on +nearing that place, the train diverging from the track of the army, +moved, with the roar of the battle in our ears, slowly to +Fredericksburg. At its frequent halts, great kettles of beef tea +were made and brought to us. I drank gallons of it, as did others. +It was grateful to a thirsty, fevered palate, but afforded little +nourishment. For about ten days I was confined to a bed in a +private house--Mrs. Alsop's--taken for an officers' hospital. The +wounded from Spotsylvania also soon arrived at Fredericksburg, and +surgeons and nurses were overtaxed. Contract surgeons appeared +from the North; also nurses and attendants from each of the Sanitary +and Christian Commissions. I was visited by Miss Dorothea L. Dix +(then seventy years of age), who was in charge of a corps of hospital +nurses. Horace Mann had, long before, apotheosized her for her +philanthropic work for the insane.(11) A highly inflamed condition +of my arm threatened my life while here, but finally reaching Acquia +Creek, I went by hospital boat to Washington, thence home. +Everywhere, hotels, hospitals, boats, and cars were crowded with +the wounded, fresh from the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. Philanthropic +people of principal cities kept, day and night, surgeons with +skilled assistants at depots to care for the travelling wounded. + +But to return to the Wilderness. The Sixth Corps, with little +fighting, recovered its lost position on the morning of the 7th. +The Fifth had a fierce engagement on the 6th, to the left of the +Sixth Corps, but without material success. Hancock's corps, with +Wadsworth's division of the Fifth and Getty's of the Sixth, opened +a brilliant battle on the plank road at early dawn of the 6th, and +drove the enemy more than a mile along the road in some confusion, +when Longstreet's corps arrived on Hancock's left and turned the +tide of battle, and in turn our troops were forced back to their +former position on the Brock road. General James S. Wadsworth was +mortally wounded while rallying his men, and the heroic Getty was +severely wounded. The losses in this engagement on both sides were +great. General Jenkins of the Confederate Army was killed, and +Longstreet severely wounded. They were shot by mistake, by their +own men,(12) as was "Stonewall" Jackson at Chancellorsville. Lee, +in person, was on the plank road giving direction to the battle. +He exposed himself to danger, and despaired of the result. At a +critical moment he sent his "Adjutant-General, Colonel W. H. Taylor, +back to Parker's Store to get the trains ready for a movement to +the rear."(13) Grant, early on the 6th, put Burnside's corps in +between the turnpike and plank roads, and it sustained the battle +in the centre throughout the day, both armies holding well their +ground. The morning of the 7th found Lee's army retired and strongly +intrenched on a new line, with right near Parker's Store, and left +extending northward across the turnpike. + +On the 5th and 6th, Sheridan with his cavalry held the left flank +and covered the rear of the army, fighting and repulsing Stuart's +cavalry in attempts to penetrate to our rear. At Todd's Tavern, +on the 7th, a severe cavalry engagement took place in which Sheridan +was victorious. But the two great armies principally rested in +position on that day, and the great battle of the Wilderness, with +its alternate successes and repulses and its long lists of dead +and wounded, was ended. + +Grant, having decided not to fight further in the Wilderness country, +on the night of the 7th put his army in motion for Spotsylvania +Court-House, the cavalry preceding the Fifth Corps over the Brock +road, followed by the Second and Sixth Corps on the plank and +turnpike roads, with the army trains in the advance, the Ninth +Corps in the rear. Lee, having either anticipated or discovered +the movement, threw Longstreet's corps in Warren's front on the +Brock road, and heavy fighting ensued on the 8th, most of the corps +of both armies being, at different times, engaged. Wilson's cavalry +division gained possession of the Court-House, but, being unsupported, +withdrew. May 9th, the enemy was pressed and his position developed. +Two divisions of the Ninth Corps, finding the enemy on the +Fredericksburg road, drove him back and across the Ny River with +some loss. This day, Major-General John Sedgwick, commanding the +Sixth Corps, while on the advance line looking for the enemy's +position, was killed by a sharp-shooter. He had the confidence +and love of his corps. + +Sheridan, with the cavalry, cut loose from the main army on the +9th, with orders from Meade to move southerly, engage, whenever +possible, the enemy's cavalry, cut railroads, threaten Richmond, +and eventually communicate with or join the Union forces on James +River. He passed around the enemy's right and destroyed the depot +at Beaver Dam, two locomotives, three trains of cars, one hundred +other cars, and large quantities of stores and rations for Lee's +army; also the telegraph line and railroad track for ten miles, +and recaptured some prisoners. On the 10th of May he crossed the +South Anna at Ground Squirrel Bridge, captured Ashland Station, a +locomotive and a train of cars, and destroyed stores and railroad +track, and next day marched towards Richmond. At Yellow Tavern he +met the Confederate cavalry, defeated it, killing its commander, +General J. E. B. Stuart, and taking two pieces of artillery and +some prisoners, and forcing it to retreat across the Chickahominy. +On the 12th Sheridan reached the second line of works around +Richmond, then recrossed the Chickahominy, and after much hard +fighting arrived at Bottom's Bridge the morning of the 13th. On +the next day he was at Haxall's Landing on the James River, where +he sent off his wounded and recruited his men and horses. On the +24th he rejoined the Army of the Potomac at Chesterfield, returning +_via_ White House on the Pamunkey.(14) + +Fighting at and around Spotsylvania Court-House continued during +the 10th and 11th, and on the 12th Hancock's corps assaulted the +enemy's centre, capturing Major-General Edward Johnson, with General +George C. Steuart and about three thousand men of his division. +On advancing to the enemy's second line of breastworks, Hancock +met with desperate resistance at what is known as the salient, or +"_dead angle_." This was the key to Lee's position, and concentrating +there his batteries and best troops, he mercilessly sacrificed the +latter to hold it. The Second Corps was reinforced by the Sixth, +under Major-General Horatio G. Wright, the successor of Sedgwick. +The most deadly fighting occurred, and the dead and wounded of both +sides were greater, for the space covered, than anywhere in the +war, if not in all history. Wheaton's brigade of the Sixth Corps +fought in the "dead angle"; and the 126th Ohio of the Second Brigade, +Third Division, was detached and ordered to assault it. In making +the assault it lost every fourth man.(15) The whole of the Second +Brigade fought with conspicuous gallantry at Spotsylvania. + +The enemy retired to a shorter line during the night. From the +13th to the 17th, both armies being intrenched, nothing decisive +transpired, through there were frequent fierce conflicts. The +Union sick and wounded were sent to the rear _via_ Fredericksburg +and Acquia Creek, and supplies were brought forward.(16) + +General Grant, the morning of the 11th, wrote Halleck: + +"We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result +to this time is much in our favor. But our losses have been heavy, +as well as those of the enemy. We have lost to this time, eleven +general officers, killed, wounded, and missing, and probably 20,000 +men. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater. We have taken +over 4000 prisoners in battle, while he has taken but few except +stragglers. I am now sending back to Belle Plain all my wagons +for a fresh supply of provisions and ammunition, _and propose to +fight it out on this line if it takes all summer_."(17) + +The italics are mine, to emphasize the origin of the most frequently +quoted phrase of General Grant. + +The Union Army was moving by its left flank on the 19th, when Ewell +attempted to turn its right flank and get possession of the +Fredericksburg road, but he met a new division under General R. O. +Tyler, later, two divisions of the Second Corps, and Ferrero's +division of colored troops (twelve companies, 2000 strong, recently +from the defences of Washington), and was handsomely beaten back. + +The 9th New York Heavy Artillery, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel +William H. Seward, son of Secretary Seward, joined the Second +Brigade at North Anna River, the 26th of May.(18) + +The army, by the 26th, had crossed the North Anna at various fords, +and by the 28th it was across the Pamunkey at Hanoverton and Hundley +Fords, sharp engagements ensuing constantly. The 29th the enemy +was driven into his works behind the Totopotomy, the Sixth Corps +occupying Hanover Court-House. Warren was attacked, but repulsed +the enemy at Bethesda Church, and Barlow of the Sixth carried a +line of rifle-pits south of the river. The cavalry was engaged +during these movements in many affairs, and Sheridan with two +divisions occupied Cold Harbor the 31st, but was hard pressed until +Wright with the Sixth and General W. F. Smith (recently arrived +with the Eighteenth Corps from Butler on the James) relieved him. +These corps, June 1st, attacked and took part of the enemy's +intrenched line. + +At 6 P.M., in a general assault upon the enemy's works, Ricketts' +division (Third of Sixth) captured many prisoners and the works in +its front, and handsomely repulsed repeated efforts to retaken +them. In this assault the Second Brigade moved in the following +order: 6th Maryland and 138th Pennsylvania in the first line, 9th +New York in the second and third lines, and the 122d and 126th Ohio +in the fourth line, all preceded by the 110th Ohio on the skirmish +line. + +General Meade addressed this note to General Wright: + +"Please give my thanks to Brigadier-General Ricketts and his gallant +command for the very handsome manner in which they have conducted +themselves to-day. The success attained by them is of the greatest +importance, and if followed up will materially advance our +operations." + +The morning of the 3d, the division charged forward about two +hundred yards under a heavy fire and intrenched, using bayonets, +tin cups, and plates for the purpose.(19) At 4 A.M., June 3d, by +Grant's order, the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps and Barlow's division +of the Second assaulted the strongly fortified works of the enemy, +but suffered a most disastrous repulse--the bloodiest of the war. +Approximately 10,000 Union men fell. The number and strength of +the enemy's position was not well understood. He did not suffer +correspondingly. There were found to be deep ravines and a morass +in front of his fortifications. + +The assault was suspended about 7 A.M. and not renewed. Grant says +in his _Memoirs:_(20) + +"I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was +ever made." + +Other indecisive fighting occurred at Cold Harbor to the 12th, when +Lee's army having retired in consequence of further flank movements, +the last of the Union Army was withdrawn, and by June 13th, its +several corps crossing the Chickahominy at Long and Jones' Bridges, +reached the James River at Charles City Court-House. Sheridan, +meantime, with two cavalry divisions, was ordered to Gordonsville +to destroy the Central Railroad, and to communicate, if practicable, +with Hunter's expedition, then in progress in the Shenandoah Valley. +Sheridan fought a successful battle at Trevilian Station, June +11th, overthrowing Hampton and Fitz Lee's cavalry divisions. + +The Union Army soon crossed the James. + +Excluding captured and missing, the casualties in the Union Army +during the operations mentioned, shown by revised lists, are given +in the summary table following:(21) + + Killed. Wounded. Aggregate. + Officers. Men. Officers. Men. +Wilderness, May 5-7 143 2013 569 11,468 14,193 +Spotsylvania Court-House, May 8-21 + 174 2551 672 12,744 16,141 +North Anna, Pamunkey, and Totopotomoy, May 21-June 1 + 41 550 159 2,575 3,325 +Cold Harbor, Bethesda Church, etc., June 2-15 + 143 1702 433 8,644 10,922 +Todd's Tavern to James River (Cavalry, Sheridan), May 9-24 + 7 57 16 321 401 +Trevilian raid (Cavalry, Sheridan), June 7-24 + 14 136 43 695 888 + ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ + Totals 522 7009 1892 36,447 45,870.(22) + +There do not seem to exist any lists, at all complete, by which a +summary of casualties of killed and wounded in the Confederate Army +during the Wilderness campaign can be made up, but, barring Cold +Harbor, they were, doubtless, approximately as great as in the +Union Army. During the campaign the Union Army captured 22 field +guns and lost 3. It captured at least 67 colors. And reports show +the Army of the Potomac, from May 1 to 12, 1864, took 7078 prisoners, +and from May 12 to July 31, 1864, 6506; total, 13,584. + +The Union reports show the "captured and missing [Union], May 4th +to June 24th," to be 8966.(23) + +The killed and wounded in the Sixth Army Corps, May 5 to June 15, +1864, were 10,614; in the Third Division thereof, 1993, and in the +Second Brigade of this division, 1246. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xxxiii., p. 827. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxxiii., p. 664. + +( 3) _Ibid_., p. 827-9. + +( 4) _Ibid_., p. 1017. + +( 5) _War Records_., vol. xxxiii., p. 1022. + +( 6) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), p. 544-5. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part II., p. 370. + +( 8) _Ibid_., Part I., p. 189 (Meade's Report). + +( 9) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 331. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part II., pp. 729, 742, 745, 748. + +(11) _Twelve Sermons_, p. 302. + +(12) _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 564. + +(13) _Memoirs of Lee_, A. L. Long, p. 330. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., pp. 193, 776-792. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., p. 749. + +(16) _Ibid_., pp. 188-195 (Meade's Report). + +(17) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., p. 627. + +(18) _Ibid_., pp. 734, 740. + +(19) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., p. 734-5 (Keifer's +Report). + +(20) Vol. ii., p. 276. + +(21) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., p. 188 (119-198). + +(22) It is interesting to note that the ratio of killed to wounded, +shown by this table is almost exactly 1 to 5, that is 16.6 per +cent. of the whole number were killed; that of the killed, 1 out +of every 14.6 was an officer; of the wounded, 1 out of 20 was an +officer; of the whole number killed and wounded, 1 officer was +killed out of every 88, 1 officer was wounded out of every 24.3, +and 1 enlisted man was killed out of every 6.5, and one officer +was killed or wounded out of every 19. + +(23) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., pp. 188, 196. + + +CHAPTER VII +Campaign South of James River and Petersburg--Hunter's Raid--Battle +of Monocacy--Early's Advance on Washington (1864)--Sheridan's +Movements in Shenandoah Valley, and Other Events + +In pursuance of the general plan, as we have seen, General B. F. +Butler had organized at Fortress Monroe the Army of the James, +composed of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps, commanded, respectively, +by Generals Quincy A. Gilmore and W. F. Smith. It moved by transports +up the James River on May 4, 1864, and effected a landing without +serious resistance at Bermuda Hundred the night of the 5th. At +the same time General Kautz, with 3000 cavalry, made a raid from +Suffolk and destroyed a portion of the Petersburg and Weldon +Railroad. These movements caused a hasty concentration against +Butler of all the available troops from the Carolinas. Beauregard +was put in command of them. There was some indecisive fighting +between parts of Butler's army at Stony Creek, Jarratt's Station, +and White Bridge, and there were somewhat general engagements at +Port Walthall Junction, Chester Station, Swift Creek, Proctor's +Creek, and Drewry's Bluff, and some minor affairs along the James. +Kautz, making a second successful raid, cut the Richmond and Danville +Railroad at Caulfield, destroying bridges, tracks, and depots. +The result of all was to leave Butler's command strongly intrenched +at Bermuda Hundred, but unable to advance and seriously threaten +Richmond. + +The term "Bottled up," an expression used to describe Butler's +position, was derived from a dispatch of Grant to the War Department +in which he referred to Butler's situation between the James and +the Appomattox with the enemy intrenched across his front, as being +"like a bottle."( 1) + +Grant ordered Smith's corps to reinforce the Army of the Potomac. +Butler attacked Petersburg on the 9th of June, chiefly with Gilmore's +corps, but, for want of co-operation by the several attacking +bodies, the place was not taken. General Butler attributed the +defeat to Gilmore's failure to obey orders and act with energy.( 2) + +After Smith's withdrawal, Butler did little more than hold his +position. The Army of the Potomac crossed to the south of the +James on June 14th. An attack was made by Meade on Petersburg on +the 16th, principally with troops under Hancock and Burnside, by +which a part only of the enemy's works with one battery and some +prisoners were taken. Fighting continued on the 17th, and a general +assault was ordered at daylight on the 18th, but on advancing it +was found that the enemy had retired to an inner and stronger line. +Later in the day unsuccessful assaults were made on this new line +by portions of the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Corps. It was then +ascertained that Lee's main army had reached Petersburg, and further +efforts to take it by assault were abandoned.( 3) There was much +fighting, extending through June, by detachments of infantry, for +possession of roads, all of which, however, was indecisive. Wilson +and Kautz's cavalry divisions, on the 22d, in a raid took Reams +Station and destroyed some miles of the Weldon Railroad, and the +next day, after defeating W. H. F. Lee's cavalry near Nottoway +Station, reached Burkeville junction and destroyed the depot and +about twenty miles of railroad track. The succeeding day they +destroyed the railroad from Meherim Station to Roanoke Bridge, a +distance of twenty-five miles, but on returning they encountered +at Reams Station, on the 28th, the enemy's cavalry and a strong +force of infantry, and were defeated, with the loss of trains and +artillery. The Sixth Corps was sent to their relief, but arrived +at the Station after the affair was over and the enemy had withdrawn.( 4) + +I shall not undertake to give the important movements and operations +( 5) of the troops under Grant in front of Petersburg and Richmond, +during the remainder fo the summer and the fall of 1864, as the +troops in which I was immediately interested were, early in July, +transferred to Maryland and Washington. A summary of the occurrences +in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia is, however, necessary +to enable the reader the better to understand important events soon +to be narrated. + +General Franz Sigel, in command of the Department of West Virginia, +moved up the Valley, and was defeated at New Market on the 15th of +May. He retired to the north bank of Cedar Creek. His loss was +about 1000 killed, wounded, and captured, and seven pieces of +artillery. General George Crook, proceeding _via_ Fayetteville, +Raleigh, and Princeton, fought the battle of Cloyd's Mountain on +the 9th of May and gained a brilliant victory. He did much damage +to the enemy, and returned to Meadow Bluff, on the Kanawha. General +David Hunter relieved Sigel in command of the department on the +21st, and joined the troops at Cedar Creek in the Valley, on the +26th. Sigel was assigned to command a Reserve Division along the +line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. + +Hunter and Crook, from their respective positions, moved towards +Staunton on the 30th. Hunter met the enemy under General W. E. +Jones at Piedmont, on June 5th, and after a severe engagement +defeated him, killing Jones and capturing about 1500 prisoners. +Hunter reached Staunton on the 6th, and was joined by Crook on the +8th. They here destroyed railroads, Confederate supplies, mills, +and factories, and, together, advanced towards Lexington on the +10th. They were now opposed by McCausland, whose command was +chiefly cavalry. Lexington was taken on the 11th, after some +fighting, and with it large quantities of military supplies. A +portion of the James River Canal and a number of extensive iron- +works were destroyed. Hunter burned the Virginia Military Institute +and all buildings connected therewith on the 12th. He also burned +the residence of ex-Governor John Letcher. Doubts have been +entertained as to whether the burning of the Institute or Letcher's +home could be justified under the rules of modern warfare. The +Institute, however, was a preparatory school for Confederate +officers, and its Principal, Colonel Smith, with 250 cadets, united +with McCausland's troops in the defence of Lexington. Letcher had +issued a violent and inflammatory proclamation inciting the population +to rise and wage a guerilla warfare on the Union troops.( 6) + +Hunter proceeded _via_ Buchanan and by the Peaks of Otter road +across the Blue Ridge, and arrived at Liberty, twenty-four miles +from Lynchburg, on the 15th. Here he heard rumors through Confederate +channels of disasters to Grant and Sherman's armies, and of Sheridan's +fighting at Trevilian Station. Hunter was also told Breckinridge +was in Lynchburg with all the rebel forces in West Virginia, and +that Ewell's corps, 20,000 strong, was arriving to reinforce him. +Notwithstanding these reports, Hunter commenced an advance on the +16th on Lynchburg. His several columns met stubborn resistance on +this and the succeeding day, but at night, after a spirited affair +at Diamond Hill, he encamped his forces near the town. It became +known to Hunter on the 18th that Lieutenant-General Jubal A. Early, +with Ewell's corps from Lee's army, was at Lynchburg. Early and +Breckinridge's combined commands far outnumbered Hunter's forces. +The situation was critical for Hunter. He maintained a bold front, +however, until nightfall, and then withdrew _via_ Liberty and +Buford's Gap to New Castle and Sweet Springs. General Wm. A. +Averell with the cavalry covered the rear. The enemy pursued rather +tardily to Salem, where Early concentrated his army. Hunter chose, +in his retreat, the Lewisburg route to Charleston on the Kanawha, +rather than retire down the Shenandoah Valley or by Warm Springs +and the South Branch of the Potomac. The latter route would have +had the advantage of bringing him out at Cumberland or New Creek +on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, much nearer to his proper base +at Martinsburg or Harper's Ferry. His retreat, on the line chosen, +left the Valley, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Baltimore +and Washington practically without defence. Hunter arrived at +Charleston on the 30th, having marched through White Sulphur Springs, +Lewisburg, and Meadow Bluff. From near Liberty, on the 16th, he +sent his supply train of 200 wagons, 141 prisoners, and his sick +and wounded in charge of Captain T. K. McCann, A.Q.M. of Volunteers, +with orders to reach the Kanawha at Charleston. The train was +guarded by parts of the 152d and 161st Ohio Volunteers--one hundred +day men, commanded by Colonel David Putnam of the former regiment. +At Greenbrier River, on the 22d, the train was attacked by the +Thurmond brothers, and forced to return to White Sulphur Springs. +From thence it proceeded through Hillsborough to Beverly, where it +arrived on the 27th.( 7) Hunter's raid, so brilliantly begun, thus +unfortunately ended. + +Early reached Lynchburg on the 17th of June and assumed command of +all the forces there, including those under Breckinridge. Early +pursued Hunter to the mountains, and then, on the 23d, marched +rapidly through Staunton and down the Shenandoah Valley, with the +purpose of invading Maryland, in pursuance of instructions given +him by Lee before being detached from the latter's main army.( 8) + +Sigel was now holding Maryland Heights. Early, therefore, on the +8th of July crossed the Potomac higher up the river, and reached +Frederick City, Maryland, the morning of the 9th.( 9) + +Hunter's command was obliged to descend the Kanawha by boats, then +ascend the Ohio to Parkersburg, and from there move by rail to +Cumberland and points on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Hunter +did not leave Charleston until July 3d, nor Parkersburg until the +8th, and did not reach Cumberland with any part of his army until +the 9th. He was then too remote to be available in an effort to +resist Early's invasion.(10) + +Early's movements in the Valley caused loud calls for troops, and +Grant ordered Ricketts' division (Sixth Corps) to Maryland. The +division left its camp in front of the Williams house on the 6th +of July, and the same day embarked at City Point for Baltimore. +It disembarked at Locust Point, near Baltimore, on the morning of +the 8th, and took cars for Monocacy Junction, where, on the same +day, parts of two brigades of the division joined General Lew +Wallace, then in command of the department. + +Prior to Ricketts' arrival Wallace had only been able to gather +together, under General E. B. Tyler, two regiments of the Potomac +Home Brigade, the 11th Maryland Infantry, two Ohio one hundred day +regiments (144th and 149th), the 8th Illinois Cavalry, and a +detachment of the 159th Ohio (one hundred day regiment), serving +as mounted infantry, all new or inexperienced troops.(11) He had +only one battery of artillery. Sigel, still at Maryland Heights, +was therefore unavailable as against Early. Only the First Brigade, +numbering 1750 men, under Colonel Truax, and a part of the Second +Brigade (138th Pennsylvania, 9th New York Heavy Artillery, 110th +and 126th Ohio), 1600 strong, Colonel McClennan commanding, of +Ricketts' veteran troops reached the battle-field. Tyler went into +position on the right, covering the stone bridge, and Ricketts on +the left. The position chosen by Wallace was good, strategically, +and also strong to resist a front attack by a superior force. It +was behind the Monocacy River, covering the railroad bridge and +the public highway and another bridge, and also had for lines of +retreat the turnpikes to Baltimore and Washington. If the position +were held, communication could be kept up with these cities, also +with Sigel at the Heights. It was Early's purpose to destroy +Wallace or brush him aside and move on Washington. Early moved +from Frederick at 8 A.M., the 9th of July, and after demonstrating +on Wallace's front, marched Gordon's troops around by a ford to +fall on Ricketts' left. The latter changed front to the left to +meet Gordon. The battle opened in earnest at 10.30 A.M. The +enemy's superiority in artillery gave him a great advantage, and +most of the day Ricketts' troops held their position under an +enfilading fire from Early's batteries. The enemy's front was so +great that Ricketts, to meet it, had to put his entire command into +one line. Gordon's first and second lines were beaten back, and +his third and fourth lines were, later, brought into action on the +Union left. Early put in his reserves there, and still Ricketts' +troops were unbroken and undismayed. It was, however, evident the +unequal contest must result in defeat, hence Wallace ordered a +retreat on the Baltimore pike. Ricketts did not commence to retire +until 4 P.M., and then in good order. Tyler's troops fought well, +and held the stone bridge until Ricketts had passed off the field. +Early was so seriously hurt that he did not or could not make a +vigorous or immediate pursuit. Save some detachments of cavalry, +he halted his army at the stone bridge. The Union loss was 10 +officers and 113 men killed and 36 officers and 567 men wounded, +total, 726, besides captured or missing.(12) Colonel Wm. H. Seward +(9th N. Y. H. A.) was slightly wounded and had an ankle broken by +the fall of his horse on its being shot. + +The veteran Third Division lost 656 of the killed and wounded, and +the troops under Tyler 70. My former assistant adjutant-general, +Captain Wm. A. Hathaway, was killed in this action. The total +killed and wounded in the Second Brigade, from May 5th to July 9th, +inclusive, was 2033,(13) more than half the number lost under Scott +and Taylor in the Mexican War. + +No report of the Confederate loss has been found, but from the +strong Union position, the character of the Confederate attacks, +and the number of wounded (400) left in hospital, it must have +largely exceeded that of the loyal army. Early says in his report, +written immediately after the battle, that his loss "was between +600 and 700."(14) + +On the morning of the 10th, Early marched _via_ Rockville towards +Washington, and arrived in front of the fortifications on the +Seventh Street pike late the next day. He met no resistance on +the way. Wallace, with Ricketts, had retired towards Baltimore. +Great consternation reigned at the Capital, and the volunteer +militia of the District of Columbia were called out. + +The defences were, however, feebly manned. The First and Second +Divisions of the Sixth Corps embarked at City Point on the 10th, +and a portion of the Second reached Fort Stevens on the 11th, about +the time Early reached its front, and the First Division, with the +remainder of the Second, arrived next morning. Some skirmishing +took place in front of the fort, witnessed by President Lincoln. +Many government employees and citizens were put in the trenches. +Early retreated across the Potomac to Leesburg, somewhat precipitately, +commencing after nightfall on the 12th. He again reached the Valley +on the 15th. The Sixth Corps under Wright pursued Early on the +13th, but did not come up with him. Ricketts' division rejoined +its corps on the 17th. Portions of Hunter and Crook's commands also +joined Wright, who moved _via_ Snicker's Gap into the Valley at +Berryville. Wright alternately retired and advanced his army, +crossing and recrossing the Potomac, until August 5th, when he was +at Monocacy Junction, Maryland. + +It should be stated in this connection that Early sent General +Bradley Johnson with his brigade of cavalry to cut the Northern +Central and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads; he succeeded in doing +this, and also in destroying some bridges and two passenger trains. +One bridge on the railroad between Washington and Baltimore was +destroyed by Johnson while on his way to Point Lookout, Maryland, +to release Confederate prisoners. One of the principal objects +Lee had in ordering Early into Maryland was to release these +prisoners.(15) When Early retired from Washington he recalled +Johnson. + +The most remarkable thing connected with the campaign just described +was the utter dispersion of the thousands of troops in West Virginia +and the Valley under Hunter, Sigel, Crook, Averell, and B. F. Kelley, +so that none of them participated in the battle of Monocacy or the +defence of Washington. + +Wright had been assigned, July 13th,(16) to command all the troops +engaged in the pursuit of Early, including a portion of the Nineteenth +Corps under General W. H. Emory, just arriving by transport from +the Army of the James. Hunter still remained in command of the +Department of West Virginia. The recent failure of Hunter caused +him to be distrusted for field work, and another commander was +sought. General Sheridan was, by Grant, ordered from the Army of +the Potomac, August 2d, to report to Halleck at Washington. In a +dispatch to Halleck of August 1st, Grant said he wanted Sheridan +put in command of all the troops in the field. On this being shown +to President Lincoln (August 3d), he impatiently wired Grant:(17) + +"I have seen your dispatch in which you say 'I want Sheridan put +in command of all the troops in the field with instructions to put +himself south of the enemy and follow him to the death. Wherever +the enemy goes let our troops go also.' This, I think, is exactly +right as to how our forces should move; but please look over the +dispatches you may have received from here ever since you made that +order, and discover, if you can, that there is any idea in the head +of any one here of 'putting our army south of the enemy,' or of +'following him to the death' in any direction. I repeat to you it +will neither be done nor attempted, unless you watch it every day +and hour and force it." + +Sheridan reached Harper's Ferry, August 7th, and assumed command +of the newly constituted Middle Military Division, including the +Middle Department, and the Departments of Washington, Susquehanna, +and West Virginia.(18) The First Division of the cavalry, commanded +by General Alfred T. A. Torbert, reached Sheridan from before +Petersburg, August 9th. Sheridan moved on the 10th, and reached +Cedar Creek twelve miles south of Winchester on the Strasburg pike +on the 12th, encountering some opposition at Opequon Creek, +Winchester, and Newtown. Early was reinforced by Kershaw's division +of Longstreet's corps, and by other detachments from Lee's army. +The enemy manoeuvred on Sheridan's flanks, and by August 22d the +Union Army had retired to Halltown and Harper's Ferry. + +Thus far Lincoln's predictions were fulfilled. But great events +were soon to follow. + +( 1) _Memoirs of Grant_, vol. ii., p. 151. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part II., p. 273, 291. _Butler's +Book_, p. 677. + +( 3) _Ibid_., vol. xl., p. 168. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. xl., Part II., p. 169. + +( 5) The memorable "Mine explosion," under the immediate direction +of Burnside, occurred July 30, 1864. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., p. 97. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., p. 99, 101, 618-19, 683. + +( 8) _Ibid_., 346, 347. + +( 9) _Ibid_., 302. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii. Part I., p. 102. + +(11) _Ibid_., 200. + +(12) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., p. 201-2. + +(13) _Ibid_., pp. 206-7. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., pp. 348-9. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., pp. 349, 767, 769. + +(16) _Ibid_., Part II., pp. 261, 284. + +(17) _Ibid_., Part I., p. 582. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 709, 719, 721. + + +CHAPTER VIII +Personal Mention of Generals Sheridan, Wright, and Ricketts, and +Mrs. Ricketts--Also Generals Crook and Hayes--Battle of Opequon, +Under Sheridan, September, 1864, and Incidents + +I had so far recovered from the wound received in the Wilderness +as to enable me to reach Baltimore, August 25th, on the way to the +army, though my arm was yet in splints and a sling. In response +to a telegram, the War Department directed me to report to General +Sheridan. I reached Harper's Ferry the next day. When I reported +to Sheridan, he looked at me fiercely, and observed: "I want +fighting men, not cripples. What can I do with you?" I asked +him to order me to General Wright for assignment to my old brigade. +He seemed to hesitate. I informed him of my familiarity with the +Shenandoah Valley, and told him I thought I was able for duty. He +gave the desired order reluctantly. + +Sheridan did not impress me favorably then. He seemed restless, +nervous, and petulant. I now think I somewhat misjudged him. He +was thirty-three years of age,( 1) in full vigor of manly strength. +He had, both in infantry and cavalry commands, won renown as a +soldier, though his highest fame was yet to be achieved. He was +short of stature, especially broad across the shoulders, with legs +rather short even for his height. His head was quite large, nose +prominent, eyes full; he had a strong face, and was of a cheerful, +social disposition, rather than retiring and taciturn. Irish +characteristics predominated in him, and when not on duty he was +disposed to be rollicking and free and easy. He was not hard to +approach by his inferiors, but he was not always discriminating in +the language he used to them. He did not seem to be a deliberate +thinker or reasoner, and often gave the impression that his decisions +or opinions were off-hand and not the result of reflection. In +the quiet of camp he seemed to be less able to combine or plan +great movements than in emergencies in the field. In a battle he +often showed the excitement of his impetuous nature, but he never +lost his head or showed any disposition save to push the enemy. +These are some opinions formed after seeing him in several great +battles, and knowing him personally through all the later years of +his life. It remains to say that he was an honest man, and devotedly +loyal to his friends. His fame as a soldier of a high class will +endure. + +Generals Wright and Ricketts each received me warmly, and, as +always, showed me the utmost kindness. + +Horatio G. Wright was a skilled and educated soldier, of the engineer +class. He, like the great Thomas, was of a most lovable disposition +and temperament. He had held many important commands during the +war; had failed in none, and yet uncomplainingly suffered himself +to be assigned from the command of a department to that of a division +of troops. He was unfortunate once, as we shall see, and the glory +of his chief shone so brightly as to dim the subordinate's well +earned fame. But I must not anticipate. Wright was especially +fitted to command infantry--a corps or more in battle. His +intercourse with his officers was kindly and assuring under all +circumstances. His characteristics as a soldier were of the +unassuming, sturdy, solid kind--never pyrotechnic. He was modest, +and not specially ambitious. In brief, he was a great soldier. + +James B. Ricketts was also a highly educated soldier, and when I +met him in the Valley he had been in many battles. He was a man +of great modesty, of quiet demeanor, and of the most generous +impulses. He never spoke unkindly of any person, and was always +just to superiors and inferiors. He was wounded at Bull Run (1861), +and captured and confined for many months in prison at Richmond. +His heroic wife, Fanny Ricketts, on learning of his being wounded, +joined him on the battle-field, and shared his six months' captivity +to nurse him.( 2) The special mention of Wright and Ricketts and +his wife must be pardoned by the reader, as they were of my best +friends, not only during, but since the war. Mrs. Ricketts was +often in camp with her husband, and though a most refined lady, +was, by disposition, education, and spirit quite capable of commanding +an army corps. She possessed great executive ability. + +Two other officers whose acquaintance I formed in the Valley in +1864, and who were in after life my friends, I venture to mention +also. + +George Crook was an ideal soldier. He was born near Dayton, Ohio, +September 8, 1828, and was a West Point graduate. He was of medium +stature, possessed of a gentle but heroic spirit, and justly won +renown in the War of the Rebellion, and subsequently in Indian +wars. He died suddenly in Chicago, March 21, 1890. His body is +buried at Arlington in the midst of his fallen war-comrades. He +left no children. His fame as a patriot and soldier belongs to +history. + +Rutherford B. Hayes, a brigade commander in the opening of Sheridan's +Valley campaign, was born at Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822. He +was not educated for a soldier. He was a man of medium height, +strong body, sandy hair, sanguine temperament, and was always self- +possessed, and gentle in his intercourse with others. He was a +most efficient officer and had the power to inspire his men to +heroic deeds. He was twice wounded, and retired at the end of the +war distinguished as a volunteer soldier. Subsequently he served +a term in Congress, three terms as Governor of Ohio, and was +President of the United States 1877 to 1881. + +I assumed command of my old brigade on the 26th of August, near +Halltown. Its ranks had been much depleted, yet it numbered about +2000 effective men, including recruits. It was then composed of +the 6th Maryland, 110th, 122d, and 126th Ohio, 67th and 138th +Pennsylvania, and 9th New York Heavy Artillery serving as infantry. +I found still with it, in command of regiments, Colonels John W. +Horn and Wm. H. Ball, Lieutenant-Colonels Otho H. Binkley and Aaron +W. Ebright, who had each passed safely through the recent bloody +campaigns. + +Sheridan's cavalry made daily reconnoissances, and frequently +engaged the enemy in advance of Charlestown. A cavalry reconnoissance +was made on the 29th which brought on an attack, near Smithfield, +by Fitz Lee's cavalry supported by infantry. The report came that +our cavalry under General Wesley Merritt were being driven back, +and Ricketts was ordered to go to its relief. As I was familiar +with the roads and country, he sent me forward with my brigade and +some attached troops. We met our cavalry about two miles from +Smithfield retiring in a somewhat broken condition. I deployed my +command on its left and pushed the enemy back to a ridge about a +mile north of that place. Here he made a stand, displaying +considerable force. I decided to attack at once. While preparing +for an advance, I discovered what appeared to be a considerable +body of cavalry forming for a charge on my left flank. My line +was single, and I was without support in that direction. At this +juncture a small number of mounted officers and men appeared on a +knoll to my rear. I supposed them to be a body of cavalry sent +forward to participate in the engagement. I rode to advise the +officer in command of the threatened danger. I found there Sheridan +and his staff and escort; also Merritt and some of his staff. +Sheridan had ridden to the front to see the situation. He seemed +surprised to see me, and asked sharply, "What are _you_ doing here?" +There was no time then for parley, as my command had already begun +to advance. I told him of the danger, and pointed out to him the +enemy's cavalry on our left, and asked for a force to meet it. He +responded that he had no force on hand. I suggested that the +cavalry with him, if immediately thrown well out to the left in a +threatening position, would answer the purpose. He replied: "---- + ----, that is my escort." I rejoined that it was needed badly, +and might save disaster. With a somewhat amused expression on his +face he ordered it to move as I indicated.( 3) + +About the time of this incident a puff of smoke from a rifle, fired +on the heights held by the enemy about a mile distant, was seen. +Almost instantly a familiar _thud_ was heard, and all looked around +to see who of the assembled officers had been hit. Major (Surgeon) +W. H. Rulison (9th New York Cavalry), serving as Medical Director +of the Cavalry, was killed by the shot.( 4) + +The enemy was driven from the ridge and we were soon in possession +of Smithfield.( 5) Merritt's cavalry took post at the bridge, and +the infantry were withdrawn to camp near Charlestown. + +Sheridan threw his whole army forward on September 3d, the infantry +stretching from Clifton farm on the right to Berryville on the +left. On this day there was short but fierce fighting between +Averell and McCausland's cavalry at Bunker Hill, in which the latter +was defeated with loss in prisoners, wagons, and supplies, and also +between Crook's command and Kershaw's division. The latter seems +to have run, at nightfall, unexpectedly, into Crook, near Berryville, +and was severely punished. Kershaw was of Longstreet's corps and +was then under orders to return to Lee's army at Petersburg. No +other event of greater importance than a reconnoissance occurred +until the 19th. + +Sheridan's army was then composed of the Sixth Corps, under Wright +--three divisions, commanded, respectively, by Generals David A. +Russell, George W. Getty, and James B. Ricketts, and an artillery +brigade of six batteries; the Nineteenth Corps under Emory--two +divisions and four batteries; Eighth Corps (Army of West Virginia) +under Crook--two divisions, and an artillery brigade of three +batteries. Besides the troops mentioned, there were three divisions +of cavalry and eight light or horse artillery batteries, commanded +by General Alfred A. T. Torbert. The cavalry divisions were +commanded, respectively, by Generals Wesley Merritt, Wm. W. Averell, +and James H. Wilson.( 6) Although there were in Sheridan's command +about 50,000 men present for duty, they were so scattered, guarding +railroads and various positions, that he was not able to take into +battle more then 25,000 men of all arms.( 7) Early had in the +Valley District Ewell's corps, Breckinridge's command, and at least +one division of Longstreet's corps, Fitz Lee's and McCausland's +cavalry divisions and other cavalry organizations, and it is probable +that he was not able to bring into battle more then 25,000 effective +men. These estimates will hold good through the months of September +and October, though some additions and changes took place in each +army. Grant met Sheridan at Charlestown the 16th, to arrange a +plan for the latter to attack Early. Sheridan drew from his pocket +a plat showing the location of the opposing armies, roads, streams, +etc., and detailed to Grant a plan of battle of his own, saying he +could whip Early. Grant approved the plan, and did not even exhibit +one of his own, previously prepared. This meeting was on Friday. +Sheridan was to move the next Monday.( 8) + +Sheridan gives much credit to Miss Rebecca M. Wright of Winchester +for sending him information by a messenger that Kershaw's division +and Cutshaw's artillery, under General Anderson, had started to +rejoin General Lee.( 9) + +The enemy was in camp about five miles north of Winchester at +Stephenson's Depot, his cavalry extending eastward to the crossing +of the Opequon by the Berryville pike. Our camps were, in general, +about six miles to the northward of Opequon Creek. Sheridan's plan +submitted to Grant was to avoid Early's army, pass to the east of +Winchester, and strike the Valley pike at Newtown, seven miles +south of Winchester, and there, being in Early's rear, force him +to give battle.(10) Early moved two divisions to Martinsburg on +the 18th, which caused Sheridan suddenly to change his plan and +determine to attack the remaining divisions at Stephenson's Depot. +Early, however, did not tarry at Martinsburg, but learning there +of Grant's visit to Sheridan, and fearing some aggressive movement, +returned the same night, leaving Gordon's division at Bunker's Hill +with orders to start at daylight the next morning for the Depot. +Gordon reached the Depot about the time the battle opened.(11) + +Sheridan's final plan for the expected battle was set forth in +orders issued on the 18th. It was for Wilson's cavalry and Wright's +corps to force a crossing of Opequon Creek on the Berryville pike. +Emory was to report to Wright and follow him. As soon as the open +country, south of the Opequon, was reached, Wright was to put both +corps in line of battle fronting Stephenson's Depot. Crook's +command was to move to the same crossing of the Opequon and be held +there as a reserve. Merritt and Averell's cavalry divisions under +Torbert were to move to the right in the direction of Bunker +Hill.(12) + +The army moved at 2 A.M. of the 19th as ordered. Wilson's cavalry +succeeded in crossing the creek and driving the enemy's cavalry +through a deep defile some two miles towards Winchester. Wright +followed, Getty's division leading, Ricketts and Russell following. +When the defile was passed, Getty went into position on the left +of the pike, Ricketts on the right, both in two lines, and Russell's +division was held in reserve. My brigade was the right of the +corps as formed for battle. The only battery up was put in position +on the right. The Nineteenth Corps was ordered to form on the +right of the Sixth and to connect with it. Up to this time no +severe fighting had taken place. Early was forced to move the main +part of his army to his right to cover the Berryville and Winchester +pike. Upon our side much delay occurred in getting up the artillery +and the Nineteenth Corps, during which time we were exposed to an +incessant fire from the enemy's guns. The Nineteenth did not make +a close connection on the right of the Sixth. Not until 11.40 A.M. +was the order given for a general attack. Ricketts' division was +to keep its left on the pike. As soon as the advance commenced +the Sixth Corps was exposed to a heavy artillery fire from the +enemy's batteries, but it went forward gallantly for about one +mile, driving or capturing all before it. General Ricketts, in +his report of September 27th, described what took place: + +"The Nineteenth Corps did not move and keep connection with my +right, and the turnpike upon which the division was dressing bore +to the left, causing a wide interval between the Sixth and Nineteenth +Corps. As the lines advanced the interval became greater. The +enemy, discovering this fact, hurled a large body of men towards +the interval and threatened to take my right in flank. Colonel +Keifer at once caused the 138th and 67th Pennsylvania and 110th +Ohio to break their connection with the right of the remainder of +his brigade and move towards the advancing columns of the enemy. +These three regiments most gallantly met the overwhelming masses +of the enemy and held them in check. As soon as the Nineteenth +Corps engaged the enemy the force in my front commenced slowly +retiring. The three regiments named were pushed forward until they +came upon two batteries (eight guns), silencing them and compelling +the enemy to abandon them. The three regiments had arrived within +less than two hundred yards of the two batteries when the Nineteenth +Corps, after a most gallant resistance, gave way. These guns would +have been taken by our troops had our flanks been properly protected. +The enemy at once came upon my right flank in large force; successful +resistance was no longer possible; the order was given for our men +to fall back on our second line, but the enemy advancing at the +time in force threw us temporarily in confusion." + +The repulse of the Nineteenth, and consequently of my three regiments, +left Breckinridge's corps full on our right flank, threatening +disaster to the army. Wright promptly put in Russell's division, +until then in reserve, and the progress of the enemy was arrested. +Here the brave David A. Russell lost his life. My report, written +September 27, 1864, described, in general, a further part taken by +my brigade: + +"The broken troops of my brigade were halted and reformed in a +woods behind troops from the reserve, which had come forward to +fill up the interval. As soon as reformed, they were moved forward +again over the same ground they had traversed the first time. +While moving this portion of my brigade forward, I received an +order from Brigadier-General Ricketts, commanding division, to +again unite my brigade near the centre of the corps, and to the +right of the turnpike, near a house. This order was obeyed at +once, and my whole brigade was placed on one line, immediately +confronting the enemy. The four regiments of my brigade, that were +upon the left, kept connection with the First Brigade, Third +Division, and fought desperately, in the main driving the enemy. +They also captured a considerable number of prisoners in their +first advance. + +"Heavy firing was kept up along the whole line until about 4 P.M., +when a general advance took place. The enemy gave way before the +impetuosity of our troops, and were soon completely routed. This +brigade pressed forward with the advance line to, and into, the +streets of Winchester. The rout of the enemy was everywhere +complete. Night came on, and the pursuit was stopped. The troops +of my brigade encamped with the corps on the Strasburg and Front +Royal roads, south of Winchester." + +It was Sheridan's design, if Wright's attack had been completely +successful, to push Crook rapidly past Winchester and seize the +Strasburg pike, and thus cut off Early's retreat; but the repulse +of the Nineteenth Corps made it necessary to move Crook to our +right. This caused some delay, during which the Sixth Corps bore +the brunt of the battle. General Hayes, in his report, dated +October 13, 1864, described the part taken by a division of Crook's +command: + +"I have to honor to report that at the battle of Opequon, September +19, 1864, the Second Infantry Division, Army of West Virginia, was +commanded by Colonel Isaac H. Duval until late in the afternoon of +that day, when he was disabled by a severe wound, and the command +of the division devolved upon me. Colonel Duval did not quit the +field until the defeat of the enemy was accomplished and the serious +fighting ended. The division took no part in the action during the +forenoon, but remained in reserve at the Opequon bridge, on the +Berryville and Winchester pike. The fighting of other portions of +the army had been severe, but indecisive. There were some indications +as we approached the battle-field soon after noon that the forces +engaged in the forenoon had been overmatched. About 1 P.M. this +division was formed on the extreme right of the infantry line of +our army, the First Brigade, under my command, in advance, and the +Second Brigade, Colonel D. D. Johnson commanding, about sixty yards +in the rear, forming a supporting line; the right of the Second +Brigade being, however, extended about one hundred yards farther +to the right than the First Brigade. The division was swung around +some distance to the right, so as to strike the rebel line on the +left flank. The rebel left was protected by field-works and a +battery on the south side of Red Bud Creek. This creek was easily +crossed in some places, but in others was a deep, miry pool from +twenty to thirty yards wide and almost impassable. The creek was +not visible from any part of our line when we began to move forward, +and no one probably knew of it until its banks were reached. The +division moved forward at the same time with the First Division, +Colonel Thoburn, on our left, in good order and without much +opposition until they unexpectedly came upon Red Bud Creek. This +creek and the rough ground and tangled thicket on its banks was in +easy range of grape, canister, and musketry from the rebel line. +A very destructive fire was opened upon us, in the midst of which +our men rushed into and over the creek. Owing to the difficulty +in crossing, the rear and front lines and different regiments of +the same line mingled together and reached the rebel side of the +creek with lines and organizations broken; but all seemed inspired +by the right spirit, and charged the rebel works pell-mell in the +most determined manner. In this charge our loss was heavy, but +our success was rapid and complete. The rebel left in our front +was turned and broken, and one or more pieces of artillery captured. +No attempt was made after this to form lines or regiments. Officers +and men went forward, pushing the rebels from one position to +another until the defeated enemy were routed and driven through +Winchester." + +About 5 P.M. Sheridan galloped along the front line of the Sixth +Corps with hat and sword in hand and assured the men, in more +expressive than elegant language, of victory in the final attack, +and he, about the same time, ordered Wilson with his cavalry to +push out from the left and gain the Valley pike south of Winchester. +Torbert, with Merritt and Averell's cavalry, was ordered to sweep +down along the Martinsburg pike on Crook's right to strike Early's +left. The enemy had been pushed back upon the open plains northeast +of Winchester and was trying hard to hold his left against the foot- +hills of Apple-Pie Ridge, and to cover the Martinsburg pike. + +Most of the enemy's cavalry and much of his artillery were on his +left. Getty (Sixth Corps), who from the first held the left of +our infantry, steadily advanced, holding whatever ground he gained. +The Nineteenth did not participate largely in the battle after its +repulse. The cavalry bore a conspicuous part in the battle. The +last stand was made by Early one mile from Winchester. About 5 +P.M. Wright and Crook's corps, though then in single line, impetuously +dashed forward, while Merritt and Averell's cavalry divisions under +Torbert, somewhat closely massed, overthrew the Confederate cavalry +and swept mercilessly along the Martinsburg pike and the foot of +the precipitous ridge. The enemy's artillery was ridden over or +forced to fly from the field. Torbert reached the left flank of +the Confederate infantry at the moment it was hard pressed by the +advancing troops of Wright and Crook. Our cavalry, in deep column, +with sabres drawn, charged over the Confederate left, and the battle +was won. This charge was the most stirring and picturesque of the +war. The sun was setting, but could be seen through the church +spires of the city. Its rays glistening upon the drawn sabres of +the thousands of mounted warriors made a picture in real war, rarely +witnessed. In this charge, besides the division leaders mentioned, +were Generals Custer and Devin, and Colonels Lowell, Schoonmaker, +and Capehart, leading brigades, all specially distinguished as +cavalry soldiers. The fighting continued into and through the +streets of Winchester. The pursuit was arrested by the coming of +night and the weariness of the soldiers, many of whom had been +without food or rest for about eighteen hours. The significance +of the victory was great, but it was particularly gratifying to +the old soldiers in my command who had fought at Winchester under +Milroy. The night battle at Stephenson's Depot, fifteen months +before--June, 1863--was within the limits of the field of Opequon. +Ewell's corps had driven Milroy from Winchester, but now, in turn, +under another commander, it was flying as precipitately from our +forces. The war-doomed city of Winchester was never again to see +a Confederate Army. Wilson's cavalry division did good service on +the Union left, often fiercely attacking the Confederate right +flank. Late in the day he pushed past Winchester on the east, and +encountered and dispersed Bradley Johnson's cavalry. Wilson, +however, was too weak to cut off Early's retreat, but he continued +in pursuit until 10 P.M. + +This was my first considerable battle after being severely wounded, +and candor compels me to say that I do not think being wounded one +or more times has a tendency to promote bravery or to steady nerves +for future battles. The common experience, however, is that when +a soldier is once engaged in the conflict, his nerves, if before +affected, become steady, and danger is forgotten. + +My horse was shot while leading the three regiments on the right +of the corps; later I was severely bruised on the left hip by a +portion of an exploded shell, and a second horse was struck by a +fragment of one which burst beneath him while I was trying to +capture a battery posted on a hill at the south end of the main +street of Winchester. + +I quote again from my report: + +"My brigade lost, in the battle of Opequon, some valiant and superior +officers. Lieutenant-Colonel A. W. Ebright, commanding the 126th +Ohio, was killed instantly early in the action. He was uniformly +brave and skilful. He had fought in the many battles of the Sixth +Corps during the past summer's campaign. Captain Thomas J. Hyatt +and Lieutenant Rufus Ricksecker, 126th Ohio, and Lieutenant Wm. H. +Burns, 6th Maryland, also fell in this action. Each was conspicuous +for gallantry on this and other fields upon which he had fought. +Colonel John W. Horn, 6th Maryland, whom none excelled for +distinguished bravery, was severely if not mortally wounded.(13) +Colonel William H. Ball, 122d Ohio, received a wound from a shell, +but did not quit the field. He maintained his usual reputation +for cool courage and excellent judgment and skill. Captain John +S. Stucky, 138th Pennsylvania, lost a leg. Major Chas. M. Cornyn, +122d Ohio; Captain Feight and Walter, 138th Pennsylvania; Captain +Williams, Lieutenants Patterson, Wells, and Crooks, 126th Ohio; +Captains Hawkins and Rouzer and Lieutenant Smith, 6th Maryland; +Lieutenants Fish and Calvin, 9th New York Heavy Artillery; Captains +Van Eaton and Trimble and Lieutenants Deeter and Simes, 110th Ohio, +are among the many officers more or less severely wounded. +(Lieutenant Deeter, 110th Ohio, has since died.) + +"Captain J. P. Dudrow, 122d Ohio, and Lieutenant R. W. Wiley, 110th +Ohio, were each slightly wounded while acting as A. D. C.'s upon +my staff." + +Colonel Ebright had a premonition of his death. A few moments +before 12 M. he sought me, and coolly told me he would be killed +before the battle ended. He insisted upon telling me that he wanted +his remains and effects sent to this home in Lancaster, Ohio, and +I was asked to write his wife as to some property in the West which +he feared she did not know about. He was impatient when I tried +to remove the thought of imminent death from his mind. A few +moments later the time for another advance came, and the interview +with Colonel Ebright closed. In less than ten minutes, while he +was riding near me he fell dead from his horse, pierced in the +breast by a rifle ball. His apprehension of death was not prompted +by fear. He had been through the slaughters of the Wilderness and +Cold Harbor; had fought his regiment in the _dead angle_ of +Spotsylvania, and led it at Monocacy. It is needless to say I +complied with his request. + +Incidents like this were not uncommon. + +The battle was a bloody one. + +The Union killed and wounded were:(14) + + Killed. Wounded. Aggregate. + Officers. Officers. + | Men. | Men. +Sixth Army Corps (Wright) 18 193 111 1331 1653 +Nineteenth Army Corps (Emory) 22 292 104 1450 1868 +Army of W. Va. 6 98 34 649 787 +Cavalry 7 61 29 275 372 + ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- + Totals 53 644 278 3705 4680 + +The casualties in my brigade were 4 officers and 46 men killed, 24 +officers and 261 men wounded; aggregate, 335.(15) This was little +less than the total loss in the three cavalry divisions. + +There is no complete list of the Confederate losses so far as I +can discover. Early reported his killed and wounded in this battle +at 2141, and missing 1818, total, 3959.(16) Doubtless many of the +missing were killed or wounded. General R. E. Rodes was killed in +a charge with his division.(16) General Godwin and Colonel Patton +were also killed; Generals Fitzhugh Lee and York were severely +wounded. + +This battle was inspiriting to the country. Lincoln, Stanton, and +Grant each wired congratulations and thanks.(17) + +Sheridan was now appointed a Brigadier-General in the regular army +and assigned to the permanent command of the Middle Military +District. + +The Valley was soon to further reek with blood, and the torch of +war was soon to consume it. + +( 1) Sheridan was born March 6, 1831, and died August 5, 1888. + +( 2) Mrs. Ricketts drove from Washington to Bull Run in her own +carriage and besought Gen. J. E. Johnston to parole her husband, +and allow her to take him to his home in Washington. This was +refused, and her carriage was confiscated. In after years, when +the Johnstons were in Washington, he holding high political positions, +she refused to recognize them. + +( 3) Members of his staff reported Sheridan as saying that the +request for his personal body-guard was impudent, but could not be +refused. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., 145. + +( 5) _Ibid_., 45. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 107-112. + +( 7) _Ibid_., p. 61. + +( 8) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. ii., p. 328. + +( 9) Sheridan's _Memoirs_, vol. ii., pp. 4-7. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 46. + +(11) _Ibid_., p. 555. + +(12) _Ibid_., Part II., pp. 102-3. + +(13) Colonel Horn survived the war, and died near Mitchellville, +Md., October 4, 1897. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., 118. + +(15) _Ibid_., p. 113. + +(16) _Ibid_., p. 555. + +(17) _Ibid_., pp. 61-2. + + +CHAPTER IX +Battle of Fisher's Hill--Pursuit of Early--Devastation of the +Shenandoah Valley (1864)--Cavalry Battle at Tom's Brook, and Minor +Events + +We left Sheridan's victorious army south of Winchester, five miles +from the battle-field. It had only such opportunity for rest as +can be obtained on the night succeeding a long day's battle. Some +of the officers and soldiers returned to the scene of the conflict +through the gloom of night, to minister to the wounded and to find +and identify the bodies of dead friends. It was, however, the duty +of the surgeons, hospital attendants, ambulance corps, and stretcher- +bearers to care for the wounded; and the dead of both armies could +be buried later. The bodies of some of the dead of the successful +army are always sent home for interment. Chaplains are often +instrumental in doing the latter. Rations, forage, and ammunition +had now to be brought up and distributed. No matter how well +soldiers have been supplied, they generally come out of a great +battle with little. + +Early's army bivouacked at Newtown, and at 3 A.M. of the 20th of +September continued its retreat to Fisher's Hill, about two miles +south of Strasburg. Early placed his army in a strong defensive +position on this hill, which is an abrupt bluff with a precipitous +rocky face, and immediately south of Tumbling Run. His right rested +on the Shenandoah River, and his left extended to the narrow Cedar +Creek Valley at the foot of Little North Mountain. This naturally +strong position was well fortified and impregnable against front +attack. + +Sheridan's army moved at day-dawn of the 20th in pursuit, Emory in +the advance. Wright and Emory occupied the heights around Strasburg +on the evening of that day, and Crook's corps was moved to their +right and rear, north of Cedar Creek, where it was concealed in +the dense timber. Sheridan determined to use Crook to turn the +enemy's left, if possible. The Nineteenth and Sixth Corps during +the night of the 20th took position in the order named, from left +to right, in front of Fisher's Hill. This was not accomplished +without some fierce conflicts, brought on in dislodging the enemy +from strongly fortified heights which he held in advance of his +main line. A portion of my brigade was engaged in these preliminary +movements all the night.( 1) The Third--Ricketts' division--was +again on the right of the Sixth Corps and of the army as formed on +the 21st. Near the close of the day I was informed by a staff +officer of General Ricketts that my command was to be held in +reserve behind the right, and that I was not likely to be engaged +in the coming battle if the plan of the commanding general was +carried out. I was directed to get my regiments into as comfortable +a situation as possible for rest, and hence selected a good place +to bivouac, and was employed in riding through the troops and +telling the officers of the prospect of freedom from severe work +the coming day when a brisk engagement broke out in my immediate +front. A portion of the Second Division of the Sixth Corps was +repulsed in an attempt, just at nightfall, to carry a fortified +hill in front of our right, which Sheridan and Wright had suddenly +decided must be taken for the security of our army.( 2) Wright, +seeing my command near at hand, ordered Ricketts to send to me for +a regiment to reinforce the repulsed troops. I sent the 126th Ohio +under Captain George W. Hoge, and it soon became seriously imperilled +in a renewed attack. Discovering this, I followed it with the 6th +Maryland under Major C. K. Prentiss, and, uniting the two with +other troops, charged the heights just at dark and carried them. +My two regiments occupied them for the night.( 3) + +Sheridan, on the 21st, ordered Torbert with Merritt and Wilson's +cavalry divisions (save Devin's brigade) to the Luray Valley, with +instructions to drive out any force of the enemy he might encounter, +and, if possible, cross over from that Valley to New Market, and +intercept Early's retreat, should the latter be defeated in the +impending battle. Averell's cavalry division was on the Back or +Cedar Creek road, well advanced. + +The Sixth and Nineteenth Corps held their positions of the previous +evening, and threatened the enemy in front. Part of my brigade +was continued on the advance line during the forenoon of the 22d, +the remainder in reserve. The real attack was to be made by Crook, +but this rendered it desirable to conceal his movements and deceive +the vigilant enemy. While Crook remained in hiding in the timber, +Sheridan decided to demonstrate against Early's left centre in such +way as to lead him to expect a formidable assault there. Accordingly +the whole of Ricketts' division with Averell's cavalry was, about +12 M., rather defiantly displayed and moved conspicuously to our +right, and close upon the enemy's front. My position in partial +reserve made my command the most available for this movement. I +was therefore ordered to take the advance, followed by Colonel +Emerson with the First Brigade. The movement was made in full +sight of the enemy and under the fire of his guns. We gained, +after some fighting, a ridge that extended near to Tumbling Run on +the north of the enemy's fortifications. The enemy fought hard to +hold possession of this ridge as a protection to his left and as +a good lookout. Under Ricketts' orders I continued by repeated +charges to push the enemy along this ridge for about three quarters +of a mile until he was forced to abandon it, cross the Run, and +take refuge within his works. Under such cover as we could get my +men were now held within easy musket shot of the enemy. During +this movement our guns in the rear tried to aid us, but it was hard +to tell which we suffered from the most--our own shells or the +enemy's fire. Averell's cavalry pushed back the enemy's skirmishers +still farther to our right. + +The enemy, from his signal station of Three-Top Mountain, took the +movements of Ricketts and Averell to be a preparation for a real +attack, designed to fall upon the front of Ramseur's division, and +he prepared to meet it. While these operations were taking place, +Crook moved his infantry under cover of the thick timber along the +face of Little North Mountain, and by 4 P.M. reached a position +with his two divisions full on Early's left flank. Crook at once +crossed the narrow Valley and bore down on the enemy's extreme +left, which at once gave way. Ramseur, in my front, had been +attentively watching Ricketts, and now seeing the danger from Crook, +commenced drawing his troops out of his breastworks and changing +front to his left. I was near enough to discover this movement, +and, to prevent its consummation, I ordered an immediate charge, +which was executed on a run. Ramseur, discovering the new and +seemingly more imminent danger, tried to reoccupy his works, but, +simultaneously, Crook charged, and Ramseur's troops, caught in the +mist of his movement, fell into confusion, became panic-stricken, +and fled through the timber or were captured. This spread a panic +to Early's entire army. The troops of my command did not halt to +fire in the charge, but crossed the Run and struggled up the +precipitous banks and over the breastworks, suffering little loss, +and were soon in possession of eight of the enemy's guns and some +prisoners. They met inside of the enemy's fortifications and +commingled with Crook's men. When the charge was well under way, +Colonel George A. (Sandy) Forsyth ( 4) of Sheridan's staff reached +me on the gallop. He was the bearer of orders, but did not deliver +them. He only exclaimed: "You are all right; you need no orders." +He, later, explained that Sheridan had sent him to direct me to +assault, if opportunity presented, in co-operation with Crook. + +In passing on horseback around the right of the enemy's works to +gain an entrance, and while going up a steep hill in the timber, +I fell in with a mounted officer wearing a plain blouse and a slouch +hat, but with no insignia of rank. We continued together for a +short time, he inquiring of the progress of the battle as I had +observed it. I asked him if he knew what General Crook was doing. +He modestly laughed, and said Crook was just then engaged with me +in gaining an entrance to the enemy's fortifications, and that he +supposed his command was pursuing Early. Here began an acquaintance +with the hero of this battle, that ripened into a friendship which +ended only with his death. + +Early could not rally his troops to a stand, and all his guns in +position behind his works fell into our hands. Night only saved +him and his demoralized army from capture. The other divisions of +the Sixth and the Nineteenth Corps came up promptly, but the battle +was over with the assault. + +Captain Jed. Hotchkiss, of the Topographical Engineers serving in +Early's army, describes the operations in his journal of the 22d, +thus: + +"The enemy at 1 P.M. advanced several lines of battle in front of +Ramseur, but did not come far, and only drove in our skirmish line. +At 4.30 P.M. they drove in the skirmishers in front of Gordon and +opened a lively artillery duel. At the same time a flanking force +that had come on our left, near the North Mountain, advanced and +drove away the cavalry and moved on the left flank of our infantry +--rather beyond it. The brigade there (Battle's) was ordered to +move to the left, and the whole line was ordered to extend that +way, moving along the line of the breastworks. But the enemy +attacking just then (5.30 P.M.) the second brigade from the left, +instead of marching by the line of works, was marched across an +angle by its commander. The enemy seeing this movement rushed over +the works, and the brigade fled in confusion, thus letting the +enemy into the rear of Early's division, as well as of Gordon's +and the rest of Rodes'; our whole line gave way towards the right, +offering little or no resistance, and the enemy came on and occupied +our line. General Early and staff were near by, and I with others +went after Wharton (to the right), but it was too late." + +At 4 A.M. next morning Early dispatched Lee: + +"Late yesterday the enemy attacked my position at Fisher's Hill +and succeeded in driving back the left of my line, which was defended +by the cavalry, and throwing a force in the rear of the left of my +infantry, when the whole of the troops gave way in a panic and +could not be rallied. This resulted in the loss of twelve pieces +of artillery, though my loss in men is not large."( 5) + +He, later, reported his killed and wounded at Fisher's Hill at +240, missing 995; total, 1235.( 6) Many of his missing were +doubtless killed or wounded. + +The Union killed and wounded were:( 7) + + Killed. Wounded. Aggregate. +Sixth Army Corps 27 208 235 +Nineteenth Army Corps 15 86 101 +Army of W. Va. (Crook) 8 152 160 +Cavalry 2 11 13 + --- --- --- + Totals 52 457 509 + +The killed and wounded in my brigade were 80, exactly one half the +casualties in Crook's command, and above one third in the Sixth +Corps. + +The victory of Fisher's Hill, though comparatively bloodless, was +one of the most complete of the war. But from the inability of +Torbert to drive Fitz Lee's cavalry (then under Wickham in consequence +of Fitz Lee being wounded at Opequon) from the Luray Valley and to +gain a position in Early's rear, the latter's army would have been +destroyed. Torbert encountered Wickham in a narrow gorge and was +unable to dislodge him in time. Sheridan's infantry assembled on +the Valley pike south of Fisher's Hill after dark, and continuing +the pursuit all night, capturing many stragglers and two more guns, +reached Woodstock twelve miles farther south at daybreak. Averell +was ordered to push forward up the Cedar Creek road and debouch at +Woodstock in rear of the retreating foe. This, for some reason, +he did not do, but soon after dark went into camp and awaited +daylight. He reached Woodstock after the infantry corps, too late +to cut off or assail the enemy. For this and some other alleged +delinquencies Sheridan relieved him from command of his division, +and assigned Colonel William H. Powell to succeed him. + +Early collected his broken forces and essayed to make a stand at +Rude's Hill, east of the Shenandoah and south of Mount Jackson. +As our troops advanced to attack him, however, he withdrew rapidly +in the direction of Staunton. After passing New Market he took a +road leading to Brown's Gap, where he was joined by his cavalry +from the Luray Valley and Kershaw's division and Cutshaw's artillery, +which had left him at Stephenson's Depot on the 15th. + +Not until the 25th did Torbert with his cavalry reach Sheridan at +New Market. Some of Sheridan's infantry advanced as far as Mount +Crawford and Lacey Springs, while the main body of the cavalry +pushed to Staunton and Waynesboro. + +An incident occurred on the evening of the 3d of October that had +something to do with the severity of the orders relating to the +destruction of property in the Shenandoah valley. Lieutenant John +R. Meigs, Sheridan's engineer officer, while returning from a +topographical survey of the country near Dayton, accompanied by +two assistants, fell in with three men in our uniform, and rode +with them towards Sheridan's headquarters. Suddenly these men +turned on Lieutenant Meigs and, though demanding his surrender, +shot and killed him. One of his assistants was captured and one +escaped and reported the event. Sheridan was much enraged, as the +killing of the Lieutenant was little less than murder, occurring, +as it did, within our lines. The three men were probably disguised +Confederates operating near their homes. Sheridan ordered Custer, +who had succeeded to the command of Wilson's cavalry division, to +burn all houses within an area of five miles within the spot where +Meigs was killed. The next morning Custer proceeded to execute +this order. The designated area included the village of Dayton. +When a few houses had been burned the order was suspended, and +Custer was required instead to bring in all able-bodied men as +prisoners.( 8) + +General T. W. Rosser, with a cavalry brigade from Richmond, joined +Early on the 5th of October, and the latter's army, being otherwise +much strengthened, soon began again to show signs of activity. + +As the Sixth Corps was expected to rejoin the Army of the Potomac +in front of Petersburg, Sheridan decided to withdraw at least as +far as Strasburg, and he determined also to lay waste the Valley, +as it was a great magazine of supplies for the Confederate armies. +He commenced to move on the 6th, the infantry taking the advance. +The cavalry had begun the work of destruction at Waynesboro and +Staunton. It usually remained quiet during the day, then at night, +while moving, set fire to all grain stacks, barns, and mills, thus +leaving behind it nothing but a waste. The fires lit up the Valley +and the mountain sides, producing a picture of resplendent grandeur +seldom witnessed. The flames lighted up the fertile Valley, casting +a hideous glare, commingled with clouds of smoke, over the foot- +hills and to the summits of the great mountain ranges on each side +of the doomed Valley. The occasional discharge of artillery helped +to make the panorama sublime. Fire and sword here literally combined +in the real work of war. Of the necessity or wisdom of this +destruction of property there may be doubts, yet the war had then +progressed to an acute stage. All possible means to hasten its +termination seemed justifiable. Chambersburg, Pa., had been wantonly +burned July 30, 1864. It has been charged that Sheridan declared +that he would so completely destroy everything in the Valley that +a "crow would have to carry a haversack when he flew over it." +The Confederates, with Rosser, their new cavalry leader, pursued +and daily assaulted Sheridan's rear-guard. This continued until +the evening of the 8th. Rosser's apparent success was heralded in +an exaggerated way at Richmond. He was bulletined there as the +"Savior of the Valley." He had recently before his advent in the +Valley won reputation in a raid on which he had captured and driven +off some cattle belonging to Grant's army. Torbert was ordered by +Sheridan, on the night of the 8th, to whip Rosser the next morning +or get whipped. + +The infantry of the army was halted to await the issue of the +cavalry battle. Sheridan informed Torbert that he would witness +the fight from Round Top Mountain. Merritt's division was encamped +on the Valley pike at the foot of this mountain, just north of +Tom's Brook, and Custer's division about five miles farther north +and west near Tumbling Run. Custer during the night moved southward +by the Back road, which lay about three miles to the westward of +the pike. At early daylight, Rosser, believing our army was still +falling back, unexpectedly met and assailed Custer with three +cavalry brigades, and almost simultaneously Merritt, in turn, +assailed Lomax and Johnson's cavalry divisions on the valley pike. +Merritt extended his right and Custer his left until the two +divisions united, when, under Torbert, they charged upon and broke +Rosser's lines all along Tom's Brook. The battle lasted about two +hours, when Rosser's entire force fell into the wildest disorder, +and in falling back degenerated into a rout. Torbert ( 9) pursued +for twenty-five miles, capturing about three hundred prisoners, +eleven pieces of artillery with their caissons, and all Rosser's +wagons and ambulances, including his headquarters wagons with his +official papers. It was said that subsequent bulletins announcing +Rosser's anticipated victories for the day were found. Rosser's +fame as a soldier, earned by years of hard fighting, was lost at +Tom's Brook in two hours. + +Disasters had now become so frequent to the Confederates in the +Valley that some wag at Richmond marked a fresh shipment of new +guns destined for Early's army: "_General Sheridan, care of Jubal +A. Early_." + +Sheridan's army retired to the north of Cedar Creek. The Sixth +Corps, having orders to rejoin the Army of the Potomac, continued +its march eastward towards Front Royal, expecting to proceed to +Piedmont and there take cars for Alexandria. It abandoned that +route, however, on the 12th, and marched towards Ashby's Gap, with +a view of passing through it to Washington, and going thence, by +transports, to City Point.(10) When this corps was partly across +the Shenandoah near Millwood, on the 13th, an order came from +Sheridan for Wright to return with his corps to Cedar Creek. This +order was given in consequence of Early's return to Fisher's Hill. +The necessity of the Sixth Corps' action will soon be apparent. +It reached Cedar Creek and went into camp at noon of the 14th. + +I recall the incident of a red fox starting to run through the +temporary bivouac of the corps at Millwood. The troops all turned +out, about 10,000, formed a ring around it, while a few horsemen +rode after it until it fell from fright and exhaustion. The officers +and men of an army always enjoyed incidents of this character. +There was, however, more serious diversion near at hand for these +bronzed soldiers. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 152. + +( 2) _Ibid_., p. 152. + +( 3) _Ibid_., p. 223 (Ricketts' Report). + +( 4) Forsyth, precisely four years later, while in command of +fifty picked scouts was surrounded on Beecher Island, on the +Arickaree fork of the Republican River, by about nine hundred +Indians, led by the celebrated chief, Roman Nose, and made the most +desperate fight known in the annals of our Indian wars. Lieutenant +Beecher, Surgeon Movers, and six of the scouts were killed and +twenty others severely wounded. Forsyth was himself struck in the +right thigh and his left leg was broken by rifle balls. He held +out eight days; meantime two of his scouts succeeded in eluding +the Indians, and, reaching Fort Wallace, 110 miles distant, returned +with a relieving party.--Custer's _Life on the Plains_, 88-98. + +( 5) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 557. + +( 6) _Ibid_., p. 556. + +( 7) _Ibid_., p. 124. + +( 8) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 50-2. + +( 9) General A. T. A. Torbert distinguished himself on many fields +and survived the war. While making a voyage on the steamer _Vera +Cruz_ he was shipwrecked off the Florida coast, August 29, 1880. +He heroically aided others to escape death, and with almost superhuman +exertion kept himself afloat on a broken spar for twenty hours, +and thus reached shore, only to sink down and die from exhaustion. + +(10) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 59. + + +CHAPTER X +Battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, with Comments Thereon-- +Also Personal Mention and Incidents + +General Early, upon his arrival at Fisher's Hill with his reorganized +army, assumed, on the 13th of October, an aggressive attitude by +pushing a division of infantry north of Strasburg and his cavalry +along the Back road towards Cedar Creek. This brought on sharp +engagements, in which Colonel Thoburn's division of Crook's corps +and Custer's cavalry participated. Early seems to have acted in +the belief that all but Crook's command had gone to Petersburg. +This action resulted in bringing Wright back to Cedar Creek, as we +have seen. + +Secretary Stanton, by telegram on the 13th, summoned Sheridan to +Washington for consultation as to the latter's future operations. + +Early, having met unexpected resistance, withdrew his forces at +night to Fisher's Hill, and quiet being restored, Sheridan started +on the 16th to Washington, _via_ Front Royal and Manassas Gap. He +took with him as far as Front Royal his cavalry, under Torbert, +intending to push them through Chester Gap to the Virginia Central +Railroad at Charlottesville, to make an extensive raid east of the +Blue Ridge. + +Early had a signal station on Three Top Mountain in plain view of +our signal officers, who knew the Confederate signal code. From +this station there was flagged, on the 16th, this message: + +"To Lieutenant-General Early: + +"Be ready to move as soon as my forces join you, and we will crush +Sheridan. + + "Longstreet, Lieutenant-General." + +Wright, who was left in command of the army at Cedar Creek, forwarded +this message to Sheridan, who received it when near Front Royal. +Wright, also, in a communication accompanying the message, expressed +fear of an attack in the absence of the cavalry. He anticipated +that it would fall on his right. Sheridan, deeming it best to be +on the safe side, abandoned the cavalry raid, and ordered Torbert +to report back to Wright, cautioning the latter to be well on his +guard, and expressing the opinion to Wright that if attacked he +could beat the enemy.( 1) Sheridan with a cavalry escort proceeded +to Rectortown, the terminus of the railroad; there took cars, and +arrived in Washington the morning of the 17th. He held a consultation +with Stanton and Halleck, and with certain members of his staff +left Washington at 12 M. by rail, arriving the evening of the same +day at Martinsburg. Here he was met by an escort of three hundred +cavalry. He left Martinsburg the next morning (18th), and reached +Winchester about 3 P.M., twenty-two miles distant. He tarried at +the latter place over night, making some survey of the surrounding +heights as to their utility for fortifications. + +But to return to his army. Torbert reached Cedar Creek with the +cavalry on the 17th. The Longstreet message was a ruse. Longstreet, +though in Richmond, was not on duty, not having fully recovered +from his wound received in the Wilderness.( 2) + +The position of the opposing armies the night of the 18th of October +can be briefly stated. + +The Union Army was encamped on each side of the turnpike, facing +southward, and north of Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Shenandoah, +which, flowing in general direction from northwest to southeast, +empties into the river about two miles west of Strasburg. The +north branch of the Shenandoah flows northward to Fisher's Hill, +thence bending to the eastward at the foot of and around the north +end of Three Top (or Massanutten) Mountain, thence, forming a +junction with the south branch, past Front Royal to the west and +again northward, emptying into the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. + +Crook's two divisions, Colonel Joseph Thoburn and Colonel Rutherford +B. Hayes commanding, were wholly to the east of the pike; Thoburn's +division well advanced, his front conforming to the course of the +creek; the Nineteenth Corps (Emory's), two divisions, lay on each +side of the pike, covering the bridge and ford in its immediate +front, and the Sixth was on Emory's right. Ricketts, Wheaton, and +Getty's divisions of the Sixth were encamped in the order named +from left to right. Meadow Brook (sometimes called Marsh Run), a +small stream, with rugged banks, flowing from north to south and +emptying into Cedar Creek, separated the left of Ricketts' division +from the right of the Nineteenth Corps. The Sixth Corps' front +conformed to the line of Cedar Creek; Getty's division being retired, +and consequently much nearer than the others to Middletown. My +brigade was the left of the Sixth, and its left rested on Meadow +Brook. Merritt's cavalry was in close proximity to Getty's right. +Custer was about one and a half miles to Merritt's right, on the +Back road beyond a range of hills and near the foot of Little North +Mountain. The whole course of the Back road is through a rough +country not adapted to cavalry operations. Powell's cavalry division +was near Front Royal. Army headquarters were at the Belle Grove +House on the heights west of the pike, immediately in rear of the +right of the Nineteenth Corps. Wright's headquarters were a short +distance to the rear of Sheridan's. + +The supply and baggage trains of our army were about one mile behind +its right centre and about the same distance from Middletown, a +village twelve miles south of Winchester, and about two miles north +of the Cedar Creek bridge. Getty and Merritt's camps were, in +general, westward of Middletown. The front of our army covered +about two miles; Custer's and Thoburn's divisions, on the right +and left, being outside of this limit. + +The Union Army was not intrenched, save a portion of the Nineteenth +and Eighth Corps. Owing to reports that Early had withdrawn +southward, Wright ordered a brigade of the Nineteenth Corps to +start at daylight of the 19th to make a strong reconnoissance. +The Union troops, except only the usual guards and pickets, quietly +slept in their tents the night of the 18th of October. + +The Confederate Army was encamped on Fisher's Hill, two miles south +of Strasburg and about six miles from the centre of the Union Army, +measured by the pike. Three Top Mountain was east and south of a +bend of the Shenandoah; its north end abutting close up to the +river. General J. B. Gordon and Captain Hotchkiss, from the +Confederate signal station of Three Top, on the 18th, with field- +glasses, marked the location of all the Union camps, and on their +report Early decided to attack the next morning.( 3) Accordingly, +Gordon, Ramseur, and Pegram's divisions and Payne's cavalry brigade +were moved in the night across the river, thence along the foot of +Three Top Mountain, and along its north end eastward to and again +across the river at Bowman and McIntorf's Fords below the mouth of +Cedar Creek, and thence, by 4 A.M., to a position east of the main +camp of Crook's corps. These divisions were under Gordon. Kershaw +and Wharton's divisions marched by the pike to the north of Strasburg, +and there separated; the former moving to the eastward, accompanied +by Early. Kershaw crossed Cedar Creek at Robert's Ford, about one +and a half miles above its mouth, which brought him in front of +Thoburn of Crook's corps. Wharton, followed by all of Early's +artillery, continued on the pike and took position in advance of +Hupp's Hill, less than a mile south of the bridge over Cedar Creek. +He had orders to push across the bridge as soon as Gordon made an +attack on the Union left and rear, and thus bring the artillery +into action. Lomax's cavalry division, theretofore posted in Luray +Valley, was ordered to elude Powell's cavalry, join the right of +Gordon, and co-operate with him in the attack. Rosser's cavalry +divisions were pushed up the night of the 18th close in front of +Custer, with orders to attack simultaneously with Gordon. The +enemy did not know Sheridan was absent from his army, and Payne's +cavalry, which accompanied Gordon, was ordered to penetrate to the +Belle Grove House and make him a prisoner.( 4) + +Wright was in command of the army for all military operations, but +otherwise it was commanded in Sheridan's name, during his absence, +by his staff. Few of the army knew Sheridan was away when the +battle opened. + +At 4 A.M. the still sleeping Union Army was aroused by sharp firing +far off on its right. Rosser had attacked Custer; but though there +was some surprise, Custer held his ground. This was the initial +attack, but almost at the moment Rosser's guns were heard came an +assault on Thoburn by Kershaw, followed at once by Gordon with his +three divisions and Payne's cavalry on Hayes' division of Crook's +corps. Besides being surprised Crook's divisions were largely +outnumbered, and, consequently, after a short and desperate +resistance, both divisions were broken and somewhat dispersed. +Thoburn was killed. The officers heroically did all in their power +to rally the men, but some were captured, and seventeen pieces of +artillery lost. Early soon joined Gordon with Kershaw, and together +they fell on the left of the Nineteenth Corps, which was at the +same time assailed in front by Wharton with all Early's artillery. +The Nineteenth shared the fate of Crook's corps, and was soon broken +and flying to the rear. This brought Early's five infantry divisions +and his artillery together on the heights near the Belle Grove +House, from whence they could operate against the Sixth Corps. +Sheridan's headquarters were captured, his staff being forced to +fly with such official papers as they could collect. Crook and +Emory's commands were routed before it was fully day-dawn. The +position of our cavalry was such that it could render no immediate +aid against the main attack. Gordon prolonged his line towards +Middletown, facing generally to the westward, and was joined on +his right by some irregular cavalry, part of which appeared north +of Middletown. These forces threatened our ammunition and other +trains. A thick fog helped to conceal the enemy's movements. The +disaster sustained must not be attributed to a want of skill and +bravery on the part of the troops of the Eighth and Nineteenth. +Crook, aided by such gallant officers as Colonels Thoburn, Thomas +M. Harris, and Milton Wells of the First, and Colonels R. B. Hayes, +H. F. Devol, James M. Comly, and B. F. Coates of his Second Division, +and Emory, assisted by Generals McMillen and Dwight and Colonels +Davis and Thomas of his First, and Generals Grover and Birge and +Colonels Porter, Molineux, Dan. McCauley, and Shunk of his Second +Division, did all possible under the circumstances to avert calamity. +No braver or more skillful officers could be found. These corps +were victims of a surprise. Their position was badly chosen, and +not well protected by pickets and guards. There is no necessity +to defend the good name of the officers and men who were so +ingloriously routed. The battle, so successful thus far for Early, +was, however, not over, nor was he to have continued good fortune. +Wright had retained the active command of the Sixth Corps, though +by virtue of seniority he was in command of the army. He, as soon +as the attack was made, turned his corps over to Ricketts, who +turned the command of his division (Third) over to me, and I turned +my brigade over to Colonel Wm. H. Ball of the 122d Ohio. My division +was the next to be struck by Early's troops. It had time, however, +to break camp, form, and face about to the eastward. Before it +was fairly daylight, my old brigade, under Colonel Ball, had crossed +Meadow Brook by my order and was advancing up the heights near the +Belle Grove House. Ball's brigade was run through by the broken +troops of the Nineteenth, and it was feared for a time it could +not be held steady. The enemy swung across the Valley pike to my +left and rear, and thus completely isolated my division from other +Union troops. Notwithstanding this situation the division firmly +held its exposed position. To cover a wider front the brigades +were fought and manoeuvred separately in single battle line, and +often faced in different directions. I soon found I was able to +drive or hold back any enemy in front of any part of my command. +The fighting became general and furious and promised an early +success to our arms. Wheaton, next on my right, and Getty next on +his right as camped, likewise faced about and moved eastward towards +the pike to meet the enemy already in possession of it immediately +south of Middletown. Getty encountered some of Gordon's infantry +and cavalry among our trains. Getty and Wheaton were soon widely +separated from each other, and Wheaton, the nearest, was still not +within a half mile of my division, which was the farthest south. +The broken troops of the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps had retreated +as far as Middletown, and some soon reached Newtown, pressing onward +towards Winchester, carrying exaggerated reports of disaster to +the whole army. Custer's cavalry was still held in Cedar Creek +Valley by Rosser. Merritt came gallantly to the rescue, and by 7 +A.M. the enemy were confronted at every point and held at bay. +Getty met a strong force along Meadow Brook, near Middletown, but +maintained himself, though his right flank was assailed by one of +Gordon's divisions. Wheaton fought his division in the interval +between Getty's and my divisions, he having frequently to change +front, as had the other divisions, to meet flanking columns of the +enemy. The complete isolation of the divisions of the Sixth Corps +rendered it impossible for their commanders to know the real +situation throughout the field, and neither of them had any assurance +of co-operation or assistance from the others. My division, being +the farthest south, was in great danger of being cut off. Each +division maintained, from 6 A.M. until after 9 A.M., a battle of +its own. Neither division was, during that time, driven from its +position by any direct attack made on it, and every change of +position by any considerable part of the Sixth Corps was deliberately +made under orders and while not pressed by the enemy in front. +Wright was with Getty or Wheaton until assured of their ability to +cover the trains and to hold their ground. Ricketts, in command +of the corps, after directing me to hold my position near Cedar +Creek until further orders, left me, promising soon to return with +assistance, but about 7 A.M. he fell pierced through the chest with +a rifle ball, and was borne from the field.( 5) The command of +the corps then devolved on Getty, and the command of his division +of General L. A. Grant of Vermont. + +About 8 A.M. Wright came to me with information of Getty and +Wheaton's success. He said he would soon have cavalry on the +enemy's right flank, and that he believed the battle could be won. +He was tranquil, buoyant, and self-possessed. He did not seem to +pay any attention to a wound under his chin, made by a passing +bullet, though he was bleeding profusely. He had no staff officer +with him, and was without escort.( 6) I ordered Captain Damon of +my staff to report to him. Wright repeated Ricketts' order to hold +my division behind Meadow Brook well down to Cedar Creek. This I +had been enabled to do when not threatened on my left flank. It +must be remembered that after 6 A.M. the divisions of the corps +having been faced about, and the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps driven +to the rear, Getty's division became the left, Wheaton's the centre, +and my division the right of the army, the whole line facing, in +general, eastward. In this position, isolated as before stated, +the divisions maintained the battle. My greatest anxiety arose of +the possibility of the ammunition of the men becoming exhausted. +One officer conducted to us through the fog, smoke, and confusion +a considerable supply of cartridges in boxes strapped on mules. +Colonel Ball sent Captain R. W. Wiley of his staff to hasten forward +another such mule-caravan. Owing to a change in the location of +the brigade, he conducted it within the Confederate lines. Captain +Wiley was the only officer of my division captured in the day's +battle. + +Getty, who had successfully fought with his division near Middletown, +took up a position before 10 A.M. with the left of his division +resting on the turnpike north of the town about three fourths of +a mile. + +My division was fiercely engaged all the morning. Colonel Tompkins, +Chief of Artillery of the Sixth Corps, assembled a number of guns +on the plateau to my left under Captains McKnight and Adams. They +were unsupported by infantry. The enemy approached under cover of +the smoke and fog and captured most of them. Under my direction, +Colonel W. H. Henry and Captain C. K. Prentiss with the 10th Vermont +and 6th Maryland changed front and retook them after a fierce +struggle. The guns not disabled were drawn off by hand. My position +was in open ground along the crest of a ridge, right resting near +Cedar Creek, covering Marsh Run (or Meadow Brook). The enemy forced +a crossing of the Run near its mouth, but soon were driven back; +then a fierce attack came on my left from a large force. This too +was repulsed. The battle raged with alternate assaults on the +front and flanks of my division. They were each repulsed with +considerable loss to the enemy. The situation grew so promising +that about 9 A.M. I ordered a general charge along the whole line. +This was promptly made, and the enemy were driven to the east of +Marsh Run, and complete success seemed assured, when a large force +of the enemy again appeared on my left in the direction of Middletown. +The charge had to be suspended and combinations made to meet the +new danger. The battle still raged with great fury, my line being +frequently compelled to change front to meet the flank attacks. +Sometimes a portion of it faced northward, another eastward, and +another southward. The enemy was at no time able to drive us. +All changes of position were made under my orders and after the +enemy had been repulsed in his direct attacks. The importance of +uniting the divisions of the Sixth Corps was kept in mind, and as +the enemy was driven back on my left, my command slowly moved +northward towards Getty and Wheaton's battles. My battle had been +maintained, in general, a mile and more southwestward of Middletown +and in the vicinity of our camps of the night before. Getty and +Wheaton had thus far fought their divisions near Marsh Run to the +south of Middletown. Before 10 A.M., I reached the Woollen Mill +road that ran parallel to the general line my troops were then +holding and almost at right angles to the turnpike, westward to +Cedar Creek from the south end of Middletown. At this time the +enemy was in my front, and our flanks were no longer threatened. +He had suspended further attacks with his infantry, but concentrated +on us a heavy artillery fire which our guns returned. We had lost +few prisoners; even the wounded of the division had been brought +off. The men were in compact order and no demoralization had taken +place. The captured and missing from the division the entire day +was two officers and thirty-four men.( 7) From this last position +I leisurely moved the division to the left and rear over the Old +Forge road (which extended west from the Valley pike at the north +end of Middletown over Middle Marsh Brook and a ridge to the Creek), +passing Wheaton's front, and united with Getty's right. Emerson's +brigade of the division through a mistake temporarily moved a short +distance north of the line designated, but the error was promptly +corrected. Colonel Ball was then, by me, directed to cover the +front of the entire division with a heavy line of skirmishers, and +he accordingly deployed the 110th Ohio and 138th Pennsylvania under +Lieutenant-Colonel Otho H. Binkley, and moved them about three +hundred yards to the front along the outskirts of a woods, with +orders to hold the enemy in check as long as possible if attacked. +Orders were at once given to resupply the troops with ammunition. +Wheaton's division soon formed on my right, and for the first time +after the battle opened the Sixth Corps was united. + +The enemy was now in possession of the camps (except of the cavalry) +of our army, and was flushed with success. Wright had given orders +for all the broken troops to be re-organized, and for Merritt and +Custer's cavalry to move from the right to the left of the army,( 8) +and the division commanders were told the enemy would be attacked +about 12 M. + +We left Sheridan at Winchester. He remained there the night of +the 18th of October. Before rising in the morning an officer on +picket duty in front of the city reported artillery firing in the +direction of his army. Sheridan interpreted this as a strong +reconnoissance in which the enemy was being felt. He had been +notified the night before that Wright had ordered such a reconnoissance. +Further reports of heavy firing having reached him, he, at 8.30 +A.M. started to join his army. When he reached Mill Creek just +south of Winchester, with his escort following, he distinctly heard +the continuous roar of artillery, which satisfied him his army was +engaged in strong battle. As he approached Kearnstown and came +upon a high place in the road, he caught sight of some demoralized +soldiers, camp followers, and baggage and sutler wagons, in great +confusion, hurrying to the rear. There were in this mixed mass +sutlers and their clerks, teamsters, bummers, cow-leaders, servants, +and all manner of camp followers. The sight greatly disturbed +Sheridan; it was almost appalling to him. Such a scene in greater +or less degree may usually be witnessed in the rear of any great +army in battle. The common false reports of the army being all +overwhelmed and in retreat were proclaimed by these flying men as +justification of their own disgraceful conduct. Sheridan, +notwithstanding his experience as a soldier, was impressed with +the belief that his whole army was defeated and in retreat.( 9) +He formed, while riding through these people, erroneous impressions +of what had taken place in the morning battle which were never +removed from his mind. The steady roar of guns and rattle of +musketry should have told him that some organized forces were, at +least, baring their breasts bravely to the enemy and standing as +food for shot and shell. Sheridan mistook the disorganized horde +he passed through for substantial portions of a wholly routed army, +and this mistake prevented him, even later, from clearly understanding +the real situation. + +He first met Torbert, his Chief of Cavalry, and from him only +learned what had taken place to the left of and around Middletown. +Torbert, who had not been to the right, where the battle with +infantry had raged for hours, assumed that demoralization extended +over that part of the field. Next Sheridan came to Getty's division +(10.30 A.M.),(10) and finding it and its brave commander in unbroken +line, facing the foe, assumed without further investigation that +no other infantry troops were doing likewise. He justly gives +Getty's division and the cavalry credit for being "in the presence +of and resisting the enemy."(11) Getty, though theretofore in +command of the Sixth Corps, did not pretend to know the position +or the previous movements of the army. He had remained constantly +with his division, and wisely held the turnpike, covering our left +flank and trains. This, too, was according to Wright's order. +When Sheridan arrived Getty was not actually engaged, but the enemy +were, at long range, firing artillery. A shot passed close to +Sheridan as he approached Getty. After the first salutation, +Sheridan said to Getty: "Emory's corps is four miles to your rear, +and Wheaton's division of your corps is two miles in your rear. +I will form them on your division." Sheridan then said nothing of +Crook's corps, or of the Third Division of the Sixth, which I +commanded.(12) + +Up to this time Sheridan had not met Wright, who was on the right +of the army, nor could Sheridan see from the pike the troops of my +division nor of Wheaton's, still to my right. My division was at +no time as far to the rear as the left of Getty's line. Wright +confirms my recollection of the position of my division at the time +of Sheridan's arrival, but his recollection is that Wheaton had +not completed a connection with my right.(13) + +Colonel Ball, in his report dated the day after the battle, speaking +of the final movement of the Second Brigade of my division to +connect with Getty's division, correctly says: "We were ordered +to move obliquely to the _left and rear_ and connect with the right +of the Second Division." Instead of having to _advance_ to form +line with Getty it was necessary to move obliquely to the _rear_. +By about 10 A.M., the divisions of the Sixth Corps were united, +the organized troops of our army were in line, and the enemy's +flank movements were over. Thenceforth he had to meet us in front. +Our trains were protected, and there was no thought of further +retiring. The Sixth Corps had not lost any of its camp equipage, +not a wagon, nor, permanently, a piece of artillery. Its organization +was perfect, and there were no stragglers from its ranks. A strong +line of skirmishers had been thrown forward and the men resupplied +with ammunition. + +An incident here occurred which came near causing my dismissal from +the army. Colonel J. W. Snyder, of the 9th New York Heavy Artillery, +on being ordered to hold his command ready for an early advance, +notified me his men were practically out of ammunition, and that +the ordnance officer reported there were no cartridges to be had +of suitable size. This was the only regiment in the command armed +with smooth-bore .69 calibre muskets. They required buck and ball. +The other troops were armed with rifles, .58 calibre. I ordered +the Colonel to instruct his men to throw away their muskets as fast +as rifles could be found on the field to take their places. This +his men eagerly did, and Colonel Snyder soon reported his regiment +ready for action, with rifles in their hands and forty rounds of +cartridges. This regiment, a very large and splendid one (three +battalions, four companies each), was thus kept in line to participate +in the impending conflict. After the incident had been almost +forgotten a letter came through the army channels from the Chief +of Ordnance at Washington, advising me that the captains of companies +of the 9th New York had reported, severally, that their men had +thrown away their muskets "October 19, 1864, by order of Colonel +Keifer, division commander," and asking me for an explanation of +the reprehensible order. I plead guilty and stated the circumstances +giving rise to the unusual order, but soon received a further +communication from the same officer informing me that my name had +been sent to the President, through the Secretary of War, for +dismissal. I was told some correspondence arose over the matter, +in which Generals Sheridan and Wright approved my action fully. +This incident serves now to enable me to remember that Wright +proposed to attack Early at 12 M. + +Two or three statements of Sheridan deserve special mention. +Speaking of his appearance on the field, he says: + +"When nearing the Valley pike, just south of Newtown, I saw about +three fourths of a mile west of the pike a body of troops, which +proved to be Ricketts and Wheaton's divisions of the Sixth Corps." + +And speaking of a time after he had met Getty and Wright, he says: + +"I ordered Custer's division back to the right flank, and returning +to the place where my headquarters had been established, I met near +them Ricketts' division under General Keifer and General Frank +Wheaton's division, both marching to the front."(14) + +The distance from Newtown to Middletown is five miles. My division +was at no time on that day within four miles of Newtown. This is +also true, I am sure, of Wheaton's division. Sheridan was deceived +by false reports received before his arrival, and by the sight of +magnified numbers of broken troops of other corps, who had continued +to the rear. It was impossible for Sheridan to have met Wheaton +and myself leading our divisions to the front; besides, our divisions +were not at any time within a mile of his then headquarters. +Wheaton's and the right of my division were farther advanced than +any part of Getty's division. This is proved by the recollection +of Wright, Getty, and others, also by the reports written soon +after the battle by many officers.(15) Sheridan, when he wrote, +must have remembered meeting Wheaton and myself when we, together, +rode to him from the right to tell him of the position and situation +of our respective commands, and to assure him we could hold our +ground and advance as soon as ordered. This ride brought Wheaton +and me nearer Newtown than we were at any other time that day. +Sheridan was so impressed by the circumstances attending his coming +to the field, and by his first meeting with Torbert and Getty, and +the previous reports to him, that he assumed a condition of things +which did not exist. It has been stated that my division joined +Getty on his right. It, however, turned out that a portion of +Hayes' division of Crook's corps had united with Getty's right, +though not at first distinguished by me from the latter's troops. + +Years after the battle, ex-President Hayes referred to some statements +in Sheridan's _Memoirs_ thus: + +"In speaking of that fight he says that, passing up the pike, +sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other, coming to Cedar +Creek, he struck the First Division of Getty, of the Sixth Corps; +that he passed along that division a short distance, when there +arose out of a hollow before him a line consisting entirely of +officers of Crook's Army of West Virginia and of color-bearers. +The army had been stampeded in the morning, but these people were +not panic-stricken. They saluted him, but there was nothing now +between the enemy and him and the fugitives but this division of +Getty's. Said he: 'These officers seemed to rise right up from +the ground.' This was twenty-four years afterward, but he recollects +it perfectly well except names. Among them, however, he recollects +seeing one, Colonel R. B. Hayes, since President of the United +States, and drops the story there, leaving the impression that +there were no men there--no privates, no army--simply some color- +bearers and some officers. + +"The fact is that in the hollow, just in the rear, was a line of +men, a thousand or twelve hundred, probably, and they had thrown +up a little barricade and were lying close behind it. He came up +and saw these officers and did not see the men, or seems not to +have seen them; but I had no idea at the time that he did not see +the private soldiers in that line. He now tells that singular +story of a line of officers, a line of color-bearers, and no force. +The fact is that first came Getty's division, and then mine, and +then came General Keifer's division, all lying down behind that +barricade, but in good condition, except that there had been some +losses in the morning. General Keifer was next to me, and then +came the rest of the Sixth Corps, and farther down I have no doubt +the Nineteenth Corps was in line. We had then been, I suppose, an +hour or an hour and a half in that position."(16) + +Passing from disputed, though important, points relating to the +battle, all agree that when Sheridan reached his army a battle had +been fought and lost to all appearance, and that the Union Army +had been forced to retire to a new position. It should also be +regarded beyond controversy that the Sixth Corps had been united +before his arrival, that broken troops of other commands were being +formed on the Sixth, and that the enemy also had been forced to +change front, and was arrested in his advance. + +Sheridan's presence went far towards giving confidence to his army, +and to inspire the men with a spirit of success. While the army +loved Wright, and believed in him, his temperament was not such as +to cause him to work an army up to a high state of enthusiasm. A +deep chagrin over the morning's disaster pervaded our army, and +had much to do with the subsequent efforts to win a victory. +Sheridan showed himself to the troops by riding along the front, +and he was loudly cheered. He assured them of success before the +day ended. During the lull in the day's battle some of the broken +troops of the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps were reorganized. + +Wright resumed command of his corps and Getty his division. Before +Sheridan came Wright had instructed his division commanders that +he would assume the offensive, and it was understood our army would +advance about 12 M., as soon as an ample resupply of ammunition +could be issued. Sheridan, however, postponed the time for assuming +the offensive until 3 P.M. Early, still filled with high hopes of +complete victory, about 1 P.M. pushed forward on our entire front. +He did not drive in the strong line of skirmishers, and the attack +was easily repulsed. It seemed to me then, as it did to Wright +and others, that our whole army should have been thrown against +the enemy on this repulse, and thus decided the day. Sheridan, +however, adhered to his purpose to act on the defensive until later +in the day. A false report that a Confederate column was moving +towards Winchester on the Front Royal road caused Sheridan to delay +his attack until about 4 P.M. + +Early promptly realized that the conditions had changed, that the +armies must meet face to face. It will be kept in mind that our +army was now fronting southward instead of eastward, and Early's +army was forced to face northward instead of westward, as in the +morning's battle. + +Early, hoping to hold the ground already won and thus reap some of +the fruits of victory, retired, on his repulse, beyond the range +of our guns, and took up a strong position, with his infantry and +artillery, mainly on a natural amphitheatre of hills, centre a +little retired, extending from a point north of Cedar Creek near +Middle Marsh Brook on his left to and across the turnpike near +Middletown, protecting his flanks west of this brook and east of +the town with his cavalry and horse artillery. Early employed his +men busily for the succeeding two hours in throwing up lunettes or +redans to cover his field guns. His men were skillfully posted +behind stone fences, common in the Valley, and on portions of his +line behind temporary breastworks. + +Early, before 12 P.M., wired Richmond he had won a complete victory, +and would drive the Union Army across the Potomac. At 4 P.M. our +army went forward in single line, with no considerable reserves, +but in splendid style. Getty, with his left still on the turnpike, +was the division of direction. My orders were to hold my left on +Getty's right. Wheaton was to keep connection with my right, and +the Nineteenth Corps with the right of the Sixth Corps; and the +cavalry, Merritt east of Middletown and Custer on Cedar Creek, to +cover the flanks. In verifying my position just before starting, +I found troops of Hayes' command filling a space of two or three +hundred yards between Getty's right and my left. I discovered +Hayes temporarily resting on the ground a short distance in rear +of his men, with his staff around him. From him I learned he had +no orders to advance, whereupon I requested him to withdraw his +men so I could close the interval before the movement commenced. +He promptly rose, mounted his horse, and said: "If this army goes +forward I will fill that gap, with or without orders." Unfortunately, +orders came to him to withdraw, and with others of his corps (Eighth) +form in reserve near the turnpike. His withdrawal left, at the +last moment, a gap which could only be filled by obliqueing my +division to the left as it was moving forward. This produced some +unsteadiness in the line, and the right brigade (Emerson's) continued +the movement too long, causing some massing of troops in the centre +of the division, and some disorder resulted while they were under +a severe infantry and artillery fire. This necessary movement also +caused an interval between Wheaton's division and mine, thereby +imperilling my right. Our attack, however, was not checked until +we had gone forward about one mile. The enemy's centre was driven +back upon his partially intrenched line on the heights mentioned. +This brought my division under a most destructive fire of artillery +and infantry from front and flanks. My right flank was especially +exposed, as it had gone forward farther than the troops on the +right. + +The loss in the division was severe, and it became impossible to +hold the exposed troops to the charge. They had not fired as they +advanced. The division retired a short distance, where it was +halted and promptly faced about. In less than five minutes it was +again charging the Confederate left centre. The right of Getty's +division and Wheaton's left went forward with the second charge, +and an advance position in close rifle range of the enemy was gained +and held. My division was partly protected by a stone fence located +on the north of an open field, while the Confederates held the +farther side of the field, about three hundred yards distant, and +were also protected by a stone fence as well as by some temporary +breastworks. The enemy occupied the higher ground, and the field +was lower in the centre than on either side. The battle here was +obstinate and, for a time, promised to extend into the night. +Early's artillery in my front did little execution, as it was +located on the crest of the hills behind his infantry line, and +the gunners, when they undertook to work their guns, were exposed +to our infantry fire. Wheaton's division and that part of the +Nineteenth Corps to his right, though not keeping pace with the +centre, steadily gained ground; likewise the cavalry. Getty, though +under orders to hold his left on the pike, moved his division +forward slowly, making a left half wheel. In this movement Getty's +left reached Middletown, and his right swung somewhat past it on +the west. + +Merritt's cavalry pushed around east of Middletown. At this +juncture, Kershaw's division and part of Gordon's division were in +front of my right and part of Ramseur's in front of my left. +Pegram's and Wharton's divisions were in front of Getty, Wharton +being, in part, east of the pike confronting our cavalry. Early's +left was held by Gordon's troops, including some of his cavalry.(17) +Early now made heroic efforts to hold his position, hoping at night +he could withdraw with some of the fruits of victory. Sheridan +made every possible exertion to dislodge the enemy, and to accomplish +this he was much engaged, personally, on the flanks with the cavalry. +Wright, calm, confident, and unperturbed, gave close attention to +his corps, and was constantly exposed. I frequently met him at +this crisis. He ordered a further charge upon the enemy's centre. +This seemed impossible with the tired troops. Preparation was, +however, made to attempt it. The firing in this last position had +continued for about an hour, during which both sides had suffered +heavily. As the sun was going down behind the mountains that +autumnal evening it became apparent something decisive must take +place or night would end the day of blood leaving the enemy in +possession of the principal part of the battle-field. + +So confident was Early of final victory that, earlier, in the day, +he ordered up his headquarters and supply trains, and by 4 P.M. +they commenced to arrive on the field. + +It must be remembered that the two armies had been manoeuvring and +fighting for twelve hours, with little food or rest and an insufficient +supply of water. Exhausted troops may be held in line, especially +when under some cover, but it is difficult to move then in a charge +with the spirit essential to success. There remained a considerable +interval between Wheaton's left and my right. An illustrative +incident again occurred here in resupplying our men with ammunition. +Three mules loaded with boxes filled with cartridges were conducted +by an ordnance sergeant through the interval on my right in open +view of both armies, and with indifferent leisure to and behind +the stone wall occupied by the Confederates. The sergeant and his +party were not fired on. Word was passed along the line for my +division to make a charge on a given signal, and all subordinate +officers were instructed to use the utmost exertion to make it a +success. The incident of the sergeant and his party going into +the enemy's line served to suggest to me the possibility of +penetrating it with a small body of our soldiers. + +Before giving an order to charge, I instructed Colonel Emerson, +commanding the First Brigade, to hastily form, under a competent +staff officer, a small body of men, and direct them to advance +rapidly along the west of a stone wall extending traversely from +my right to the enemy's position, and to penetrate through a gap +between two of the enemy's brigades, with instructions to open an +enfilading fire on him as soon as his flank was reached. The gap +was between two of Gordon's brigades. The order was promptly and +handsomely executed, and its execution produced the desired effect. +Captain H. W. Day (151st New York, Acting Brigade Inspector) was +charged with the execution of this order.(18) + +The party consisted of about 125 men, each of whom knew that if +unsuccessful death or capture must follow. Colonel Moses H. Granger +(122d Ohio) voluntarily aided, and, in some sense, directed the +movement of this small party. The gap was penetrated on the run +and a fire opened on the exposed flanks of the Confederates which +started them from the cover of their works and the stone wall. At +this juncture the division, as ordered, poured a destructive fire +upon the now exposed Confederates, and at once charging across the +field, drove the enemy in utter rout. A panic seized Gordon's +troops, who were the first struck, then spread to Kershaw's and +Ramseur's divisions, successively on Gordon's right.(19) + +I quote from the report of Colonel Emerson, commanding my First +Brigade, in which he describes the final battle, including the +breaking of Early's line: + +"The brigade lay here under a fire of shell until about 4 P.M., +when Captain Smith came with an order to move forward connecting +on the left with the Second Brigade. The brigade moved through +the woods, when it received a very heavy fire on the right flank, +under which it was broken, but soon reformed in its old position, +and again moved forward to a stone fence, the enemy being behind +another stone wall in front with a clear field intervening. There +was a stone wall running from the right flank of the brigade to +the wall behind which the enemy lay. Some of my men lay scattered +along this last named wall. The First Division lay to the right +and in advance, nearly parallel with the enemy. Everything appeared +to be at a deadlock, with heavy firing of artillery and musketry. +At this stage Colonel Keifer, commanding division, came to me and +inquired what men were those lying along the wall running from our +line to the enemy's, and ordered me to send them forward to flank +the enemy and drive them from their position. The execution of +the order was entrusted to Captain H. W. Day, Inspector of the +[Second] Brigade, who proceeded along the wall, and getting on the +enemy's flank dislodged them, when the brigade was moved rapidly +forward, in connection with the Second Brigade, and did not stop +until we arrived in the works of the Nineteenth Corps, when, in +accordance with orders from Colonel Keifer, the brigade went into +its position of the morning, got its _breakfast_, and encamped, +satisfied that it had done a good day's work before breakfast."(20) + +Also from a report of Colonel Ball, commanding Second Brigade: + +"About 3 P.M. the whole army advanced in one line upon the enemy. +Immediately before advancing the troops were withdrawn to the left, +and my left connected with the Second Division, Sixth Army Corps, +while my right connected with the First Brigade, Third Division. +We advanced half a mile to the edge of the woods, when we were met +by a well-directed fire from the right flank. This fire was returned +with spirit some fifteen minutes, when the troops wavered and fell +back a short distance in some disorder. The Second and Third +Divisions gave way at the same time. The line was speedily reformed +and moved forward and became engaged with the enemy again, each +force occupying a stone wall. Advantage was taken of a wall or +fence running perpendicular to and connecting with that occupied +by the enemy. After the action had continued here about three +quarters of an hour a heavy volley was fired at the enemy from the +transverse wall. A hurried and general retreat of the enemy +immediately followed, and our troops eagerly followed, firing upon +the retreating army as it ran, and giving no opportunity to the +enemy to reform or make a stand. + +"Several efforts were made by the enemy during the pursuit to rally, +but the enthusiastic pursuit foiled all such efforts. Our troops +were subject to artillery fire of solid shot, shell, and grape +during the pursuit, and we reached the intrenchments of the Nineteenth +Army Corps (which were captured in the morning) as the sun set. +Here the pursuit by the infantry was discontinued. The first and +second, and probably the third colors planted on the recovered +works of the Nineteenth Army Corps were of regiments composing this +brigade."(21) + +General Early tells the effect on his army of penetrating his line +by the small body of our troops: + +"A number of bold attempts were made during the subsequent part of +the day, by the enemy's cavalry, to break our line on the right, +but they were invariably repulsed. Late in the afternoon, the +enemy's infantry advanced against Ramseur, Kershaw, and Gordon's +lines, and the attack on Ramseur and Kershaw's front was handsomely +repulsed in my view, and I hoped that the day was finally ours, +but a portion of the enemy had penetrated an interval which was +between Evans' brigade, on the extreme left, and the rest of the +line, when that brigade gave way, and Gordon's other brigades soon +followed. General Gordon made every possible effort to rally his +men and lead them back against the enemy, but without avail. The +information of this affair, with exaggerations, passed rapidly +along Kershaw and Ramseur's lines, and their men, under the +apprehension of being flanked, commenced falling back in disorder, +though no enemy was pressing them, and this gave me the first +intimation of Gordon's condition. At the same time the enemy's +cavalry, observing the disorder on our ranks, made another charge +on our right, but was again repulsed. Every effort was made to +stop and rally Kershaw and Ramseur's men, but the mass of them +resisted all appeals, and continued to go to the rear without +waiting for any effort to retrieve the partial disaster."(22) + +The charge of the division resulted in the total overthrow of +Early's army. Pegram and Wharton's divisions on our extreme left +near Middletown were soon involved in the disaster, and our whole +army went forward, meeting little resistance, taking many prisoners +and guns, only halting when Early's forces were either destroyed, +captured, or driven in the wildest disorder beyond Cedar Creek.(23) +Our cavalry under Merritt and Custer pursued until late in the +night to Fisher's Hill, south of Strasburg, and made many captures. + +It often has been claimed that the cavalry on the right is entitled +to the credit of overthrowing Early's army. It is true Custer did +make some attempts on Gordon's left and rear, but the appearance +of Rosser's cavalry on Custer's right, north and east of Cedar +Creek, called him off, and it was not until after Early's position +had been penetrated and a general retreat had commenced that Custer +again appeared on the enemy's flank and rear. His presence there +had much to do with the wild retreat of Early's men. Custer, who +claimed much for his cavalry, and insisted that it captured forty- +five pieces of artillery, etc., did not in his report of the battle +pretend that his division caused the final break in Early's forces. +Speaking of his last charge on the left, Custer says: + +"Seeing so large a force of cavalry bearing rapidly down upon an +unprotected flank and their line of retreat in danger of being +intercepted, the lines of the enemy, already broken, now gave way +in the utmost confusion."(24) + +Part of Early's artillery and caissons, with ammunition and supply +trains, also ambulances and many battle flags, were captured north +of Cedar Creek. The cavalry, however, seized, south of the Creek, +other substantial fruits of the great victory, including many guns +and headquarters baggage and other trains, and some prisoners. A +panic seized teamsters on the turnpike; they cut out mules or horses +to escape upon, leaving the teams to mingle in the greatest disorder. +Drivers of ambulances filled with dead and wounded also fled, and +the animals ran with them unguided over the field. The scene was +of the wildest ruin. The gloom of night soon fell over the field +to add to its appalling character. + +The guns lost by the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps were taken in the +morning to the public square of Strasburg and triumphantly parked +on exhibition. Our cavalry found them there at night. Little that +makes up an army was left to Early; the disaster reached every part +of his army save, possibly, his cavalry which operated on the remote +flanks. In a large sense, Rosser's cavalry, throughout the day, +had been neutralized by a portion of Custer's, and Lomax had been +held back by Powell on the Front Royal road. Dismay indescribable +extended to the Confederate officers as well as the private soldiers. +Among the former were some of the best and bravest the South +produced. Early himself possessed the confidence of General Lee. +Early had, as division commanders, General John B. Gordon (since +in the United States Senate), Joseph B. Kershaw, Stephen D. Ramseur, +John Pegram, and Gabriel C. Wharton, all of whom had won distinction. +Ramseur fell mortally wounded in attempting a last stand near the +Belle Grove House, and died there. Early fled from the field, +surrounded by a few faithful followers, deeply chagrined and +dejected, and filled with unjust censure of his own troops.(25) +The next day found him still without an organized army.(26) He +seems to have deserved a better fate. His star of military glory +had set. It never rose again. A few months later he reached +Richmond with a single attendant, having barely escaped capture +shortly before by a detachment of Sheridan's cavalry. He finally +returned to Southwest Virginia, where Lee relieved him of all +command, March 30, 1865. + +His misfortunes in the Valley, doubtless, had much to do with his +continued implacable hatred to the Union. Sheridan was his nemesis. +Just after Kirby Smith had surrendered in 1865 and Sheridan was on +his way to the Rio Grande, the latter encountered Early escaping +across the Mississippi in a small boat, with his horses swimming +beside it. He got away, but his horses were captured.(27) + +Sheridan, for his great skill and gallantry, justly won the plaudits +of his country, and his fame as a soldier will be immortal, but +not alone on account of his victory at Cedar Creek, nor on account +of "Sheridan's Ride," as described by the poet Read.(28) + +My division, at dark, resumed its camp of the night before, as did +other divisions of the army. + +When the fifteen hours of carnage had ceased, and the sun had gone +down, spreading the gloom of a chilly October night over the wide +extended field, there remained a scene more horrid than usual. +The dead and dying of the two armies were commingled. Many of the +wounded had dragged themselves to the streams in search of the +first want of a wounded man--_water_. Many mangled and loosed +horses were straggling over the field to add to the confusion. +Wagons, gun-carriages, and caissons were strewn in disorder in the +rear of the last stand of the Confederate Army. Abandoned ambulances, +sometimes filled with dead and dying Confederates, were to be seen +in large numbers, and loose teams dragged overturned vehicles over +the hills and through the ravines. Dead and dying men were found +in the darkness almost everywhere. Cries of agony from the suffering +victims were heard in all directions, and the moans of wounded +animals added much to the horrors of the night. + +"_Mercy_ abandons the arena of battle," but when the conflict is +ended _mercy_ again asserts itself. The disabled of both armies +were cared for alike. Far into the night, with some all the long +night, the heroes in the day's strife ministered to friend and foe +alike, where but the night before our army had peacefully slumbered, +little dreaming of the death struggle of the coming day. To an +efficient medical corps, however, belong the chief credit for the +good work done in caring for the unfortunate. + +The loss in officers was unusually great. Besides Colonel Thoburn, +killed in the opening of the battle, General D. D. Bidwell fell +early in the day, and Colonel Charles R. Lowell, Jr., was killed +near its close while leading a charge of his cavalry brigade. +Eighty-six Union officers were killed or mortally wounded. + +Many distinguished officers were wounded. Of the six officers +belonging to my brigade staff who were turned over to Colonel Ball +in the early morning, one only (Captain J. T. Rorer) remained +uninjured at night. Two were dead. + +All was peaceful enough on the 20th, though on every hand the +evidence of the preceding day's struggle was to be seen. The dead +of both armies were buried--the blue and the gray in separate +trenches, to await the resurrection morn. + +I have no purpose to speak of individual acts of bravery. The +number of killed and wounded of each army was about the same. The +casualties in my division, excluding 36 captured or missing, were, +killed, 8 officers and 100 men; wounded, 34 officers and 528 men; +total, 670. Wheaton lost, killed and wounded, 470; and Getty, 677. +The killed and wounded in the Sixth Corps were 1926, including 109 +of its artillery. + +Much credit for the victory was given by Sheridan to the cavalry. +Its total loss, in the three divisions under Torbert, was, killed, +2 officers and 27 men; wounded, 9 officers and 115 men; total, 153; +not one fourth the number killed and wounded in my infantry division +alone. The killed and wounded in my old brigade, under Colonel +Ball, were 421. + +The casualties of the Union Army are shown by the following official +table:(29) + + Killed. Wounded. Captured or + Missing. Aggregate. + Officers. Officers. Officers. + | Men. | Men. | Men. +Sixth Army Corps 23 275 103 1525 6 194 2126 +Nineteenth Army Corps 19 238 109 1127 14 776 2383 +Army of West Virginia 7 41 17 253 10 530 858 +Provisional Division 1 11 6 66 18 102 +Cavalry 2 27 9 115 43 196 + --- --- --- ---- --- ---- ---- + Grand total 52 529 244 3186 30 1561 5665 + +The table includes 156 of the artillery, killed or wounded. + +The total Union killed and wounded was 4074. + +The dead and wounded in the Sixth Corps, and in some other of the +infantry divisions approximated twenty per cent. of those engaged. +This was larger by six per cent. than similar losses in the French +army at Marengo, where Napoleon won a victory which enabled him, +later, to wear the iron crown of Charlemagne; by six per cent. than +at Austerlitz, the battle of the "Three Emperors"; by eight per +cent. than in Wellington's army at Waterloo, where Napoleon's star +of glory set; or in either the German or French army at Gravelotte, +or at Sedan, where Napoleon III. laid down his imperial crown; and +larger by about fifteen per cent. than the average like losses in +the Austrian and French armies at Hohenlinden. + + "Where drums beat at dead of night, + Commanding the fires of death to light." + +The number killed and wounded in this battle is far below that in +some other great battles of the Rebellion, yet the loss for the +Union Army alone was only a little below the aggregate like losses +in the American army from Lexington to Yorktown (1775-1781), and +approximately the same as in the American army in the Mexican War, +from Palo Alto to the City of Mexico (1846-1848).(30) + +If either of two things had not occurred prior to the battle, the +result of it might have been different. Had Early not precipitated +an attack with an infantry division and Rosser's cavalry on the +13th of October, Wright, with the Sixth Corps, would have gone to +Petersburg; and had the _fake_ (Longstreet) dispatch of the 16th +not been flagged from the Confederate signal station on Three Top +Mountain, Torbert, with the cavalry, would have been east of the +Blue Ridge on the intended raid. But for the Longstreet dispatch, +Sheridan most likely would have tarried in Washington or delayed +his movements on his return trip. Could the Sixth Corps, could +the cavalry, or could Sheridan have been spared from the battle? + +The principal peculiarities of the engagement were: (1) That an +ably commanded army was surprised in its camp, and, in considerable +part, driven from it at the opening of the battle; (2) that +notwithstanding this, it won, at the close of the day, the most +signal and complete field-victory of the war, with the possible +exception of those won at Nashville and Sailor's Creek; (3) the +Confederate Army was destroyed, so there was no battle for the +morrow. In most instances during the Rebellion, it transpired that +the defeated army sullenly retired only a short way in condition +to renew the fight. + +Cedar Creek, in some respects, bears a striking analogy to Marengo. +Both were dual in character, each two battles in one day; the +victors of the morning being the defeated and routed of the evening. +Sheridan's victory over Early, like that of Napoleon over Marshal +Melas, left no further fighting for the victors the next day. In +one other respect, also, the comparison holds good. The commander +of each of the finally routed armies sent a message about the middle +of the day of battle announcing to his government a great victory, +to be followed at sunset with the news of a most signal disaster. + +In other respects, how dissimilar? Napoleon was, from the opening +to the close of Marengo, on the field, commanding in person, sharing +the defeat, then the victory. Sheridan was absent and did not +participate in the discomfiture of his army, but was present at +the final success. Napoleon, after his repulse, was reinforced by +Desaix with 6000 men; but the Army of the Shenandoah, after the +disaster of the morning, was reinforced only by its proper commander +--Sheridan. + +There was not a great disparity of numbers in the opposing armies +at Cedar Creek. Probably 20,000 men of all arms were engaged on +each side. Relative position and situation of troops must be taken +into account, as well as numbers, in determining the strength of +one army over another. Early has tried to excuse his defeat by +claiming he had the smaller army. In response to this, Sheridan +and his Provost-Marshal, Crowninshield, have tried to show that +Early lost in captured more men than he claimed he had present for +duty.(31) After Opequon and Fisher's Hill Early was reinforced by +Kershaw's division of Longstreet's corps, Cutshaw's three batteries, +and Rosser's division of cavalry with light artillery, together +with many smaller detachments, all of which participated in Cedar +Creek. Sheridan received no reinforcements, and Edwards' brigade +of the First Division of the Sixth, Currie's of the Nineteenth, +and Curtis' of the Eighth Corps were each detached, after Opequon, +on other duties, and were not at Cedar Creek. The surprise and +breaking up in the morning of the greater parts of Crook's and +Emory's corps eliminated them, in large part, from the day's battle, +and left the Sixth Corps and the cavalry to wage an unequal contest. + +The war closed on the bloody battle-ground of the Shenandoah Valley, +so far as important operations were concerned, with Cedar Creek. + +President Lincoln appointed me a Brigadier-General by brevet, +November 30, 1864; the commission recited the appointment was "for +gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Opequon, Fisher's +Hill, and Cedar Creek, Virginia," and I was assigned to duty by +him as Brigadier-General, December 29, 1864. + +Sheridan's army returned to Kearnstown and went into winter quarters. +The Sixth Corps was, however, soon transferred by rail and steamboat, +_via_ Harper's Ferry and Washington, to City Point, rejoining the +Army of the Potomac, December 5, 1864. + +( 1) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 64. + +( 2) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), p. 574. + +( 3) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 580, Captain Hotchkiss' +Journal. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 580. + +( 5) General Ricketts was supposed to be mortally wounded. His +wife a second time came to him on the battle-field. He was taken +to Washington, his home, and slowly recovered. He was able again +to perform some field service near the close of the war. He died +of pneumonia, September 22, 1887, and is buried at Arlington. + +( 6) Major A. F. Hayden, of Wright's staff, while the battle was +raging in the early morning, was seen galloping towards me with +one hand raised to indicate he had some important order. Just +before reaching me he was shot through the body and plunged off +his horse on the hard ground, rolling over and over until he lay +almost in a ball. He was borne off in a blanket for dead. In +February following I met him on a steamer on the Chesapeake returning +to duty, and I saw him again at the Centennial in Philadelphia in +1876. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 132. + +( 8) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 53. + +( 9) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 68-82. + +(10) In one account Sheridan fixes his arrival at 9 A.M. In his +_Memoirs_ at 10.30 A.M. (p. 86). Getty, in his report of November, +1864, says, "Sheridan arrived at between 11 A.M. and 12 M." I made +a note (still preserved), of the time Sheridan was seen by me riding +up to the rear of Getty's division. + +(11) _Memoirs_, p. 82. + +(12) These facts are as stated in a private letter from General +Getty to the writer, dated December 31, 1893. + +(13) Here is an extract from a letter of General Wright to me, +dated July 18, 1889: + +"Orders had been given by me for the establishment of the lines, +and Getty's and your divisions (the Second and Third) were in +position, and Wheaton's (First) and the Nineteenth Corps were coming +into position when General Sheridan arrived upon the ground. I +advised him of what had been done and what it was intended to do, +and he made no change in the dispositions I had made. Indeed, as +I understand, he fully approved them. . . . General Sheridan did +later make some change in the disposition of the cavalry." + +(14) _Memoirs_, vol. ii., pp. 82, 85. + +(15) Colonel Moses M. Granger, of the Second Brigade, Third +Division, says: "It is plain that our brigade was in line on +Getty's right a considerable time before Sheridan's arrival."-- +_Sketches War History_, vol. iii., p. 124. + +(16) This extract is from remarks of General Hayes made at a Loyal +Legion banquet in Cincinnati, May 6, 1889. _Sketches War History_, +vol. iv., p. 23. + +(17) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 581. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 228, 234, 251-2, 202. + +(19) _Ibid_., p. 562 (Early's Report). + +(20) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 234. + +(21) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 250-1. + +(22) _Battles and Leaders_, etc., vol. iv., p. 528. + +(23) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 562-3, 580. + +(24) _Ibid_., p. 524. + +(25) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 562-3. + +(26) Napoleon once remarked, "How much to be pitied is a general +the day after a lost battle!" + +(27) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 211. + +(28) The distance from Winchester to Middletown is twelve miles. + +(29) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 131, 137. + +(30) Great events in war are not always measured by the quantity +of blood shed. Sherman's dead and wounded list on his march from +"Atlanta to the Sea" was only 531. _Life of Grant_ (Church), pp. +297-8. + +(31) _Battles and Leaders_, etc., vol. iv., p. 532. + + +CHAPTER XI +Peace Negotiations--Lee's Suggestion to Jefferson Davis, 1862-- +Fernando Wood's Correspondence with Mr. Lincoln, 1862--Mr. Stephens +at Fortress Monroe, 1863--Horace Greeley--Niagara Falls Conference, +1864--Jacquess-Gilmore Visits to Richmond, 1863-4--F. P. Blair, +Sen., Conference with Mr. Davis, 1865--Hampton Roads Conference, +Mr. Lincoln and Seward and Stephens and Others, 1865--Ord-Longstreet, +Lee and Grant Correspondence, 1865, and Lew Wallace and General +Slaughter, Point Isabel Conference, 1865. + +The war had now lasted nearly four years, with varied success in +all the military departments, and the people North and South had +long been satiated with its dire calamities. There had, from the +start, been an anti-war party in the North, and in certain localities +South there were large numbers of loyal men, many of whom joined +the Union Army. The South was becoming exhausted in men and means. +The blockade had become so efficient as to render it almost impossible +for the Confederate authorities to get foreign supplies. It seemed +to unprejudiced observers that the Confederacy must soon collapse. +Sherman in his march from "Atlanta to the Sea" had cut the Confederacy +in twain. It was without gold or silver, and its paper issues were +valueless and passed only by compulsion within the Confederate +lines. Provisions were obtainable only by a system of military +seizure. The Confederacy had no credit at home or abroad; and +there was a growing discontent with President Davis and his advisers. +There also came to be a feeling in the South that slavery, in any +event, was doomed. Lastly, the "cradle and the grave" were robbed +to fill up the army; this by a relentless draft. The Confederate +Congress passed an act authorizing the incorporation into the army +of colored men--slaves. This was not well received, though General +Lee approved of the policy, suggesting, however, that it would be +necessary to give those who became soldiers, freedom.( 1) + +Notwithstanding the desperate straits into which the Confederacy +had fallen it still had in the field not less than 300,000 well- +equipped soldiers, generally well commanded, and, although forced +to act on the defensive, they were very formidable. + +The officers and soldiers of the Union Army longest in the field, +though confident of final and complete success, desired very much +to see the war speedily terminated--to return to their families +and to peaceful pursuits. This desire did not show itself so much +as in discontent as in a restless disposition towards those in +authority, who, it might be supposed, could in some way secure a +peace. The credit of the United States remained good; its bonds +commanded ready sale at home and abroad, yet an enormous debt was +piling up at the rate of $4,000,000 daily, and its paper currency +was depreciated to about thirty-five per cent. of its face value. +These and many other causes led to a general desire for peace. On +both sides, those in supreme authority were unjustly charged with +a disposition to continue the war for ulterior purposes when it +had been demonstrated that it was no longer justifiable. + +This retrospect seems necessary before giving a summary of the +various efforts to negotiate a peace. About the first open suggestion +to that end came from General Robert E. Lee in a letter to President +Davis written at Fredericktown, Maryland, September 8, 1862. This +was just after the Second Bull Run, during the first Confederate +invasion of Maryland and in the hey-day of the Confederacy. Davis +was requested to join Lee's army, and, from its head, propose to +the United States a recognition of the independence of the Confederate +States. Lee in this letter showed himself something of a politician. +He urged that a rejection of such a proposition would throw the +responsibility of a continuance of the war on the Union authorities +and thus aid, at the elections, the party in the country opposed to +the war.( 2) Nothing, however, came of this suggestion of Lee. + +Fernando Wood, who had kept himself in some sort of relations with +President Lincoln, though at all times suspected by the latter, +pretended in a letter to him, dated December 8, 1862, to have +"reliable and truthful authority" for saying the Southern States +would send representatives to Congress provided a general amnesty +would permit them to do so. The President was asked to give +immediate attention to the matter, and Wood suggested "that gentlemen +whose former social and political relations with the leaders of +the _Southern revolt_ may be allowed to hold unofficial correspondence +with them on this subject." + +Mr. Lincoln, whose power to discern a sham, or a false pretense, +exceeded that of any other man of his time, promptly responded: +"I strongly suspect your information will prove groundless; +nevertheless, I thank you for communicating it to me." He said +further to Mr. Wood that if "the _people_ of the Southern States +would cease resistance, and would re-inaugurate, submit to, and +maintain the national authority within the limits of such States, +the war would cease on the part of the United States, and that if, +within a reasonable time, a full and general amnesty were necessary +to such an end, it would not be withheld." The President declined +to suspend military operations "to try any experiment of negotiation." +He expressed a desire for any "exact information" Mr. Wood might +have, saying it "might be more valuable before than after January +1, 1863," referring, doubtless, to the promised Emancipation +Proclamation. Wood's scheme, evidently having no substantial basis, +aborted.( 3) + +Others, about the same time, pestered Mr. Lincoln with plans and +schemes for the termination of the war. One Duff Green, a Virginia +politician, wrote from Richmond in January, 1863, asking the +President for an interview "to pave the way for an early termination +of the war." He asked the same permission from Jeff. Davis. His +efforts came to nothing. + +Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, conceiving, +in the early summer of 1863, that the times were auspicious for +peace negotiations, wrote Mr. Davis, asking to be sent to Washington, +ostensibly to negotiate about the exchange of prisoners, but really +to try to "turn attention to a general adjustment, upon such basis +as might be ultimately acceptable to both parties, and stop the +further effusion of blood." He assured Mr. Davis he had but one +idea of final adjustment--"the recognition of the sovereignty of +the States." Mr. Davis wired Stephens to repair to Richmond, and +he arrived on June 22, 1863. Davis and his Cabinet appear to have +seconded, with some heartiness, Stephens' scheme; all thinking it +might result in aiding the "peace party" North. The Confederate +leaders had been greatly encouraged by the gains of the Democratic +party in the elections of 1862; by repeated attacks on the +Administration by some of Lincoln's party friends; by public meetings +held in New York City at which violent and denunciatory speeches +were listened to from Fernando Wood and others, and by the nomination +of Vallandigham for Governor of Ohio. The military situation was +critical to both governments when Stephens reached Richmond. +Pemberton was besieged and doomed to an early surrender at Vicksburg. +On the other hand Lee was invading Pennsylvania, having just gained +some successes in the Shenandoah Valley; and there was a great +battle imminent on Northern soil. Stephens was directed to proceed +by the Valley to join Lee, and from his headquarters try to reach +Washington. Heavy rains and bad roads deterred the frail Vice- +President. At length the Secretary of the Confederate Navy sent +him in a small steamer (the _Torpedo_) under a flag of truce, +accompanied by Commissioner Robert Ould as his secretary, to Fortress +Monroe. He wrote from this place a letter to Admiral S. P. Lee in +Hampton Roads, of date of July 4, 1863, saying he was "bearer of +a communication in writing from Jefferson Davis, _Commander-in- +Chief_ of the land and naval forces of the Confederate States, to +Abraham Lincoln, _Commander-in-Chief_ of the land and naval forces +of the United States," and that he desired to go to Washington in +his own vessel. The titles by which Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Davis were +designated had been previously determined on by Davis and his +advisers. Anticipating there might be objection to the latter +being referred to as President of the Confederacy, the foregoing +was adopted as likely to be least objectionable. It was, however, +solemnly agreed at Richmond that if the designations or titles +adopted were such as to cause Mr. Stephens' communication to be +rejected, he was to say that he had a communication to "President +Lincoln from the President of the Confederacy." If this were +objectionable as an apparent recognition of Davis as President of +an independent nation, then Mr. Stephens' mission was to forthwith +terminate. Admiral Lee wired to Mr. Lincoln Mr. Stephens' arrival, +his mission, and desire to proceed to Washington. Mr. Lincoln did +not stand on punctilio. He was, at first, inclined to send a long +dispatch refusing Mr. Stephens permission to go to Washington, and +saying nothing would be received "assuming the independence of the +Confederate States, and anything will be received, and carefully +considered by him, when offered by any influential person or persons, +in terms not assuming the independence of the so-called Confederate +States." This was, however, decided to be too much in detail, and +the Secretary of the Navy was ordered to telegraph Admiral Lee: + +"The request of A. H. Stephens is inadmissible. The customary +agents and channels are adequate for all needful communication and +conference between the United States and the insurgents." + +This ended Mr. Stephens' first plans to secure peace. He, in his +book written since the war, admits or pretends that the ulterior +purpose of his proposed trip to Washington was, through a correspondence +that would be published, "to deeply impress the growing constitutional +(_sic!_) party at the North with a full realization of the true +nature and ultimate tendencies of the war . . . that the surest +way to maintain their liberties was to allow us the separate +enjoyment of ours."( 4) + +Great events took place the day Mr. Stephens reached Fortress +Monroe. Vicksburg fell and Lee was, on that memorable Fourth of +July, sending off his wounded, preparatory to a retreat from the +fated field of Gettysburg. + +Horace Greeley, a sincere enemy to slavery, who had somehow become +imbued with the notion that the Administration was responsible for +a prolongation of the war, became restless and complaining. He, +at the head of the New York _Tribune_, gave vent to much criticism, +which encouraged those in rebellion, and their friends in the North. +He listened to all sorts of pretenders and, finally, was duped into +the belief that a peace could be made through some Southern emissaries +in Canada. An adventurer calling himself "William Cornell Jewett +of Colorado," from Niagara Falls, July 5, 1864, wrote Mr. Greeley: + +"I am authorized to say to you . . . that two ambassadors of Davis +& Co. are now in Canada with full and complete powers for peace, +and Mr. Sanders requests that you come on immediately to me at +Cataract House to have a private interview; or, if you will send +the President's protection for him and two friends, they will come +on and meet you. He says the whole matter can be consummated by +_me, you, them, and President Lincoln_.( 5) + +Mr. Greeley was seemingly so impressed with this as an opening for +peace that he wrote a dictatorial letter to Mr. Lincoln reminding +him of the long continuance of the war; asserting the country was +dissatisfied with the manner in which it was conducted and averse +to further calls for troops; avowing that there was a widespread +conviction that the government did not desire peace; rebuking the +President for not having received Mr. Stephens the year before, +and prophesying that unless there were steps taken to show the +country that honest efforts were being made to secure an early +settlement of our difficulties the Union party would be defeated +at the impending Presidential election. Greeley suggested this +wholly impracticable and impossible plan of adjustment: (1) The +Union to be restored and declared perpetual; (2) slavery abolished; +(3) complete amnesty; (4) payment of $400,000,000 to slave States +for their slaves; (5) the slave States to have representation based +on their total population, and (6) a national convention to be +called at once. With a tirade on the condition of the country and +its credit and more warnings as to the coming election, Mr. Greeley +concluded by demanding that negotiations should be opened with the +persons at Niagara. + +Mr. Lincoln, though without faith in either the parties in Canada +or Greeley's plan, wrote the latter, July 9th, saying: + +"If you can find any persons, anywhere, professing to have any +proposition of Jefferson Davis in writing, for peace, embracing +the restoration of the Union, and abandonment of slavery, whatever +else it embraces, say to him he may come to me with you, and that +if he really brings such proposition he shall at the least have +safe conduct with the paper (and without publicity if he chooses) +to the point where you shall have met him. The same if there be +two or more persons." + +The President, thus prompt and frank, utterly surprised and +disconcerted Mr. Greeley. Mr. Lincoln had accepted two main points +in Greeley's plan--restoration of the Union and abandonment of +slavery, and waived all others for the time being. The next day +Mr. Greeley replied by repeating reproaches over what he called +the "rude repulse" of Stephens, saying he thought the negotiators +would not "open their budgets"; referring to the importance of +doing something to aid the elections, and indicating that he might +try to get a look into the hand of the Niagara parties. Again, on +the 13th, he wrote Mr. Lincoln he had reliable information that +Clement C. Clay of Alabama and Jacob Thompson of Mississippi were +at Niagara Falls duly empowered to negotiate for peace, adding that +he knew nothing as to terms, and saying that it was high time the +slaughter was ended. The President, still without the slightest +faith in Greeley or his Canada negotiators, but stung with the +unjust assumption that he was averse to peace, wired Mr. Greeley, +on the 15th: + +"I was not expecting you to send me a letter, but to bring me a +man or men," and saying a messenger with a letter was on the way +to him. + +The letter of Mr. Lincoln was brief, but met the case: + +"Yours of the 13th is just received, and I am disappointed that +you have not already reached here with those commissioners, if they +would consent to come, on being shown my letter to you of the 9th +inst. Show that and this to them, and if they will come on the +terms in the former, bring them. I not only intend a sincere effort +for peace, but I intend you shall be a personal witness that it is +made." + +Mr. Greeley, on this letter being placed in his hands, expressed +much embarrassment, but decided to go in search of the Canada +parties provided he had a safe conduct for C. C. Clay, Jacob +Thompson, James P. Holcombe, and George N. Sanders to Washington, +in company with himself. The safe conduct was obtained through +John Hay, the messenger. On Mr. Greeley's arrival at Niagara he +fell into the hands of "Colorado Jewett," his vainglorious +correspondent, and through him addressed Clay, Thompson, and Holcombe +this letter: + +"I understand you are duly accredited from Richmond as the bearers +of propositions looking to the establishment of peace; that you +desire to visit Washington in fulfilment of your mission; and that +you further desire that George N. Sanders shall accompany you. If +my information be thus far substantially correct, I am authorized +by the President of the United States to tender you his safe conduct +on the journey proposed, and to accompany you at the earliest time +that will be agreeable to you." + +Mr. Greeley, in this communication, ignored all the conditions in +Mr. Lincoln's letters to him. Notwithstanding this, two of the +persons named responded (Thompson not having been with Clay and +Holcombe), saying they had no credentials to treat on the subject +of peace, and hence could not accept his offer. Clay and Holcombe +did say something about being acquainted with the views of their +government, and if permitted to go to Richmond could get, for +themselves or others, proper credentials. Mr. Greeley reported +the situation, asking of the President further instructions. It +now became apparent to everybody connected with the farce that if +it was kept up further, Mr. Lincoln would be put in the attitude +of suing the Confederacy for a peace. Lincoln determined to end +the situation and at the same time define his position before the +world, clearly. He dispatched John Hay to Niagara with this famous +letter: + +"To Whom it May Concern: Any proposition which embraces the +restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the +abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority +that can control the armies now at war with the United States, will +be received and considered by the Executive of the United States, +and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral +points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct +both ways. + + "Abraham Lincoln." + +This explicit letter was communicated to Holcombe at the Clifton +House by Greeley and Hay. Mr. Greeley seems to have expressed to +Jewett his regret over the "sad termination of the initiatory steps +taken for peace, from the charge made by the President in his +instructions given him." Nothing could have been more unjust. +The Confederate emissaries wrote a long letter to Mr. Greeley, +which they gave to the public, arraigning Mr. Lincoln for bad faith. +They assumed Mr. Greeley had been sent by the President, on Mr. +Lincoln's own motion, to invite them to Washington to confer as to +a peace. It does not appear that Mr. Greeley tried to disabuse +the public mind of this error or to make known the truth. He +claimed to regard the safe conduct of July 16th as a wavier of all +the President's precedent terms; also of his own previously expressed +terms. The President did not think best to publish the whole +correspondence, preferring to suffer the injustice in silence. +Mr. Greeley continued in a bad state of mind. He refused to visit +Mr. Lincoln, as requested, for a conference. He wrote the President +on the 8th and again on the 9th of August, 1864, abusing certain +Cabinet officers, reiterating his reproaches of Mr. Lincoln for +not receiving Mr. Stephens, censuring him for not sending, after +Vicksburg, a deputation to Richmond to ask for peace, complaining +to him for not sending the "three biggest" Democrats in Congress to +sue for peace, saying, however, little of his Niagara Falls fiasco, +but adding: "Do not let the month pass without an earnest effort +for peace," and closing his last letter thus: + +"I beg you, implore you, to inaugurate or invite proposals for +peace forthwith. And in case peace cannot now be made, consent to +an _armistice for one year_, each party to retain, unmolested, all +it now holds, but the rebel ports to be opened. Meantime, let a +national convention be held, and there will surely be no more war +at all events." + +This suggestion of an armistice for one year and the opening of +the rebel ports, was equivalent to proposing to give one year for +the Confederacy to recuperate at home and from abroad; to strengthen +its credit, to arrange new combinations, and to tie the hands of +its friends of the Union and the Administration, to say nothing of +the confession of failure to suppress the insurrection. + +While Mr. Greeley was a Union man and had, throughout his public +life, opposed slavery, he had no faith in war, nor did he have any +of the instincts of a soldier to enable him to discern its tendencies. +He was personally friendly, it may be assumed, to the President, +but hostile to Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, and probably intensely +jealous of all the distinguished generals of the army. Greeley +had long been, through the _Tribune_, a recognized factor in moulding +public opinion, and now that war had come to absorb all other +interests, his power and influence through the press had waned. +He was wholly impracticable in executive matters. His failure to +inaugurate a peace and to attain prominence in administrative +affairs during the war embittered him through life towards his old- +time party friends. + +A review of Mr. Lincoln's course relating to Mr. Greeley's attempts +to negotiate a peace shows the former acted with the utmost candor, +and submitted, for the time, to the latter's dictatorial course +and the unjust charge of wavering and acting in bad faith, rather +then crush his old friend or endanger the general cause for selfish +glory.( 6) + +Though in a sense inaugurated in 1863, another quite as futile +attempt to bring about peace was in progress in July, 1864. James +F. Jaquess, Colonel of the 73d Illinois, serving in Rosecrans' army +--a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, a D.D.--in May, 1863, wrote to +James A. Garfield, Chief of Staff, calling attention to the fact +that his church had divided on the slavery question; saying that +the Methodist Episcopal Church South had been a leading element in +the Rebellion and prominent in the prosecution of the war; that a +considerable part of the territory of that church South was in the +possession of the Union Army; that from its ministers, once bitterly +opposed to the Union, he had learned in person: + +"That they consider the Rebellion has killed the Methodist Episcopal +Church South; that it has virtually obliterated slavery, and all +the prominent questions of difference between the North and the +South; that they are desirous of returning to the 'Old Church'; +that their brethren of the South are most heartily tired of the +Rebellion; and that they most ardently desire peace, and the +privilege of returning to their allegiance to church and state, +and that they will do this on the first offer coming from a reliable +source. . . . And from these considerations, but not from these +alone, but because God has laid the duty on me, I submit to the +proper authorities the following proposition, viz.: _I will go +into the Southern Confederacy and return within ninety days with +terms of peace that the government will accept_." + +He further stated; + +"I propose no compromise with traitors--but their immediate return +to allegiance to God and their country. . . . I propose to do this +work in the name of the Lord; if He puts it in the hearts of my +superiors to allow me to do it, I shall be thankful; if not, I have +discharged my duty." + +This letter Rosecrans forwarded to Mr. Lincoln, approving Jacquess' +application. The President, seeing the difficulties, wrote Rosecrans +saying Jacquess "could not go with any government authority," yet +left to Rosecrans the discretion to grant the desired furlough. +The furlough was granted. Jacquess, finding a mere furlough or +church influence would not aid him in getting into the Confederate +lines, repaired to Baltimore and besought General Schenck to send +him _via_ Fort Monore to Richmond. Schenck wired the President +(July 13th) Jacquess' wishes and was answered: "Mr. Jacquess is +a very worthy gentleman, but I can have nothing to do, directly or +indirectly, with the matter he has in view." The Colonel, however, +persuaded Schenck to send him to Fort Monroe, from whence he reached +Richmond through the connivance of officers conducting the exchange +of prisoners. In eleven days he was again in Baltimore asking the +President by letter to grant him permission to report the "valuable +information and proposals for peace" he had obtained. This permission +was not granted. Mr. Lincoln well understood that he could have +nothing official to report, and that in the brief time he was South +he could have gained no reliable information concerning public +sentiment. After lingering in Baltimore a little, this preacher- +colonel rejoined his regiment. It does not appear that he ever +made, even to Rosecrans or Garfield, any detailed report of this +his first trip to Richmond. Though his efforts had so far failed, +he was not discouraged, but with faith characteristic of his class, +resolved upon another effort. He now associated with him one J. +R. Gilmore, a lecturer and literary character known as "Edmund +Kirke," who had spent some time in the Western armies. Both were +enthusiastic, but their zeal constituted their principal merit in +the matter attempted. The President declined a personal interview +with Jacquess, but gave, July, 1864, Gilmore a pass, over his own +signature, to Grant's headquarters, with a note to Grant to allow +both "to pass our lines with ordinary baggage and go South." Mr. +Gilmore had previously (June 15, 1864) written Mr. Lincoln telling +him something of what Jacquess would propose. In substance he +would say: "Lay down your arms and resume peaceful pursuits; the +Emancipation Proclamation tells what will be done with the blacks; +amnesty will be granted the masses, and no terms with rebels. The +leaders to be allowed to seek safety abroad, and at the end of +sixty days not one of them must be found in the United States." +On the 16th, these two men passed from Butler's lines and were +allowed to proceed, under surveillance, to Richmond. Next day they +asked, through Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin, for an interview +with "President Davis," which was accorded them at nine o'clock +that night, both Davis and Benjamin being present. + +The volunteer envoys were politely received, and the interview +lasted two hours. It seems that Jacquess and Gilmore did not even +mention the plan referred to in the latter's letter to Mr. Lincoln. +This was, however, immaterial, as they had no authority to submit +anything. They asked Mr. Davis if the "_dispute_" was not "narrowed +down to this: Union or Disunion." Davis answered: "Yes, or +independence or subjugation." The "envoys" suggested that the two +governments should go to the people with two propositions: (1) +"Peace with disunion and Southern independence," (2) "Peace with +Union, emancipation, no confiscation, and universal amnesty." A +vote to be taken on these propositions within sixty days, in which +the citizens of the whole United States should participate; the +proposition prevailing to be abided by. Pending the vote there +should be an armistice. Mr. Davis promptly said: + +"The plan is wholly impracticable. If the South were only one +State it might work; but as it is, if only one State objected to +emancipation, it would nullify the whole thing: for you are aware +the people of Virginia cannot vote slavery out of South Carolina, +nor the people of South Carolina vote it out of Virginia." + +The interview proceeded on these lines without approaching agreement. +It is evident that the "envoys" were overmatched by Davis and +Benjamin, and were subjected to a charge of ignorance of the form +of their own government. Davis indulged in some _bluff_ about +caring nothing for slavery, as his slaves were already freed by +the war; and he declared the Southern people "will be free"--will +govern themselves, if they "have to see every Southern plantation +sacked and every Southern city in flames." Davis also announced +that he would be pleased, at any time, to receive proposals "for +peace on the basis of independence. It will be needless to approach +me on any other." + +The interview being over, Jacquess and Gilmore got quickly back +into the Union lines, and North. The latter published an account +of the interview in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for September, 1864. +His account does not materially differ from Benjamin's sent to the +Confederate diplomatic agents in Europe, or Davis' in his _Rise +and Fall of the Confederacy_.( 7) + +On the whole the publication of the story of this visit to Richmond +did much good to the Union cause in the pending Presidential +campaign. The story closed the mouths of the peace factionists, +though a few of Mr. Lincoln's party friends, fearing the result of +the election, continued to demand more tangible testimony of his +disposition to negotiate a peace; this largely for the purpose of +its effect on the November election. + +Henry J. Raymond, Chairman of the Republican National Executive +Committee, at a meeting of the committee in New York, apprehensive +of McClellan's nomination and possible election as President, August +22, 1864, indited a panicky letter to Mr. Lincoln, expressing great +fear of the latter's defeat at the polls, giving some unfavorable +predictions as to the result of the election by E. B. Washburne, +Governor Morton, Simon Cameron, and others, deploring the failure +of the army to gain victories, and assigning as a cause for reaction +in public sentiment: + +"The impression is in some minds, the fear and suspicion in others, +that we are not to have peace in any event under this Administration +until slavery is abandoned." + +Continuing: + +"In some way or other the suspicion is widely diffused that we can +have peace with Union if we would. It is idle to reason with this +belief--still more idle to denounce it. It can only be expelled +by some authoritative act, at once bold enough to fix attention +and distinct enough to defy incredulity and challenge respect." + +Raymond was bold enough to ask that a commission be appointed to +offer "peace to Davis, as the head of the rebel armies, on the sole +condition of acknowledging the supremacy of the Constitution--all +other questions to be settled in a convention of the people of all +the States." He stated that if the proffer were accepted the people +would put the execution of the details in loyal hands; if rejected +"it would plant seeds of disaffection in the South and dispel all +delusions about peace that prevail in the North." He demanded the +proposal should be made at once, as Mr. Lincon's "spontaneous act." +Mr. Raymond seemed to express the concurrent views of his Republican +associates.( 8) Three days later he and his committee reached +Washington to personally urge prompt action on the President. In +the light of recent attempts at Niagara and Richmond the Raymond +proposition was inadmissible, yet Mr. Lincoln resolved, if the step +must be taken, to again make the proposer the instrument to +demonstrate its folly. The President wrote a letter of instructions, +which he felt he might have to give to Mr. Raymond, authorizing +him to proceed to Richmond, and propose to "Honorable Jefferson +Davis that upon the restoration of the Union and the national +authority, the war shall cease at once, all remaining questions to +be left for adjustment by peaceful modes." If this proposition +were not accepted, Mr. Raymond was then "to request to be informed +what terms, if any, embracing the restoration of the Union, would +be accepted." "If the presentation of any terms embracing the +restoration of the Union" were declined, then Mr. Raymond was +directed to "request to be informed what terms of peace would be +accepted; and on receiving any answer report the same to the +Government." + +It will be noticed that in the Raymond letter the President left +out all reference to slavery. In previous ones he had insisted on +the _abandonment of slavery by the South_ as well as the restoration +of the Union. On questions of amnesty, confiscation, and all other +matters the President was ready to grant everything to the South.( 9) + +This letter was never delivered. Mr. Raymond, in personal interviews +with Mr. Lincoln, became convinced the latter understood the +situation and the sentiment of the country better than he and his +committee did, and the matter was dropped. + +It must not be assumed that the President for a moment gave up his +long settled purpose to insist on the abolition of slavery as a +condition of peace. In his annual Message to Congress, December, +1864, in expressing his views and purposes on the subject of +terminating the war, he says: + +"In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the national +authority on the part of the insurgents as the only indispensable +condition to ending the war on the part of the government, I retract +nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration +made a year ago, that 'While I remain in my present position I +shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation +nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms +of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress.' If the +people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty +to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their +instrument to perform it. In stating a single condition of peace, +I mean simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the +government whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those who +began it." + +Mr. Lincoln was triumphantly re-elected, but notwithstanding this +and the foreshadowed collapse of the Confederacy, Francis P. Blair, +Sen., a veteran statesman who had flourished in Jackson's time, +came forward in the hope that he might become a successful mediator +between the North and the South. He personally gave the President +hints of his wishes in this respect, but received from the latter +no encouragement, save the remark: "Come to me after Savannah +falls." Sherman took Savannah, December 22, 1864. Mr. Lincoln, +without permitting Mr. Blair to reveal to him his plans in detail, +on December 28th, wrote and signed a card: "Allow the bearer, F. +P. Blair, Sr., to pass our lines, go South, and return." + +With this credential Mr. Blair went to Grant at City Point, and +under a flag of truce sent communications to "Jefferson Davis, +President," etc., etc. The effect of one of the messages was to +request an interview with Mr. Davis to confer upon plans that might +ultimately "lead to something practicable"--peace. After some +vexatious delay, Mr. Blair was allowed to go to Richmond, where, +January 12, 1865, Davis accorded him an interview. + +Mr. Blair explained to Mr. Davis that he came without President +Lincoln's knowledge of his plans but with the latter's knowledge +of his purpose to try and open peace negotiations. After some +preliminary talk Mr. Blair read to Mr. Davis an elaborate paper +containing his "suggestions." These covered a reference to slavery, +"the cause of all our woes," saying it was doomed and hence no +longer an insurmountable obstruction to pacification, adding that +as the South proposed to use slaves to "conquer a peace," and to +secure its independence, "their deliverance from bondage" must +follow.(10) With slavery abolished, Mr. Blair suggested the war +against the Union became a war for monarchy. Reference was then +made to Maximilian's reign in Mexico, under Austrian and French +protection, and of its danger to free institutions by establishing +a "Bonaparte-Hapsburg dynasty on our Southern flank." Mr. Davis +was complimented over his position being such as to be the instrument +to avert the danger. It was suggested that Juarez at the head of +the "Liberals of Mexico" could be persuaded to "devolve all the +power he can command on President Davis--a dictatorship if necessary +--to restore the rights of Mexico." Mr. Davis was to use his +veteran Confederates and Mexican recruits, with, if necessary, +"multitudes of the army of the North, officers and men" to drive +out the invaders, uphold the Monroe Doctrine, and thus "restore +the Mexican Republic." Mr. Blair further suggested that if Mr. +Davis accomplished all this it would "ally his name with Washington +and Jackson as a defender of the liberty of the country" and if +"in delivering Mexico he should model its States in form and +principle to adapt them to our Union and add a new Southern +constellation to its benignant sky," he would attain further glory. +This and more talk of like kind seemed to command Davis' attention, +for Mr. Blair says he pronounced the scheme "possible to be solved." +Mr. Davis declared he was "thoroughly for popular government." + +There was nothing agreed upon, though the interview covered much +ground as reported by Mr. Blair. Mr. Davis was evidently anxious +for some arrangement, for on the 12th of January he addressed to +Mr. Blair, who was still in Richmond, a note saying among other +things he had "no disposition to find obstacles in forms," and was +willing "to enter into negotiations for peace; that he was ready +to appoint a commissioner to meet one on the part of the United +States to confer with a view to secure peace to the _two countries_." +This note was carried to Washington by Mr. Blair and shown to +President Lincoln, who, January 18th, addressed him a note saying, +he had constantly been and still was ready to appoint an agent to +meet one appointed by Mr. Davis, "with the view of securing peace +to the people of our _one common country_." With Mr. Lincoln's +note Mr. Blair returned to Richmond, and without any authority from +any source, shifted to a new project, namely, that Grant and Lee +should be authorized to negotiate. This failed to ripen into +anything. Mr. Lincoln's note proffering negotiations looking alone +to "peace to the people _of our one common country_" placed Mr. +Davis in a great dilemma. The situation was critical in the extreme. +The Confederate Congress had voted a lack of confidence in Mr. +Davis; Sherman had not only marched to the sea, but was moving up +the Atlantic coast through the Carolinas; Lee reported his army +had not two days' rations; and many of Davis' advisers had declared +success impossible. At last Mr. Davis, on consultation with Vice- +President Stephens and his Cabinet, decided to appoint a commission, +composed of Mr. Stephens, Senator R. M. T. Hunter, and ex-Secretary +of War John A. Campbell. This commission was directed (January +28, 1865) to go to Washington for informal conference with President +Lincoln "_upon the issues involved in the existing war, and for +the purpose of securing peace to the two countries_." Mr. Davis +was advised by his Secretary of State, Mr. Benjamin, to instruct +the commissioners to confer upon the subject of Mr. Lincoln's +letter. The instructions were not in accordance with Mr. Lincoln's +note, nor were they warranted by anything he had ever said. +Notwithstanding this, the commissioners appeared at the Union lines +and asked permission to proceed to Washington as "Peace Commissioners." +On this being telegraphed to Washington, Major Eckert of the War +Department was sent to Grant's headquarters, with directions to +admit them, provided they would say, in writing, they came to confer +on the basis of the President's note of January 18th. Before Major +Eckert arrived, they had, in violation of their instructions, asked +permission "to proceed to Washington to hold a conference with +President Lincoln upon the subject of the existing war, and with +a view of ascertaining upon what terms it may be terminated, in +pursuance of the course indicated by him in his letter to Mr. Blair +of January 18, 1865." They were admitted to Grant's headquarters +and Mr. Lincoln was advised of their last request. The latter sent +Secretary Seward to Fortress Monroe to meet them. Seward was, in +writing, instructed to make known to the commissioners that three +indispensable things were necessary: "(1) The restoration of the +national authority throughout all the States. (2) No receding by +the Executive on the slavery question from the position assumed +thereon in the late annual Message. (3) No cessation of hostilities +short of the end of the war, and the disbanding of all forces +hostile to the government." On other questions the Secretary was +instructed to say the President would act "in a spirit of sincere +liberality." Mr. Seward was not definitely to consummate anything. +He started to meet the commissioners on February 1st. Meantime, +on the same day, Major Eckert had met them at City Point and informed +them of the President's requirements, to which they responded by +presenting Davis' written instructions. Major Eckert at once +notified them they could not proceed unless strictly in compliance +with Mr. Lincoln's terms. This seemingly put an end to the mission +of Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell. Grant, being impressed with +their anxiety to secure a peace, wired Stanton his impression, and +expressed regret that Mr. Lincoln could not have an interview with +Stephens and Hunter, if not all three, before their return. The +President on reading Grant's dispatch decided to meet the commissioners +in person at Fortress Monroe. Mr. Lincoln joined Mr. Seward at +this place on the _River Queen_, where they were met by the +commissioners on the morning of February 3d. The conference which +ensued was wholly without significance. The President was frank +and firm, standing by his hitherto announced ultimatum. Stephens +tried to talk about Blair's Mexican scheme; about an armistice and +some expedient to "give time to cool." Mr. Lincoln met all +suggestions by saying: "The restoration of the Union is a _sine +qua non;_" and that there could be no armistice on any other terms. +It is not absolutely certain what was, in detail, proposed or +rejected on either side, as no concurrent report was made of the +conference and reporters were excluded from it. Mr. Lincoln, +according to the commissioners, declared the road to reconstruction +for the insurgents was to disband "their armies and permit the +national authorities to resume their functions." The President +stated he would exercise the power of the Executive with liberality +as to the confiscation of property. He is reported to have said +also that the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation was to be +decided by the courts, giving it as his opinion that as it was a +war measure, it would be inoperative for the future as soon as the +war ceased; that it would be held to apply only to such slaves as +had come under its operation. Mr. Seward called attention to the +very recent adoption by Congress of the Thirteenth Amendment to +the Constitution. The commissioners report him as saying that if +the seceding States would agree to return to the Union they might +defeat the ratification of the amendment. + +It is apparent that some coloring entered into the statements of +Mr. Stephens and party. About the only good point made in the talk +about which there is no controversy was made by Mr. Lincoln. Mr. +Hunter, in attempting to persuade the latter that there was high +precedent for his treating with people in arms, cited the example +of Charles I. of England treating with his subjects in armed rebellion. +To this the President answered: "_I do not profess to be posted +in history. On all such matters I will turn you over to Mr. Seward. +All that I distinctly recollect about the case of Charles I. is +that he lost his head_." + +The commissioners reached Richmond much disappointed, and reported +their failure. The effect on the South was depressing. Mr. Stephens +seemed to give up the Confederate cause at this time; he departed +from Richmond, abandoned the Rebellion and went into retirement.(11) +Mr. Davis transmitted his commissioners' report to the Confederate +Congress, stating that no terms of settlement could be obtained +"other than the conqueror might grant." The last flicker of the +Hampton Roads conference was seen in a public meeting held at the +African Church in Richmond, February 6, 1865, at which bravado +speeches were made by Mr. Davis and others. Mr. Davis announced +a belief that they would "compel the Yankees, in less than twelve +months, to petition us for peace on our own terms."(12) + +General E. O. C. Ord, commanding the Army of the James, about +February 20th, attempted to inaugurate another peace conference to +be conducted through military channels, aided by the wives of +certain officers of the two armies. To this end he secured, on a +trivial pretext, an interview with General James Longstreet, then +commanding the Confederate forces immediately north of Richmond. +Ord, in the interview, referred to the Hampton Roads' conference, +stating (according to Longstreet) that the politicians North were +afraid to touch the question of peace; that there was no way to +open the subject save through officers of the armies; that on the +Union side the war had gone on long enough, and that the army +officers "should come together as former comrades and friends and +talk a little." Ord is reported as saying that the "work as +belligerents" should cease; Grant and Lee should have a talk; that +Longstreet's wife with a retinue of Confederate officers should +first visit Mrs. Grant within the Union lines; that then Mrs. Grant +should return the call at Richmond under escort of Union officers, +and that thus the ladies could aid Generals Grant and Lee in fixing +up peace on terms honorable to both sides. Longstreet took kindly +to Ord's talk. Lee met Longstreet at President Davis' house in +Richmond. Breckinridge (then Secretary of War) was present. At +this meeting it was decided that Longstreet was to seek a further +interview with Ord and see how the subject could be opened between +Grant and Lee. Longstreet summoned his wife from Lynchburg to +Richmond by telegraph. About the last day of February, Ord and +Longstreet had another meeting at which Ord suggested that if Lee +would write Grant a letter, the latter was prepared to receive it, +and thus a military convention could be brought about. Longstreet +reported the result of the talk with Ord, and Lee, March 1st, wrote +Grant that he was informed that Ord, in a conversation relating to +"the possibility of arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the +present _unhappy difficulties_ by means of a military convention," +had stated that if Lee desired an interview with Grant on the +subject, the latter would not decline, provided Lee had authority +to act. Lee, in his letter, said he was fully authorized in the +premises, and proposed a meeting at the place proposed by Ord and +Longstreet, on Monday the 6th. Accompanying Lee's letters was the +usual "by-play" letter on an immaterial subject. Grant, on receiving +Lee's communication, wired its substance to Secretary Stanton, who +laid the matter before President Lincoln at his room at the Capitol +whither he had gone to sign bills the last night of a session of +Congress. Mr. Lincoln, without advice from any person, took his +pen, and with his usual precision wrote: + +"The President directs me to say that he wishes you to have no +conference with General Lee unless it be for capitulation of General +Lee's army, or on some minor or purely military matter. He instructs +me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any +political questions. Such questions the President holds in his +own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or +conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military +advantages." + +This perfectly explicit dispatch was shown to Mr. Seward, then +handed to Mr. Stanton, who signed and sent it the night of March +3, 1865. Grant, the next day, answered Lee in the light of the +dispatch, saying: + +"In regard to meeting you, I would state that I have no authority +to accede to your proposition for a conference on the subject +proposed. Such authority is vested in the President of the United +States alone."(13) + +Thus ended the Ord-Longstreet attempt to patch up a peace. + +There was one more remarkable attempt made (before Lee surrendered) +to bring about a peace in part of the Confederacy. General Lew +Wallace was ordered, January 22, 1865, "to visit the Rio Grande +and Western Texas on a tour of inspection." Shortly after his +arrival at Brazos Santiago, by correspondence with the Confederate +General J. E. Slaughter, commanding the West District of Texas, +and a Colonel Ford, he arranged for a meeting with them at Point +Isabel (General Wallace to furnish the refreshments), nominally to +discuss matters relating to the rendition of criminals, but really +to talk about peace. The conference took place March 12th. General +Wallace assumed only to negotiate a peace for States west of the +Mississippi. He did not profess to have any authority from +Washington, nor did he offer to make the terms final. He must have +been wholly ignorant of the President's dispatch to Grant of March +3d. Wallace's plan was, at Slaughter and Ford's instance, reduced +to writing, and addressed to them, to be submitted to the Confederate +General J. G. Walker, commanding the Department of Texas. Here it +is: + +"_Proposition. + +"I. That the Confederate military authorities of the Trans- +Mississippi States and Territories agree voluntarily to cease +opposition, armed and otherwise, to the re-establishment of the +authority of the United States Government over all the region above +designated. + +"II. The proper authorities of the United States on their part +guarantee as follows: + +"1. That the officers and soldiers at present actually comprising +the Confederate Army proper, including its _bona fide attaches_ +and employees, shall have, each and all of them, a full release +from and against actions, prosecutions, liabilities, and legal +proceedings of every kind, so far as the government of the United +States is concerned: _Provided_, That if any of such persons choose +to remain within the limits of the United States, they shall first +take an oath of allegiance to the same. If, however, they or any +of them prefer to go abroad for residence in a foreign country, +all such shall be at liberty to do so without obligating themselves +by an oath of allegiance, taking with them their families and +property, with privileges of preparation for such departure. + +"2. That such of said officers and soldiers as thus determine to +remain in the United States shall, after taking the oath of allegiance +to the United States Government, be regarded as citizens of that +government, invested as such will all the rights, privileges, and +immunities now enjoyed by the most favored citizens thereof. + +"3. That the above guaranties shall be extended to all persons +now serving as civil officers of the national and State Confederate +governments within the region above mentioned, upon their complying +with the conditions stated, viz., residence abroad or taking the +oath of allegiance. + +"4. That persons now private citizens of the region named shall +also be included in and receive the same guaranties upon their +complying with the same conditions. + +"5. As respects rights of property, it is further guaranteed that +there shall be no interference with existing titles, liens, etc., +of whatever nature, except those derived from seizures, occupancies, +and procedures of confiscation, under and by virtue of Confederate +laws, orders, proclamations, and decrees, all of which shall be +admitted void from the beginning. + +"6. It is further expressly stipulated that the right of property +in slaves shall be referred to the discretion of the Congress of +the United States. + +"Allow me to say, in conclusion, that if the above propositions +are received in the spirit they are sent, we can, in my opinion, +speedily have a reunited and prosperous people. + +"Very truly, gentlemen, your friend and obedient servant, + + "Lew Wallace, + "Major-General of Volunteers, U. S. Army."(14) + +General Wallace forwarded this pretentious proposition, with an +elaborate letter, through General Dix to General Grant, who received +both about March 29, 1865, but probably made no response thereto. + +The Confederate officers submitted the plan to their chief, who, +besides severely reprimanding them for entertaining it, wrote +General Wallace, March 27, rejecting the proposition, "as to accede +to it would be the blackest treason"; adding, that "whenever there +was a willingness to treat as equal with equal, an officer of your +high rank and character, clothed with proper authority, will not +be reduced to the necessity of seeking an obscure corner of the +Confederacy to inaugurate negotiations." + +The whole story of attempts to negotiate a peace is grotesque, yet +the conditions surrounding the North and the South and the stress +of the times speak in defence of the ambitious spirits who came to +the front and essayed, by negotiations, to put an end to the war. +Providence had another, more fitting and consummate, ending in +store, whereby the war should produce results for the good of +mankind commensurate with its cost in tears, treasure, and blood. + +( 1) _Life of R. E. Lee_, White (Putnam's), pp. 416-17. + +( 2) _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 204. + +( 3) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. vii., pp. 367-8. + +( 4) _War Between the States_, vol. ii., pp. 557-62, 780; _Lincoln_ +(Nicolay and Hay), vol. vii., pp. 371-4. + +( 5) Jewett must have attended school where the master required +the class to parse the sentence, "_Dog, I, and father went a- +hunting_." + +( 6) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. ix., pp. 184-200. + +( 7) Vol. ii., p. 610. Also see _Lincoln_ (N. and H.), vol. ix., +pp. 201-2. + +( 8) The attitude of the Democratic party caused the political +friends of President Lincoln the deepest anxiety. In its National +platform adopted at Chicago, August 30, 1864, it demanded, "that +after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment +of war, immediate efforts should be made for a cessation of +hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States, +or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable +moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of +the States." + +( 9) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. ix., pp. 216-21. + +(10) If the reader is curious to know what effort was made by the +Confederate authorities to enlist slaves and free negroes as +soldiers, he will find interesting correspondence on the subject +between Davis, Lee, Longstreet, and others. _War Records_, vol. +xlvi., Part III., pp. 1315, 1339, 1356, 1348, 1366, 1370. + +(11) Alexander H. Stephens had a small body, small head, and his +whole appearance was that of a most emaciated person. For many +years of his life he was in most delicate health; so feeble he +could not stand or walk. He was moved about in a chair with wheels. +His intellect, however, was strong and elastic, and his voice was +sufficient to enable him to make a public speech. He wrote much. +He was not always consistent in his views. He opposed secession, +then advocated it; then again denied that secession was warranted +by the Constitution. I knew him well in Congress after the war. +He asserted when some of his Democratic brethren were denying Mr. +Hayes' title to the Presidency, that it was superior to the title +of any President who had preceded him--that by virtue of the decision +of the commission, it had become _res adjudicata_. + +(12) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. x., pp. 113-31; _Lost Cause_ +(Pollard), pp. 684-5; _War between States_ (Stephens), vol. ii., +pp. 597, 608-12. + +(13) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), pp. 584-7; _Lincoln_ +(Nicolay and Hay), vol. x., pp. 157-8. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xlviii., Part I., p. 1281. + + +CHAPTER XII +Siege of Richmond and Petersburg--Capture and Re-capture of Fort +Stedman, and Capture of Part of the Enemy's First Line in Front of +Petersburg by Keifer's Brigade, March 25, 1865--Battle of Five +Forks, April 1st--Assault and Taking of Confederate Works on the +Union Left, April 2d--Surrender of Richmond and Petersburg, April +3d--President Lincoln's Visit to Petersburg and Richmond, and His +Death + +The Sixth Corps, as we have seen, returned from its memorable +campaign in Maryland and the Shenandoah Valley to the front of +Petersburg about December 5, 1864. It relieved a portion of the +Fifth Corps. The right of my brigade rested on the Weldon Railroad, +extending to the left to include Forts Wadsworth and Keene. On +the night of the 9th, with other troops, the brigade went on an +expedition to Hatcher's Run, returning the next day. Again the +Sixth Corps constructed winter quarters. The brigade was moved, +February 9, 1865, to the extreme left of the army, near the Squirrel +Level road, where it took up a position including Forts Welch, +Gregg, and Fisher, of which the first two were unfinished and the +last named was barely commenced. The brigade completed the +construction of these forts. Colonel McClennan, with the 138th +Pennsylvania, also occupied Fort Dushane on the rear line. + +The brigade, a third time for the winter, constructed quarters. + +Discipline in the army continued in all its severity. During my +entire service but one instance occurred where I was required to +execute a Union soldier of my command. Private James L. Hicks, of +the 67th Pennsylvania, a boy nineteen years old, was found guilty +of desertion. He had deserted to go to Philadelphia, his home, in +company with a soldier of another command, much his senior, who +had forged a furlough for himself and Hicks. Both were arrested, +returned to the army, and convicted and sentenced to be shot. +General Meade ordered me to execute the sentence as to Hicks, +February 10, 1865. The man who was largely responsible for Hicks' +desertion succeeded, through friends, in inducing President Lincoln +to commute his sentence to imprisonment at the Dry Tortugas. I +was aware of efforts being made to have Hicks' sentence likewise +commuted, and I tried to reach the President with communications +asking the same leniency for Hicks. So certain was I that Lincoln +had or would reprieve Hicks that I failed to have him shot on the +day named. Some officious persons reported my dereliction to Meade, +who thereupon (with some censure) ordered me to shoot Hicks on the +next day, and to report in person the fact of the shooting. This +order I was obliged to obey. The brigade was drawn up on three +sides of a square, with ranks opened facing each other, and in the +centre of the fourth and open side a grave was dug and a coffin +was placed beside it. The condemned soldier was marched between +the ranks of the command, preceded by a drum and fife band, playing +the "dead-march," and then was taken to the coffin, where he was +blindfolded and required to stand in front of six men armed with +rifles, five only of which were loaded with ball. At the command +"_Fire!_" from a designated officer, the guns were discharged and +poor Hicks fell dead. He was placed in the coffin and forthwith +buried. On the same day word came that Lincoln had pardoned Hicks. + +Wright's corps became the left of the besieging army, and all the +troops were constantly on the alert, never less than one tenth of +them on guard or in the trenches. + +The several corps of the Army of the Potomac were then commanded +as follows: Second, by General A. A. Humphreys; Fifth, by General +G. K. Warren; Sixth, by General H. G. Wright; the Ninth, by General +J. G. Parke. The last named was on the right and in part south of +the Appomattox. The Army of the James was north of Richmond and +the James, commanded by General B. F. Butler, until relieved, on +the request of General Grant, January 8, 1865, when General E. O. +C. Ord succeeded him. + +The army under Grant had been engaged since June, 1864, besieging +Richmond and Petersburg with no signal success. It had, however, +held the main army of the Confederacy closely within intrenchments +where it could do little harm, and was difficult to provide with +supplies. Prior to this siege the Army of the Potomac had met the +enemy, save at Gettysburg, on his chosen battle-fields, and in its +forward movements had been forced to attack breastworks, assail +the enemy in mountain passes or gaps, force the crossings of deep +rivers, always guarding long lines of communications over which +supplies must be brought, and it was at all times the body-guard +of the Capital--Washington. + +The Confederate Army under Lee, when the last campaign opened, was +strongly fortified from the James River above Richmond, extending +around on the north to the James below Richmond; thence to and +across the Appomattox; thence south of Petersburg extending in an +unbroken line westward to the vicinity of Hatcher's Run, with +interior lines of works and forts for use in case the outer line +was forced. Longstreet commanded north of the James. Generals R. +S. Ewell, R. H. Anderson, A. P. Hill, and John B. Gordon commanded +corps of the Army of Northern Virginia south of Petersburg and the +James, the whole under Lee. At the last, Ewell commanded in Richmond +and its immediate defences. The Confederates had water-batteries +and naval forces on the James immediately below Richmond. Their +forts and connecting breastworks had been laid out and constructed +by skilled engineers, on a gigantic scale, with months, and, in +some places, years of labor. On most of the main line there were +enclosed field-forts, a distance of a quarter to a half mile apart, +connected by strong earthworks and some masonry, the whole having +deep ditches in front, the approaches to which were covered by +_abattis_ composed of pickets sunk deep in the ground close together, +the exposed ends sharpened, and placed at an angle of about forty- +five degrees, the points of the pickets about the height of a man's +face. There were in place _chevaux-de-frise_ and other obstructions. +These fortifications could not be battered down by artillery; they +had to be scaled. They contained many guns ranging from 6 to 200- +pounders, all well manned. The Union lines conformed, generally, +to the Confederate lines and were near to them, but, being the +outer, were necessarily the longer. Richmond and Petersburg were +twenty miles apart. The Union works were substantially of the same +structure and strength as the Confederate. + +Forts Welch, Gregg, and Fisher, and connecting works, held by six +of my regiments, formed a loop on the extreme left, to prevent a +flank attack. These forts were about nine miles from City Point, +Grant's headquarters. In the centre of the loop was a high +observation tower.( 1) In our front the Confederates had an outer +line of works to cover their pickets, and we had a similar one to +protect ours. The main lines were, generally, in easy cannon range, +in most places within musket range, and the pickets of the two +armies were, for the most part, in speaking distance, and the men +often indulged in talking, for pastime. Except in rare instances +the sentinels did not fire on each other by day, but sometimes at +night firing was kept up by the Confederates at intervals to prevent +desertion. During the last months of the siege, circulars were +issued by Grant offering to pay deserters for arms, accoutrements, +and any other military supplies they would bring with them, and to +give them safe conduct north. The circulars were gotten into the +enemy's lines by various devices, chief among which was, by flying +kits at night when the wind blew in the right direction, to the +tail of which the circulars were attached. When the kites were +over the Confederate lines the strings were cut, thus causing them +to fall where the soldiers might find them.( 2) So friendly were +the soldiers of the two armies that by common consent the timber +between the lines was divided and cut and carried away for fuel. +Petersburg was in plain view, to the northeast, from my headquarters. +In front of my line an event took place which brought about the +speedy overthrow of the Confederacy. + +With Sherman moving triumphantly northward through the Carolinas +the time was at hand for the final campaign of the Army of the +Potomac. President Lincoln and General Grant were each anxious +that army should, without the direct aid of the Western army, +overcome and destroy the Army of Northern Virginia, which it had +fought during so many years with varying success.( 3) + +Grant issued orders, March 24, 1865, for a general movement, to +commence the 29th; the objective of the movement to be the Confederate +Army as soon as it could be forced out of the fortifications. + +At the time Grant was writing these orders, Lee was planning an +assault to break the Union lines, hoping he might gain some material +success and thereby prevent an aggressive campaign against him. +General Gordon, accordingly, at early dawn, March 25th, assaulted +Fort Stedman, and, by a surprise, captured it and a portion of our +line adjacent to it; but Union troops, from the right and left, +assailed and recaptured the works and about four thousand of Gordon's +command, the Union loss in killed, wounded, and captured being +about twenty-five hundred. This daring attack, instead of delaying, +precipitated the preparatory work of opening the campaign. About +1 P.M. I received an order to send two regiments to my advanced +line with orders to charge and carry the outer line of the enemy. +The latter was strongly intrenched and held by a large number of +men, besides being close under the guns of the Confederate main +works. The 110th and 122d Ohio were moved outside the forts, and +Colonel Otho H. Binkley was ordered to take command of both regiments +and the picket guard. He charged the enemy, but being unsupported +on the flanks and being exposed to a fierce fire from guns in the +enemy's main works, was forced to retire after suffering considerable +loss. I protested, vehemently, against the renewal of the attack +with so small a force. General Wright thereupon ordered me to +assemble the number of men necessary to insure success, take charge +of them in person, and make the desired capture. I added to the +Ohio regiments mentioned the 67th Pennsylvania, portions of the +6th Maryland and 126th Ohio, and a battalion of the 9th New York +Heavy Artillery, and under a severe fire, at 3 P.M., without halting +or firing, charged over the enemy's first intrenched line, capturing +over two hundred prisoners. Notwithstanding a heavy artillery fire +concentrated upon us the captured works were held. Our loss was +severe and hardly compensated for by the number of the enemy killed +and captured. For my part in this affair I was complimented by +Meade in general orders. + +It turned out that the section of works taken was more important +to us than first estimated. + +Sheridan, with his cavalry, having recently arrived from the +Shenandoah Valley _via_ the White House, moved to the left on the +29th of March in the direction of Dinwiddie Court-House, where he +encountered a considerable force. A battle ensued on the 30th and +31st, in which Sheridan with his cavalry, in part dismounted, fought +some of the best cavalry and infantry of Lee's army, the former +commanded by Fitzhugh Lee and the latter by Pickett of Gettysburg +fame. By using temporary barricades, Sheridan, though outnumbered, +repulsed the attacks of Fitz Lee and Pickett, and at nightfall of +the 31st was in possession of the Court-House. + +In consequence of incessant rain for two days Grant, from his +headquarters, then on Gravelly Run, issued orders the evening of +the 30th to suspend all further movements until the roads should +dry up; but he was visited by Sheridan and persuaded to continue +the campaign. Sheridan asked that the Sixth Corps should be ordered +to follow and support him.( 4) He claimed this corps had served +under him in the Valley and its officers were well known to him. +His request was not acceded to, as other work was already assigned +to Wright. Grant ordered Meade to send the Fifth Corps under +General G. K. Warren to reinforce Sheridan. Meade was directed to +"_urge Warren not to stop for anything_." Sheridan, April 1st, +determined to press the enemy, regardless of bad roads and his +isolated position. Pickett and Fitz Lee, heavily reinforced from +Lee's main army, concentrated in front of Five Forks, where they +intrenched. + +Warren was ordered to push rapidly on the left of the enemy. +Sheridan promptly opened battle, but he was hard pressed throughout +the day. Warren, for some not satisfactorily explained cause, did +not arrive on the field and bring his three infantry divisions into +action until late in the day, but yet in time to strike the enemy +on his left and rear, as had been planned. Just at night a combined +assault of all arms completely overthrew Pickett and Fitz Lee, +taking six of their guns, thirteen battle-flags, and nearly six +thousand prisoners. The Confederates who escaped were cut off from +the remainder of Lee's army and thrown back on the upper Appomattox. + +Warren, in the full flush of the victory, was, by Sheridan, with +Grant's previous authority, relieved on the battle-field from the +command of his corps for the alleged dilatory march to the relief +of the imperilled cavalry. Warren had long commanded the Fifth +Corps, and was beloved by it. But the fates of war were inexorable. +The removal of Warren was perhaps unjust, in the light of the +previous conduct of the war. He had not been insubordinate. He +had imbibed the notion too often theretofore acted on, that in the +execution of an important order, even when other movements depended +on it, the subordinate officer could properly exercise his own +discretion as to the time and manner of its execution. Warren was +a skilled engineer officer and held too closely in an emergency to +purely scientific principles. He had none of Sheridan's precipitancy, +and did not believe in violating, under any circumstances, principles +of war taught by the books. Before a subsequent court of inquiry +Warren produced what appeared to be overwhelming testimony from +experienced and distinguished officers of the army to the effect +that he had moved his corps to Five Forks with the energy and +celerity usually exhibited by an officer of ordinary skill and +ability. + +Sheridan was called as a witness before the same court, and when +interrogated, corroborated the other officers' testimony, adding, +that it was not an officer of _ordinary_ skill and ability that +was required to meet an emergency when a battle was on, but one of +_extraordinary_ skill and ability; that officers of the former +class were plenty, but they were not fit to command an army corps +in time of battle. Sheridan wanted an officer like Desaix, who, +by putting his ear to the ground, heard the thunder of the guns at +Marengo, though far off, and marched to their sound without awaiting +orders, and to the relief of Napoleon, arriving in time to turn +defeat into victory, though losing his own life. Warren had many +friends and sympathizers, but he died many years after the war of +a broken heart. + +In anticipation of Sheridan's success, orders were issued for the +Sixth Corps to assault Lee's main fortifications on Sunday morning, +April 2d. The place selected for the assault was in front and a +little to the left of Forts Fisher and Welch and directly opposite +the intrenched line taken by me on March 25th.( 5) Other corps to +the right of the Sixth were ordered to be ready to assault also. +It was originally intended the troops should be formed in the quiet +of the night, and that the assault should be made, as a surprise, +at four o'clock in the morning. Grant, fearing that Lee, in the +desperation of defeat at Five Forks, would strip his fortified +lines of troops to overwhelm and destroy Sheridan, now fairly on +Lee's right flank, at 10 P.M. on the night of the 1st ordered all +his guns turned loose from the James to the Union left, to give +the appearance of a readiness to do just what had been ordered to +be done. This fire brought a return fire all along the lines. +The night was dark and dismal, and the scene witnessed amid the +deafening roar of cannon was indescribably wild and grand. Duty +called some of us between the lines of cross-fire when the screaming +shot and bursting shell from perhaps four hundred heavy guns passed +over our heads. The world's war-history described no sublimer +display. Being near the end of the Rebellion, the Confederacy, +and the institution of slavery, it was a fitting closing scene. +It was supposed that in consequence of this artillery duel, which +lasted about two hours, the assault ordered would be abandoned, as +a surprise was not possible. But at 12, midnight, the order came +to take position for the attack. The Sixth Corps, in the gloom of +the damp, chilly night, silently left its winter quarters and filed +out to an allotted position within about two hundred yards of the +mouths of the enemy's cannon, there to await the discharge of a +gun from Fort Fisher, the signal for storming the works. There +were no light hearts in the corps that night, but there were few +faint ones. The soldiers of the corps knew the strength and +character of the works to be assailed. They had watched their +completion; they knew of the existence of the _abattis_ and the +deep ditches to be passed, as well as the high ramparts to be +scaled. The night added to the solemnity of the preparation for +the bloody work. + +The Second Division was formed on the right, the Third Division on +the left, each in two lines of battle, about two hundred feet apart. +The First Division (Wheaton's) was in echelon by brigades, in +support on Getty's right.( 6) The corps was formed on ground lower +than that on which the enemy's fortifications were constructed. +There was an angle in the enemy's line in front of the corps as +formed at which there was a large fort. Getty's division was to +assault to the right and Seymour's to the left of this fort. My +brigade was to assault between it and the fort about a third of a +mile to its left. The connecting breastworks were strong, as has +been explained, with a deep ditch and formidable _abattis_ in their +front, and well manned and supplied with artillery. The enemy was +alert and opened fire on us with artillery and musketry before we +were completely formed, inflicting some loss. Long before the hour +for the signal the corps was ready. Much preparation is necessary +for a well delivered assault. Every officer should be personally +instructed as to his particular duties, as commands can rarely be +given after the troops are in motion. The pioneer corps with axe- +men were required to accompany the head of the column, to cut down +and remove obstructions and to aid the soldiers in crossing trenches +and scaling the works. The _abattis_ was to be cut down or torn +up, and, wherever possible, used in the ditches to provide means +of crossing them. + +A narrow opening, just wide enough for a wagon to pass through, +was known to exist in the enemy's line in front of my brigade, +though it was skillfully covered by a shoulder around it. The +existence of this opening was discovered from the observation tower, +and deserters told of it. I determined to take advantage of it, +and therefore instructed Colonel Clifton K. Prentiss of the 6th +Maryland when the time for the attack came to move his regiment by +the flank rapidly through this opening without halting or firing, +and when within, open on the Confederates behind the works, taking +them in flank, and, if possible, drive them out and thus leave for +our other troops little resistance in gaining an entrance over the +ramparts. + +At 4.40 A.M., while still dark, a gray light in the east being +barely discernible, Fort Fisher boomed forth a single shot. All +suspense here ended. Simultaneously the command, "_Forward_," was +given by all our officers, and the storming column moved promptly; +the advance line, with bayonets fixed, guns not loaded, the other +line with guns loaded to be ready to fire, if necessary, to protect +those in advance while passing the trenches. A few only of the +officers were on horseback. The enemy opened with musketry and +cannon, but the column went on, sweeping down the _abattis_, making +use of it to aid in effecting a passage of the deep ditches and to +gain a footing on the berme of the earthworks. Muskets and bayonets +were also utilized by thrusting them into the banks of the ditches +to enable the soldiers to climb from them. Men made ladders of +themselves by standing one upon another, thus enabling their comrades +to gain the parapets. The time occupied in the assault was short. +Colonel Prentiss with his Marylanders penetrated the fortifications +at the opening mentioned. They surprised the enemy by their presence +and a flank fire, and, as anticipated, caused him to fall back. +The storming bodies swarmed over the works, and the enemy immediately +in their front were soon killed, wounded, captured, or dispersed. +Ten pieces of artillery, three battle-flags, and General Heth's +headquarters flag were trophies of my command. The Third Division +gained an entrance first, owing to the shortness of the distance +it had to pass over. Getty's division (Second), however, promptly +obtained a foothold within the fortifications to the right of the +angle, followed on its right closely by Wheaton's division. The +fort at the salient angle was quickly evacuated, and the corps +charged forward, taking possession of the enemy's camps. Some hand- +to-hand fighting occurred on the ramparts of the fortifications +and in the camps, in which valuable lives were lost. A Confederate +soldier emerged from a tent, shot and killed Captain Henry H. +Stevens (110th Ohio), and immediately offered to surrender. One +week before a like incident occurred in my presence, where a +Confederate officer shot, with a pistol, a Union soldier, then +threw down his arms and proposed to surrender. Officers seldom +restrained soldiers from avenging, on the spot, such cowardly and +unsoldierly acts. Such incidents were, happily, very rare. + +Though thus far the assault had been crowned with success, the +greatest danger was still before us. Experience had taught that +the fate which one week before befell Gordon at Fort Stedman was +a common fate of troops who, in a necessarily broken state, gained +an entrance inside of an energetic enemy's lines. Our position +was not dissimilar to Gordon's after he had taken Fort Stedman. +To our left was a strong, closed star-fort, well manned and supplied +with cannon. It was impossible at once to restore order. Many of +our men passed, without orders, far to the north, some as far as +the Southside Railroad leading into Petersburg, which they began +to tear up. + +One important incident must be mentioned. + +Corporal John W. Mouk (138th Pennsylvania), with one comrade, having +penetrated in the early morning some distance in advance of our +other troops, was met by a Confederate general officer, accompanied +by his staff. The general demanded his surrender, whereupon the +corporal fired and killed him. He proved to be Lieutenant-General +A. P. Hill, then in command of Lee's right wing, and one of the +ablest officers the Confederacy produced. The corporal and his +comrade escaped, and Hill's staff bore his body away. It has been +claimed the corporal deceived Hill by pretending to surrender until +the General was in his power, then shot him. I investigated this +incident at the time and became convinced the corporal practised +no deception, and that his deliberate conduct--natural to him--led +Hill and his staff to assume he intended to surrender. + +But to return to the captured works. I entered them on horseback, +with some of my staff, close after Colonel Prentiss. Up to this +time no general orders had been given, save those promulgated prior +to the assault. The ranks were much broken, regiments were +intermingled, and excitement prevailed. I was charged with the +duty of carrying the next fort to our left. The steady fire on us +from this fort helped to recall the troops to a sense of danger. +Day was just dawning. I ordered Major S. B. Larmoeaux (9th New +York Heavy Artillery) to man such of the captured artillery as was +available. He soon had four guns firing on the fort, under cover +of which I ordered a general rush of the still disordered Union +troops on the fort. This charge resulted in its capture with six +more guns and a number of prisoners. The real danger was still +not passed. It was soon discovered that a Confederate division +was advancing on us from a camp to our left. As the men now in +the captured fort were in a disorganized state I made, with the +aid of other officers, every effort to withdraw the surplus men +for the purpose of formation and to relieve it of a too crowded +condition for defence. We also tried to man the guns of the fort. +Before we were prepared the enemy was upon us in a counter charge, +and the fort, with its guns, was lost, and some of our men were +taken; the greater number, however, escaped to a position still +within the captured lines. In this affair not many were killed or +wounded. The final ordeal was now on us. From the fort again came +shot, shell, and rifle-balls on our unprotected men. Under cover +of the fire of the before-mentioned captured artillery (having, by +that time, discovered an ample supply of ammunition) we succeeded +in making a somewhat confused formation, and again charged the +fort. The resistance was obstinate, but it was now light enough +to distinguish friend from foe. Though of short duration, the most +determined and bloody fight of the day took part on the ramparts +of and in this fort, resulting in our again taking it, and with it +its guns and most of the Confederate division. The brave Colonel +Prentiss as he led a storming column over the parapet of the fort, +was struck by a ball which carried away a part of his breast-bone +immediately over his heart, exposing its action to view. He fell +within the fort at the same moment the commander of the Confederate +battery fell near him with what proved to be a mortal wound. These +officers, lying side by side, their blood commingling on the ground, +there recognized each other. They were brothers, and had not met +for four years. They were cared for in the same hospitals, by the +same surgeons and nurses, with the same tenderness, and in part by +a Union chaplain, their brother. The Confederate, after suffering +the amputation of a leg, died in Washington in June, 1865, and +Colonel Prentiss died in Brooklyn, N. Y., the following August. + +Our hard fighting and bloody work for the day ended with the struggle +just described. We, a little later, with others of the corps, +swept to the left to the vicinity of Hatcher's Run, carrying +everything before us. We then, with the other divisions of the +corps, turned back towards Petersburg, reaching an inner line of +works by 10 A.M. + +General Parke with the Ninth Corps made a vigorous assault in front +of Fort Sedgwick near the Jerusalem plank-road at the same time +the Sixth made its assault, and with some success, but failed to +gain a permanent footing inside of the enemy's main fortifications. +The Sixth Corps alone made a secure lodgment within Lee's lines. +It made a rift in the Confederacy. + +The army then believed the end of the war was near, but blood enough +had not yet been spilled to destroy human slavery. + +General Ord, who had been transferred from the front of Richmond, +met and drove back some troops on Hatcher's Run, and Sheridan +advanced from Five Forks to the Appomattox, thence, uniting with +Ord, proceeded down it towards Petersburg. The left of Grant's +army was thrown across the Southside Railroad to the Appomattox +above Petersburg, and some isolated inner forts were taken, and +the enemy was crowded into his last line in the suburbs of Petersburg. +Grant ordered a general assault to be made at 6 A.M. of the 3d. +Thus far, since the general movement commenced, Lee had lost about +12,000 prisoners and about 50 guns. The killed and wounded were +not proportionately great. Lee had been forced to withdraw Longstreet +from north of Richmond, leaving his lines there very slimly defended.( 7) +General Weitzel had been left with a division north of the +James to threaten Richmond. Lee, early on the 2d, realized the +critical situation, and at 10.30 of that memorable Sabbath morning +wired Mr. Breckinridge, Secretary of War, at Richmond: + +"I see no prospect of doing more than holding our position here +until night. I am not certain I can do that. If I can I shall +withdraw to-night north of the Appomattox, and, if possible, it +will be better to withdraw the whole line to-night from James River. +I advise that all preparations be made for leaving Richmond to- +night. I will advise you later according to circumstances." + +This was handed to Mr. Davis while at church. He arose quietly +and retired, but the portent of the message was soon known and +caused great consternation among the inhabitants of the Confederate +Capital. For almost four years Richmond had been the defiant centre +of the rebellion. Now it was to be abandoned on less than twelve +hours' notice. + +Jefferson Davis wired Lee: + +"The Secretary of War has shown me your dispatch. To move to-night +will cause the loss of many valuables, both for the want of time +to pack and of transportation. Arrangements are progressing, and +unless you otherwise advise the start will be made." + +Lee responded: + +"I think it absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position +to-night. I have given all the necessary orders on the subject to +the troops, and the operation, though difficult, I hope will be +performed successfully. I have directed General Stevens to send +an officer to your Excellency to explain the routes to you by which +the troops will be moved to Amelia Court-House, and furnish you +with a guide and any assistance you may require for yourself."( 8) + +Richmond and Petersburg were evacuated the night of April 2d. The +troops in and around the two cities commenced to retire at 8 P.M., +and were directed to concentrate at Amelia Court-House, about sixty +miles distant, where Lee had ordered supplies for his army to be +collected. Ewell withdrew the troops north of Richmond and the +marines from the James. There was insufficient transportation for +the archives and other valuables of the several departments of the +Confederacy, to say nothing of other public and private property. +Army supplies had to be destroyed or abandoned. A panic seized +the city, and in burning some public stores it took fire in two +places, and but for the arrival, about 8 A.M. of the 3d, of Union +troops from Weitzel's command, it would have burned down. Petersburg +suffered little in the evacuation. Its mayor and council surrendered +it about 4 A.M. of the 3d. The besieging army, so long striving +for its possession, was not permitted to enter it. + +President Lincoln was at City Point when the movement of Grant's +army commenced, and remained until Richmond and Petersburg fell. +Grant, on the 2d, in anticipation of further success, suggested +that the President visit him at the front next day. Mr. Lincoln +accordingly met Grant in Petersburg the morning of its surrender +and held an interview with him of an hour and a half. Secretary +Stanton, learning that the President contemplated going to the +front, wired from Washington on the morning of the 3d, protesting +against his exposing "the nation to the consequence of any disaster +to himself in the pursuit of a dangerous enemy like the rebel army." + +The President answered from City Point at 5 P.M.: + +"Yours received. Thanks for your caution, but I have already been +to Petersburg. Staid with Grant an hour and a half and returned +here. It is certain now that Richmond is in our hands, and I will +go there to-morrow. I will take care of myself."( 9) + +Mr. Lincoln made his entry into Richmond on the 4th (on foot from +a boat), almost without personal protection, and excited the highest +interest of the people, especially of the slaves, who looked upon +and adored him as their savior. There were no bounds to their +rejoicing. He, while there, in consultation with Judge J. A. +Campbell and other former Confederate leaders, talked of plans of +reconstruction, and went so far as to sanction the calling of the +Confederate Legislature of Virginia together with a view to its +withdrawing the Virginia troops from the army.(10) + +He was in a generous mood, willing to concede much to secure a +speedy restoration of the Union. + +Mr. Campbell reports the President's position thus: + +"His indispensable conditions are the restoration of the authority +of the United States and the disbanding of the troops, and no +receding on his part from his position on the slavery question as +defined in his message in December and other official documents. +All other questions to be settled on terms of sincere liberality. +He says that to any State that will promptly accept these terms he +will relinquish confiscation, except where third persons have +acquired adverse interests."(11) + +Abraham Lincoln returned from Richmond to Washington filled to +overflowing with hope, joy, and thoughts of generous treatment of +his rebellious countrymen. He, too, was soon to become a sacrifice +in atonement for his nation's sins. He fell, at the apex of human +glory, by the hands of a disloyal assassin, April 14, 1865.(12) +The great and the humble friends of freedom, not only of his own +country but of the world, wept. He had been permitted, however, +to look through the opening portals of peace upon a restored Union +with universal freedom, under one flag. + +( 1) See map, and _Battles and Leaders of the War_, vol. iv., p. +538. + +( 2) One enterprising Confederate managed to escape to our lines +with a wagon and six mules from a party gathering wood. His outfit +was valued at $1200. + +( 3) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. ii., p. 460. + +( 4) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 145-7. + +( 5) General Wright, speaking of this position in his report of +the storming of the fortifications at Petersburg, says: + +"It should here be remarked that, but for the success of the 25th +ultimo, in which was carried the intrenched line of the enemy, +though at a cost in men which at the time seemed hardly to have +warranted the movement, the attack of the 2d inst. on the enemy's +main lines could not have been successful. The position thus gained +was an indispensable one to the operations on the main lines, by +affording a place for the assembling of assaulting columns within +striking distance of the enemy's main intrenchments." _War Records_, +vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 903. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 954. + +( 7) _Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 603-5. + +( 8) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 1378. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 509. + +(10) _Ibid_., pp. 612, 655-7, 724-5. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 723. + +(12) Abraham Lincoln, on the evening of March 14, 1865, attended +Ford's Theatre in Washington in company with Mrs. Lincoln, Miss +Harris, and Major Henry R. Rathbone (daughter and stepson of Senator +Ira Harris of New York), and while in a private box (at 10 P.M.) +was shot by John Wilkes Booth. The bullet entered his head on the +left side, passed through the brain, and lodged behind the left +eye. He was carried to a house across the street, where he died +(never being conscious after the shot) at twenty-two minutes after +seven the morning of April 15, 1865. Secretary Stanton, standing +by him as his life went out, more than prophetically said: "_Now +he belongs to the ages_." + +An attempt was made the same night to assassinate Secretary Wm. H. +Seward, which came near being successful. He was, also his son +Frederick, terribly wounded and beaten. + + +CHAPTER XIII +Battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6th--Capitulation of General Robert +E. Lee's Army at Appomattox Court-House, April 9, 1865--Surrender +of Other Confederate Armies, and End of the War of the Rebellion + +Richmond and Petersburg having been evacuated, the Army of the +Potomac, at early dawn, April 3, 1865, under orders, marched +westward. Its sole objective now was the Confederate Army. Grant +directed some corps of his army to pursue on the line of Lee's +retreat, and others to march westward on roads farther to the south +to strike other roads necessary for Lee to pursue in gaining North +Carolina where he might form a junction with General Joe Johnston +who was then trying to stem the advance of Sherman. + +It was soon known that Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet had reached +Danville, Virginia, and had proclaimed it the seat of the Confederate +Government. + +To reach Danville Lee bent all his energy. + +The sagacious and energetic movements of the several corps of the +Union army from the morning of April 3d to the surrender of Lee +will stand as a lasting testimonial to Grant's military genius, +ranking him with the great strategists of the world. Lee's officers +were familiar with the roads; the inhabitants were their friends; +his retreat was upon the shorter line, and he had a night's start. +Generals Meade, Sheridan, Ord, and the corps commanders also, won +just fame for the successful handling of their several commands. + +Meade kept his forces in hand and pushed them precipitously on the +desired points. Sheridan was indomitable and remorseless in his +pursuit with the cavalry. Grant accompanied the army, sometimes +with one part of it and then with another, always knowing what was +going on and the position of all the troops. His orders were +implicitly obeyed. Rest or sleep was impossible for any length of +time. Recent and continuing rains rendered the roads almost +impassable for artillery trains. Teams were doubled and one half +the artillery and wagons were left behind. Lee undertook to order +supplies sent to Burkeville, where he expected to meet them. +Sheridan's cavalry captured, April 4th, a messenger with dispatches +in his boots which he was conveying to Burkeville to be wired to +Danville and Lynchburg, directing 300,000 rations to be forwarded +to Burkeville. Sheridan, by scouts disguised as rebels, had the +dispatches taken to Burkeville and sent, with the expectation he +would capture the rations on their arrival. They did not reach +Burkeville, but several train loads were sent forward from Lynchburg. +Sheridan's cavalry met them at Appomattox Station on the 8th, and +received them in bulk, locomotives, trains, and all.( 1) + +Late on the 5th, Lee leisurely moved his army from Amelia Court- +House towards Burkeville. Sheridan's cavalry, with some infantry, +had possession of Jetersville on a road Lee attempted to pursue. +Sheridan assailed Lee's advance furiously and drove it back, forcing +him to form his army for battle. This occupied so much time that +when it was ready to attack, night was approaching, and the Fifth +and Sixth Corps were arrived or were arriving. Lee's escape to +Danville by the way of Burkeville was no longer possible. The day +was too far spent to fight a battle. Grant was still pushing his +corps upon different roads to intercept Lee's retreat. Lee's prime +mistake was in not concentrating his army, on the 4th, at Burkeville, +the junction of the two railroads, instead of at Amelia Court-House. +It was supposed that a decisive battle would be fought at Jetersville, +but Lee withdrew during the night. + +General Lee claimed he lost one day at Amelia Court-House gathering +subsistence, because his orders to collect them there in advance +of his retreat had been disregarded.( 2) + +Jefferson Davis reached Danville, Virginia, with members of his +Cabinet, on the 3d of April, and, on the 5th, he issued a proclamation +which he subsequently characterized thus: + +"Viewed in the light of subsequent events, it may be fairly said +it was over-sanguine." In it he used such expressions as: + +"Let us but will it and we are free. I announce to you, fellow +countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my +whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the +enemy one foot of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy; +that Virginia--noble State, whose ancient renown has been eclipsed +by her still more glorious recent history; whose bosom has been +bared to receive the main shock of the war; whose sons and daughters +have exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her illustrious +through all time to come--that Virginia with the help of the people, +and by the blessings of Providence, shall be held and defended, +and no peace ever made with the infamous invaders of her territory. + +"If by the stress of numbers, we should be compelled to a temporary +withdrawal from her limits or those of any other border State, we +will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in +despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a free +people."( 3) + +In consequence of Hill's death, Lee divided his army into two wings, +Ewell commanding one and Longstreet the other, his cavalry being +under Fitzhugh Lee and his artillery under Pendleton. + +The Confederate Army, on the night of April 5th, abandoned Amelia +Court-House, and by circuitous country roads endeavored to pass +around the Union left through Deatonville and Painesville to Prince +Edward's Court-House, hoping still to be able to escape to Danville. + +At daylight of the 6th the Union forces at Jetersville advanced in +battle array on Amelia Court-House, and some precious hours were +lost in ascertaining the direction of Lee's retreat. Our army was, +however, soon counter-marched to Jetersville, and thence, by +different roads and regardless of them, by forced marches, it sought +to intercept Lee. It must be remembered Lee's troops had one day +or more rest since leaving Petersburg and Richmond, and Grant's +army had none, and the latter had been moved by night as well as +by day, and irregularly fed. The most appealing orders were issued +by General Meade to his army to make the required sacrifices and +efforts to overtake and overthrow Lee's army. I quote from Meade's +order of the night of April 4th: + +"The Major-General commanding feels he has but to recall to the +Army of the Potomac the success of the oft repeated gallant contests +with the Army of Northern Virginia, and when he assures the army +that, in the opinion of so distinguished an officer as General +Sheridan, it only requires these sacrifices to bring this long and +desperate conflict to a triumphant issue, the men of this army will +show that they are as willing to die of fatigue and starvation as +they have ever shown themselves ready to fall by the bullets of +the enemy."( 4) + +This order, when read to the regiments, was loudly cheered. There +was perfect harmony of action among Grant's generals; all putting +forth their best efforts. On the 4th, Sheridan dispatched Grant, +"If we press on we will no doubt get the whole army." And again +on the 6th, "_If the thing is pressed I think Lee will surrender_." +( 5) On these dispatches being forwarded to President Lincoln, still +at City Point, he is reported to have wired Grant, "Let the thing +be pressed."( 6) + +Grant, personally, gave more attention to the movements of his +forces to important places than to fighting battles. He was +especially anxious for Ord's command to be hastened forward on a +line south of Lee. Grant was always in touch with Meade and +Sheridan, but on the 5th and 6th he was with Ord. At night of the +5th he dispatched from Nottoway Court-House to Meade: + +"Your movements are right. Lee's army is the objective point, and +to capture that is all we want. Ord has marched fifteen miles to- +day to reach here, and is going on. He will probably reach Burkeville +to-night. My headquarters will be with the advance."( 7) + +Sheridan, in command of the cavalry, was often, temporarily, also +given command of a corps of infantry. + +In the pursuit on the 6th from Jetersville, Wright's corps followed +Merritt's cavalry, and about 3 P.M., after a forced march of eighteen +miles, partly without roads and over a hilly country and under a +hot sun, came up with a portion of it heavily engaged trying to +seize a road at a point about two miles from Sailor's Creek on the +left and about the same distance from Deatonville on the right, on +which Ewell's wing of Lee's army was retreating. Ewell was heading +towards Rice's Station to form a junction with Longstreet, both +intending to move _via_ Prince Edward's Court-House south. Ord, +with the Army of the James, late on this day confronted Longstreet +at Rice's Station. The Third Division of the Sixth was in advance, +and my brigade went into line of battle and rapidly into action, +with scarcely a halt for formation, and, together with the cavalry, +charged and drove the enemy across the road, capturing many prisoners, +wagons, and some pieces of artillery, including General Heth's +headquarters wagons. + +An incident occurred soon after we gained this road. Another road +from the west intersected at this point the one we had just seized, +and on which the enemy had a battery which opened on us furiously. +I hastened to the intersecting road to direct some of my regiments +to charge and capture the battery or drive it away. Generals +Sheridan and Wright, with their staffs, soon galloped up. Sheridan +was accompanied by a large mounted brass band that commenced playing +_Hail to the Chief_, or some other then unwelcome music. This drew +the fire from the battery with increased fury on the whole party. +Both Sheridan and Wright were too proud spirited to retire in the +presence of the troops or each other, though not needed at that +place. The dry limbs of pine trees rattling down around us and +the bursting of shells rendered the situation embarrassing in the +extreme, and the lives of others were being sacrificed or imperilled +by the presence of the distinguished party. Being in immediate +charge of the forces there, I invited the Generals to get out of +the way, but as they did not retire I ordered a charge upon the +"_noisy band_," and thus caused the whole party to retire to a +place of greater safety. Some of them were quite willing to go. + +I gave Colonel Binkley such an imperative order to silence the +battery, that he pursued it with a detachment to such a distance +that he did not rejoin the brigade in time to participate in the +principal battle of the day yet to be fought. + +Ewell's wing of the Confederate Army had mainly passed on towards +its destination. Pursuit was promptly ordered by Sheridan and +conducted by Wright. Ewell's rear-guard fought stubbornly and fell +back slowly through the timber until it reached Sailor's Creek. +Wheaton's division arrived and joined the Third on the left in the +attack and pursuit. Merritt's cavalry passed rapidly around Ewell's +right to intercept the retreat. Merritt crossed Sailor's Creek +with Custer and Devin's divisions south of the road on which the +enemy retreated. + +General R. S. Ewell crossed Sailor's Creek, and about 5 P.M. took +up a strong position on heights on its west bank. These heights, +save on their face, were covered with forest. There was a level, +cultivated bottom about one half mile in width, wholly on the east +bank of the stream. Sailor's Creek, then greatly swollen, washed +the foot of the heights on which Ewell had posted his army. He +hoped to be able to hold his position until night, when, under +cover of darkness, he might escape towards Danville. + +Our troops were temporarily halted on the hills at the eastern edge +of the valley, in easy range of the enemy's guns, and the lines +were hastily adjusted.( 8) Artillery went into position and at +once opened a heavy fire. An effort was made to bring up Getty's +division of the Sixth and the detachment of my brigade under Binkley, +but the day was too far spent to await their arrival. It was +plainly evident that Ewell outnumbered our forces in line, and our +men had been on foot for twelve hours. Wright hesitated under the +circumstances, but Sheridan, coming to the front, advised an +assault.( 9) Wright then promptly ordered the infantry on the +field to make one, under cover of the artillery. Colonel Stagg's +cavalry brigade was ordered to attack the enemy's right flank, and +Merritt and Crook's cavalry were to attack still farther around +his right and on his rear. + +Ewell covered his front with a strong line of infantry, and massed +a large body in column, in rear of his centre, to be used as the +exigencies of the battle might require. Ewell's cavalry covered +his right and rear. General R. H. Anderson and J. B. Gordon, with +their corps, had preceded Ewell in crossing Sailor's Creek, and +Sheridan, who had now personally passed from the front around to +Merritt, encountered them some distance to the rear of Ewell's +position. The Confederate trains were on the road to Rice's Station, +where Longstreet was confronting Ord, neither, however, willing to +attack the other. + +The plan was for Anderson and Gordon to attack and clear the rear, +while Ewell stopped the infantry at the Creek.(10) The latter had +three infantry divisions, with parts of others, under the command +of Generals Kershaw, G. W. Custis Lee, Pickett, Barton, DuBose, +Corse, Hunton, and others of the most distinguished officers of +the Confederate Army. Commodore John Randolph Tucker, formerly of +the United States navy, commanding the Marine Brigade, was posted +on the face of the heights on Ewell's front. Colonel Crutchfield, +who had been recently in charge of the artillery at Richmond, +commanded a large brigade of artillerymen serving as infantry. + +About 5 P.M. the two divisions of the Sixth descended from the hills, +in a single line, and moved steadily across the valley in the face +of a destructive fire, with muskets and ammunition boxes over the +shoulder, the men waded the swollen stream. Though the water was +from two to four feet deep, the creek was crossed without a halt. +Many fell on the plain and in the water, and those who reached the +west bank were in some disorder. The command, was, however, given +by the officers accompanying the troops to storm the heights, and +it was obeyed. Not until within a few yards of the enemy, while +ascending the heights, did our men commence firing. The enemy's +advance line gave way, and an easy victory seemed about to be +achieved, but before the crest was reached, Ewell with his massed +troops made an impetuous charge upon and through our line. Our +centre was completely broken and a disastrous defeat for us seemed +imminent. The large column of Confederate infantry now, however, +became exposed to the renewed fire from Wright's massed artillery +on the hills east of the valley. + +The right and left of the charging line met with better success, +driving back all in their front, and, wholly disregarding the defeat +of the centre, persisted in advancing, each wheeling as on a pivot +in the centre, until the enemy's troops were completely enveloped +and subjected to a deadly fire on both flanks, as well as from the +artillery in front. The flooded stream forbade an advance on our +unguarded batteries. The cavalry, in a simultaneous attack, about +this time overthrew all before them on the Confederate right and +rear. Ewell's officers gallantly exerted themselves to avert +disaster, and bravely tried to form lines to the right and left to +repel the now furious flank attacks. This, however, proved +impossible. Our men were pushed up firing to within a few feet of +the massed Confederates, rendering any reformation or change of +front by them out of the question, and speedily bringing hopeless +disorder. A few were bayoneted on each side. The enemy fell +rapidly, while doing little execution. Flight became impossible, +and nothing remained to put an end to the bloody slaughter but for +the Confederates to throw down their arms and become captives. As +the gloom of approaching night settled over the field, now covered +with dead and dying, the fire of artillery and musketry ceased, +and General Ewell, together with eleven general officers and about +all the survivors of his gallant army, were prisoners. Ewell, +Kershaw, G. W. Custis Lee (son of General R. E. Lee), and others +surrendered to the Sixth Corps. Barton, Corse, Hunton, DuBose, +and others were taken by the cavalry. Crutchfield of the Artillery +Brigade was killed near me, and his command captured or dispersed. +Generals Anderson and Gordon got away with part of B. R. Johnson's +division, and Pickett escaped with about six hundred men.(11) +Tucker's Marine Brigade, numbering about two thousand, surrendered +to me in a body a little later.(12) It had been passed by in the +onset of the charge. About thirty-five of the officers of this +brigade had served in the United States Navy before the war. The +brigade was made up of naval troops who had recently served on +gunboats and river batteries on the James below Richmond. As +infantrymen they cut a sorry figure, but they were brave, and stood +to their assigned position after all others of their army had been +overthrown. They knew nothing about flight, and were taken as a +body. By reason of their first position they suffered heavily. +When disarmed there was found to be a wagon load or more of pistols +of all patterns which had been collected from all the countries of +the civilized world. Certain incidents relating to the surrender +of this brigade may be of interest.(13) + +Tucker's command was not at once engulfed in the general disaster. +Tucker had, after making a gallant charge, withdrawn it from its +exposed position into the dense timber in a depression in the +bluffs. Near the close of the battle, just at dusk, it was reported +to me that a force of Confederates was in this timber. I made two +vain attempts to get into communication with it and to notify its +commanding officer that he was in our power. At last, having some +doubts of its presence where reported, and my staff and orderlies +being engaged reforming troops and caring for prisoners, I rode +alone to investigate. After proceeding in the woods a short +distance, to my surprise I came upon Tucker's brigade in line of +battle, partly concealed by underbrush. To avoid capture I resorted +to a ruse. In a loud voice I gave the command, "_Forward_," and +it was repeated by the Confederate officers all along the line. +I turned to ride towards my own troops. The dense thicket prevented +speed and the marines therefore kept at my horse's heels. As an +open space was approached the nearest Confederate discovered that +I was a Union officer, and cried "Shoot him." As I turned to +surrender, some confusion arose and a few shots were fired, but +Tucker and Captain John D. Semmes, being near me, knocked up the +ends of the nearest rifles with their swords and saved my life. +From this situation, lying close on my horse's neck, I escaped to +my own command. With a detachment I at once returned to the timber, +where I met Tucker and explained to him the situation of which he +was ignorant, and forthwith received his surrender with his brigade. +Later, when Tucker and Semmes were prisoners at Johnson's Island, +near Sandusky, the appealed to me to intercede for their release, +which I most gladly and successfully did. They had each been, at +the beginning of the war, in the United States Navy, which caused +them to be exceptionally detained as prisoners under President +Johnson's order.(14) + +The infantry, under Wright, engaged in the battle at Sailor's Creek +at no time exceeded ten thousand men. The number participating in +the charge across the plain and in storming the heights did not +exceed seven thousand, being fewer in number than the enemy captured +on the field. It has been claimed that Humphreys' Second Corps +participated in the battle, and some Confederate officers assert +that the attack was made with thirty thousand men under Wright. +Humphreys did have a lively skirmish the evening of the 6th, and +captured a considerable train, far off to the right of the battle- +field, and in this the detachment under Colonel Binkley from my +brigade participated.(15) + +Getty's division of the Sixth did not reach the field in time to +become engaged.(16) The results, being so great, naturally led +interested parties to exaggerate the number of the attacking +forces.(17) + +Sheridan, in his report, May 16, 1865, speaking of the infantry +attack, says: "It was splendid, but no more than I had reason to +expect from the gallant Sixth Corps." And he speaks of the fighting +of the cavalry and the captures thus: + +"The cavalry in the rear of the enemy attacked simultaneously, and +the enemy, after a gallant resistance, were completely surrounded, +and nearly all threw down their arms and surrendered. General +Ewell, commanding the enemy's forces, a number of other general +officers, and about 10,000 other prisoners were taken by us. Most +of them fell into the hands of the cavalry, but they are no more +entitled to claim them than the Sixth Corps, to which equal credit +is due for the result of this engagement." + +Our loss in killed and wounded was comparatively small; that of +the enemy was great, but not in proportion to his loss in prisoners. +One week after the battle I visited the field, and could then have +walked on Confederate dead for many successive rods along the face +of the heights held by the enemy when the battle opened. + +The capture of Ewell and his generals, with the larger part of the +forces under them, and the dispersion of the remainder of Ewell's +wing of Lee's army were irreparable disasters to the Confederacy. +Lee could no longer hope to cope with the pursuing army. The Sixth +Corps had the distinguished honor of striking the decisive blows +at Petersburg on the 2d, and at Sailor's Creek on the 6th of April, +1865. + +Sailor's Creek may fairly be called the last field battle of the +war. A distinguished Confederate General, Wade Hampton, in a +_Century Magazine_ article, pronounced the battle of Bentonville, +North Carolina, the "last important one of the war, . . . the last +general battle of the Civil War." There may be room for controversy +as to where and when the last "general battle" of the war was +fought. Certain it is that it was not at Bentonville that the +conflict ended on a large scale and blood ceased to flow in the +great Rebellion. Bentonville was mainly fought March 19, 1865, +and while it may properly be called a field engagement and of no +insignificant proportions, it was not the last one. This is not +the place to enter into any controversy about last battles, their +character and significance, yet it may not be out of place to call +attention to the most prominent battles, etc., fought after March +19, 1865. + +Fort Stedman, in front of Petersburg, Virginia, was assaulted and +temporarily taken by the Confederate General Gordon, March 25, +1865, and while the fighting which ensued in retaking the fort and +in driving out the attacking forces may not be denominated a general +battle, yet it was a bloody one. Other severe fighting took place +in front of Petersburg the same day. + +Five Forks, Virginia, fought by General Sheridan's cavalry and the +Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac, April 1, 1865, was fought outside +of fortifications by cavalry, infantry, and artillery combined, +and there were charges and counter-charges, lasting several hours, +the losses being heavy in killed and wounded. Many prisoners were +there taken by Sheridan's command. Five Forks was a general field +engagement. + +The assaults and conflicts on, over, and around the ramparts of +the forts and fortifications (incomparably bloody) in front of +Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865, which tore open the strong +lines of defence held by General Lee's army, forced it to flight, +and lost Petersburg and Richmond to the Confederacy, may not be +entitled to be classed as general field battles. + +Sailor's Creek came next in order, fought April 6, 1865. + +The assault and capture of Fort Blakely, near Mobile, Alabama, took +place April 9, 1865. If Blakely can be called a general battle it +was the last one of the war. It was, however, mainly an assault +by the Union forces under General E. R. S. Canby on fortifications, +though rich in results. The killed and wounded at Blakely in both +armies aggregated about 2000 men. Canby's forces captured 3423 +men, 40 pieces of artillery, 16 battle flags, etc. The prize fought +for and won was Mobile, its surrounding forts and the Confederate +Navy in the harbor of Mobile. + +At Palmetto Ranche, Texas, on May 13, 1865, near the battle-field +of General Zachary Taylor at Palo Alto (May 8, 1846), the first of +the Mexican War, and about two thousand miles from Big Bethel, the +scene, June 10, 1861, of the first considerable battle of the +Rebellion, a lively engagement took place, hardly, however, rising +above the dignity of a skirmish or an _affair_, though it was by +no means bloodless. (The magnitude of the battles of the Rebellion +dwarfed to _affairs_ or skirmishes what were formerly in this and +other countries called battles.) + +Colonel Theodore H. Barrett commanded the Union forces at Palmetto +Ranche, and General J. E. Slaughter the Confederates. + +The 62d United States Colored Infantry, in this fight, probably +fired the last angry volley of the war, and Sergeant Crocket of +that regiment (three days after Jefferson Davis' capture) received +the last wound from a rebel hostile bullet, and hence shed the last +fresh blood in the war resulting in the freedom of his race in the +United States. The observation irresistibly comes, that on the +scene of the first battle of the Mexican War--a war inaugurated +for the acquisition of slave territory--and of the _first_ battle +participated in by Lieutenant-General (then Second Lieutenant) U. +S. Grant, almost exactly nineteen years later, the last conflict +took place in the war for the preservation of the Union, and in +which slavery was totally overthrown in our Republic. + +But to return from the digression and to conclude the story of +Sailor's Creek, or the "Forgotten Battle." It may truthfully be +said that it was not only the last general field battle of the war, +but the one wherein more officers and men were captured in the +struggle of actual conflict than in any battle of modern times. + +There was some fighting between the cavalry of the two armies and +many minor affairs between the advance- and rear-guards, but the +four years' heavy fighting between the Army of Northern Virginia +and the Army of the Potomac ended at Sailor's Creek. + +During the battle Lee was with Longstreet at Rice's Station, two +miles distant, impatiently awaiting news from Lieutenant-Generals +Ewell and Anderson. General Mahone states what transpired when +Colonel Venable of Lee's staff reported to his chief something of +the disaster at Sailor's Creek: + +"General Lee exclaimed, 'Where is Anderson? Where is Ewell? It +is strange I can't hear from them." Then turning to me, he said, +'General Mahone, I have no other troops, will you take your division +to Sailor's Creek?' and I promptly gave the order by the left flank, +and off we were for Sailor's Creek, where the disaster had occurred. +General Lee rode with me, Colonel Venable a little in the rear. +On reaching the south crest of the high ground at the crossing of +the river road overlooking Sailor's Creek, the disaster which had +overtaken our army was in full view, and the scene beggars description, +--hurrying teamsters with their teams and dangling traces (no +wagons), retreating infantry without guns, many without hats, a +harmless mob, with the massive columns of the enemy moving orderly +on. At this spectacle General Lee straightened himself in his +saddle, and, looking more the soldier than ever, exclaimed, as if +talking to himself, 'My God! has the army dissolved?' As quickly +as I could control my own voice I replied, 'No, General, here are +troops ready to do their duty'; when, in a mellowed voice, he +replied: 'Yes, General, there are some true men left. Will you +please keep those people back?' As I was placing my division in +position to 'keep those people back,' the retiring herd just referred +to had crowded around General Lee while he sat on his horse with +a Confederate battle-flag in his hand. I rode up and requested +him to give me the flag, which he did. + +"It was near dusk, and he wanted to know of me how to get away. +I replied: 'Let General Longstreet move by the river road to +Farmville, and cross the river there, and I will go through the +woods to the High Bridge (railroad bridge) and cross there.' To +this he assented." + +Longstreet retired at nightfall to Farmville and there crossed the +Appomattox the morning of the 7th, and Mahone and broken detachments, +with such trains and artillery as Lee still possessed, crossed at +the High Bridge. All bridges were wholly or partially destroyed +by the enemy on being passed. + +The result of the operations of April 6th forced Lee off of all +roads leading to Danville, and Lynchburg became his objective. + +Grant's plans did not justify a halt on the field of Sailor's Creek +long enough to bury the dead, or even long enough to care for our +wounded, and, though night had come, the battle-stained soldiers, +hungry and exhausted, were marched on. The Sixth Corps encamped +at 10 P.M. near Rice's Station, about three miles from the battle- +field. Other corps on different lines were kept to their work, +and their operations also contributed towards baffling Lee's plans +for escape. + +A single serious disaster occurred on the 6th to a detachment of +our army. Ord, whose orders were to obstruct all lines of retreat, +detached Colonel Francis Washburn with the 123d Ohio and portions +of the 54th Pennsylvania and 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, about eight +hundred in all, to destroy High Bridge over the Appomattox below +Farmville. Later in the day, Colonel Thomas Reed of Ord's staff +with eighty cavalrymen was sent to recall Washburn. The detachments +met, and having penetrated to within about two miles of the bridge, +encountered Lee's advance cavalry and infantry. Washburn and Read +put up one of the most gallant fights of the war, but were soon +surrounded. They led repeated charges until both fell, mortally +wounded. Not until most of the command had fallen did it surrender. +The Confederate loss was severe, especially in officers. This +affair caused Lee to lose precious time, he being led to believe +from the obstinacy of the fight that a large Union force was in +his front. + +The Sixth Corps, after Sailor's Creek, was ordered to pursue Lee's +army directly. Its flanking work was done; its mission was to +assail Lee's rear, delay him, and if possible bring him to battle. + +Sheridan, with Merritt's cavalry division, followed by Ord and the +Fifth Corps, continued westward, with orders not to stop for bad +roads, nor wait for subsistence or for daylight. They were not to +halt until planted across Lee's front. + +Humphreys, who also had orders to press Lee's rear, succeeded with +his corps and a cavalry division under Crook in crossing the +Appomattox close on Mahone's rear. Wright, the morning of the 7th, +followed Longstreet to Farmville, where the latter had passed to +the north of the river. + +Grant and his staff, with a small escort, rode by us about noon. +The roads were muddy from recent rains and much cut up by the +Confederate Army. Grant was dressed, to all appearance, in a +tarpaulin suit, and he was, even to his whiskers, so bespattered +with mud, fresh and dried, as to almost prevent recognition. He +then, as always, was quiet, modest, and undemonstrative. A close +look showed an expression of deep anxiety on his countenance. + +Farmville is in a narrow, short valley on the south bank of the +Appomattox, surrounded on the south by high bluffs. As the Sixth +arrived on the heights above the town I was riding with General +Wright. All were anxious to ascertain the exact whereabouts of +the enemy, when, to our amazement, apparently the whole Confederate +Army came into view on the high plain north of the river. It was +drawn up in battle array and seemingly about to envelop and destroy +Crook's cavalry, that was furiously assailing it to delay it. From +the heights it seemed to us Crook's command would speedily be +annihilated. Wright was an unimpassioned man, little given to +excitement, but this scene threw him into a vehement state. His +corps was too far off the render assistance; the Appomattox, deep +through narrow, lay between, and pontoons were not up. He ordered +his corps hastened forward, and plunged down the bluffs into +Farmville, looking for a crossing. He soon came in front of a +Virginia tavern with the usual "stoops" or low porches in front, +above, and below. Grant was seated on the upper "stoop," resting +his chin on his folded arms, which were on the rail of a baluster. +He was smoking a cigar, and doubtless casting his eyes on the +situation across the river. He then looked happy, contented, and +unconcerned. He did not change when Wright exhibited, by word and +act, great solicitude for the fate of the cavalry. When Wright +had finished, Grant withdrew his cigar from his lips, raised his +head only a little, and pleasantly said: "The cavalry are doing +well, and I hope General Lee will continue to fight them, as the +delay will lessen his chances of escape." Grant also, pointing in +the direction of the river, added: "General Wright, you will find +the débris of a railroad bridge down there, on which you can +construct a passage for your infantry and get them over the river +during the night." Grant resumed smoking and we went about our +business. + +A crossing was soon made on the iron and timbers of a broken-down +bridge, over which foot soldiers could pass in single file. As +the structure was liable to get out of order, each officer, from +division to company commander, was required to stand at its end +and see that the soldiers of his command marched on it at proper +intervals and with steady step. It was 3 A.M. of the 8th before +the last of the corps had crossed and bivouacked. Mounted officers +and escorts swam the stream at a swollen ford near-by. + +Crook lost heavily in his unequal combat, one of his brigades +especially, its commanding officer, General J. Irwin Gregg, being +captured, but the purpose of the attack was accomplished. Crook +withdrew his recently imperilled cavalry to the south of the river +about 9 P.M. of the 7th, and reached Prospect Station the same +night, under orders to rejoin Sheridan. + +Lee, late on the evening of the 7th, seems to have been personally +seized with a panic on hearing some threatening reports of being +cut off or flanked, and he caused his trains to retreat in a wild +rush and the infantry under Longstreet to march at double-quick to +Cumberland Church, where he formed for battle.(18) + +General Ewell, at supper with Wright the night after his capture +on the 6th, made some remarks about the hopeless condition of the +Confederate Army, and suggested that Lee might be willing to +surrender. This and other like talk of Ewell, being communicated +by a Dr. Smith to Grant, suggested the idea to him of demanding +the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia.(19) A note to this +effect was accordingly sent to Lee, under a flag of truce, at 5 +P.M. of the 7th. Lee immediately answered, saying he did not +entertain the opinion that further resistance was hopeless on the +part of his army, yet asked Grant to name the terms he would offer +on condition of surrender. Grant, on the 8th, replied that there +was but one condition he would insist on, viz.: + +"That the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for +taking up arms against the government of the United States until +properly exchanged." + +Lee, the same day, responded, saying that in his note of the day +before, he "did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of +Northern Virginia," but only to ask the terms of Grant's proposition, +adding that he could not meet Grant with the view of surrendering +that army, but as far as Grant's proposal might affect the Confederate +States forces under his command and tend to the restoration of +peace, he would be pleased to meet Grant the next day at 10 A.M. +Very early on the 9th Grant sent Lee a note saying: "I have no +authority to treat on the subject of peace; the meeting proposed +for 10 A.M. to-day could lead to no good." + +At the earliest dawn of the 8th, the Sixth Corps pushed after Lee, +compelling him to abandon some of his heaviest artillery and a +further part of his trains. Longstreet covered Lee's rear, and +his troops had not been seriously engaged on the retreat. Ord and +the Fifth Corps struggled westward, cutting off all chance of Lee +turning southward and of thus extricating himself. The 8th was +not a day of battles but of the utmost activity in both armies. + +I note an incident. While halted, about noon on the 8th, in some +low pines to drink a cup of coffee and eat a cracker, Colonel Horace +Kellogg, of the 123d Ohio, who had been captured with Washburn's +command on the 6th, near High Bridge, came to us through the bushes +from a hiding-place to which he escaped soon after his capture. +He looked cadaverous, was wild-eyed, and in a crazed condition, +caused by starvation and want of water for two days. We had to +restrain him, and give him water, coffee, and food in small quantities +at first, to prevent his killing himself from over-indulgence. + +Sheridan, who had concentrated his cavalry at Prospect Station +under Crook, Merritt, and Custer, at daybreak of the 8th hastened +westward, south of Lee, to Appomattox Station. Sergeant White, of +the scouts, in advance, in disguise, west of the Station, met four +trains from Lynchburg with supplies sent in obedience to the +Burkeville dispatch already mentioned. The trains were feeling +their way eastward, in ignorance of Lee's whereabouts. The Sergeant +had the original dispatch with him, and exhibited it, and, by +dwelling on the starving condition of Lee's army, easily persuaded +the officers in charge to run the trains east of Appomattox Station, +he having, meantime, sent word to Sheridan where they could be +found. Custer hastened forward, sending two regiments by a détour, +in a gallop, to seize and break the railroad behind the trains. +The trains were captured. One was burned, and the other three sent +eastward towards Farmville. This capture took place just as the +head of Lee's column came in sight.(20) Custer attacked Lee's +advance, and was soon joined by Devin's division and a brigade from +Crook. Together they drove it back, capturing twenty-five pieces +of artillery, a hospital train, and a large park of wagons which +were being sent ahead of Lee's main army. Sheridan's headquarters, +at night, were at a farm-house, just south of Appomattox Station, +and about three miles southwest of the Court-House of that name. +Neither he nor his command slept that night. Sheridan was now +across Lee's front, and if he could hold on, Lee must surrender. +Ord, with the Fifth Corps following, was hastening to Sheridan. +The supreme hour was at hand. Ord was no laggard, and it was known +that he would put forth all human effort, yet Sheridan dispatched +through the night officer after staff officer to apprise Ord of +the immediate danger the cavalry was in, if unsupported, and to +assure him that his presence with his column would end the Rebellion. +Before day-dawn the cavalry was in the saddle, in battle array, +bearing down on the Confederate advance, then at the Court-House. +Ord arrived in person before sun-up of the 9th, and hastily consulted +Sheridan where to put in his troops on their arrival. Ord then +returned to hurry on his weary, hungry, foot-sore men, who had +marched all the night, having little sleep for many days. Sheridan +turned from the consultation with Ord to take charge of the battle +already raging near the Court-House. + +Let us look within the lines of the Confederate Army and see what +was transpiring there. That army had, since Sailor's Creek and +Farmville, been directed, of necessity, along the north of the +river on Appomattox Court-House and Lynchburg. It had been assailed, +night and day, flank and rear, from the time it left Petersburg. +Provisions were scarce, and many of its best officers had, in the +last week, fallen or been captured. It, however, had held out +bravely and with more spirit than would be expected. It was an +old and once splendidly organized and equipped army, and its +discipline had been good. Pendleton and others of Lee's generals +(not including Longstreet) secretly, on the 7th, held a council, +and with a view of lightening Lee's responsibilities, decided to +inform him that they thought the time had come to surrender his +army. The next day Longstreet was requested to bear the report of +this council to Lee. He declined, and Pendleton made to report to +Lee himself. The latter, if correctly reported, said: "I trust +it has not come to that," adding, among other things, "If I were +to say a word to the Federal commander, he would regard it as such +a confession of weakness as to make it the condition of demanding +an _unconditional surrender_."(21) + +Gordon, with Fitz Lee at the head of the cavalry, commanded the +advance, and Longstreet the rear. The night of the 8th found Lee's +advance at Appomattox Court-House forced well back, and Longstreet's +rear pressed close on his main body. General Lee called in council, +at a late hour that night, Lieutenant-General James Longstreet, +Major-Generals John B. Gordon, Fitzhugh Lee, and Wm. N. Pendleton.(22) +This was the last council of war of the Army of Northern Virginia, +if it could be called one. The meeting was in a secluded spot, in +a gloomy pine woods, without shelter. The night was damp and +chilly, and there was a small, smoky, green-pine fire, affording +little light. The whole surrounding was calculated to dispirit +the five officers, to say nothing of the occasion. Little was said +or done. Lee made some inquiry as to the position of the troops. +At the end of an hour the council broke up, Lee directing Gordon +to mass his command, including all the cavalry under Fitz Lee and +General Long's batteries of thirty guns, and move through Appomattox +Court-House, where the advance rested, and to commence the movement +at 1 A.M. The trains were to follow closely, covered by Longstreet's +corps, which was still Lee's rear-guard. Sheridan's cavalry was +to be overwhelmed, and, with this done, the retreat was to continue +on to Lynchburg. At 3 in the morning General Lee rode slowly +forward apparently to join his van-guard in the effort to break +through our lines. Not, however, until 5 A.M. of the 9th did Gordon +and Fitz Lee get in motion against Sheridan's cavalry, which they +then found spread over a wide front near Appomattox Court-House. +The battle commenced, the Union cavalry sullenly falling back. +This inspired new hope in the Confederate Army. General Mumford, +with a portion of his Confederate cavalry division, found a break +in Sheridan's line, and charging through, escaped. This gave rise +to a report that the road had been opened.(23) + +Gordon pushed on with renewed confidence, infantry, cavalry, and +artillery, first striking Crook and McKenzie on the Union left, +then Merritt in the centre, the latter two yielding as though +defeated. Crook, however, held firmly on the extreme left, while +Merritt drew from the centre to the right, there to unite Custer +and Devin's cavalry divisions, leaving the centre apparently +abandoned. Gordon hastily dispatched word of his success, and, +inspired with a hope of complete victory, hurled his hosts into +the great gap thus made, capturing two pieces of artillery, and +moved forward to the crest of a ridge. But, alas! From this crest +Gordon and his officers saw a new scene. They beheld through the +mists and the morning gray, on the plain before them, Ord's column, +formed and forming, in full array, ready for strong battle. Hope +vanished from the minds of the Confederate generals. The Fifth +Corps, under General Charles Griffin, was also then arriving on +Ord's extreme right in support of the cavalry already there. The +cavalry in the centre had been but a curtain. Gordon halted and +sent word of the situation to his chief, notifying him that further +effort was hopeless, and would cause a useless sacrifice; that he +had "fought his troops to a frazzle."(24) + +Ord was Sheridan's superior in rank, but both decided to end matters +at once, so, with battle flags and guidons bent to the front, the +combined forces advanced to their work. Some artillery shots passed +through their lines, but did not arrest them. The Confederates +retired to another ridge immediately fronting the Court-House. +Gordon there displayed a white flag, indicating a willingness to +negotiate. Custer first saw it. He notified Sheridan, who notified +Ord, and the attack was suspended. Sheridan galloped to the front, +though fired on by soldiers of a South Carolina brigade,(25) and +soon joined Gordon. A truce looking to a surrender was made. +Colonel J. W. Forsyth of Sheridan's staff passed through the +Confederate Army to Meade, and notified him of the truce, and thus +stopped the Second and Sixth Corps then attacking Longstreet. +Colonel Newhall, Sheridan's Adjutant-General, rode to meet Grant +and advise him that Lee desired a meeting with a view to surrendering +his army. + +Little has been said of the great soldier, Meade, in this campaign. +Much credit is due him. He aided in organizing a victory at Five +Forks (26) and in planning the assault on Petersburg. Though ill +at Jetersville, and much of the time thereafter to the end of the +campaign, he was always up with one or the other of his corps, +doing all it was possible for him to do to accomplish the great +result finally attained. + +Let us again return to Grant--the silent soldier. On the 5th of +April Grant and his staff with a small escort became separated from +his headquarters camp equipage and wagons. He was even without +his sword. He and his staff thereafter slept on porches of farm- +houses or bivouacked in the woods or fields without cover. They +picked up scant fare at any camp they could find it, and often went +hungry, as did many other officers. As a result of exposure to +frequent rains, poor food, fatigue, loss of sleep, and, doubtless, +extreme prolonged anxiety, Grant, on the afternoon of the 8th, had +a violent attack of sick-headache. At a farm-house that night he +was induced to bathe his feet in hot water and mustard and to have +mustard plasters applied to his wrists and the back of his neck, +but all this brought him no relief. He lay down to sleep in vain. +He, however, during the night, received and sent dispatches relating +to the next day's operations. At 4 o'clock his staff found him in +a yard in front of the house, pacing up and down with both hands +to his head and suffering great pain. He wrote a note in the early +morning answering Lee's note of the previous day. He rode early +to Meade's camp (then in the immediate rear of the two pursuing +corps), and there drank some coffee, with little relief. His staff +tried to induce him to ride that day in an ambulance, but, sick as +he was, he mounted his favorite horse--Cincinnati--and in consequence +of dispatches from Sheridan giving an account of the situation at +the front, started by a circuitous route to join him. Some five +miles from the Court-House a dispatch from Meade was handed Grant, +advising him of a two-hours' truce and of the place General Lee +would meet him; also this note from Lee: + + "April 9, 1865. +"General,--I received your note of this morning on the picket line, +whither I had come to meet you, and ascertain definitely what terms +were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the +surrender of this army. I now ask an interview, in accordance with +the offer contained in your letter of yesterday, for that purpose. + + "R. E. Lee, General. +"Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant." + +Grant wrote to Lee (11.50 A.M.), saying he would meet him as +requested. General Porter asked Grant, as they rode on, about the +pain in his head. Grant answered: "The pain in my head seemed to +leave me as soon as I got Lee's letter."(27) He reached the Court- +House about 1 P.M., where he was met by Ord and Sheridan. Lee had +already arrived, and was awaiting Grant at the McLean house. The +two Generals met face to face. Lee wore a new Confederate uniform +and a handsome sword. He was tall, straight, and soldierly in +appearance. He wore a full gray beard. Grant, much below Lee in +stature, wore only a soldier's blouse and soiled suit, and was +without a sword, having only some dingy shoulder-straps denoting +the rank of Lieutenant-General. + +Lee, on his arrival, dismounted, and was seated for a short time +at the roadside, beneath an apple tree. This circumstance alone +gave rise to the widely circulated report that the surrender took +place under an apple tree.(28) + +Some civilities passed between the Generals at the McLean house. +There was substantially no negotiation as to the terms of surrender. +Lee asked Grant to write them. Grant said: "Very well, I will +write them out." He took a manifold order-book, and without +consultation with anybody, in the presence of Lee and others, wrote: + +"General,--In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of +the 8th inst. I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of +Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all +the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given +to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such +officer or officers you may designate. The officers to give their +individual paroles not to take up arms against the government of +the United States until properly [exchanged], and each company or +regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their +commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked +and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to +receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, +nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and +man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed +by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles +and the laws in force where they may reside. + + "Very respectfully, + "U. S. Grant, Lt.-Gen." + +This was immediately handed to General Lee, who, after reading it, +observed the word "_exchanged_" had been inadvertently omitted +after the words "until properly." The word was inserted. Lee +inquired of Grant whether the terms proposed permitted cavalrymen +and artillerists who, in his army, owned their horses, to retain +them. Grant answered that the terms, as written, would not, but +added, that as many of the men were small farmers and might need +their animals to raise a crop in the coming season, he would instruct +his paroling officers to let every man who claimed to own a horse +or mule keep it. Lee remarked that this would have a good effect. + +Grant's draft was handed to be copied to an _Indian_, Colonel Ely +S. Parker (Chief of the Six Nations) of Grant's staff, he being +the best scribe of Grant's officers present. Lee mistook Parker +for a negro, and seemed to be struck with astonishment to find one +on Grant's staff. + +Lee then wrote this note: + + "Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, April 9, 1865. +"General,--I received your letter of this date containing the terms +of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. +As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter +of the 8th inst. they are accepted. I will proceed to designate +the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. + + "R. E. Lee, General. +"Lieut.-General U. S. Grant." + +Generals Gibbon, Griffin, and Merritt were designated by Grant, +and Generals Longstreet, Gordon, and Pendleton by Lee, to carry +into effect the terms of surrender. + +Before separating, Lee stated to Grant that his army was badly in +want of food and forage; that his men had lived for some days on +parched corn, and that he would have to ask for subsistence. Grant +promised it at once, and asked how many men there were to supply. +Lee replied, "About twenty-five thousand." Grant authorized him +to send to Appomattox Station and get a supply out of the recently +captured trains. At that time our army had few rations, and only +such forage as the poor country afforded. + +Some detachments and small bands of Lee's army escaped, but there +were paroled 2781 officers and 25,450 men, aggregate 28,231.(29) + +Lee's army was not required to march out, stack arms, and surrender +according to the general custom of war, but the men, quietly, under +their officers, stacked their guns and remained in camp until +paroled. They soon dispersed, never to reassemble. The Army of +Northern Virginia then ceased to exist. + +The Union Army, on learning of the surrender, commenced firing a +salute of one hundred guns. Grant ordered the firing stopped, not +desiring to exult over his captured countrymen. General Meade and +others protested in vain that it was due to the Army of the Potomac +for its sacrifices and gallantry in the years of war that it should +have the honor of a formal surrender and a day of military +demonstrations. + +The wildest scenes of rejoicing, however, took place in the Union +Army on learning of the surrender. It did not take on the form of +boasting over the captured. It was a genuine exultation over the +prospect of the end of the war, the overthrow of the Confederacy, +the restoration of the Union, and the destruction of slavery in +the Republic. Officers, however high of rank, were not safe from +the frenzied rush of the excited soldiers. Some eloquent, joyous +speeches were made. + +The little wild-cherry tree under which myself and staff were +seated, drinking a cup of coffee and chewing "hard tack" when word +of the surrender came, was torn down for mementoes. Meade and +Wright did not escape, being almost dragged from their horses in +the mad rejoicing. + +The enlisted men of the two armies met on the guard lines, where +many of the Union soldiers gave their last cracker to hungry +Confederates. The gentlest and kindest feeling was exhibited on +both sides. Not an ungenerous word was heard. + +Grant at 4.30 P.M. telegraphed the Secretary of War: "_General +Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on +terms proposed by myself_." + +President Lincoln had the news of Lee's surrender to cheer his +great soul for five days before the assassin's bullet laid him low. + +Grant retired to an improvised camp, and immediately announced his +intention to leave the army in the field and start for Washington +the next day. He rode within the Confederate lines at 9 A.M. on +the 10th, and held a half hour's talk with Lee about the possibility +of other Confederate armies surrendering and the speedy ending of +the war, but Lee, though expressing himself satisfied further effort +was vain, would take no responsibility, even to advising other +armies to surrender, without consulting Jefferson Davis.(30) Grant +left for Washington at noon. + +General Lee retired to his home at Richmond. + +The Union Army counter-marched to Burkeville. While there the +death of Abraham Lincoln was announced to it. The army loved him, +and his assassination excited the bitterest feeling. A memorial +meeting was held at my headquarters at Burkeville, and like meetings +were held in some other commands, at which speeches were made by +officers. + +The casualties in the Union Army in all the operations from March +29 to April 9, 1865 (Dinwiddie Court-House to Appomattox inclusive) +were, in killed and wounded:(31) + + Army of the Potomac . . . . . . 6,609 + Army of the James . . . . . . . 1,289 + Cavalry (Sheridan) . . . . . . 1,168 + ----- + Grand total . . . . . . . . . 9,066 + +The killed and wounded in the Sixth Corps were 1500, and in my +brigade 379 (above one fourth in the corps), and in the campaign, +including March 25th at Petersburg, 480. + +The brigade in the campaign, besides taking sixteen pieces of +artillery and many prisoners in battle, captured six battle-flags, +including General Heth's division headquarters flag.(32) + +Sheridan with the cavalry and Wright with the Sixth Corps were +ordered from Burkeville to North Carolina, to co-operate with +Sherman against J. E. Johnston's army. The Sixth left Burkeville +the 23d of April, 1865, and arrived, _via_ Halifax Court-House, at +Danville, a hundred miles or more distant, on the 27th, where, on +learning that Johnston had capitulated, it was halted. + +I obtained leave to continue south without my command (with two +staff officers and a few orderlies), to visit old friends in +Sherman's army with whom I had served in the West in 1861 and 1862. +I travelled through bodies of paroled Confederates for fifty miles, +to Greensboro, North Carolina, and there came into the lines of +the Twenty-Third Corps, commanded by my old and distinguished +friend, General J. D. Cox. After a few days' sojourn as his guest, +and having seen the surrendered army of Joe Johnston, I returned +to Danville and my proper command, feeling the war was about over. + +The Army of the Potomac marched to Washington, and there (Sixth +Corps excepted), uniting with Sherman's army, held the Grand Review +of May 23, 1865. The Sixth Corps, with many detachments, numbering +about 30,000 in all, arrived later, and was reviewed by President +Johnson and his Cabinet and Generals Grant, Sherman, and Meade, +June 8, 1865. The Army of the Potomac was disbanded June 28, 1865. +All the armies of the Union were soon broken up and the volunteers +composing them mustered out and sent to their homes to take up the +pursuits of peace.(33) The prisons of the South had given up their +starving victims. + +On the recommendations of Wright, Meade, and Grant I was appointed +a Brevet Major-General of Volunteers, the commission of the President +reciting that it was "for gallant and distinguished services during +the campaign ending in the surrender of the insurgent army under +General R. E. Lee." + +I was mustered out at Washington June 27, 1865, having served +continuously as an officer precisely four years and two months, +and fought in about the first (Rich Mountain) and the last (Sailor's +Creek) battles of the war, and campaigned in six of the eleven +seceding States, and in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.(34) + +The regiments of my brigade (110th, 122d and 126th Ohio, 67th and +138th Pennsylvania, 6th Maryland, and 9th New York Heavy Artillery) +lost, killed on the field, 54 officers and 812 enlisted men, wounded +101 officers and 2410 enlisted men, aggregate 3377, only _six_ less +than the killed and wounded under Scott and Taylor in their conquest +of Mexico, 1846-1848,(35) and more than the like casualties under +the direct command of Washington in the Revolutionary War--Lexington +to Yorktown. + +The terms of capitulation accorded to Lee's army were granted to +other armies. + +With Lee's surrender came the capture of Fort Blakely, Alabama, +April 9th, followed by the surrender of Mobile, April 12th; Joe +Johnston's army in North Carolina, April 26th; Dick Taylor's in +Mississippi; May 4th; and Kirby Smith's in Texas, May 26th. +Jefferson Davis, with members of his Cabinet, was captured at +Irwinville, Georgia, May 10, 1865. + +As the curtain fell before the awful drama of war, 174,233 Confederates +surrendered, who, with 98,802 others held as prisoners of war (in +all 273,035), were paroled and sent to their homes, and 1686 cannon +and over 200,000 small arms were the spoils of victory. + +The war was over; it was not in vain. + +State-rights and secession--twin heresies, as promulgated by Calhoun +and his followers and maintained by Jefferson Davis and the civil +and military powers of the would-be Confederacy, and human slavery, +a growth of the ages, fostered by avarice, and a blot on our +civilization for two hundred and fifty years--were likewise overthrown +or destroyed; and the integrity of the Union of the States and the +majesty of the Constitution as a charter of organized liberty were +vindicated, and the American Republic, full-orbed, was perpetuated, +under one flag, and with one destiny. + +The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, declaring that: +"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment +for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall +exist within the United States or any place subject to its +jurisdiction"; submitted, February 1, 1865, by Congress to the +States for ratification, and proclaimed ratified December 18, 1865, +is but the inevitable decree of war, in the form of organic law, +resulting from the triumph of the Union arms, accomplished through +the bloody sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of devoted men, +together with the concurrent sufferings of yet other hundreds of +thousands of wounded and sick and the sorrows of disconsolate and +desolate millions more, superadded by billions in value of property +laid waste and other billions of treasure expended. Such, indeed, +was the penalty paid to eradicate the crime of the centuries-- +_SLAVERY_. + +Freedom was triumphant, and civilization moved higher. + +( 1) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 175, 189. + +( 2) This statement is taken from Lee's official report, though +Jefferson Davis, in his work, takes pains to viciously deny its +truth. _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 1265; _Battles and +Leaders_, etc., vol. iv., p. 724; _Rise and Fall of the Confederacy_, +vol. ii., pp. 668-76. + +( 3) _Rise and Fall of the Confederacy_, Davis, vol. ii., p. 677. +I picked up at Danville a copy of this document at the press where +it had recently been printed. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 549. + +( 5) _Ibid_., pp. 556, 610. + +( 6) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 187. + +( 7) _War Records_., vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 576. + +( 8) While riding along the face of the hills with Colonel Andrew +J. Smith of the division staff, to get a good view of the enemy's +position, I dispatched the Colonel to bring up and put a battery +in a designated position. He met and sent Major O. V. Tracey of +the same staff on his errand, and soon rejoined me. Some movements +displayed large numbers of the enemy, whereupon Smith characteristically +exclaimed: "Get as many boys as ever you can; get as many shingles +as ever you can; get around the corner as fast as ever you can,-- +a whole hogshead of molasses all over the walk!" Before this +outburst ceased a bullet whistled past by bridle reins and struck +Smith in the right leg. While yet repeating his lingo, he threw +his arms around his horse's neck and swung to the ground. + +( 9) Grant wrote Sheridan informing him the Sixth Corps was +following him, saying: "The Sixth Corps will go in with a vim any +place you may dicate."--_Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 182. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 1284, 1298. + +(11) Longstreet, _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 614. + +(12) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 980. + +(13) Captains John F. Hazleton and T. J. Hoskinson, serving +respectively as my Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence, +reported to me at a critical juncture in the battle of Sailor's +Creek and volunteered for field duty, and for their exceptional +gallantry each was, on my recommendation, brevetted a Major by the +President. + +(14) Tucker after the war expatriated himself from the country +for a time, and became an Admiral in the Peruvian navy, but as our +naval officers refused to salute his flag on the sea, Peru was +forced to dismiss him. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 683, 980. + +(16) _Ibid_., p. 906. + +(17) As to numbers engaged, see correspondence, Appendix C. + +(18) Longstreet, _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 616. + +(19) _Memoirs of Grant_, vol. ii., pp. 477-8. + +(20) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 191, 199. + +(21) _Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 618, 620; _Memoirs of Lee_ +(Long), p. 416. + +(22) Letter of General Gordon to the writer, of October 1, 1894. + +(23) Longstreet relates that information came to him from Gordon +that a break had been found through which the Confederate Army +"could force passage," and that he dispatched a Colonel Haskell +"on a blooded mare" after Lee, who had gone to the rear expecting +to meet Grant, as requested by Lee by note previously sent, Longstreet +telling the Colonel "to kill his mare, but bring Lee back."-- +_Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 623, 626. + +(24) _Memoirs of Lee_ (Long), p. 421. + +(25) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 194-8. + +(26) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 154. + +(27) _Battles and Leaders_, etc., vol. iv., p. 740; _Memoirs of +Grant_, vol. ii., p. 483. + +(28) _Memoirs of Grant_., vol. ii., p. 488. + +(29) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 1279. + +(30) _Memoirs of Grant_, vol. ii., p. 497. + +(31) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 597. + +(32) The individual captors of flags were F. M. McMillen, Co. C, +and Isaac James, Co. A, 110th Ohio; Milton Blickensderfer, Co. E, +126th Ohio; George Loyd, Co. A, 122d Ohio (Heth's battle flag); +John Keough, Co. E, 67th Pennsylvania; and Trustrim Connell, Co. +I, 138th Pennsylvania. Each was awarded a Medal of Honor.--_War +Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 909, 981. + +(33) An incident will illustrate how Secretary Stanton sometimes +did business. The first order to muster out volunteers excepted +those whose term of enlistment expired after October 1, 1865. This +would have left in service some men of each company of my Ohio +regiments and caused dissatisfaction. Through a written application +I obtained authority to muster out all the men of these regiments. +Later, complaints came from regiments of other States similarly +affected, and an application was made by me for like authority as +to them, which was refused. This was invidious. In company with +General Meade I called on the Secretary of War to ask a reconsideration. +On the bare mention of our mission Mr. Stanton flew into a rage +and denounced Meade for making the request, saying no such order +had been or would be issued. Meade was deeply hurt and started to +withdraw, and the wrath of the Secretary was turned on me. I +interrupted him and, displaying the order relating to the Ohio +regiments, told him his statement was not true. Stanton thereupon +became still more violent and abusive and declared the order I had +was issued by mistake or through fraud and would be revoked. I +replied that it had been executed; that the men were discharged, +paid off, and on their way home. He then became calm, relented, +apologized for his intemperate language, and kindly issued the +desired order. + +(34) I was, in 1866, on the joint request of Generals Grant and +Meade, appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the 26th Infantry, U. S. A. +I declined the commission. + +(35) There were 26,690 regulars and 56,926 volunteers--83,616, +employed in the invasion of Mexico, not mentioning the navy.-- +_History of Mexican War_ (Wilcox), p. 561. For the author's farewell +order to the brigade, and table of casualties in it by regiments, +see Appendix C. + + +APPENDICES + + +APPENDIX A +GENERAL KEIFER IN CIVIL LIFE + +I +ANCESTRY AND LIFE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR + +I was born, January 30, 1836, on a farm on Mad River, north side, +six miles west of Springfield, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, +a short distance west of Tecumseh Hill, the site of the original +Piqua, Shawnee Indian village, destroyed by General George Rogers +Clark August 8, 1780. + +My ancestors, though not especially distinguished for great deeds, +either in peace or war, were of the sturdy kind, mentally, physically, +and morally. + +My grandfather, George Keifer, was born (1728) in one of the German +States, from whence he emigrated to America and settled in the +Province of Maryland about the year 1750. Nothing is certainly +known of his life or family in Germany. He was a Protestant, and +was probably led to quit German-Europe to escape the religious +intolerance, if not persecutions, there at the time so common. + +He availed himself of the Act of Parliament made in the thirteenth +year of the reign of King George the Second, which provided for +the naturalization of "Foreign Protestants," settled or who should +settle in his Majesty's colonies in America, and was naturalized +and became a subject of King George the Third of England, an +allegiance he did not long faithfully maintain, as he became a +Revolutionary patriot in 1776.( 1) He participated in the Revolution, +though there is no known record of his being a regular soldier in +the war. He gave some attention to farming, but was by trade a +shoemaker. He resided in Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, +on Antietam Creek, and there died, April 11, 1809. His wife, +Margaret (Schisler) was likewise German, probably born in Germany +(1745), but married in Maryland. Her family history is unknown, +but she was a woman of a high order of intelligence, and possessed +of much spirit and energy. After her husband's death she removed +(1812) with her two sons to Ohio (walking, from choice, the entire +distance), and died there, February 9, 1827, in my father's family, +at eighty-two years of age. George and Margaret Keifer had two +sons, George (born October 27, 1769, and died August 31, 1845), +and Joseph (my father), born February 28, 1784, at Sharpsburg, +Maryland. They followed, when young, the occupation and trade of +their father. The facilities and opportunities for acquiring an +education for persons in limited circumstances were then small, +yet Joseph Keifer early determined to secure an education, and by +his own persevering efforts, with little, if any, instruction, he +became especially proficient in geography and mathematics, and +acquired a thorough practical knowledge of navigation and civil +engineering. He could speak and read German. He was a general +reader, and throughout his life was a constant student of both +sacred and profane history, and devoted much attention to a study +of the Bible. In September, 1811, he left Sharpsburg, on horseback, +on a prospecting tour over the mountains to the West, destination +Ohio. He kept a journal (now before me) of his travels, showing +each day's journey, the places visited, the topography of the +country, the kinds of timber growing, the lay of the land and kinds +of soil, the water supply and its quality, etc., and something of +the settlers. This journey occupied seven weeks, during which he +rode 1140 miles, much of it over trails and bridle paths, his total +cash "travelling expenses being $36.30." He travelled through +Jefferson, Tuscarawas, Stark, Muskingum, Fairfield, Pickaway, Ross, +Fayette, Champaign (including what is now Clark), Montgomery, +Warren, Butler, Hamilton, Guernsey, and Belmont Counties, Ohio. +In April, 1812, he started on another like journey over much the +same country, returning May 15th. + +On his first journey he visited Springfield, Ohio, and vicinity, +and bargained for and made an advance payment of $500 in silver +for about seven hundred acres of land, located near (west of) New +Boston, from John Enoch, for himself and his brother George Keifer, +agreeing to take possession and make further payment in one year. +He removed with his brother George (who then had a wife and family +of several children), his mother accompanying, by wagon and on +horseback to this land, in the fall of 1812, where both brothers +made their homes during life, each following the general occupation +of farming. The land was chosen with reference to its superior +quality, excellent growth of popular, oak, walnut, hickory, and +other valuable timber for building purposes, and likewise with +reference to its fine, healthful, perennial springs of pure limestone +water. The tract fronted on Mad River, extending northward into +the higher lands so as to include bottom-lands and uplands in +combination. + +Joseph Keifer, before leaving Maryland, procured to be made at +Frederick, Maryland, a surveyor's compass and chain (still in my +possession), and when in Ohio, in addition to clearing lands and +farming, he surveyed many extensive tracts of land for the early +settlers. Later in life he gave up surveying, save for his neighbors +when called on. He had some inclination to music. He served for +a short time in the War of 1812, joining an expedition for the +relief of General Harrison and Fort Meigs on the Maumee when besieged +by the British and Indians in 1813. He, however, lived in his Ohio +home a quiet, sober, peaceful, contented, studious, moral life, +much esteemed for his straightforward, honest, plain character by +all who knew him, but always taking a deep interest in public +affairs, state and national, his sympathies being with the poor, +oppressed, and unfortunate. His detestation of slavery led him to +emigrate from a slave State to one where slavery not only did not +and could not exist, but where free labor was well requited and +was regarded as highly honorable. Though among the early settlers +of the then wild West, he did not care much, if at all, for hunting +and fishing, then common among his neighbors and associates. He +preferred to devote his leisure hours to reading and intellectual +pursuits and to the society of those of kindred tastes, especially +interesting himself in the education of his large family of children. +He was, in theory and practice, a moral and religious man, a church +attendant, though never a member of any church, yet one year before +his death (1849), at his own request, he was baptized in Mad River, +by Rev. John Gano Reeder, of the Christian Church. + +He was one of the founders and first directors of the Clark County +Bible Society, organized September 2, 1822. + +Throughout his life he took a deep interest in politics, but he +never sought or held any important office. He was an Adams-Clay +Whig. + +He died on his farm, April 13, 1850, and his remains, likewise his +mother's and his brother's, are now buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, +Springfield, Ohio. + +He was married, November 9, 1815, to Mary Smith, daughter of Rev. +Peter Smith, a Baptist minister (then resident on a farm near what +is now Donnelsville, Clark County, Ohio), who had some celebrity +also as a physician in the "Miami Country." He was a son of Dr. +Hezekiah Smith of the "Jerseys," and was born in Wales, February +6, 1753, from whence this branch of the _Smith_ family came. He +was some relation to Hezekiah Smith, D.D., of Haverhill, Massachusetts, +but in what way connected is not known. Peter Smith was educated +at Princeton, and married in New Jersey to Catherine Stout (December +23, 1776), and he seems to have early, under his father, given some +attention to medicine, and became familiar with the works of Dr. +Rush, Dr. Brown, and other writers of his day on "physic." He +also, during his life, acquired much from physicians whom he met +in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, +Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio. He called himself an "Indian Doctor" +(because he sometimes used in his practice herbs, roots, etc., and +other remedies known to the Indians), though he was in no proper +sense such a doctor. He was an early advocate, much against public +prejudice, of inoculations for smallpox; this before Dr. Jenner +had completed his investigations and had introduced vaccination as +a preventive for smallpox.( 2) + +Dr. Peter Smith, in his little volume (printed by Brown & Looker, +Cincinnati, 1813), speaks of inoculating 130 persons, in New Jersey, +for smallpox in 1777, using, to prevent dangerous results, with +some of them, calomel, and dispensing with it with others, but +reaching the conclusion that calomel was not necessary for the +patient's safety. + +In this book, entitled _The Indian Doctor's Dispensatory_, etc., +( 3) on the title-page he says: "_Men seldom have wit enough to +prize and take care of their health until they lose it--And doctors +often know not how to get their bread deservedly, until they have +no teeth to chew it_." He seems to have been an original character +and investigator, availing himself of all the opportunities for +acquiring knowledge within his reach, especially acquainting himself +with domestic, German, and tried Indian remedies, roots, herbs, +etc. In the Introduction to his book he says: "The elements by +Brown seem to me plain, reasonable, and practicable. But I have +to say of his prescriptions, as David did of Saul's _armour_, when +it was put upon him, '_I cannot go with this, for I have not proved +it_.' He thus chose his sling, his staff, shepherd's bag and +stones, because he was used to them, and could recollect what he +had heretofore done with them." The modern germ or bacilli theory +of disease, now generally accepted by learned physicians, was not +unknown or even new in his time. He speaks of it as an "_insect_" +theory, based on the belief that diseases were produced by an +invisible _insect_, floating in the air, taken in with the breath, +where it either poisons or propagates its kind, so as to produce +disease.( 4) + +Besides much in general, Peter Smith's book contains about ninety +prescriptions for the cure of as many diseases or forms of disease, +to be compounded generally from now well-known medicine, roots, +herbs, etc., some of them heroic, others quaint, etc. He did not +recommend dispensing wholly with the then universal practice of +bleeding patients, but he generally condemned it. + +About the year 1780, from New Jersey, he commenced his wandering, +emigrating life, with his wife and _some_ small children. He +lingered a little in Virginia, in the Carolinas, and settled for +a time in Georgia, and all along he sought out people from whom he +could gather knowledge, especially of the theory and practice of +medicine. And he preached, possibly in an irregular way, the +Gospel, as a devout Baptist of the Old School, a denomination to +which he was early attached. Not satisfied with his Georgia home, +"with its many scorpions and slaves," he took his family on horseback, +some little children (twin babies among them) carried in baskets +suitable for the purpose, hung to the horns of the saddle ridden +by his wife, and thus they crossed mountains, rivers, and creeks, +without roads, and not free from danger from Indians, traversing +the woods from Georgia through Tennessee to Kentucky, intending +there to abide. But finding Kentucky had also become a slave State, +he and his family, bidding good-by to Kentucky "headticks and +slavery," in like manner emigrated to Ohio, settling on Duck Creek, +near Columbia (Old Baptist Church), now within the limits of +Cincinnati, reaching there about 1794. He became, with his family, +a member of this church, and frequently preached there and at other +frontier places, but still pursuing the occupation of farming, and, +though perhaps not for much remuneration, the practice of medicine. +In 1804 he again took to the wilderness with his entire family, +then grown to the number of twelve children, born in the "Jerseys" +or on the line of his march through the coast or wilderness States +or territories. He settled on a small and poor farm on Donnels +Creek, in the midst of rich ones, where he died, December 31, 1816. +It seems from his book (page 14) (published while he resided at +his last home), that he did not personally cease his wanderings +and search for medical knowledge, as he says he was in Philadelphia, +July 4, 1811, where he made some observations as to the effect of +hot and cool air upon the human system, through the respiration. +But it is certain he taught to the end, in the pulpit, and ministered +as a physician to his neighbors and friends, often going long +distances from home for the purpose. He concluded, near the end +of his long and varied experiences, that: "Men have contrived to +break all God's _appointments_. But this: '_It is appointed for +all men once to die_' has never been abrogated or defeated by any +man. And as to medicine we are about to take: _If the Lord will_, +we shall do this or that with success; _if the Lord will_, I shall +get well by this means or some other." He concluded his "Introduction" +by commending the "iron doctrine" for consumptives, and assenting +to Dr. Brown's opinion that "_an old man ought never to marry a +young woman_." + +He is buried in a neglected graveyard near Donnelsville, Clark +County, Ohio. + +Men of the type and character described impressed for good Western +life and character while they lived, and through their example and +posterity also the indefinite future. + +Peter Smith had four sons, Samuel, Ira, Hezekiah, and Abram, who +each lived beyond eighty years, dying the order of their birth, +each leaving a large family of sons and daughters, whose children, +grandchildren, etc., are found now in nearly, if not all, the States +of the Union, many of them also becoming pioneers to the frontiers, +long ago reaching the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific slope and coast.( 5) + +His sons Ira and Hezekiah, much after the fashion of their father, +preached the Gospel (Baptist) in Ohio and Indiana, but not +neglecting, as did their father, to amass each a considerable +fortune. Ira resided and died at Lafayette, Indiana, and Rev. +Hezekiah Smith at Smithland, Indiana. Samuel, the eldest (Clark +County, Ohio), was always a plain, creditable farmer, but his sons +and grandchildren became noted as educators, physicians, surgeons, +and divines. + +Samuel's son, Peter Smith, besides acquiring a good general education, +studied surveying, my father assisting him, and he taught school +in Clark and other counties in Ohio, and became celebrated for his +success. He was the first in Ohio to advocate higher-graded, or +union schools, and through his efforts a first law was passed in +Ohio to establish them. He adopted a merit-ticket system for +scholars in schools which, for a time, was highly successful and +became popular. He removed, about 1830, to Illinois, then became +a surveyor and locator of public lands, farmer, etc., and was killed +by a railroad train at Sumner, Illinois, when about eighty years +of age, leaving a large number of grown children. + +Rev. Milton J. Miller (now of Geneseo, Illinois), grandson of Samuel +Smith, though a farmer boy, early resolved to acquire an education +and enter the ministry. His resolution was carried out. He +graduated at Antioch College; attended a theological school at +Cambridge, Mass., became a minister of the Christian Church, later +of the Unitarian, and was for about one year a chaplain in the +volunteer army (110th Ohio), and distinguished himself in all +relations of life. + +Dr. Hezekiah Smith, also son of Samuel, became somewhat eminent as +a physician, and died at Smithland, Shelby County, Indiana, in 1897. + +Abram, though once in prosperous circumstances, through irregular +habits and the inherited disposition to rove over the world, became +poor, and sometimes, when remote from his family and friends, in +real want, yet he, the youngest of the four, lived past the +traditional family fourscore years, dying poor (near Lawrenceville, +Illinois), but leaving children and grandchildren in many States +of the West, who had become, at his death, or since became, +distinguished as soldiers and eminent citizens. He was a man of +most cheerful disposition, and whatever his circumstances or lot +were he seemed content and happy. + +Five of Dr. Peter Smith's daughters (besides my mother) lived to +be married. Sarah married Henry Jennings; Elizabeth, Hezekiah +Ferris; Nancy, John Johns; Margaret, Hugh Wallace, and Rhoda, Dr. +Wm. Lindsay, but each died comparatively young. They also each +left children; and their grandchildren, etc., are now numerous and +many of them highly esteemed citizens, also scattered widely over +the country. + +Two others of Dr. Smith's children (Catherine and Jacob Stout) +lived only to the ages of fifteen and seventeen years respectively. + +But Peter Smith was not the sole head of this remarkable and long +wandering family, nor the repository or source of all its brains +or good qualities of head and heart. + +He was married, as stated, to Catherine Stout, in New Jersey, whose +family was theretofore, then, and since both numerous and widely +dispersed, and many of them more than usually prominent or celebrated +in public or private life. + +Her ancestry may be traced briefly. Richard Stout, who seems to +have been first of his name in America, was the son of John Stout, +of Nottinghamshire, England. When a young man he came to New +Amsterdam (New York City), where he met Penelope Van Princess, a +young woman from Holland. She, with her first husband, had been +on a ship from Amsterdam, Holland, bound for New Amsterdam. The +ship was wrecked in the lower bay and driven on the New Jersey +coast below Staten Island. The passengers and crew escaped to the +shore, but were there attacked by Indians, and all left for dead; +Penelope alone was alive, but severely wounded. She had strength +enough to get to a hollow tree, where she is said to have lived +unaided for seven days, during which time she was obliged to keep +her bowels in place with her hand, on account of a cut across her +abdomen. At the end of this time a merciful but avaricious Indian +discovered and took pity on her. He took her to his wigwam, cared +for her, and thence took her to New Amsterdam by canoe and _sold_ +her to the Dutch. This woman Richard Stout married about the year +1650. The couple settled in New Jersey, and raised a family of +seven sons and three daughters. The third son, Jonathon, married +a Bullen, settled at Hopewell, New Jersey, and had six sons and +three daughters. The fifth son, Samuel, married Catherine Simpson, +by whom he had one son, Samuel, born in 1732. This Samuel served +in the New Jersey Legislature, and was a Justice of the Peace. He +married Anne Van Dyke, and had seven sons and three daughters. +His daughter Catherine, great-great-granddaughter of Richard and +Penelope (born November 25, 1758), married, December 25, 1776, +Peter Smith, whose history we have traced. She was the companion +of all his journeyings, caring for and directing affairs and the +family in his frequent absence and itinerarys from home "preaching +the Gospel and disbursing _physic_ for the salvation of souls and +the healing of the body." She, too, was a devout Christian (Baptist), +and ministered to the exposed and often needy pioneers in the +wilderness. She survived him fifteen years, dying March 3, 1831. +She is buried beside her husband. + +Mary (my mother), a daughter of Peter and Catherine Smith, born +January 31, 1799, on Duck Creek near Columbia Church, within the +present limits of Cincinnati, married (as stated) Joseph Keifer, +when not yet seventeen years of age, and became the mother of +fourteen children, eight of whom lived to mature years--two sons +and six daughters. She died at Yellow Springs, Ohio, March 23, +1879, passing her eightieth birthday, like her brothers named, +having survived all her brothers and sisters. She was next to the +youngest of them. She inherited, cultivated, and practised the +essential virtues necessary in a successful, useful, pure, happy, +and contented life. She had a most cheerful disposition, and was +a confident and buoyant spirit, in sorrow and adversity. She was +devoted to all her children, and all owe her much for their +fundamental preparation, education, etc., together with the habits +of industry and perseverance, essential to whatever of success they +have attained in life. And, above all, she early became a member +of church (Baptist and Christian), and maintained her church +relations for above sixty years, to her death, never doubting in +her Christian belief, yet never bigoted or intolerant of the +religious views of others. + +She was a devoted companion to her husband, and with him ever took +a deep interest in their family and neighbors, never neglecting a +duty to them. She, born in the Ohio territory, lived within its +borders above eighty years, witnessed its transformation from +savagery to the highest civilization, and its growth in wealth, +power, and population from little to the third of the great States +of the Union. She witnessed the coming, through science and +inventions, of railroads, telegraphs, steam, and electric power, +telephones, etc. She saw the soldiers of the War of 1812, the +Mexican war, and the War of the Rebellion, and something of the +Indian wars in Ohio. In her childhood she lived in proximity to +savages. With her husband she had ministered to escaped slaves, +and saw slavery (always detested by both) abolished. She witnessed +with becoming pride a degree of success in the efforts of her +children and grandchildren, and she held on her knees her great- +grandchildren. She is buried beside her husband in Ferncliff +Cemetery, Springfield, Ohio. + +The children who grew to maturity were: Margaret, born September +22, 1816, who married Joseph Gaines, and died March 10, 1896, +leaving two sons and a daughter; Sarah (still living) born September +29, 1819, who married Lewis James, and, after his decease, Richard +T. Youngman, having one son, J. Warren James (Captain 45th Ohio, +War of the Rebellion), and _five_ children by her last husband; +Benjamin Franklin (still living), born April 22, 1821, who married +Amelia Henkle, and has three sons and three daughters living; +Elizabeth Mary, born February 20, 1823, unmarried, still living; +Lucretia, born January 20, 1828, died August 5, 1892, surviving +her husband, Eli M. Henkle, and her only son, John E. Henkle; +Joseph Warren Keifer, born January 20, 1836, who married, March +22, 1860, Eliza Stout, of Springfield, Ohio. [They have three sons +living, Joseph Warren, born May 13, 1861; William White, born May +24, 1866, and Horace Charles, born November 14, 1867. Their only +other child, a daughter, Margaret Eliza, was born June 2, 1873, +and died August 16, 1890.] Minerva, born July 15, 1839 (died July +22, 1899), married to Charles B. Palmer, and they have two sons +and a daughter; and Cordelia Ellen, born July 17, 1842, not married. + +From the ancestry described and from the widely diversified strains +of blood--German, English, Welsh, Dutch, and others not traced or +traceable--meeting, to make, in _composite_, a full-blooded American +--came the author of this sketch. He also sprang from a farmer, +shoemaker, civil engineer, clergyman, physician, etc., ancestry, +no lawyer or soldier of mark appearing in the long line, so far as +known. + +Born with a vigorous constitution, of strong ( 6) and remarkably +healthy parents, I, early as strength permitted, became useful, in +the varied ways a boy can be, on a farm where the soil is not only +tilled, but trees first have to be felled, rails split, hauled, +and fences built. Timber had to be cut and hauled to saw-mills, +to make lumber for buildings, etc. In the 40's clearing was still +done by deadening, felling, and by burning, the greater part of +the timber not being necessary or suitable for sawed lumber or +rails. In all this work, as I grew in years and strength, I +participated. At or before the age of seven years, and long +thereafter, I performed hard farm work, hauling, ploughing, sowing, +planting, cultivating corn and vegetables, harvesting, etc., and +was never idle. I mowed grass with a scythe, and reaped grains +with a sickle (the rough marks of the teeth of the latter are seen +still on the fingers of my left hand as I write this.) Later, the +cradle to cut small grain was introduced, though at first it was +not popular, because it reduced the usual number of harvest hands +required to "sickle the crop." Raking and binding wheat, rye, and +oats were part of the hard work of the harvest field. Husking corn +was a fall and sometimes winter occupation. Stock had to be cared +for and fed. Flax for home-made garments was raised, pulled up by +hand, spread, rotted, broken, skutched, hackled, etc. All this +work of the farm I pursued with regularity and assiduity. My father +dying when I was fourteen years of age, and my only living brother +(Benjamin F.) being married and on his own farm, much more of the +duties and management of a farm of above two hundred acres devolved +on me for the more than six succeeding years while my mother +continued to reside on the homestead. + +My education was commenced at home and at the log district schoolhouse, +located on my father's farm. The beginning of a child's schooling, +by law and custom, was then at four years of age. Thus early I +went to school, but not regularly. It was then rare that a summer +school was kept up, and the winter _term_ was usually only three +or four months, at the outside. The farmer boy was needed to work +almost the year round, and even while attending school, he arose +early to attend to the feeding of stock, chopping fire-wood, doing +chores, etc., and when school closed in the evening he was often, +until after darkness set in, similarly engaged. The school hours +were from 8 A.M. to 12 M. and from 1 to 5 P.M. Saturdays were days +of hard work. The school months were busy ones to the farmer boys +and girls. Spelling matches at night were common. + +The schools were, however, good, though the teachers were not always +efficient or capable of instructing in the higher branches of +learning now commonly taught in public schools in Ohio. But in +reading, spelling, writing, English grammar, geography within +certain limits, and arithmetic, the instruction was quite thorough, +and scholars inclined to acquire an education early became proficient +in the branches taught. + +At school I made progress, though attending usually only about +three--sometimes four--months in the year. But I had the exceptional +advantage of aid at home from my father and mother; also older +sisters, who had all of them become fitted for teachers. My natural +inclination was to mathematics and physical geography rather than +to English grammar or other branches taught. While engaged in the +study of geography my father arranged to make a globe to illustrate +the zones, etc., and grand divisions of the world. Though then +but twelve years of age I aided him in chopping down a native linden +tree, from which a block was cut and taken to a man (Crain) who +made spinning-wheels, which was by him turned, globe-shaped, about +a foot in diameter, and hung in a frame. My father marked on it +the lines of latitude and longitude and laid off the grand divisions, +islands, oceans, seas, etc., and with appropriate shadings to +indicate lines or boundaries, it was varnished and became a veritable +globe, fit for an early student of geography, and far from crude. +It now stands before me as perfect as when made fifty years since. +In mathematics I soon, out of school, passed to the study of algebra, +geometry, natural philosophy, etc. My common school and home +advantages were excellent, and while my father lived, even when at +work in the field, problems were being stated and solved, and +interesting matters were discussed and considered. The country +boy has an inestimable advantage over the town or city boy in the +fact that he is more alone and on his own resources, which gives +him an opportunity for independent thought, and forces him to become +a _thinker_, without which no amount of scholastic advantages will +make him, in any proper sense, learned. + +I had the misfortune, before ten years of age, of injuring, by +accident, my left foot, and in consequence went on crutches about +two years of my boyhood life. This apprehension of again becoming +lame early turned my thought to an occupation other than farming. +When sixteen years of age I decided to try to become a lawyer, and +in this decision my mother seconded me heartily. Though continuing +to labor on the farm without intermission, I pursued, as I had long +before, a regular study of history, and procured and read some +elementary law books, including a copy of Blackstone's _Commentaries_, +which I systematically and constantly read and re-read, and availed +myself, without an instructor, of all possible means of acquiring +legal knowledge. In my eighteenth year I was regularly entered as +a student at law with Anthony & Goode, attorneys, at Springfield, +Ohio, though my reading was still continued on the farm, noons, +nights, and between intervals of hard work.( 7) + +Lyceums or debating societies which met at the villages or schoolhouses +were then common. They were usually well conducted, and they were +excellent incentives to study, affording good opportunity for +acquiring habits of debate and public speaking. They are, +unfortunately, no longer common. These lyceums I frequented, and +participated in the discussions. I taught public school "_a +quarter_," the winter of 1852-53, at the Black-Horse tavern +schoolhouse, on Donnels Creek, for sixty dollars pay. + +I attended Antioch College (1854-55) in Horace Mann's time, for +less than a year, reciting in classes in geometry, higher algebra, +English grammar, rhetoric, etc., pursuing no regular course, and +part of the time taking special lessons, and while there actively +participated in a small debating club, to which some men still +living and of high eminence belonged. One member only of the club +has, so far, died upon the gallows. This was Edwin Coppoc, who +was hanged with John Brown in December, 1859. + +In the exciting Presidential campaign of 1856 (though not old enough +to vote) I made, in Clark and Greene Counties, Ohio, above fifty +campaign speeches for Fremont, the excitement being so high that +mobbing or egging was not uncommon. The pro-slavery people called +Fremont's supporters _abolitionists_--the most opprobrious name +they conceived they could use. Colonel Wm. S. Furay (now of +Columbus, Ohio), of about my age, also made many speeches in the +same campaign, and we were joint recipients of at least one _egging_, +at Clifton, Ohio. + +In the midst of my farm work and duties, by employing room hours, +evenings, rainy days, etc., I could make much progress in studies, +and besides this I did a little fishing in the season, and some +hunting with a rifle, in the use of which I was skillful in killing +game. Hunting became almost a passion, hence had to be wholly +given up. + +At the close of the 1856 Presidential campaign, my mother having, +in consequence of my purpose to practise law, removed from the farm +to Yellow Springs, Ohio, I became a resident of Springfield, and +there pursued, regularly, in Anthony & Goode's office, the study +of law. + +Before this I had ventured to try a few law cases before justices +of the peace, both in the country, in villages, and in the city, +and I had some professional triumphs, occasionally over a regular +attorney, but more commonly meeting the "pettifogger," who was of +a class once common, and not to be despised as "rough and tumble," +_ad captandum_, advocates in justices' courts. They often knew +some crude law, and they never knew enough to concede a point or +that they were wrong. + +My studies went on in much the usual way until I was admitted to +the bar, January 12, 1858, by the Supreme Court of Ohio, at Columbus. +I recognize now more than I did then that my preparation for the +profession of the law, which demands knowledge of almost all things, +ancient, modern, scientific, literary, historical, etc., was wholly +defective. All knowledge is called into requisition by a general +and successful legal practitioner. My early deficiency in learning, +and the many interruptions in the course of about forty years, have +imposed the necessity of close and constant application. On being +admitted to the bar, I determined to visit other parts and places +before locating. I visited Toledo; it was then muddy, ragged, +unhealthful, and unpromising. Chicago was then next looked over. +It was likewise apparently without promise. The streets were almost +impassable with mire. The sidewalks were seldom continuously level +for a square. The first floors of some buildings were six to ten +feet above those of others beside them. So walking on the sidewalks +was an almost constant going up and down steps. There was then no +promise of its almost magic future. At Springfield, Illinois, I +saw and heard, in February, 1858, before the Supreme Court, an +ungainly appearing man, called _Abe_ Lincoln. He was arguing the +application of a statute of limitations to a defective tax title +to land. He talked very much in a conversational way to the judges, +and they gave attention, and in a Socratic way the discussion went +on. I did not see anything to specially attract attention to Mr. +Lincoln, save that he was awkward, ungainly in build, more than +plain in features and dress, his clothes not fitting him, his +trousers being several inches too short, exposing a long, large, +unshapely foot, roughly clad. But he was even then, by those who +knew him best, regarded as intellectually and professionally a +great man. When I next saw him (March 25, 1865, twenty days before +his martyrdom) he looked much the same, except better dressed, +though he was then President of the United States and Commander-in- +Chief of its Army and Navy. He appeared on both occasions a sad +man, thoughtful and serious. The last time I saw him he was watching +the result of an assault on the enemy's outer line of works from +Fort Fisher in front of Petersburg, the day Fort Stedman was carried +and held for a time by the Confederates. + +I also visited St. Louis, and took a look at its narrow (in old +part) French streets; thence I went to Cairo, the worst, in fact +and appearance, of all. In going alone on foot along the track of +the Illinois Central Railroad from Cairo to Burkeville Junction, +in crossing the Cash bottoms, or slashes, I was assailed by two of +a numerous band of highwaymen who then inhabited those parts, and +was in danger of losing my life. In a struggle on the embankment +one of the two fell from the railroad bed to the swamp at its side, +and on being disengaged from the other I proceeded without being +further molested to my destination. + +By March 1, 1858, I was again at home, resolved to practise law in +my native county, at Springfield, where I opened an office for that +purpose. To locate to practise a profession among early neighbors +and friends has its disadvantages. The jealous and envious will +not desire or aid you to succeed; others, friendly enough, still +will want you to establish a reputation before they employ you. + +All will readily, however, espouse your friendship, and proudly +claim you as their school-mate, neighbor, and dearest friend when +you have demonstrated you do not need their patronage. + +I did succeed, in a way, from the beginning, and was not without +a good clientage, and some good employments. I was prompt, faithful, +and persistently loyal to my clients' interests, trying never to +neglect them even when they were small. Then litigations were +sharper generally than at present, and often, as now understood, +unnecessary. The court-term was once looked forward to as a time +for a lawyer to earn fees; now it is, happily, otherwise with the +more successful and better lawyers. Commercial business is too +tender to be ruthlessly shocked by bitter litigations. Disputes +between successful business men can be settled usually now in good +lawyers' offices on fair terms, saving bitterness, loss of time, +and expensive or prolonged trials. A just, candid, and good attorney +should make more and better fees by his advice and counsel and in +adjusting his client's affairs in his office than by contentions +in a trial court-room. + +I was an active member of the Independent Rover Fire Company in +Springfield, and with it ran to fires and worked on the brakes of +a hand-engine, etc. + +I gave little attention to matters outside of the law, though a +little to a volunteer militia company of which I was a member; for +a time a lieutenant, then in 1860 brigade-major on a militia +brigadier's staff. We staff officers wore good clothes, much +tinsel, gaudy crimson scarfs, golden epaulets, bright swords with +glistening scabbards, rose horses in a gallop on parade occasions +and muster days, yet knew nothing really military--certainly but +little useful in war. We knew a little of company drill and of +the handling of the old-fashioned muster. + +My wife (Eliza Stout) was of the same Stout family of New Jersey +from whence came my maternal grandmother. She was born at Springfield, +Ohio, July 11, 1834, and died there March 12, 1899. + +Her father, Charles Stout, and mother, Margaret (McCord) Stout, +emigrated from New Jersey, on horseback, in 1818, to Ohio, first +settling at Cadiz, then at Urbana, and about 1820 in Clark County. +The McCords were Scotch-Irish, from County Tyrone. Thus in our +children runs the Scotch-Irish blood, with the German, Dutch, Welsh, +English, and what not--all, however, Aryan in tongue, through the +barbaric, Teutonic tribes of northern Europe. + +Thus situated and occupied, I was, after Sumter was fired on, and +although wholly unprepared by previous inclination, education, or +training, quickly metamorphosed into a soldier in actual war. + +Five days after President Lincoln's first call for volunteers I +was in Camp Jackson, Columbus, Ohio (now Goodale Park), a private +soldier, and April 27, 1861, I was commissioned and mustered as +Major of the 3d Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with the regiment went +forthwith to Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, for drill and equipment. +Here real preparations for war, its duties, responsibilities, and +hardships, began. Without the hiatus of a day I was in the volunteer +service four years and two months, being mustered out, at Washington, +D. C., June 27, 1865, on which date I settled all my ordnance and +other accounts with the departments of the government, though they +covered several hundred thousand dollars. + +I served and fought in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, +Georgia, West Virginia, and Maryland, and campaigned in other +States. I was thrice slightly wounded, twice in different years, +near Winchester, Virginia, and severely wounded in the left forearm +at the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864. I was off duty on +account of wounds for a short time only, though I carried my arm +in a sling, unhealed, until after the close of the war. + +The story of my service in the Civil War is told elsewhere. + +II +PUBLIC SERVICES SINCE THE CIVIL WAR + +On my return from the war I resumed, in Springfield, Ohio, the +practice of law, and have since pursued it, broken a little by some +official life.( 8) I took a deep interest in the political questions +growing out of the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion, +and especially in the adoption of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and +Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The _first_ of these +abolished slavery in the United States; the _second_ (1) secured +to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, citizenship +therein and in the State wherein they resided; prohibited a State +from making any law that would abridge the privileges or immunities +of citizens, and from depriving any person of life, liberty, or +property without due process of law, and from denying to any person +the equal protection of the laws; (2) required Representatives to +be apportioned among the States according to number, excluding +Indians not taxed, but provided that when the right of male citizens +over twenty-one years to vote for electors and Federal and State +executive, judicial or legislative officers, was denied or abridged +by any State, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, +the basis of representation therein should be reduced proportionately; +(3) excluded any person who, having previously taken an oath as a +member of Congress or of a State Legislature, or as an officer of +the United States or of a State, to support the Constitution of +the United States, shall have engaged or aided in rebellion, from +holding any office under the United States or any State, leaving +Congress the right by a two-thirds vote of each House to remove +such disability, and (4) prohibited the validity of the public +debt, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions and +bounties, from being questioned, and prevented the United States +or any State from paying any obligation incurred in aid of the +Rebellion, or any claim for the emancipation of any slave, and the +_third_ provided that citizens shall not be denied the right to +vote "By any State on account of race, color, or previous condition +of servitude."( 9) Those amendments completed the cycle of +fundamental changes of the Constitution, and were necessary results +of the war. + +Ohio ratified each of them through her Legislature, but, in January, +1868, rescinded her previous ratification of the Fourteenth +Amendment. I voted and spoke in the Ohio Senate against this +recession. + +The Constitution of Ohio gave the elective franchise only to "white" +persons. In 1867 the people of the State voted against striking +the word "white" from the Constitution. In that year I was elected +to the Ohio Senate, and participated in the political discussion +of those times, both on the stump and in the General Assembly, and +favored universal suffrage and the political equality of all persons. +The wisdom of such suffrage will hardly be settled so long as there +exists a great disparity of learning and moral, public and private, +among the people, race not regarded. + +I originated some laws, still on the statute books of Ohio, one or +two of which have been copied in other States. An amendment to +the replevin laws, so as to prevent the plaintiff from acquiring, +regardless of right, heirlooms, keepsakes, etc., is an example of +this. I served on the Judiciary and other committees of the Ohio +Senate in the sessions of 1868-69. + +I supported my old war chief for President in 1868 and 1872. I +was Commander of the Department of the Ohio, Grand Army of the +Republic, for the years 1868, 1869, and 1870, during which time, +under its auspices, the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home +was established at Xenia, through a board of trustees appointed by +me. The G. A. R. secured the land, erected some cottages and other +buildings thereon, and carried on the institution, paying the expense +for nearly two years before the State accepted the property as a +donation and assumed the management of the Home. I was Junior Vice- +Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R., 1871-72; was trustee of the +Orphans' Home from April, 1871, date when the State took charge of +it, to March, 1878; have been a trustee of Antioch College since +June, 1873; was the first President of the Lagonda National Bank, +Springfield, Ohio, (April, 1873), a position I still hold; was a +delegate-at-large from Ohio to the National Republican Convention +in Cincinnati, in June, 1876, when General Hayes was nominated for +President; was thereafter, serving in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh, and Forty-eighth Congresses, ending March 4, 1885, +covering the administrations of Presidents Hayes, Garfield, and +Arthur. I served in the Forty-fifth on the Committee on War Claims, +and in the Forty-sixth on Elections, and on other less important +committees. + +I opposed the repeal of the act providing for the resumption of +specie payments, January 1, 1879. In a somewhat careful speech +(November 16, 1877), I insisted that the act "to strengthen the +public credit" (March 18, 1869), and the resumption act of January +14, 1875, reaffirmed the original promise and renewed the pledges +of the nation to redeem, when presented, its notes issued during +and on account of the Rebellion, thus making them the equivalent +of coin. I then, also against the prophecy of many in and out of +Congress, demonstrated the honesty, necessity, and ability of the +government to resume specie payment. + +The act was not repealed, and resumption came under it without a +financial shock, and the nation's credit, strength, honor, and good +faith were maintained inviolate with its own people. + +I advocated the payment of claims of loyal citizens of the +insurrectionary States for supplies furnished or seized by the +Union Army, necessary for its use for subsistence, but opposed +payment, to even loyal citizens, of claims based on the loss or +destruction of property incident to the general devastation of the +war. Claims for destruction of property were the most numerous, +and the most energetically pressed, and, in some instances, +appropriations were made to pay them, but the great majority of +them failed. The loyalty of claimants from the South was often +more than doubtful. For want of a well defined rule, which it is +impossible to establish in Congress, very many just claims against +the United States never are paid, or, if paid, it is after honest +claimants have been subjected to the most vexatious delays, and, +in many instances, forced to be victimized by professional lobbyists. +Many claimants have spent all they and their friends possessed +waiting in Washington, trying to secure an appropriation or to pay +blackmailing claim-agents or lobbyists. It is doubtful whether +the latter class of persons ever really aided, by influence or +otherwise, in securing an honest appropriation, though they, to +the scandal of the members, often had credit for doing so. It is +doubtful whether there is any case where members of either House +were bribed with money to support a pending bill, yet many claimants +have believed they paid members for their influence and votes. + +An illustrative incident occurred when Wm. P. Frye of Maine was +serving on the War Claims Committee of the House. A lobbyist in +some way ascertained that Mr. Frye was instructed by his committee +to report a bill favorably by which a considerable claim would be +paid. The rascal found the claimant, and told him that for five +hundred dollars Mr. Frye would make a favorable report, otherwise +his report would be adverse. The claimant paid the sum. But for +an accident Mr. Frye never would have known of the fraud, and the +claimant would have believed he bribed an honest member. + +I opposed the payment of a large class of claims presented for +institutions of learning or church buildings destroyed by one or +the other army, not so much on account of their disloyal owners, +but because their destruction belonged to the general ravages of +war, never compensated for, as of right, according to the laws and +usages of nations. + +Besides making reports on various war claims, I spoke (December +13, 1878) at some length against a bill to reimburse William and +Mary College, Virginia, for property destroyed during the war, in +which I collated the precedents and reviewed the law of nations in +the matter of payment of claims for property destroyed in the +ravages of war by either the friendly or opposing army. I also +frequently participated in the debates on the floor of the House +involving war claims and other important matters. + +The necessity for presenting claims for the judgment of Congress +results in the most grievous wrong to honest claimants, and often +results in the payment of fraudulent claims through the persistency +of claimants and the lack of time and adequate means for investigation. +In the absence of judicial investigation according to the usual +forms of procedure it quite frequently happens that fraudulent +claims are made to appear honest, and hence paid. Want of time +causes other, however just, to fail of consideration, thus doing +incalculable injustice. The government of the United States suffers +in its reputation from its innumerable failures to pay, at least +promptly, its honest creditors. Thousands of bills to pay claims +are annually introduced which go to committees and to the calendar, +never to be disposed of for want of time. To remedy this, on April +16, 1878, I proposed in the House an amendment to the Constitution +in these words: + +"_Article ----_ + +"Section 1. Congress shall have no power to appropriate money for +the payment of any claims against the United States, not created +in pursuance of or previously authorized by law, international +treaty, or award, except in payment of a final judgment rendered +thereon by a court or tribunal having competent jurisdiction. + +"Section 2. Congress shall establish a court of claims to consist +of five justices, one of whom shall be chief-justice, with such +original jurisdiction as may be provided by law in cases involving +claims against the United States, and with such other original +jurisdiction as may be provided by law, and Congress may also confer +on any other of the courts of the United States inferior to the +Supreme Court, original jurisdiction in like cases. + +"Section 3. All legislation other than such as refers exclusively +to the appropriation of money in any appropriation act of Congress +shall be void, except such as may prescribe the terms or conditions +upon which the money thereby appropriated shall be paid or received." +--_Con. Record_, Vol. vii., Part III., p. 2576. + +The adoption of this amendment would have relieved Congress of much +work; have given claimants at all times a speedy and certain remedy +for the disposition of their claims and at the same time secured +protection to the government against unfounded claims. A statute +of limitations could have put a rest old and often trumped-up +claims, still constantly being brought before Congress. It is +impossible for Congress to make a statute of limitations for its +own guidance.(10) It never will obey a law against its own action. + +In the Forty-sixth Congress there were many contested election +cases, growing out of frauds and crimes at elections, especially +in the South. The purpose of the dominant race South to overthrow +the rule of the blacks or their friends was then manifest in the +conduct of elections. The colored voter was soon, by coercion and +fraud, practically deprived of his franchise. The plan of stuffing +ballot-boxes with tissue ballots (printed often on tissue paper +about an inch long and less in width) was in vogue in some districts. +The judge or clerk of the election would, when the ballot-box was +opened, shake from his sleeve into the box hundreds of these tickets. +In these districts voters were encouraged to vote, but the tissue +ballot was mainly counted to the number of the actual voters; those +remaining were burned. The party in the majority in the House, +however, generally voted in its men, regardless of the facts. + +As early as June 7, 1878, I proposed to amend the postal laws so +as to extend the free-delivery letter-carrier system to post offices +having a gross revenue of $20,000. This amendment subsequently +became a law, and gave many cities the carrier system. Prior to +this, population alone was the test for establishing such offices. + +I opposed the indiscriminate distribution of the remaining $10,000,000 +of the $15,500,000 paid by Great Britain, as adjudged by the Geneva +Arbitration, for indemnity for losses occasioned by Confederate +cruisers which went to sea during the Rebellion from English ports +with the connivance or through the negligence of the British +Government. I insisted in a speech (December 17, 1878) that the +fund should be distributed in payment of claims allowed by the +arbitrators in making the award, or retained by the government as +general indemnity. Many of the losers whose claims were taken into +account in making the award could not be proper claimants to the +fund, as they had been fully paid by marine insurance companies. +It was insisted by some members that the companies had no equitable +right to be subrogated to the rights of the claimants who were thus +paid, because the companies had charged war-premiums, and hence +did not deserve reimbursement.(11) + +The Forty-sixth Congress will long be memorable in the history of +our country. It was Democratic in both branches, for the first +time since the war. + +The previous Congress (House Democratic) adjourned March 4, 1879, +without having performed its constitutional duty of appropriating +the money necessary to carry on,. for the coming fiscal year, the +legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the government, +and for the pay of the army. The avowed purpose of this failure +was to coerce a Republican President to withhold his veto and +approve bills prohibiting the use of troops "to keep the peace at +the polls on election days"; taking from the President his power +to enforce all laws, even to the suppression of rebellion, except +on the motion first taken by State authorities; repealing all +election laws which secured the right, through supervisors of +elections and special deputy marshals, to have free, fair elections +for electors and members of Congress; and also that made it a crime +for an officer of the army to suppress riots or disorder or to +preserve the peace at elections. + +The President called the Forty-sixth Congress in extra session, +March 18, 1879, to make the necessary appropriations. The effort +was at once made, through riders to appropriation bills and by +separate bills, to enact the laws mentioned. Excitement ran high. +For the first time in the history of the United States (perhaps in +the history of any government) it was announced by a party in +control of its law-making power, and consequently responsible for +the proper conduct and support of the government, that unless the +Executive would consent to legislation not by him deemed wise or +just, there should not be provided means for maintaining the several +departments of the government--that the government should be "starved +to death." In vain were precedents sought for in the history of +England for such suicidal policy. The debate in both branches of +Congress ran high, and there was much apprehension felt by the +people. Mr. Blackburn of Kentucky, speaking for his party, said: + +"For the first time in eighteen years past the Democracy are back +in power in both branches of this Legislature, and she proposes to +signallize her return to power; she proposes to celebrate her +recovery of her long-lost heritage by tearing off these degrading +badges of servitude and destroying the machinery of a corrupt and +partisan legislation. We do not intend to stop until we have +stricken the last vestige of your war measures from the statute- +book, which, like these, were born of the passions incident to +civil strife and looked to the abridgment of the liberty of the +citizen." + +Others threatened to refuse to vote appropriations until the "Capitol +crumbled into dust" unless the legislation demanded was passed. +President Hayes' veto alone prevented the legislation. It is not +here proposed to give a history of the struggle, fraught with so +much danger to the Republic, but only to call attention to it. +The contest lasted for months. + +Senators Edmunds, Conkling, Blaine, Chandler of Michigan, and other +Republicans, and Thurman, Voorhees, Beck, Morgan, Lamar, and other +Democrats participated in the debates. In the House Mr. Garfield, +Mr. Frye, Mr. Reed, and other Republicans, and Mr. Cox, Mr. Tucker, +Mr. Carlisle, and other Democrats took a more or less prominent +part in the discussion. I spoke against the repeal of the election +laws on April 25, 1879, and against the prohibition of the use of +troops at the polls to keep the peace on election days, on June +11, 1879. The necessity for the pay of members for the fiscal year +ending June 30, 1880, had the effect, finally, after many vetoes +of the President, to cause the Democratic members to recede, for +a time, from the false position taken. The whole question was, +however, renewed in the first regular session of the same Congress. +Precisely similar riders to appropriation bills and new bills +relating to the use of troops at the polls, to repeal laws authorizing +the appointment of supervisors and special deputy marshals for +elections, and to make it a crime for an officer of the army to +aid in keeping the peace at the polls on election days were brought +forward and their enactment into laws demanded. I spoke on the +8th and on the 10th of April, 1880, against inhibiting the use of +the army at the polls and restricting the President's power to keep +the peace at elections when riots and disorder prevailed, and on +March 18th, and again on the 11th of June, 1880, in opposition to +a bill intended to repeal existing laws relating to the use of +deputy marshals at elections. In these debates I sought to make +clear the power of the government to protect the voter in Federal +elections; to demonstrate the necessity for doing so; to show that +it was as important to have peace on election day at the polls as +on the other days of the year and at other places; that it was not +intended, and had never been the purpose, to use troops or supervisors +or deputy marshals to prevent a voter from voting for officers of +his choice, but only to secure him in that right; and that the +right to a peaceful election had always been sacredly maintained, +and for this purpose the army had been used in England and in all +countries where free elections had been held. I maintained that +the citizen was as much entitled to be protected in his right +peacefully and freely to exercise the elective franchise, as to be +protected in any other right, and that it was as much the duty and +as clearly within the power of the Federal Government to use, when +necessary, the army as a police force on an election day as to use +it on other days of the year to suppress riots and breaches of the +peace; and I further insisted that it was the duty of the United +States to protect its citizens at home as well as abroad in all +their constitutional rights.(12) I also showed that the coercive +policy of forcing legislation under threats of destroying the +government was not only indefensible, treasonable, and unpatriotic, +but wholly new. The precedents alleged to be found in the history +of the British Parliament were shown not to exist in fact; that +the farthest the English Parliament had ever gone was to refuse +subsidies to the Crown, the princes, or to maintain royalty, or to +vote supplies to carry on a foreign war not approved by the House +of Commons; that in no case had the life of the nation been threatened +as the penalty for the Crown's not approving laws passed by the +House of Commons, and that the English statutes provided for preserving +peace and order by the army, especially at elections. + +In some cases during this memorable contest in the Forty-sixth +Congress I took issue in the House with the majority of my party +colleagues when they, through timidity, or for other causes, yielded +their opposition to proposed legislation touching the use of the +army and special deputy marshals and supervisors of elections to +secure peaceable and fair elections. In one notable instance (June +11, 1879), Mr. Garfield of Ohio, Mr. Hale of Maine, and the other +Republican members of the appropriation committee so far surrendered +their previously expressed views as to concur in the adoption of +a section in the army appropriation bill which prohibited any of +the money appropriated by it from being "paid for the subsistence, +equipment, transportation, or compensation of any portion of the +army of the United States to be used as a police force to keep the +peace at any election held within any State." + +The application of the previous question cut off general debate, +and I was only able to get five minutes to state my objections to +the proposed measure. + +Though the section was plainly intended to deprive the President +of his constitutional power as Commander-in-Chief of the army, +eleven Republicans only of the House joined me in voting against +it. The Republican Senators, however, generally opposed the section +when the bill reached the Senate. Later in the same Congress the +Republicans of the House unitedly supported the position taken by +me. This and other like incidents led, however, to a charge being +made later by some weak, jealous, and vain Republicans that I was +not friendly to Mr. Garfield as a leader and not always loyal to +my party. + +In the last army appropriation bill of the same Congress, after +full discussion, a similar provision was omitted, and no such +limitation on the use of the army has since been or is ever again +likely to be attempted to be enacted into law. + +The political heresies of the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses +have apparently passed away, and a more patriotic sentiment generally +exists in all parties, and, fortunately, the necessity for troops, +supervisors of elections, and special deputy marshals at the polls +no longer exists in so marked a degree. + +I spoke, December 7, 1880, and again, February 9, 1881, at length, +against the adoption of a joint rule of Congress relating to counting +the electoral vote, which rule, among other things, undertook to +give Congress the right to settle questions that might arise on +objection of a member as to the vote of the electors of a State. +I maintained that, under the Constitution, Congress neither in +joint session nor in separate sessions had the right to decide that +the vote of a State should or should not be counted, or that there +was any power anywhere to reject the vote of any State after it +had been cast and properly certified and returned; that the two +Houses only met, as provided in the Constitution, to witness the +purely ministerial work of the Vice-President in opening and counting +the electoral vote as returned to him. I cited the precedents from +the beginning of the government under the Constitution in support +of my position, excepting only the dangerous one of 1877, growing +out of the Electoral Commission. + +I spoke on many other important subjects, especially on the true +rule of apportionment of representation in the House; on election +cases, and parliamentary questions. I was not always in harmony +with my party leaders. I denied the policy of surrendering principle +in any case, even though apparent harmony was, for the time being, +attainable thereby. + +At the November election of 1880, James A. Garfield was elected +President, and the Republicans had a bare majority in the House at +the opening of the Forty-seventh Congress over the Democrats and +Greenbackers, but not a majority over all. There were three Mahone +re-Adjusters elected from Virginia. I formed no purpose to become +a candidate for Speaker of the House, until the close of the Forty- +sixth, and then only on the solicitation of leading members of that +Congress who had been elected to the next one. + +Shortly after Mr. Garfield was inaugurated President of the United +States, a violent controversy arose over appointments to important +offices in New York, which led to the resignation of Senators +Conkling and Platt. This was followed by President Garfield being +shot (July 2, 1881) by a crazy crank (Guiteau) who, in some way, +conceived that he, through the controversy, was deprived of an +office. In company with General Sherman I saw and had an interview +with Mr. Garfield in his room at the White House the afternoon of +the day he was shot. His appearance then was that of a man fatally +wounded. He lingered eighty days, dying September 19, 1881. (He +is buried at Cleveland, Ohio.) Garfield was a man of great intellect, +and attracted people to him by his generous nature. I have spoken +of him in an oration delivered, May 12, 1887, at the unveiling of +a statue of him at the foot of Capitol Hill, Washington, D. C., +erected by the Society of the Army of the Cumberland.(13) + +Over such competitors as Mr. Reed, of Maine, Mr. Burrows of Michigan, +Mr. Hiscock of New York, and others, I was chosen Speaker of the +Forty-seventh Congress, December 5, 1881. The contest was sharp +before the caucus met, but when my nomination became reasonably +apparent, Mr. Hiscock, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Burrows, my three leading +competitors, generously voted and had their friends vote for my +nomination. + +Chester A. Arthur, as Vice-President, succeeded to the Presidency +on the death of Mr. Garfield. There came, later, an acute division +in the Republican party, Blaine and Conkling (both then out of +office by a singular coincidence), being the assumed heads of the +opposing factions. President Arthur tried, faithfully, to bring +the elements together by recognizing both, but in this, as is +usually the case, he was not successful and had not the active +support of either faction. Mr. Blaine was too inordinately ambitious +and jealous of power to patiently bide his time, and Mr. Conkling +was too imperious and vengeful to tolerate, through his political +friends, fair treatment of his supposed enemies. Mr. Conkling was +a man of honesty and sincerity, true to his friends to a degree, +of overtowering intellect, with marvellous industry. Notwithstanding +his many unfortunate traits of character, Mr. Conkling was a great +man. + +Mr. Blaine was essentially a politician, and possessed of a vaulting +and consuming ambition, and was jealous of even his would-be personal +and political friends. Mr. Conkling advised some of his friends +in Congress to support me for Speaker, as did also his former +senatorial colleague, Mr. Platt of New York. The members from New +York state, however, though many of them were followers of Mr. +Conkling, unitedly supported Mr. Hiscock until the latter decided, +during the caucus, himself to vote for me. Mr. Blaine, though to +me personally professing warm friendship, held secret meetings at +the State Department and at his house to devise methods of preventing +my election.(14) He had been a member, for many terms, of the +House, and thrice its Speaker, had been a Senator, and for a few +months Secretary of State under Presidents Garfield and Arthur. +He had an extended acquaintance and many enthusiastic friends. He +lacked breadth and strength of learning, as well as sincerity of +character. He, however, came near being a great man, especially +in public, popular estimation. + +The Forty-seventh Congress met December 5, 1881, and being elected +its Speaker over Mr. Randall, the candidate of the Democrats, I +made this inaugural address: + +"Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,--I thank you with a +heart filled with gratitude for the distinguished honor conferred +on me by an election as your Speaker. I will assume the powers +and duties of this high office with, I trust, a due share of +diffidence and distrust of my own ability to meet them acceptably +to you and the country. I believe that you, as a body and +individually, will give me hearty support in the discharge of all +my duties. I invoke your and the country's charitable judgment +upon all my official acts. I will strive to be just to all, +regardless of party or section. Where party principle is involved, +I will be found to be a Republican, but in all other respects I +hope to be able to act free from party bias. + +"It is a singular fact that at this most prosperous time in our +nation's history no party in either branch of Congress has an +absolute majority over all other parties, and it is therefore +peculiarly fortunate that at no other time since and for many years +prior to the accession of Abraham Lincoln to the Executive chair +have there been so few unsettled vital questions of a national +character in relation to which party lines have been closely drawn. + +"The material prosperity of the people is in advance of any other +period in the history of our government. The violence of party +spirit has materially subsided, and in great measure because many +of the reasons for its existence are gone. + +"While the universal tendency of the people is to sustain and +continue to build up an unparalleled prosperity, it should be our +highest aim to so legislate as to permanently promote and not +cripple it. This Congress should be, and I profoundly hope it will +be, marked peculiarly as a business Congress. + +"It may be true that additional laws are yet necessary to give to +every citizen complete protection in the exercise of all political +rights. With evenly balanced party power, with few grounds for +party strife and bitterness, and with no impending Presidential +election to distract us from purely legislative duties, I venture +to suggest that the present is an auspicious time to enact laws to +guard against the recurrence of dangers to our institutions and to +insure tranquillity at perilous times in the future. + +"Again thanking you for the honor conferred, and again invoking +your aid and generous judgment, I am ready to take the oath prescribed +by law and the Constitution and forthwith proceed, with my best +ability, guided by a sincere and honest purpose, to discharge the +duties belonging to the office with which you have clothed me." + +The duties of Speaker were arduous, varied, and delicate. Under +the law, rules, and practice of the House he had control of the +Hall of the House, and of the assignment of committee rooms; signed +orders for the monthly pay of each member, and the pay of employees; +approved bonds of officers; appointed and removed stenographers; +examined and approved the daily journal of the proceedings of the +House before being read; received and submitted messages from the +President and heads of departments; appointed three regents to the +Smithsonian Institution, and three members annually as visitors to +the Military Academy, and a like number to the Naval Academy, and +performed many other duties cast upon him, besides appointing all +the committees of the House. The Speaker is naturally the person +to whom members, employees, and others having business with the +House flock for advice, assistance, and with their real or imaginary +grievances. An extensive correspondence and social duties demand +much of the Speaker's time. All this, independent of his real +duties as presiding officer of the House, in performing what is +expected, without time for deliberation, to decide correctly all +parliamentary questions and inquiries. And he is obliged, in +addition, to discharge the ordinary duties of a member for his +district and constituents. The members from all parts of the Union +have diverse and often conflicting interests to press upon the +attention of the House, and the jealousy of members in matters of +precedence or recognition by the Speaker renders his duties severely +trying. It constantly occurred that several members with equal +rights, urging matters of equal merit, were dependent on the +recognition of the Speaker in a "morning hour," when not more than +one or two of them at most could, for want of time, be recognized. +The Speaker has to be invidious, relying on the future to even +matters up. The recognition of a member by the Speaker is final, +and from which there is no appeal. Members and often personal +friends not infrequently feel aggrieved at the Speaker, for a time +at least. All this regardless of political party lines. It is +the Speaker's duty to equally divide recognition on party sides, +and this duty, from the member's standpoint, is often a ground of +complaint. + +The first duty of the Speaker, ordinarily, after the House is +organized and before it can proceed regularly to business, is to +appoint the standing committees. + +Chairmanships of committees and appointments on leading ones are +much sought after, and members appeal to the Speaker on all kinds +of grounds to give them the coveted places. Personal and party +friendship is pressed upon him to induce favorable action. The +same place is often sought by a number of members. Experience in +congressional service, regardless of the member's prior duties, +pursuit, or occupation, is generally urged as a reason for making +a desired appointment. Some construct a geographical reason for +a particular selection. Out of all this and more, the Speaker, +with little or no acquaintance with a large number of the members, +does the best he can. A few always are disappointed, and, necessarily +under the circumstances, some mistakes are made, but generally +those who make the loudest complaint are the weak, vain, and +inefficient members who hope to be made great in the eyes of their +constituents by being named on one or more important committees by +the Speaker. + +Some who seek and obtain committee appointments of their own choice +soon find they are not what they had expected, and they also join +the clamor against the Speaker. There are, however, only a small +number out of the whole who are unreasonable or dissatisfied. This +small number, by their wailing, give the appearance of a general +discontent. Complaint was made by the disappointed that I gave +preference on committees to personal and party friends who supported +me for Speaker. I always believed in rewarding my friends. + +I, however, appointed Hon. Thomas B. Reed (since Speaker), Hon. +Frank Hiscock, Hon. J. C. Burrows (all competitors for Speaker), +Chairmen, respectively, of the Committees on the Judiciary, +Appropriations, and Territories. Hon. William D. Kelley was made +Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. He was the acknowledged +leading advocate of a high protective tariff to which the Republican +party was then pledged, though the party was then honeycombed with +free-traders, some of whom edited leading newspapers. Some of the +latter in New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati, took occasion to assail +me for appointing Mr. Kelley, and to give weight to their unjust +attacks made many false statements as to the organization of other +committees.(15) In this they were inspired by Mr. Blaine, and a +very few others outside of Congress, who imagined their dictations +should have been regarded, or who were otherwise disappointed in +not being able to say who should be Speaker. The Speaker could +not go into the newspapers and contradict these and like malicious +stories, and hence some of them are still ignorantly repeated.(16) + +After fuller acquaintance with the members, it became obvious that +in assigning them to committee work I had overrated some and +underrated others, but a better working Congress never met. Its +work abundantly proves this, not only in amount of work done, but +in the importance and character of the legislation, and its freedom +from all that was corrupt or vicious. I cannot recall that even +the weak and vicious slanderers or disappointed lobbyists ever +risked charging me while I was Speaker or during my eight years in +Congress with favoring any corrupt measure pending in Congress. +Polygamy, notwithstanding it had maintained itself in the United +States for fifty years, and was then more firmly established in +Utah than at any time before, was given a blow, under which it has +since about disappeared. The first three-per-cent. funding bill +was passed by this Congress. Pauper immigration was prohibited, +and immigrants were required to be protected on their way across +the sea; national bank charters were extended, letter postage was +reduced to two cents, and many public acts wisely regulating the +Indian and land policy of the government were passed. Liberal +pension laws were enacted; internal-revenue taxes were largely +reduced, and there was a general revision (March 3, 1883) of the +tariff laws. The Civil Service Act was also passed in this +Congress. + +More bills were introduced for consideration in the Forty-seventh +than came before Congress in the first fifty years of its existence. + +In discharging the duties of Speaker I had no strong parliamentary +leader of my party on the floor to aid me, and I had had but little +experience as a presiding officer. Of the opposite party were Mr. +Randall, who had been Speaker of the three preceding Congresses; +Mr. Cox of New York, the pugnacious, who had acted as Speaker for +a time in the Forty-third; Mr. Carlisle (my successor as Speaker), +and Mr. Knott of Kentucky, and others who laid just claim to much +parliamentary learning. The House was hardly Republican; and in +my own party were disappointed aspirants who often thought they +saw opportunities to gain a little cheap applause.(17) Notwithstanding +this situation, no parliamentary decision of mine was overruled by +the House, though many appeals were taken, and more than the usual +number of important questions were raised by members and decided +by me. The most memorable of the decisions was the one which put +an end to dilatory motions to prevent the House from making or +amending its rules of procedure. The occasion of this holding +arose on the consideration of a report of the Committee on Rules +whereby it was proposed to so amend the rules as to prevent +filibustering and dilatory motions in the consideration of contested +election cases. It may be observed that for the first time in the +history of Congress, dilatory methods were resorted to, to prevent +the _consideration_ of election cases. I was then ready to hold +(and so stated) that dilatory motions were not in order to prevent +the consideration of such cases, as their disposition affected the +organization of the House for business; and I was also prepared to +count a quorum when a quorum of members was present not voting, +but these questions did not arise, and it was then understood that +leading Republicans (Mr. Reed of Maine among the number (18)) did +not agree with my views on these two points. A point of order was +made against a dilatory motion, which was debated at much length, +and with some heat, by the ablest parliamentarians of all parties +in the House. My opinion on the question made is quoted from the +_Record_ of May 29, 1882. + +"Mr. Reed, as a privileged question, called up the report of the +Committee on Rules made on Saturday last; when Mr. Randall raised +the question of consideration; pending which, Mr. Kenna moved that +the House adjourn; pending which Mr. Blackburn moved that when the +House adjourn it be to meet on Wednesday next; and the question +being put thereon, it was decided in the negative. + +* * * * * + +"The question recurring on the motion of Mr. Kenna that the House +adjourn; pending which Mr. Randall moved that when the House adjourn +it be to meet on Thursday nest; + +"Mr. Reed made the point of order that the said motion was not in +order at this time, on the ground that pending a proposition to +change the rules of the House, dilatory motions cannot be entertained +by the Chair. + +"After debate on said point of order, + +"The Speaker. The question for the Chair to decide is briefly +this: The gentleman from Maine (Reed) has called up for present +consideration the report of the Committee on Rules made on the 27th +inst., and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall) raised, +as he might under the practice and the rules of the House, the +question of consideration. The gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. +Kenna) then moved that the House adjourn, and the gentleman from +Kentucky (Mr. Blackburn) moved that when the House adjourn it be +to meet on Wednesday next, which last motion was voted down; and +thereupon the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall) moved that +when the House adjourn it be to meet on Thursday next. The gentleman +from Maine (Mr. Reed) then raised the point of order that such +motions are mere dilatory motions, and therefore, as against the +right of the House to consider a proposition to amend the rules, +not in order. + +"It cannot be disputed that the Committee on Rules have the right +to report at any time such changes in the rules as it may decide +to be wise. The right of that committee to report at any time may +be, under the practice, a question of privilege; but if it is not, +resolutions of this House, adopted December 19, 1881, expressly +give that right. + +"The Clerk will read the resolutions. + +"The Clerk read as follows: + +'_Resolved_, That the rules of the House of Representatives of the +Forty-sixth Congress shall be the rules of the present House until +otherwise ordered; and, + +'_Resolved_ further, That the Committee on Rules when appointed +shall have the right to report at any time all such amendments or +revisions of said rules as they may deem proper.' + +"The Speaker. It will be seen that these resolutions not only give +the right to that committee to report at any time, but the committee +is authorized to report any change, etc., in the rules. The right +given to report at any time carries with it the right to have the +proposition reported considered without laying over. The resolutions +are the ones adopting the present standing rules of the House for +its government; and it will be observed that they were only +conditionally adopted; and the right was expressly reserved to the +House to order them set aside. Paragraph 1 of Rule xxviii provides +that.-- + +'No standing rule of the House shall be rescinded or changed without +one day's notice of the motion therefor.' + +"This clause of the rule, if applicable at all, may fairly be +construed to make it in order under the standing rules of the House +to consider any motion to rescind or change the rules after one +day's notice. + +"But the question for the Chair to decide is this: Are the rules +of this House to be so construed as to give to the minority of the +House the absolute right to prevent the majority or a quorum of +the House from making any new rules for its government; or in the +absence of anything in the rules providing for any mode of proceeding +in the matter of consideration, when the question of changing the +rules is before the House, shall the rules be so construed as to +virtually prevent their change should one-fifth of the House oppose +it? It may be well to keep in mind that paragraph 2 of section 5 +of article 1 of the Constitution says that-- + +'Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings.' + +"The same section of the Constitution provides that-- + +'A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business.' + +"The right given to the House to determine the rules of its +proceedings is never exhausted, but is at all times a continuing +right, and in the opinion of the Chair gives a right to make or +alter rules independent of any rules it may adopt. Dilatory motions +to prevent the consideration of business are comparatively recent +expedients, and should not be favored in any case save where +absolutely required by some clear rule of established practice. + +"In any case it is a severe strain upon common sense to construe +the rules so as to prevent a quorum of the House from taking any +proceedings at all required by the Constitution; and it is still +more difficult to find any justification for holding that the +special resolutions of this House adopted December 19th last, or +the standing rules even of the House, were intended to prevent the +House, if a majority so desired, from altering or abrogating the +present rules of the House. + +"There seems to be abundant precedent for the view the Chair takes. +The Clerk will read from the _Record_ of the Forty-third Congress, +volume ix, page 806, an opinion expressed by the distinguished +Speaker, Mr. Blaine, which has been repeatedly alluded to to-day. + +"The Clerk read as follows: + +'The Chair has repeatedly ruled that pending a proposition to change +the rules dilatory motions could not be entertained, and for this +reason he has several times ruled that the right of each House to +determine what shall be its rules is an organic right expressly +given by the Constitution of the United States. The rules are the +creature of that power, and, of course, they cannot be used to +destroy that power. The House is incapable by any form of rules +of divesting itself of its inherent constitutional power to exercise +its functions to determine its own rules. Therefore the Chair has +always announced upon a proposition to change the rules of the +House he never would entertain a dilatory motion.' + +"The Speaker. It will be observed that the then Speaker says he +has frequently held that pending a proposition to change the rules +dilatory motions could not be entertained. The precedents for +ruling out dilatory motions where an amendment of the rules is +under consideration are many. + +"During the electoral count my immediate predecessor (Mr. Randall) +decided, in principle, the point involved here. On February 24, +1877, after an obstructive motion had been made, the following +language was used, as found in the _Record_ of the Forty-fourth +Congress, page 1906. + +'The Speaker. The Chair is unable to recognize this in any other +light than as a dilatory motion. + +'The mover then denied that he made the motion as such. + +'The Speaker. The Chair is unable to classify it in any other way. +Therefore he rules that when the Constitution of the United States +directs anything to be done, or when the law under the Constitution +of the United States enacted in obedience thereto directs an act +of this House, it is not in order to make any motion to obstruct +or impede the execution of that injunction of the Constitution and +laws.' + +"While this decision is not on the precise point, it clearly covers +the principle involved in the case with which we are now dealing. + +"The Chair thinks the Constitution and the laws are higher than +any rules, and when they conflict with the rules the latter must +give way. There is not one word in the present rules, however, +which prescribes the mode of proceeding in changing the standing +rules except as to the reference of propositions to change the +rules, with the further exception that-- + +'No standing rule or order of the House shall be rescinded or +changed without one day's notice.' + +"But it will be observed that there is an entire absence from all +these standing rules of anything that looks to giving directions +as to the procedure when the rule is under consideration by the +House. This only refers to the time of considering motions to +rescind or change a standing rule to the reference of propositions +submitted by members, and to the time and manner of bringing them +before the House for consideration, and not to the method of +considering them when brought before the House. + +"It seems to purposely avoid saying one word as to the forms of +proceedings while considering such motions. This is highly +significant. + +"There is nothing revolutionary in holding that purely dilatory +motions cannot be entertained to prevent consideration or action +on a proposition to amend the rules of the House, as this right to +make or amend the rules is an organic one essential to be exercised +preliminary to the orderly transaction of business by the House. +It would be more than absurd to hold otherwise. + +"Rule XLV undertakes to fasten our present standing rules on the +present and all succeeding Congresses. It reads as follows: + +'These rules shall be the rules of the House of Representatives of +the present and succeeding Congresses, unless otherwise ordered.' + +"If this rule is of binding force on succeeding Congresses, and +the rules apply and can be invoked to give power to a minority in +the House to prevent their abrogation or alteration, they would be +made perpetual if only one-fifth of the members of the House so +decreed. + +"The fallacy of holding that the standing rules can be held to +apply to proceedings to amend, etc., the rules will more sharply +appear when we look to the case in hand. The proposition is to so +amend the rules in contested-election cases as to take away the +right to make and repeat dilatory motions, to prevent consideration, +etc. And the same obstructive right is appealed to to prevent its +consideration. To allow this would be to hold the rules superior +not only to the House that made them but to the Constitution of +the United States. + +"The wise remarks quoted in debate, made long since by the +distinguished speaker, Mr. Onslow of the House of Commons, about +the wisdom of adhering to fixed rules in legislative proceedings, +were made with no reference to the application of rules which it +was claimed were made to prevent any proceedings at all by the body +acting under them. + +"The present occupant of the chair has tried, and will try, to give +full effect to all rules wherever applicable, and especially to +protect the rights of the minority to the utmost extent the rules +will justify. + +"The Chair is not called upon to hold that any of the standing +rules of the House are in conflict with the Constitution, as it +is not necessary to do so. It only holds that there is nothing in +the rules which gives them application pending proceedings to amend +and rescind them. It also holds that under the first of the +resolutions adopted by the House on December 19, 1881, the right +was reserved to order the standing rules set aside at any time this +House so decided, and without regard to dilatory forms of proceedings +provided for in them. The Chair does not hold that pending the +question of consideration no motion shall be in order. It is +disposed to treat one motion to adjourn as proper at this time, as +it is a well-known parliamentary motion, and that such motion may +be liable at some stage of the proceedings to be repeated if made +for a proper and not a dilatory purpose. + +"The Chair feels better satisfied with its ruling in this case, +because the rule proposed to be adopted is one which looks to an +orderly proceeding in the matter of taking up and disposing of +contested-election cases, a duty cast directly on the House by the +Constitution of the United States, and an essential one to be +performed before it is completely organized. + +"The Chair is unable to find in the whole history of the government +that any dilatory motions have ever been made or entertained to +prevent the consideration or disposition of a contested-election +case until this Congress. The point of order has not yet been made +against obstructive motions to prevent the consideration of a +contested-election case, and the Chair is not now called on to +decide whether such motions are in order or not where they would +prevent a complete organization of the House. The principle here +involved will suffice to indicate the opinion of the Chair on that +question. + +"The question here decided the Chair understands to be an important +one, because it comprehends the complete organization of the House +to do business, but it feels that on principle and sound precedents +the point of order made by the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Reed) must +be sustained to the extent of holding that the motion made by the +gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall), which is in effect a +dilatory motion, is not at this time in order. + +"It has been, in debate, claimed that on January 11, 1882, the +present occupant of the chair made a different holding. The question +then made and decided arose on a matter of reference of a proposition +to amend the rules to an appropriate committee as provided for +under the rules, and not on the consideration of a report when +properly brought before the House for its action. The two things +are so plainly distinguishable as to require nothing further to be +said about them. + +"Mr. Randall. From your decision, Mr. Speaker, just announced, I +appeal to the House, whose officer you are. + +"Mr. Reed. I move to lay the appeal on the table. + +"The Speaker. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall) appeals +from the decision of the Chair, and the gentleman from Maine (Mr. +Reed) moves that the appeal be laid upon the table. + +"The question was taken; and there were--yeas 150, nays 0, not +voting 141. + +"So the appeal was laid on the table."(19) + +There was much clamor and undue excitement over this decision of +the Speaker cutting off the, always to me, foolish and unjustifiable, +though time-honored, practice of allowing a turbulent minority to +stop business indefinitely, by purely dilatory, though in form, +privileged motions. This holding, however, received the commendation +of sober, learned men of this country, and in Europe it was quoted +approvingly by Gladstone in the House of Commons of England, and +was followed, in principle, by its Speaker in upholding the rule +of _clôture_ against violent filibustering of the Irish party. +Such dilatory methods have been little resorted to since. + +At the end of this Congress a resolution was adopted, on the motion +of Mr. Randall, thanking "the Speaker for the ability and courtesy +with which he has presided over the deliberations of the House +during the Forty-seventh Congress." + +My valedictory as Speaker was as follows: + +"Gentlemen, the time has come when our official relations as +Representatives in the Forty-seventh Congress are to be dissolved. +In a moment more this House of Representatives will be known only +in history. Its acts will stand, many of them, it is believed, +through the future history of the Republic. + +"On the opening day of this Congress, I ventured the suggestion +and the expression of a hope that it would be marked 'as peculiarly +a business Congress.' + +"It has successfully grappled with more of the vital, material, +and moral questions of the country than its predecessors. Many of +these have been settled wisely and well by appropriate legislation. +It would be quite impossible at this time to enumerate the many +important laws which have been enacted to foster and promote the +substantial interests of the whole country. + +"This Congress enacted into a law the first 3 per cent. funding +bill known to this country, and under it a considerable portion of +the government debt has been refunded at lower rates than ever +before. + +"It did not hesitate to take hold of the question of polygamy, and +it is believed it has struck the first effective blow in the +direction of destroying that greatest remaining public crime of +the age. + +"Laws have been passed to protect the immigrant on his way across +the sea and upon his arrival in the ports of this country. + +"Laws have also been passed to extend the charters of the banking +institutions so that financial disorder cannot take place, which +would otherwise have come at the expiration of the old bank +charters. + +"Many public acts will be found relating to the Indian policy and +the land policy of this country which will prove to be wise. + +"The post-office laws have been so changed as to reduce letter +postage from three to two cents, the lowest rate ever known in the +United States. + +"No legislation of this Congress will be found upon the statute +books, revolutionary in character or which will oppress any section +or individual in the land. All legislation has been in the direction +of relief. + +"Pension laws have been enacted which are deemed wise, and liberal +appropriations have been made to pay the deserving and unfortunate +pensioner. + +"Internal-revenue taxes have been taken off, and the tariff laws +have been revised. + +"Sectionalism has been unknown in the enactment of laws. + +"In the main a fraternal spirit has prevailed among the members +from all portions of the Union. What has been said in the heat of +debate and under excitement and sometimes with provocation is not +to be regarded in determining the genuine feeling of concord existing +between members. The high office I have filled through the session +of this Congress has enabled me to judge better of the true spirit +of the members that compose it than I could otherwise have done. + +"It is common to say that the House of Representatives is a very +turbulent and disorderly body of men. This is true more in appearance +than in reality. Those who look on and do not participate see more +apparent confusion than exists in reality. The disorder that often +appears on the floor of the House grows out of an earnest, active +spirit possessed by members coming from all sections of the United +States, and indicates in high degree their strong individuality +and their great zeal in trying to secure recognition in the prompt +discharge of their duty. No more conscientious body of men than +compose this House of Representatives, in my opinion, ever met. +Partisan zeal has in some instances led to fierce word-contests on +the floor, but when the occasion which gave rise to it passed by, +party spirit went with it. + +"I am very thankful for the considerate manner in which I have been +treated by the House in its collective capacity. I am also very +thankful to each individual member of this body for his personal +treatment of me. I shall lay down the gavel and the high office +you clothed me with filled with good feeling towards each member +of this House. I have been at times impatient and sometimes severe +with members, but I have never purposely harshly treated any member. +I have become warmly attached to and possessed of a high admiration, +not only for the high character of this House as a parliamentary +body, but for all its individual members. I heartily thank the +House for its vote of thanks. + +"The duties of a Speaker are of the most delicate and critical +kind. His decisions are in the main made without time for deliberation +and are often very far-reaching and controlling in the legislation +of the country on important matters, and they call out the severest +criticism. + +"The rules of this House, which leave to the Speaker the onerous +duty and delicate task of recognizing individuals to present their +matters for legislation, render the office in that respect as +exceedingly unpleasant one. No member should have the legislation +he desires depend upon the individual recognition of the Speaker, +and no Speaker should be compelled to decide between members having +matters of possibly equal importance or of equal right to his +recognition. + +"I suggest here that the time will soon come when another mode will +have to be adopted which will relieve both the Speaker and individual +members from this exceedingly embarrassing if not dangerous power. + +"During my administration in the chair very many important questions +have been decided by me, and I do not flatter myself that I have, +in the hurry of these decisions, made no mistakes. But I do take +great pride in being able to say that no parliamentary decision of +mine has been overruled by the judgment of this almost evenly +politically balanced House, although many appeals have been taken. + +"I congratulate each member of this House upon what has been +accomplished by him in the discharge of the important duties of a +Representative, and with the sincerest hope that all may return +safely to their homes, and wishing each a successful and happy +future during life, I now exercise my last official duty as presiding +officer of this House by declaring the term of this House under +the Constitution of the United States at an end, and that it shall +stand adjourned _sine die_. (Hearty and continued applause.)"-- +_Con. Record_, Vol. xiv., Part IV., p. 3776. + +I was the caucus nominee and voted for by my party friends for +Speaker of the Forty-eighth Congress, but Mr. Carlisle was elected, +the Democrats being in the majority. I served on the Committees +on Appropriations and Rules of the Forty-eighth Congress, and +performed much hard work. I participated actively in much of the +general business of this House, and in the debates. On January +24, 1884, I made an extended speech against a bill for the relief +of Fitz-John Porter, by which it was proposed to make him "Colonel +in the Army," and thus to exonerate him from the odium of his +conduct while under General Pope, August 29, 1862, at the Second +Bull Run, as found by a general court-martial. I advocated (January +5, 1885) pensioning Mexican soldiers. I spoke on various other +subjects, and especially advocated (February 20, 1885) the increase +of the naval strength of the government so that it might protect +our commerce on the high seas in peace, guard our boundary coast +line (in length, excluding Alaska, one and two thirds times the +distance around the earth at the equator), and successfully cope, +should war come, with any naval power of the world. + +My principal work in this Congress was in the rooms of the Committee +on Appropriations in the preparation of bills. Hon. Samuel J. +Randall (Democrat) of Pennsylvania was Chairman of this committee. +He was conscientious, industrious, and honest, absolutely without +favorites, personal and political, in the making of appropriations. +This committee, chiefly, too, by the labor of a very few of its +members, each annual session prepared bills for the appropriation +of hundreds of millions of dollars, which (with the rarest exception) +passed the House without question (and ultimately became laws), +the members generally knowing little or nothing as to the honesty +or special necessity, if even the purpose, of the appropriations +made. In the preparation of these bills the expenditures and +estimates in detail of all the departments of the government +including all branches of the public service and all special matters +of expense, liability, and obligation, were examined and scrutinized, +to avoid errors, injustice to the government or individuals, +extravagance, or fraud. I have, covering as many as five of the +last days of a session, remained with Mr. Randall in the committee +rooms at the Capitol, working, almost uninterruptedly, night and +day, to complete the bills necessary to be passed before adjournment. +This committee work brought no immunity from attendance in the +House. + +My service in Congress ended March 4, 1885, since which time I have +participated in public and political affairs as a private citizen, +and assiduously pursued the practice of the law and attended to my +personal affairs; writing this volume, mainly, in the winter nights +of 1896 and 1897, incident to an otherwise busy life. + +III +SERVICE IN SPANISH WAR + +After the foregoing was written, a war arose between the United +States and Spain, growing out of the latter's bad government of +Cuba, which Spain had held (except for a brief time) since its +discovery in 1492. + +Spain was only partially successful in putting down the ten years' +(1868-1877) struggle of the Cubans for independence, and was forced +to agree (1876) to give the inhabitants of Cuba all the rights, +representation in the Cortes included, of Spanish citizens. This +agreement was not kept, and in February, 1895, a new insurrection +broke out, supported by the mass of the Cuban population, especially +by those residing outside of the principal coast cities. +Notwithstanding Spain employed in Cuba her best regular troops as +well as volunteers, she failed to put down this insurrection. +Governor-General Weyler inaugurated fire and slaughter wherever +the Spanish armies could not penetrate, not sparing non-combatants, +and, February 16, 1896, he adopted the inhuman policy of forcing +the rural inhabitants from their homes into closely circumscribed +so-called military zones, where they were left unprovided with +food, and hence to die. Under Weyler's cruel methods and policy +about one third (600,000) of the non-combatant inhabitants of the +island were killed or died of starvation and incident disease before +the end of the Spanish-American War. Yet a war was maintained by +the insurgents under the leadership of able men, inspired with a +patriotic desire for freedom and independence. The barbarity of +the reconcentrado policy excited, throughout the civilized world, +deep sympathy for the Cubans, and, April 6, 1896, a resolution +passed Congress, expressing the opinion that a "state of war existed +in Cuba," and declaring that the United States should maintain a +strict neutrality, but accord to each of the contending powers "the +rights of belligerents in the ports and territory of the United +States," and proposing that the friendly offices of the United +States "be offered by the President to the Spanish government for +the recognition of the independence of Cuba." This resolution and +the proffered friendly offices bore no fruit. To meet a possible +attack upon our citizens in Havana, the battle-ship _Maine_, +commanded by Captain C. D. Sigsbee, was sent there in January, +1898. It was peacefully anchored in the harbor, where, February +15th, it was destroyed by what was generally believed to have been +a sub-marine mine, designedly exploded by unauthorized Spaniards. +Of its officers and crew 266 perished, and the splendid war-ship +was totally destroyed. + +Preparations for war commenced at once in our country. Congress +appropriated $50,000,000 "for the national defence." + +It also, April 18, 1898, passed joint resolutions, declaring: + +"That the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right ought to +be, free and independent"; demanding of Spain that it "at once +relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and +withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters"; +authorizing the President "to use the entire land and naval forces +of the United States . . . and the militia of the several States, +to such an extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions +into effect," but disclaiming that the United States had "any +intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over +said island, except for the pacification thereof," and asserting +its determination that when that was completed to "leave the +government and control of the island to its people." The resolutions +were approved by the President April 20th, and in themselves had +the effect of a declaration of war. The Spanish Minister at once +demanded his passports and departed from Washington. The American +Minister at Madrid was handed his passports on the morning of April +21, 1898, without being permitted to present the resolutions to +the Spanish authorities. Congress, April 25th, by law, declared +that war existed between the United States and Spain since and +including April 21, 1898. + +Thus, after a long peace of thirty-three years, our country was +again to engage in war, and with and old and once powerful and war- +like nation, which must be waged both by sea and land. + +I do not intend to write a history of the one hundred and fourteen +days' war that ensued. I merely summarize the conditions which +caused me to turn from civil pursuits and a quiet home to again +take up the activities of a military life in war. + +The President called for volunteers (125,000 April 23d, and 75,000 +May 25th), and, June 9th, I was, by him, appointed, and, June 14th, +1898, unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, a Major- +General of Volunteers. I was the only person in civil life from +a northern State, or who had served in the Union Army in the Civil +War but never in the regular Army, on whom was originally conferred +that high rank in the Spanish-American War. + +This rank was conferred on Fitzhugh Lee of Virginia, Joseph Wheeler +of Alabama, and Matthew C. Butler of South Carolina, each of whom +had served as a general officer in the Confederate Army; and on +James H. Wilson of Delaware, who had served as a Major-General in +the Union Army in the Civil War. These four were from civil life, +but, save Butler, each was a graduate of West Point and had served +in the United States Army. + +Hon. William J. Sewell of New Jersey declined an appointment to +that rank, and Francis V. Greene of New York was appointed after +the protocol was signed. He was a graduate of West Point, and had +served in the United States Army. No other Major-General was +appointed from civil life before the treaty of peace. + +A feature of the Spanish War was the alacrity with which ex- +Confederates and Southern men tendered their services to sustain +it. It was worth the cost of the war, to demonstrate the patriotism +of the whole people, and their readiness to unite under one flag +and fight in a common cause. + +I was assigned to the Seventh Army Corps, then being organized, +with headquarters at Jacksonville, Florida. I reported there to +Major-General Fitzhugh Lee, its commander, and was assigned to the +First Division, then located at Miami, 366 miles farther south, on +the east coast of Florida, at the terminus of railroad transportation. +I assumed command of the Division, July 7th, with headquarters at +Miami. It then numbered about 7500 officers and enlisted men. My +tents were pitched in a cocoanut grove on the shore of the Biscayne +Bay. The corps had been designated to lead an early attack on +Havana. I had exercised no military command for a third of a +century, and had misgivings of my ability to discharge, properly, +the important duties. This feeling was not decreased by the fact +that the division was composed of southern troops--1st and 2d +Louisiana; 1st and 2d Alabama; and 1st and 2d Texas Volunteer +Infantry regiments. Some of these regiments and many of the +companies were commanded by ex-Confederate officers, and one brigade +--the Second--was commanded by Brigadier-General W. W. Gordon, an +ex-Confederate officer from Georgia. He commanded this brigade +until the protocol, when he was made one of the evacuation +commissioners for Porto Rico. Several of the staff were sons of +Confederate officers. The only officer, other than staff-officers, +who was not southern, was Brigadier-General Loyd Wheaton, who +commanded the First Brigade. He had served in the Union Army in +the Civil War from Illinois, and became, after the war, an officer +in the United States Army, from which he was appointed a general +officer of Volunteers in the Spanish War. Wheaton remained in my +command until after our army occupied Havana, and commanded a +division that entered that city, January 1, 1899, then shortly +thereafter was ordered to the Philippines, where he has, in several +battles with the Filipinos, distinguished himself, and deservedly +acquired fame. + +I soon, however, became familiar with my duties, and the command +was a most agreeable and pleasant one. I became warmly attached +to and proud of it; and it was, throughout, loyal to me. No better +volunteer soldiers were ever mustered, and if occasion had arisen +they would have proved their skill and valor by heroic deeds and +willing sacrifices. + +The camp at Miami was the farthest south of any in the United +States, consequently the hottest, and by reason of the situation +near the Everglades and the Miami River (their principal outlet to +the sea) the water proved bad, and only obtainable for the troops +through pipes laid on the rocky surface of the earth from the +Everglades at the head of the river. It thus came warm, and +sometimes offensive by reason of vegetable matter contained in it. +The reefs--an extension of the Florida Reefs--which lay four miles +from the west shore of the bay, cut off easterly sea breezes; and +the mosquitoes were at times so numerous as to make life almost +unbearable. All possible was done for the health and comfort of +the command. Notwithstanding the location, hotness of the season, +and bad general conditions, the health of the soldiers was better, +numbers considered, than in any other camp in the United States. +A good military hospital was established under capable medical +officers, and, through some patriotic ladies--the wife and daughter +of General W. W. Gordon and others--a convalescent hospital was +established where the greatest care was taken of the sick, and +wholesome delicacies were provided for them. A feeling of unrest +amounting to dissatisfaction, however, arose, which caused the War +Department to order my command to Camp Cuba Libre, Jacksonville, +Florida. It was accordingly transported there by rail early in +August, my headquarters having been at Miami just one month. My +division was then camped in proximity to the St. John's River at +Fairfield, immediately east of Jacksonville. My headquarters tents +were pitched in a pine forest. Here the general conditions were +much better than at Miami, though much sickness, chiefly typhoid +and malarial fevers, prevailed in the corps, my own division having +a far less per centum of cases than either of the other two. The +water was artesian and good, but the absence of anything like a +clay soil rendered it impossible to keep the camps well policed +and the drainage was difficult. Florida sand is not a disinfectant; +clay is. This camp, however, had a smaller list of sick in proportion +to numbers than was reported in other camps farther north. + +There was added to my division at Jacksonville, before any were +mustered out, the 1st Ohio (Colonel C. B. Hunt) and the 4th U. S. +Volunteer Infantry (Colonel James S. Pettit), the two constituting +a third brigade, commanded by Colonel Hunt. My division then +numbered about 11,000; the corps something over 32,000. + +I commanded the corps, in the absence of General Lee, from the 14th +to the 22d of August, 1898. Again, September 27th, I assumed +command of the corps and retained it until October 6th, when I took +a leave of absence home, returning _via_ Washington for consultation +with the authorities. I resumed command of the corps (then removed +to Camp Onward, Savannah, Georgia), October 25th, and retained it +until November 11th, 1898. + +General Lee being about to depart for Havana, Cuba, I assumed, +December 8th, command of all the United States forces at Savannah, +consisting of regulars and volunteers. + +The President, William McKinley, the Secretary of War, R. A. Alger, +and others of the President's cabinet, visited Savannah, December +17th and 18th, and reviewed (17th), under my command, all the troops +then there; about 16,000 of all arms, some of whom had seen service +at Santiago, Cuba, and in Porto Rico. + +The Springfield rifles with which the volunteers had been armed, +were exchanged at Savannah for Krag-Jorgensen magazine (calibre +.30) rifles. + +The troops while at Savannah were generally in good health, although +a few cases of cerebro or spinal meningitis occurred, owing to +frequent changes of temperature. + +The secret of preserving the health of soldiers is in regular drill +and exercise, ventilation of clothing, bedding, and tents, and in +cleanliness of person and camps. Exposure to sun and air purifies +and disinfects better than lime or chemicals. + +I superintended the final equipment and shipment to Cuba of about +16,000 troops; about one half were volunteers of the Seventh Corps, +who went to Havana. + +While at Jacksonville, the war with Spain having ended, a number +of volunteer regiments were mustered out, and the Seventh Corps +was reorganized into two divisions. The 1st Texas, Colonel W. H. +Mabry (who died near Havana, January 4, 1899), and 2d Louisiana, +Colonel Elmer E. Wood, only, were left of my original First Division, +to which was added the 3d Nebraska, Colonel William Jennings Bryan +(who resigned at Savannah December 10, 1898); the 4th Illinois, +Colonel Eben Swift; the 9th Illinois, Colonel James R. Campbell, +and the 2d South Carolina, Colonel Wilie Jones. The first three +regiments constituted the First Brigade, commanded by General Loyd +Wheaton, and the last three, the Second Brigade, commanded by +Brigadier-General Henry T. Douglas, who had served in the Confederate +Army in the Civil War. He was an excellent officer. + +I embarked for Havana on the 26th of December, 1898, with my +headquarters, including my staff, provost-guard, etc., on the +_Panama_, a ship captured from the Spanish early in the war. I +arrived in Havana Harbor the evening of the 28th, and the next day +reached Camp Columbia, southwest of Havana about eight miles, at +Buena Vista, near Marianao, where my last military headquarters +were established, in tents, as always before. The troops were +prepared to take possession of Havana on its surrender by the +Spaniards, January 1, 1899. Major-Generals Brooke, Lee, Ludlow, +and some other officers attended to the ceremonial part in the +surrender of the city, and it became my duty to march the Seventh +Corps and other troops in the vicinity of Havana into it for the +purpose of taking public and actual possession. I, accordingly, +early New Year morning, moved my command, numbering, infantry, +cavalry, and artillery, about 9000, to and along the sea-shore, +crossing the Almendares River on pontoons, near its mouth, thence +through Vedado to the foot of the Prado, opposite Morro Castle, +located east of the neck of the harbor. The formal ceremonies +being over (12 M.), the troops were moved up the Prado, passing +Major-General Brooke and others on the reviewing-stand at the +Inglaterra Hotel, then through principal streets to camp, having +made a march of about eighteen miles, under a tropical sun, the +day being excessively hot for even that climate. The soldiers +endured the march well. The day was a memorable one. A city which +had been under monarchical rule for four hundred years witnessed +the power of freedom, represented by the host of American soldiers, +under the flag of a Republic, move triumphantly through its streets, +with the avowed purpose of securing freedom to all the people. +The Spanish residents did not partake of the joyous feeling or +participate in the wild demonstrations of the Cuban inhabitants. +The latter exhibited a frantic hilarity at times; then a dazed +feeling seemed to come over them, in which condition they stood +and stared, as in meditation. The natural longing to be free had +possessed these people, but when they were confronted with the fact +of personal freedom it was too much for them to fully realize, or +to estimate what the absence of absolute tyranny meant for them. +They appeared in the fronts and on the roofs of the houses, and +along the sides of the streets, displaying all the tokens and +symbols of happiness they possessed. Flowers were thrown in great +profusion, and wild shouts went up from men, women, and children; +especially from children, as, in some way, they seemed to know that +a severance of their country from Spain meant more for them that +it did for the older people. The Cubans are of mixed races, though +they are not to be despised. Some have pure Castilian blood, some +are from other European countries, and some are of pure African +descent, many of the latter having once been in slavery; but many +of the Cubans proper are of a mixed blood, including the Spanish, +African, some Indian, and a general admixture of the people who +early settled in the American tropics. There do not seem to be +any race distinctions where Cubans alone are concerned. The African +and those of mixed blood mingle freely together; and in the insurgent +army officers of all ranks were chosen from the pure or mixed-blood +African as freely as from others. The Cuban colored people seem +to be exceptionally intelligent and energetic, and have a high +reputation as brave soldiers. The typical Cuban does not belong +to the coast cities, the inhabitants of which are more distinctly +Spanish, especially the dominant class. These cities did little +towards the insurrections, and their inhabitants, as a mass, can +claim little of the glory in making Cuba free or independent. Many +of the principal officers of the Cuban army were educated men, and +some were of a high order, capable of deeds, on the theatre of war, +worthy of the best soldiers of any age. When our war with Spain +broke out, the latter had over 200,000 regular soldiers, besides +volunteers, on the island, and the insurgent bands were few in +number, without good arms, with little ammunition and no quartermaster, +commissary, or pay department. Cuba had no permanently located +civil government, and the insurgents owned no ship on the seas, +nor did they possess a single coast city, or a harbor where supplies +could come to them from abroad. They having held the Spanish army +at bay for years, and often confined large parts of it, almost in +a state of siege, within cities and fortified lines, all circumstances +considered, forces us to conclude that talent, skill, endurance, +and bravery were possessed by the Cuban officers, and that the +ranks were filled with devoted soldiers. The insurrections were +of long duration (ten and four years), yet Spain, in 1898, had made +no substantial progress in suppressing the last one, though the +most barbarous methods were adopted. We exploit the partisan heroes +of our Revolution, such as Francis Marion and others, yet they only +acted with and against small bands, leaving our armies to meet the +large organized forces of the British. What is to be said of the +Cuban patriot officer who, year by year, maintained, unsupported, +a war for independence against a relentless foe, equipped with the +best arms the world has yet known? + +My work in Cuba was confined to a military command, principally +outside of the cities. My men were in carefully selected camps, +which were constantly throughly policed and supplied with wholesome +water, piped form the Vento (Havana) Water-works. Thanks to a +thorough enforcement of a good sanitary system, the general health +of my command was good throughout, only a few cases of typhoid or +malarial fever appeared, and there were less than half a dozen +cases of yellow fever among my soldiers. There was no epidemic of +any disease in the camp. The yellow fever cases developed among +men who, out of curiosity, exposed themselves in foul places about +old forts and wharves, or in the unused dungeons of Morro and other +castles. Yellow fever is a _place_ disease, not generally contagious +by contact with the sick. + +My time was taken up in Cuba in keeping the peace and preserving +order, and with the care of the camps and field-hospitals, and, as +throughout my military service, with the drill and discipline of +my command, often turning the corps out for review by superior +officers. I made incursions to the interior of the island, and +observed the devastation of that magnificently beautiful country, +with its stately royal palms, etc., and noted the depopulation, +under Weyler's reconcentrado plan, of the richest and once most +populous rural parts of the island. I saw the Cuban soldiers in +their camps or bivouacs, and made the acquaintance of many of their +officers, and formed a high regard for them; but it was no part of +my duty to try to solve the great, yet unsettled, Cuban problem, +and I must be silent here.(20) + +The muster out of the volunteers commenced again in March, 1899, +and progressed rapidly. The Secretary of War visited Cuba, and +with Major-Generals Brooke, Ludlow, Wilson, and other officers, +reviewed what troops remained of the Seventh Corps, with others, +near Marianao, March 29, 1899. On this occasion, my riding horses +having been shipped away preparatory to my leaving Cuba, I rode a +strange horse, which at a critical time in the review ran away, +carrying me, in much danger, some distance from the reviewing +officers. I recovered control of the horse, but dismounted him +and mounted another, which proved equally untamed, and he likewise, +a little later, attempted to run afield or cast me off. Fortunately +these exceptional accidents terminated without injury; and with that +review ended my public military service--_forever_. + +The fatal illness of my beloved and devoted wife and her death +(March 12, 1899) caused me (with my son) to go to my Ohio home. +I returned to Cuba with Captain Horace C. Keifer, who was on my +staff continuously during my service in the Spanish War. + +All arrangements having been completed for the early muster out of +the volunteers of the Seventh Corps not already gone, and my mission +in the army being practically at an end, and my command proper +disbanded, I took ship (the _Yarmouth_), in Havana Harbor, March +30th, and proceeded _via_ Port Tampa, home, where I was mustered +out of the military service May 12, 1899, having been in the army +as a Major-General eleven months and three days. During my service +in the field in the Spanish War I was not off duty on account of +illness, injury, or accident. + +I had an attack of typhoid fever, at my home in April, from which +I soon recovered, doubtless contracted while travelling to or from +Cuba. + +I had now lived about five years in a tent, or without shelter, in +war times, through all seasons, and being in my sixty-fourth year, +gave up all inclination to continue in military life, knowing the +field is for younger men. My duties in the army, though always +arduous, were pleasant, hence gratifying. I had no serious trouble +with any officer or soldier, though I tried to do my duty in the +discipline of my command. My personal attachment to superior and +inferior officers, especially members of my military staff, was +and is of no ordinary kind. I congratulate myself on being able +to attach to me, loyally, some of the most accomplished, hard- +working, conscientious, and highly educated officers of the United +States Army, as well as others of the volunteers, the service has +known. A list of officers (nine of whom were sons of former +Confederate officers) who served, at some time, on my division +staff in the field, is given in Appendix F. + +Here this narrative must end with only a parting word as to the +Spanish War. + +Dewey destroyed the entire Spanish fleet, with much loss of life, +in Manila Bay, May 1, 1898; seven Americans were wounded, none +killed. Admiral Cervera, with the pride of the Spanish battle- +ships, cruisers, and torpedo-boats, reached Cuban waters from Cape +Verde Islands, and, May 19th, sailed into Santiago Harbor, where +he was blockaded--"bottled up"--by Admirals Sampson and Schley's +fleets. Cervera's fleet, in an attempt to escape, was totally +destroyed, with a loss of above six hundred killed or drowned, and +about two thousand captured, himself included, in two hours, by +our navy under Sampson, on Sunday morning, July 3, 1899, with a +loss of one American killed and one wounded. Other minor naval +affairs occurred, all disastrous to the Spanish. Cervera's entry +into Santiago Harbor caused previous plans for the movement of the +army to be changed. + +The bulk of the regular army, under Major-General Wm. R. Shafter, +was assembled at Port Tampa, from whence they were transported to +and landed (June 24th) at Guantanamo Bay, near Santiago. They were +then joined by a body of Cuban troops under General Garcia. Fighting +commenced at once and continued irregularly at Siboney, El Caney, +San Juan Hill, etc., the principal battles being fought on the 1st +and 2d of July. The next day a demand was made on the Spanish +commander (Toral) for the surrender of his army and Santiago. This +was acceded to, after much negotiation, July 17, 1898, including +the province of Santiago and 22,000 troops, in number exceeding +Shafter's entire available force. The display of skill and bravery +by officers and men of our small army (principally regulars) at +Santiago never was excelled. Our loss in the series of battles +there was, killed, 22 officers and 208 men; wounded, 81 officers +and 1203 men. A Porto Rico campaign was then organized. General +Miles wired the War Department, about July 18th, to send me with +my division (then in camp at Miami) to make up his Porto Rico +expedition. His request was not carried out, and it thus happened +that no soldier of a Southern State volunteer organization fired +a hostile shot during the Spanish War. Ponce was taken July 25th, +followed by an invasion of the island from the south. An affair +took place, August 10th, and operations here, as elsewhere, were +terminated by the _protocol_. Manila was surrendered August 13th, +the day after the protocol was signed. This was the last offensive +land operation of the Spanish War. The invasion of Porto Rico cost +us 3 killed and 40 wounded. + +Through the intervention of Cambon, the French Ambassador at +Washington, negotiations were opened which resulted in a protocol +which bound Spain to relinquish all sovereignty over Cuba, to cede +Porto Rico and other West India island possessions to the United +States, and it provided for a Commission to agree upon a treaty of +peace, to meet in Paris, not later than October 1, 1898; also +provided for Commissions to regulate the evacuation of Cuba and +Porto Rico. + +The treaty was signed in Paris December 10, 1898; was submitted by +the President to the Senate January 11, 1899, and ratified by it, +and its ratification approved by him, February 6, 1899. The Queen +of Spain ratified the treaty March 19, 1899, and its ratifications +were exchanged and proclaimed at Washington April 11, 1899. It +provided for the cession, also, to the United States of the Philippine +Islands and the payment of $20,000,000 therefor. + +The total casualties in battle, during the war, in our navy, were +17 killed and 67 wounded (no naval officer injured); and, in our +army, 23 officers and 257 men killed, and 113 officers and 1464 +men wounded; grand total, 297 killed and 1644 wounded, of all arms +of the service. + +The deaths from disease and causes other than battle, in camps and +at sea, were, 80 officers and 2485 enlisted men. Many died at +their homes of disease; some of wounds. + +An insurrection broke out in the Philippines in February, 1899, +which is not yet suppressed. + +The war was not bloody, and the end attained in the cause of humanity +and liberty is a justification of it; but whether the acquisition +of extensive tropical and distant island possessions was wise, or +will tend to perpetuate our Republic and spread constitutional +liberty, remains to be shown by the infallible test of time. Our +sovereignty over Cuba, thus far, appears to be a friendly usurpation, +without right, professedly in the interest of humanity, civilization, +and good government. Our acquisition of Porto Rico and the Philippine +Islands, all in the tropics, is a new national departure which may +prove wise or not, according as we deal justly and mercifully with +the people who inhabit them. It may be in the Divine plan that +these countries should pass under a more beneficent, enduring, +newer, and higher civilization, to be guided and dominated by a +people speaking the English tongue. + +( 1) The certificate of his naturalization reads: + +"Maryland ss. + +"These are to certify all persons whom it may concern: That George +Keifer of Frederick County, within the Province aforesaid, born +out of the Allegiance of his most Sacred Majesty King George the +Third, etc., did, on the 3d day of September Anno Domini 1765, +Personally appear before the Justices of his Lordship's Provincial +Court, and then and there, in Term Time, between the hours of nine +and twelve in the forenoon of the same day, produced and delivered +a certificate in writing of his having received the Sacrament of +the Lord's Supper in a Protestant or Reformed Congregation in the +said Province of Maryland, within three months next before the +exhibiting of such certificate, signed by the person administering +such Sacrament, and attested by two credible witnesses, in pursuance +of an Act of Parliament made in the thirteenth year of the reign +of his late Majesty King George the Second, entitled, An Act for +naturalizing such foreign _Protestants_, and others therein mentioned, +as are settled or shall settle in any of his Majesty's Colonies in +America; and then and there made appear, that he had been an +inhabitant in some of his Majesty's Plantations seven years, and +had not been absent out of some of the said Colonies for a longer +space than two months at any one time during the said seven years; +and also then and there took the oaths of Allegiance, Abhorrency, +and Abjuration, repeated the Test, and subscribed the same, and +oath of Abjuration. In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my +hand, and affixed the seal of the said court, this 3d day of +September in the year of our Lord God, one thousand seven hundred +and Sixty-five. + + "Test. Reverdy Ghiselm, Clk." + +( 2) Dr. Jenner's primary investigation of the principles of +vaccination began in 1775, but was not satisfactorily completed in +England until five years later. Lady Montagu had, however, introduced +from Turkey into England, as early as 1717, inoculation for smallpox, +but from the beginning it met the fiercest opposition of physicians, +the clergy, and the superstitious public, which was never entirely +overcome in England or America. + +( 3) John Uri Lloyd, Ph.M., Ph.D. (Cin.), the distinguished author +and scientist and collector of medical, etc., books, in an article +printed in the _Am. Jour. of Pharmacy_, January, 1898, on "Dr. +Peter Smith and His Dispensatory," says his book was the "first +Materia Medica 'Dispensatory' published in the West." + +( 4) Owing to its remarkable character we quote from his book: + +"In South Carolina I was once in company with old Dr. Dilahoo, who +was noted for great skill and experience, having traveled into many +parts of the world. In the course of our conversation I asked him +what he conceived the _plague_ to be, which had been so much talked +of in the world. He readily told me that it was his opinion that +the plague is occasioned by an invisible _insect_. This insect +floating in the air, is taken with the breath into the lungs, and +there it either poisons or propagates its kind, so as to produce +that dreadful disease. This, he was confirmed, was likely to be +the truth from the experiments frequently made at Gibraltar. For +there, said he, they of the garrison, when they fear the plague, +have a way to elevate a piece of fresh meat pretty high in the air; +they put it up at night, and if it comes down sound and sweet in +the morning, they conclude there is no danger of the plague. But +if the plague is in the air, the meat will be tainted and spoiled, +and sometimes almost rotten. He was further confirmed in his +opinion of the _insect_, because in and about tobacco warehouses +the plague has never been known. I will remark: Now it is well +known that tobacco will prevent moth from eating our woolen clothes, +if we pack but little of it with them, that is the moth cannot +breed or exist, where there is a sufficient scent of the tobacco. +This scent may be death to the invisible _insects_ even after they +are drawn in with the breath and fastened upon the lungs. This +may account for tobacco being burned (as I have heard it), in many +old countries, on a chaffing dish in a room, that the people of +the house may take in the smoke plentifully with their breath, to +preserve their health and prevent pestilential disorders. + +"Agreeable to this view, we may conclude that all tainted air may +bring disease and death to us. And the plague has never been +(properly speaking) in America as we know of. Yet other effluvia +taken in with the breath may have occasioned other fearful diseases, +such as the yellow fever and other bilious and contagious complaints." +--P. 14. + +( 5) His grandson, James Johns, in the 30's, wandered, as a trapper, +to the Pacific coast, thence north to the mouth of the Willamette +River on the Columbia (Oregon), and there lived a bachelor and +alone until his death, about 1890. He was neither a fighting man +nor a hunter. He travelled, often alone, wholly unarmed, among +wild, savage Indians, his peaceable disposition and defenceless +condition being respected. He, it is said, would not sell his +lands at the mouth of the river, and thus forced the city of Portland +to be located twelve miles from the Columbia. + +( 6) My father was not a large man, his weight being only about +one hundred and sixty pounds and height five feet, ten inches, but +my mother, while only of medium height for a woman, was of large +frame and weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. + +( 7) Solitary reading law, with time for thought and reflection, +has its advantages, more than compensating for the opportunity to +consult reports, etc., usually enjoyed by a law student in an +office. + +The present Chief-Justice (Hon. David Martin) of Kansas, though +nominally a law student of mine, yet read and mastered the elementary +and principal law-books while tending, as a miller, a dry-water +country grist-mill, remote from my office. + +( 8) On the recommendations of Generals Grant and Meade I was +appointed (1866) by President Johnson a Lieutenant-Colonel in the +26th Infantry, U. S. A., one of the new regular regiments provided +for after the close of the war. I declined the appointment because +I was of too restless a disposition and not educated for a soldier +in time of peace. + +( 9) The Thirteenth Amendment was proclaimed ratified Dec. 18, +1865; the Fourteenth, July 28, 1868, and the Fifteenth, March 30, +1870. + +(10) In the Florida Indian War of 1812 some depredations were +committed on Fisher's corn fields. For this he made a claim +originally for $8000. Congress has since paid on it $66,803, and +there was still a claim in the Forty-Third Congress for $66,848, +on which a committee of the House reported in favor of paying +$16,848, leaving $50,000 of the claim to bother future Congresses. +--_Rep_. (No. 134) _on Law of Claims_, H. of R., Forty-Third Cong., +p. 18. + +(11) Later the Forty-Seventh Congress passed an act authorizing +the distribution of about two-thirds of the whole fund to persons +whose claims were rejected by the Geneva Arbitrators in making up +the award. + +(12) For an authoritative decision on the right of the National +Government to use physical force to compel obedience to its laws, +etc., see _Ex parte_ Seibold, 100 _U. S. Rep._, 371. + +(13) _Proceedings Society of the Army of the Cumberland_, 1887, +pp. 115-40. + +(14) Mr. Blaine was nominated for President in 1884, but was +defeated by Mr. Cleveland. Notwithstanding his duplicity towards +me, I supported him. He was disloyal to Mr. Reed, of his own State, +though he then also professed to support him. + +(15) An unwary, but doubtless well-meaning person (M. P. Follet) +of Quincy, Mass., in 1896 published a small volume on the _Speaker +of the House_, in which she gathered up these stories. She says +Keifer appointed on the elections Committee "eleven Republicans +and two Democrats"; that he appointed one nephew "Clerk to the +Speaker," another "Clerk to the Speaker's table." These and other +like falsehoods appear to have been inspired by a member who, +notwithstanding his free-trade proclivities and other objectionable +qualities and incapacities, sought to be appointed Chairman of the +Ways and Means Committee. The Committee on Elections was composed +of nine Republicans, five Democrats, and one re-Adjuster from +Virginia. The Clerk to the Speaker's table was, throughout the +Congress, a poor young man who had been a page on the floor of the +House and a resident of the State of New York, and no relative of +mine. A nephew of mine, a resident of Washington, was, for a short +time, my clerk, a purely personal position, as was also that of +private secretary. + +The statement of Miss Follet that Keifer's "partisan rulings soon +won him the contempt of Republicans as well as of Democrats," is +shown to be basely untrue by the significant fact that no parliamentary +or other decision of mine was ever overruled by the House, although +my party can hardly be said to have been in the majority of the +House over all other parties. + +What "partisan ruling" of mine was not heartily approved by my +party, or did not command at least the respect of the Democrats? +Miss Follet was imposed on. + +(16) An incident occurred near the close of the last session of +the Forty-seventh Congress which should be mentioned. The reporters +of newspapers, through the courtesy of the House, had been assigned +a separate gallery for their convenience. This gallery, as well +as others for the convenience of visitors, was under the general +control of the Speaker, subject to the order of the House. There +were but few occupants in the reporters' gallery the last night of +the session, and there were many ladies who could not be accommodated +with seats in other galleries. + +I declined, however, though repeatedly requested, to order the +reporters' gallery opened even to ladies, and I also refused to +entertain a motion by a member of the House to order it thrown open +to them; but appeals became so urgent that I, as Speaker, submitted +to the House the request of James W. McKenzie, a member from +Kentucky, for unanimous consent to open the gallery. + +Here is an extract from the _Record_, showing the action taken: + +"Mr. McKenzie.--I ask unanimous consent that the reporters' gallery +be thrown open to the occupation of the wives and friends of +Congressmen, who are unable to obtain seats in other galleries. + +"The Speaker.--The gentleman from Kentucky asks consent that the +rules be so suspended as to permit the reporters' gallery to be +occupied by the wives and friends of members of Congress. + +"There was no objection, and it was ordered accordingly."--_Con. +Record_, vol. xiv., Part IV., p. 3747. + +I was, under the circumstances, the only member who could not have +prevented the gallery being opened. + +Notwithstanding the fact that no reporter was seriously inconvenienced +by the presence of ladies, the incident was viciously seized on by +certain reporters (and, through them, the metropolitan press) to +assail me as the enemy of the press. The truth was suppressed at +the time, and I was personally charged with wilfully opening up +the press gallery as an insult to the dignity of newspaper men, +and, with this, other false statements were published, which could +not be answered through the same medium, by me or my friends, which +made an unfavorable impression, scarcely yet removed from the public +mind. + +(17) It is comparatively easy for a Speaker to preside with a +large political and friendly majority to support him, as was the +case when Colfax, Blaine, and other Speakers were in the Chair. + +(18) See _Con. Record_, vol. xiii., Part V., p. 4313. + +(19) _Con., etc., Rules, etc._, H. of R.; Second Sess. Forty- +seventh, Con., 358. + +(20) My views of the situation in Cuba were expressed in a letter +to General Corbin, dated January 28, 1899. Appendix E. + + +APPENDIX B + +It is due from me, and it gives me pleasure to mention some of the +deserving officers of the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. + +Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. N. Foster served for a time with credit. +Major Otho H. Binkley, later Lieutenant-Colonel and brevetted +Colonel by the President for distinguished services, Captain Wm. +S. McElwain, who became a Major and was killed in the battle of +the Wilderness, Captain Aaron Spangler, later a Major and brevetted +Lieutenant-Colonel for gallantry, Captains Wm. D. Alexander, Nathan +S. Smith (an eminent Presbyterian divine), Wm. R. Moore, (died of +disease while acting as Assistant Inspector-General on my staff), +Joseph C. Ullery, Joseph G. Snodgrass, Luther Brown (wounded at +Monocacy, brevetted Major for gallantry, and for a time Provost- +Marshal of a division), these all were accomplished soldiers and +fought on many fields with distinction. Lieutenants Joseph B. Van +Eaton, Wesley Devenney and Wm. H. Harry, each of whom served as +Adjutant, were all promoted from non-commissioned officers to +Lieutenant, then to Captain, each wounded, Devenney mortally at +the battle of Opequon. + +Lieutenants Albert M. Starke (regimental Quartermaster), E. A. +Shepherd, Wm. D. Shellenberger (twice wounded), Wm. L. Cron, John +T. Shearer, Charles M. Gross, Henry H. Stevens (killed in assault +on Petersburg, April 2, 1865), Wm. A. Hathaway (for a time Assistant +Adjutant-General on my staff, and killed at Monocacy), Alexander +Trimble (died of a wound received at battle of Opequon), George P. +Boyer, Elam Harter, John M. Smith (killed in Wilderness), Joseph +McKnight (mortally wounded in Wilderness), and Thomas J. Weakley, +each became a Captain and were all gallant and more than usually +efficient officers, most of whom were either killed or wounded in +battle. Lieutenants Joshua S. Deeter and Edward S. Simes, promoted +from privates, both wounded in the battle of Opequon, the former +mortally, were likewise gallant officers. Lieutenant Paris Horney, +who heroically fought at Winchester in June, 1863, until surrounded +and captured, died in prison at Columbia, S. C. Lieutenant Robert +W. Wiley served as my aide-de-camp and especially distinguished +himself. Lieutenant Henry Y. Rush served gallantly until broken +by disease, when he resigned and resumed his calling (minister of +the Gospel), in which he is now eminent; also as a writer. Lieutenant +James A. Fox was promoted from Sergeant-Major, served on staff +duty, and was killed leading a company in the battle of Orange +Grove. + +Wm. L. Shaw was promoted to Captain from Lieutenant and brevetted +Major by the President for distinguished services. He served on +division-staff and on cavalry-corps staff duty for a time in +Rosecrans' army, and for a considerable time was my Assistant +Inspector or Assistant Adjutant-General. He was an energetic and +capable officer. Those of the regiment who bore the musket in the +ranks equally deserve mention for what they did and for the sacrifices +they made for their country; but the story of the 110th Ohio is +elsewhere told.( 1) + +( 1) John W. Warrington and John B. Elam, now eminent lawyers, +the former in Cincinnati, the latter in Indianapolis, served as +private soldiers in this regiment. Elam was severely wounded at +Cold Harbor June 3, 1864, and Warrington in the successful assault +of the Sixth Corps at Petersburg April 2, 1865. + + +APPENDIX C +FAREWELL ORDER + + "Headq'rs 2d Brig., 3d Div., 6th Corps, Army of Potomac, + "Camp near Washington, D.C., June 15th, A.D. 1865. +"General Orders No. 28. + +"Officers and Soldiers: This command will soon be broken up in +its organization. It is sincerely hoped that each man may soon be +permitted to return to his home, family, and friends, to enjoy +their blessings and that of a peaceful, free, and happy people. + +"The great length of time I have had to honor to command you has +led to no ordinary attachment. The many hardships, trials, and +dangers we have shared together, and the distinguished services +you have performed in camp, on the march, and upon the field of +battle, have long since endeared you to me. I shall ever be proud +to have been your commander, and will cherish a lasting recollection +of both officers and men. Your efficient services and gallant +conduct in behalf of _human rights_ and _human freedom_ will not +be overlooked and forgotten by a grateful country. + +"I cannot repress the deepest feelings of sadness upon parting with +you. + +"I mourn with you, and share in your sorrow, for the many brave +comrades who have fallen in battle and have been stricken down with +disease. Let us revere their memories and emulate their noble +character and goodness. A proud and great nation will not neglect +their afflicted families. The many disabled officers and soldiers +will also be cared for by a grateful people and an affluent country. + +"You have a proud name as soldiers; and I trust that, at your homes, +you will so conduct yourselves that you will be honored and respected +as good citizens. + +"I shall part with you entertaining the sincerest feelings of +affection and kindness for all, hoping that it may be my good +fortune to meet and greet you in future as honored citizens and +friends. + + "J. Warren Keifer." + +_Summary of Casualties in Regiments of the Second Brigade, Third +Division, Third and Sixth Army Corps, 1863-65_ + + Killed Wounded Total + Officers Officers Officers Aggregate + | En. Men.| En. Men. | En. Men. +110th Ohio Infantry . . . . . . 10 102 18 443 28 545 573 +122d Ohio Infantry . . . . . . 7 92 17 432 24 524 548 +126th Ohio Infantry . . . . . . 9 111 10 379 19 490 509 +6th Maryland Infantry . . . . . 7 103 21 213 28 316 344 +138th Pennsylvania Infantry . . 5 120 16 223 21 343 364 +67th Pennsylvania Infantry . . 2 90 3 130 5 220 224 +9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery . . . 14 204 16 590 30 794 824 + -- --- --- ---- --- ---- ---- + Total . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 812 101 2410 155 3232 3387 + + +APPENDIX D + + "Springfield, Ohio, October 22, 1888. +"General Horatio G. Wright, Washington, D. C. + +"_My Dear Friend_,--After expressing to you that high regard I have +always had for you, and also expressing the hope that your health +is good, also that of your family, I have the honor to call your +attention to the following matter, of some interest to you no doubt. + +"General R. S. Ewell, of date of December 20, 1865, in the form of +a report addressed to General R. E. Lee, to be found in Vol. XIII., +_Southern Historical Papers_, page 247, in speaking of the battle +of Sailor's Creek, after having concluded his general report of +this battle says: + +'I was informed at General Wright's headquarters, whither I was +carried after my capture, that 30,000 men were engaged with us when +we surrendered, viz., two infantry corps and Custer's and Merritt's +divisions of cavalry, the whole under command of General Sheridan.' + +"On page 257, same book, in a note appended to a report of the same +battle, by General G. W. C. Lee, he says: + +'I was told, after my capture, that the enemy had two corps of +infantry and three divisions of cavalry opposed to us at Sailor's +Creek.' + +"Now, as I know you commanded the infantry engaged on the Union +side in that battle from first to last, and that no infantry troops +save of your corps there fought under you, that only a portion of +the Third Division (in which I was then serving) was present, and +General Frank Wheaton's division of the Sixth Corps was the only +other infantry division there, though I am not quite sure that his +entire division was up and engaged in the battle at the time of +the assault, overthrow, and destruction of General Ewell's forces, +and my recollection is quite clear that General G. W. Getty's +Division of your corps did not arrive on the field in time for the +battle, I am certain Generals Ewell and G. W. C. Lee have fallen +into a grave error. We certainly captured more men in the Sailor's +Creek battle than Ewell and G. W. C. Lee say were engaged on the +Confederate side. + +"Since the war, there seems to be a disposition to disparage the +Northern soldiers by representing a small number of Confederate +troops engaged with a very large number of Union troops. The above +is to my mind simply an illustration of what I find running through +the reports, letters, and speeches of Southern officers. + +"As I am writing something from time to time in a fugitive way, +and may some time write with a view to a more connected history of +the war, in so far as it came under my personal observation, I +should be very much obliged to you if you will write me a letter +on this subject as full as you feel that you have time, and allow +me to make such use of it as I may think best. I wish I had a copy +of your report of this battle, etc. Where can I get it? + + "Believe me yours, with the highest esteem, + "J. Warren Keifer." + + + "Washington, November 3, 1888. + "1203 N Street, N. W. +"Dear General Keifer: + +"I have never seen or before heard of the report of General R. S. +Ewell to which you refer, in which you say he states that he was +informed at my headquarters, to which he was carried after his +capture at Sailor's Creek, 'that 30,0000 men were engaged with us +when we surrendered--viz., two infantry corps, and Custer's and +Merritt's divisions of cavalry--the whole under the command of +General Sheridan.' + +"General Ewell was entirely mistaken in regard to the strength of +the infantry opposed to him. Instead of two infantry corps, there +were only two divisions--the First and Third of the Sixth Corps, +the Second Division not having come up till the battle was nearly +over, and taking no part in the fight. He may have been correct +as regards to two divisions of cavalry, though I had not supposed +it to be so strong. Its part in the battle was important, as, by +getting in the rear of the Confederate force, the latter, after +being broken by the infantry attack, and its retreat cut off, was +compelled to surrender. I never knew accurately the number captured, +but General Sheridan and myself estimated it at about 10,000. + +"Of course, the statement of General G. W. C. Lee, to which you +refer, is also erroneous as regards the strength opposed to the +Confederate force. + +"You are quite correct in your statement that you know I commanded +the infantry engaged on the Union side in that battle, from first +to last. General Sheridan was with me as our troops were coming +up, but he left before the battle commenced, to join the cavalry, +as I supposed, and I was not aware that he claimed to be in command +of the combined infantry and cavalry force till some time subsequent +to the battle, when he called upon me for a report. This I declined +to make, on the ground that I was under the orders of General Meade +only, the commander of the Army of the Potomac. General Grant, to +whom the matter was referred by General Sheridan, having decided +that I should make a report to the latter, I sent him a copy of my +report of the battle, which I had already made to General Meade. +I regret that I have no copy of the report, or I should send it to +you with pleasure. I presume that it will soon be published in +the official records of the Rebellion. All the records of the +Sixth Corps were turned in to the Adjutant-General of the Army, as +required by the Army Regulations, on the discontinuance of our +organization, and are, I presume, accessible to any who desire to +examine them. + + "With the most sincere good wishes for your health and prosperity, + "I am, very truly yours, + "H. G. Wright, +"General J. Warren Keifer, Springfield, Ohio." + + +APPENDIX E + + "Headquarters First Division, Seventh Army Corps, + "Camp Columbia, Havana, Cuba, January 28, 1899. + +"General Henry C. Corbin, + "Adjutant-General U.S.A., + "Washington, D.C. + +"_Sir_.--I dislike to take your time, but I hope you will pardon me +for writing you this purely unofficial letter, relative to the +situation in Cuba as it appears to me after a month's investigation +while serving here. Necessarily, to keep in bounds, I must generalize +and not always give reasons for opinions. This is not written in +any spirit of criticism, or of dissatisfaction with my own position +here; in fact, I am satisfied with my command, and am very well +treated by everybody about and around me. Major-Generals Brooke +and Lee are both very kind to me. But to the subject. I shall +not attempt to exhaust it. + +"Cuba is now prostrate and her people quiet. This applies to all +classes,--Cubans, Spaniards, citizens, and soldiers,--including +those who upheld the insurrection and those who did not, and whether +living in cities or in country districts. I say this after having +been in touch with officers and soldiers of the Cuban army, and +others. + +"The reconcentrados are about all dead, and the few living are too +weak to soon recover, even if fed. The attempts to feed them are, +necessarily, largely failures, and must continue to be until some +provision can be made to organize and remove the helpless, broken +families from congested places, where it is impossible to house +them comfortably, and place them in homes in the country districts. +These people are still dying under our eyes. The food we give +them they are not strong enough to eat, save the rice. Some of my +officers were recently shown at San Jose de las Lajas, this province, +one coffin (kept for convenience on a hand-cart) that had recently +done duty in the burial of about five thousand Cubans. But instances +need not be given when it is known that above seven hundred thousand +Cuban non-combatants have been killed or have died of starvation +in the past two or three years, many of them not buried, but their +bones picked by the buzzards. The island is a charnel-house of +dead. Every graveyard has piles of exposed human bones, and the +earth has been strewn with them outside of cities and towns. There +were many killed who were not actual insurgents, but Cubans, women +and children included. The deaths left broken families; many +orphans, who do not know who their parents were. Many owners of +land and their entire families and friends have been killed or +died, and there is no one to claim the land. This in some of the +richest districts is quite the rule. + +"Outside of a little circle about Havana, the plantations in general +have been destroyed, including houses and other buildings, fruit +trees, banana plants, cane fields, farm implements, stock, etc., +and the wells filled up, first being polluted by throwing dead +bodies of Cubans and animals in them. + +"The soil is marvellously rich. It shows no signs of exhaustion +by cultivation, and I think it never will. Tobacco, sugar-cane, +pineapples, oranges, bananas, plantain, etc., to say nothing of +corn, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, onions, beans, grasses, etc., +will grow, if given the slightest chance. Two, three, and as high +as four crops can easily be grown in one year. You will say, Why +do not the people grow them? They have no bread to eat while they +labor, nor have they any oxen or mules,--horses are out of the +question and not suitable to till land here,--or seed, or implements, +or anything. They die in the midst of the most extraordinary +riches. + +"Owners of much of the land in the interior districts, who have +survived, are as helpless as the poorest laborers. + +"The exceptions are confined to remote little valleys, and mountain +places where the insurgents held constant control, and there too +they are poor, having in the past, and still, to maintain the Cuban +soldiers, regular and irregular. + +"Only provisions for food for a short time and means to get animals, +farm implements, etc., will end the present conditions and put the +people of the island on the road to prosperity. Spasmodic issues +of army rations give only temporary relief and tend to encourage +idleness. + +"Another race of people might come, but they could not soon get +titles to lands, if ever. + +"There is no civil government here, not even in form. Gomez and +his insurgent followers are still in their mountain fastnesses, +and whatever of organizations they have are irregular, and military. +They are biding their time for something, not yet fully developed. + +"Our government here is military, disguise it as we may. If it +were anything else, it would soon fail. All attempts at a +hermaphroditical government here must also fail, as it has everywhere. +It must be all American or all Cuban. The Spaniards here, though +they predominate in the principal cities, do not yet count as a +factor, although they are for annexation; this to save their estates +and for personal safety. Any attempts to build up a Cuban government +by the use of a few Cubans and Spaniards in Havana and other cities, +no matter what their character for intelligence and peaceableness +may be, must end in disaster, and a little later, in a wild repetition +of war and bloodshed. Those who organized and maintained, through +the dreadful years of the past, the insurrection against Spanish +power and suffered so much in their estates and families, are going +to have a say in the future control of this island, and if it is +to be annexed to the United States, they will have to be consulted +or a bloody guerilla war will ensue. They are now exhausted, and +tired and sick of war, but they are used to it, and familiar with +death, and already they are preparing and calculating on a war much +easier for them to wage against the United States than against +Spain, as the United States is not expected to be so barbarous in +the treatment of their remaining women and children; and such people +can reasonably calculate on help from sympathizers, adventurers, +etc., of other countries, especially South American, and people of +kindred races and instincts. The cry of freedom and liberty is +always seductive and brings friends. + +"The Cuban people now being recognized here, with rare exceptions, +had nothing to do with maintaining the insurrection, but remained +within the cities and lines of the Spanish army, pretending to be +loyal to Spain, if they were not so in fact. They were too cowardly +to fight, and too avaricious to render material aid to those in +the field. All such are under the ban of suspicion in the eyes of +the real Cuban insurgents, no matter what their pretensions may +be. Any government organized with such persons at the head will, +sooner or later, be overthrown in blood, if not otherwise. The +Cubans, like other people, desire offices, and the war-patriots of +Cuba are no exceptions, and will fight for power, and when the test +comes the mass of Cubans in and out of the cities will be with the +real insurgent leaders. Already the latter are resolving not to +take office until they are recognized and given a full share of +power. + +"Ignoring such people now is easy; later they will defy our country +and be its eternal enemies, with the civilized world in sympathy +with them. The Spaniards, other foreigners, and home-staying Cuban +politicians are the people who now get a hearing, but wait and +listen for what is to come! Our people will appear to the real +Cubans as their despoilers and oppressors, instead of liberators. + +"I am in favor of annexation, and the sooner the better, but the +Cuban patriots must first form a government, provisional or otherwise, +and consent to annexation. This at first would have been easy, +even now possible, to be brought about, but we are fast drifting +away from annexation or a peaceful solution of the great and +scandalous Cuban problem confronting us. + +"The Cuban people are not to be despised; they are a mixed race it +is true, but they have talked of and fought for freedom too many +years not to know something of the sweet fruits of individual +liberty. They are polite and affable, but yet suspicious, as all +people are who have been oppressed. It is said they may be resentful +of the real or imaginary wrongs they have suffered from the Spaniards. +Grant this. Who would not, with their homes as open graveyards +strewn with the dead of their families, etc.? It is not best or +safe to believe all the tales told of Gomez and his followers by +the Spaniards or city Cubans. + +"However, I do not believe that a reorganization, with the insurgents +fairly recognized, would be as bad as these interested people claim, +or would be half so bloody as any organized civil government will +prove to be with them left out. Woe to the Spaniard in the island +if war again breaks out here! Gomez is at the head of the Cuban +military forces, but there are others, generally good men, who are +recognized heads of the Cuban insurgent civil power. These are +the people who will have to be dealt with, or they will deal with +whatever power may be set up. + +"The Cuban is not so ignorant as is often claimed. Generally all +classes can read and write. Now they have no redress for wrongs +against person or property. (They have no civil courts; only a +little remaining semblance of Spanish authority in a few places.) + +"With a simple form of civil government they could soon have this, +and they could be schooled in the primary principles of civil +government, such as self-reliance, knowledge of their just rights, +duty to others, and others' duty to them. Cubans have more need +of justices of the peace than of justices of a Supreme Court. The +people want and need quick redress against trespassers, and in the +collection of debts, etc. + +"A simple code of laws, primitive in character, but comprehensive +and easily understood, yet adequate to bring speedy relief, is what +is now most needed. Such laws could be passed by a provisional +legislative body. Light taxes for a few years should be assessed. +Good land laws with a reasonable law of limitations should be made. +Land titles then soon would be settled. The established government +should take up and lease, pending the adjustment of titles, all +tillable and unoccupied land. Much of this land, even the best of +it (which would be cheap at two hundred dollars per acre), would +escheat for the want of living owners or descendants. The escheated +lands would make a large revenue for the State. Much of the land +in cultivation is capable of netting each year, with only fair +cultivation in tobacco, etc., one thousand dollars per acre. These +lands have had, and soon should have again, a value of from two to +five hundred and often one thousand dollars per acre. + +"Cuba (under Spanish semi-barbaric rule for four hundred years) +could be transformed from a graveyard of open graves, the feeding- +ground and paradise of vultures, to the richest and most ideally +beautiful and most enchanting spot on the face of the earth, with +a prosperous population on a high plane of civilization. Even the +tropical diseases in Havana and other coast cities would disappear +before modern methods of sanitation. In general, outside of a few +cities, the island is healthful, notwithstanding the contaminating +effect of the pestilential cities. Yellow fever, smallpox, and a +few infectious diseases exist here continually, but they soon would +disappear. + +"The property owners, in spite of high taxes, have lived in this +island in 'barbaric luxury,' partaking somewhat of _splendor_. +This will be the case again, and much intensified, when touched by +a civilization that regards the rights of man. + +"The ease and comfort possible in such a place as this are too +great to be appreciated by such plain hard-working persons as you +and I. But---- + + "Yours most respectfully, + "J. Warren Keifer, + "Major-General Volunteers." + + +APPENDIX F + +List of officers who served (at some time) on the division staff +of Major-General Keifer in the Spanish War. + +_Personal Staff_ + +Captain Horace C. Keifer (Ohio), 3d U. S. Vol. Engineers, Aide. + +First Lieutenant Albert C. Thompson, Jr. (Ohio), U. S. Vol. Signal +Corps, Aide. + +First Lieutenant Edward T. Miller (Ohio), U. S. Vol. Signal Corps, +Aide. + +Second Lieutenant Dwight E. Aultman (U.S.A.), 2d U. S. Artillery, +Aide. + +Second Lieutenant Lewis W. Brander (Va.), 3d U. S. Vol. Infantry, +Aide. + +_Division Staff_ + +Major Benjamin Alvord (U.S.A.), Chief Ordnance Officer. (U.S.V.) + +Major George L. Hobart (N. J.), Assistant Adjutant-General. +(U.S.V.) + +Major William S. Scott (U.S.A.), Assistant Adjutant-General. +(U.S.V.) + +Major John Gary Evans (S. C.), Inspector-General. (U.S.V.) + +Major James M. Moody (N. C.), Chief Commissary of Subsistence. +(U.S.V.) + +Major James M. Arrasmith (U.S.A.), Chief Commissary of Subsistence. +(U.S.V.) + +Captain J. E. B. Stuart (Va.), Commissary of Subsistence. (U.S.V.) + +Major Noble H. Creager (Md.), Chief Quartermaster. (U.S.V.) + +Major William J. White (Ohio), Chief Quartermaster. (U.S.V.) + +Captain Fred W. Cole (Fla.), Quartermaster. (U.S.V.) + +Major John L. Chamberlain (U.S.A.), Chief Ordnance Officer. (U.S.V.) + +Major Godfrey H. Macdonald (U.S.A.), Chief Ordnance Officer. +(U.S.V.) + +Major Hugh H. Gordon (Ga.), Chief Engineer Officer. (U.S.V.) + +Major D. M. Appel (U.S.A.), Chief Surgeon. + +Major Francis C. Ford (Texas), Surgeon. (U.S.V.) + +Major Eduard Boeckmann (Minn.), Chief Surgeon. (U.S.V.) + +Major Jefferson R. Kean (U.S.A.), Chief Surgeon. (U.S.V.) + +Dr. Sidney Myers (Ky.), Contract Surgeon. + +First Lieutenant O. C. Drew (Texas), 1st Texas Vol. Inf., Provost- +Marshal. + +First Lieutenant E. P. Clayton (Ill.), 4th Ill. Vol. Inf., Provost- +Marshal. + + +APPENDIX G +Farewell Address + + "Headquarters First Division, Seventh Army Corps, + "Camp Columbia, Havana, Cuba, March 29, 1899. + +"This Division will soon cease to exist by the muster out of the +volunteer regiments composing it. I assumed command of it at Miami, +Florida, July 6, 1898, and have commanded it (when not exercising +a higher command including it) from that time at Miami, Florida, +to August 6th; at Camp Cuba Libre, Jacksonville, Florida, to October +20th; at Camp Onward, Savannah, Georgia, to December 27th; at Camp +Columbia, near Havana, Cuba, to the present. + +"Through changes in regiments and other organizations, about twenty +thousand officers and soldiers have served in the Division. + +"Although not engaged in battle, the dangers from disease in tropical +camps have been great, and many have died or have become broken in +health. The Division has performed important service in maintaining +the high standard of the volunteer soldier in time of war, and in +doing guard duty in Cuba, preparatory to establishing a new +civilization and a free government for a long-oppressed people. +The varied trials and hardships of a soldier's life have been +bravely and manfully met by the officers and soldiers of the +Division. I have been proud to command it; and have only the +warmest friendship for all who composed it. I will always take a +deep interest in them. I am especially thankful to the officers +who have from time to time served on my staff, for their loyalty +to me, and their efficiency and zeal in performance of duty. + +"I have now served in the Volunteer Army of the United States of +America, in the Civil War and the war with Spain, five years, and +on May 12, 1899, I will sheath my sword (in all probability) forever, +conscious that I have tried to do my duty to my country. + +"The troops of this Division will therefore be the last I shall +ever command in peace or war. In sadness I bid all who compose +the Division a farewell, wishing each officer and enlisted man +success in the civil pursuits to which he is soon to return. + + "J. Warren Keifer, + "Major-General of Volunteers. + +"Official: + "Horace C. Keifer, Captain 3d U. S. Vol. Engrs., A.D.C." + + +INDEX +[omitted] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2, by +Joseph Warren Keifer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS OF WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 22100-8.txt or 22100-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/1/0/22100/ + +Produced by Ed Ferris + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/22100-8.zip b/22100-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6a252f --- /dev/null +++ b/22100-8.zip diff --git a/22100.txt b/22100.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdd1720 --- /dev/null +++ b/22100.txt @@ -0,0 +1,25627 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2, by +Joseph Warren Keifer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2 + A Political History of Slavery in the United States Together + With a Narrative of the Campaigns and Battles of the Civil + War In Which the Author Took Part: 1861-1865 + +Author: Joseph Warren Keifer + +Release Date: July 19, 2007 [EBook #22100] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS OF WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Ed Ferris + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Footnotes are at the end of each chapter, except at the end of + each section in Chapter I. Duplicate notes were on adjacent pages + in the book. + + Right-hand-page heads are omitted. + + Names have been corrected (except possibly "Hurlburt"). + + LoC call number: E470.K18 + + +SLAVERY AND +FOUR YEARS OF WAR + +A POLITICAL HISTORY OF SLAVERY +IN THE UNITED STATES + +TOGETHER WITH A NARRATIVE OF THE CAMPAIGNS +AND BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR IN WHICH +THE AUTHOR TOOK PART: 1861-1865 + +BY +JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER +BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS; EX-SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF +REPRESENTATIVES, U. S. A.; AND MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS, +SPANISH WAR. + +ILLUSTRATED + +VOLUME I. +1861-1863 + +G. P. Putnam's Sons +New York and London +The Knickerbocker Press +1900 + + +Copyright, 1900 + +BY +JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER + +The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + +To the + +memory of the dead and as a tribute of esteem to the living officers +and soldiers who served immediately with and under the author in +battles and campaigns of the great American rebellion + +This Book is Dedicated + + +PREFACE + +The writer of this book was a volunteer officer in the Union army +throughout the war of the Great Rebellion, and his service was in +the field. + +The book, having been written while the author was engaged in a +somewhat active professional life, lacks that literary finish which +results from much pruning and painstaking. He, however, offers no +excuse for writing it, nor for its completion; he has presumed to +nothing but the privilege of telling his own story in his own way. +He has been at no time forgetful of the fact that he was a subordinate +in a great conflict, and that other soldiers discharged their duties +as faithfully as himself; and while no special favors are asked, +he nevertheless opes that what he has written may be accepted as +the testimony of one who entertains a justifiable pride in having +been connected with large armies and a participant in important +campaigns and great battles. + +He flatters himself that his summary of the political history of +slavery in the United States, and of the important political events +occurring upon the firing on Fort Sumter, and the account he has +given of the several attempts to negotiate a peace before the final +overthrow of the Confederate armies, will be of special interest +to students of American history. + +Slavery bred the doctrine of State-rights, which led, inevitably, +to secession and rebellion. The story of slavery and its abolition +in the United States is the most tragic one in the world's annals. +The "Confederate States of America" is the only government ever +attempted to be formed, avowedly to perpetuate _human slavery_. +A history of the Rebellion without that of slavery is but a recital +of brave deeds without reference to the motive which prompted their +performance. + +The chapter on slavery narrates its history in the United States +from the earliest times; its status prior to the war; its effect +on political parties and statesmen; its aggressions, and attempts +at universal domination if not extension over the whole Republic; +its inexorable demands on the friends of freedom, and its plan of +perpetually establishing itself through secession and the formation +of a slave nation. It includes a history of the secession of eleven +Southern States, and the formation of "The Confederate States of +America"; also what the North did to try to avert the Rebellion. +It was written to show why and how the Civil War came, what the +conquered lost, and what the victors won. + +In other chapters the author has taken the liberty, for the sake +of continuity, of going beyond the conventional limits of a personal +_memoir_, but in doing this he has touched on no topic not connected +with the war. + +The war campaigns cover the first one in Western Virginia, 1861; +others in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, 1862; in +West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 1863; and in +Virginia, 1864; ending with the capture of Richmond and Petersburg, +the battles of Five Forks and Sailor's Creek, and the surrender of +Lee to Grant at Appomattox, 1865. A chapter on the New York riots +of 1863, also one on the "Peace Negotiations," will be found, each +in its proper place. + +Personal mention and descriptions of many officers known to the +writer are given; also war incidents deemed to be of interest to +the reader. + +But few generalizations are indulged in either as to events, +principles, or the character of men; instead, facts are given from +which generalizations may be formed. + +The author is indebted to his friends, General George D. Ruggles +(General Meade's Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of the Potomac, +late Adjutant-General, U.S.A.), for important data furnished from +the War Department, and to his particular friends, both in peace +and war, General John Beatty and Colonel Wm. S. Furay of Columbus, +Ohio, for valuable suggestions. + + J. W. K. +December, 1899. + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I +Slavery: Its Political History in the United States, +(I.) Introductory--(II.) Introduction of Slavery into the Colonies +--(III.) Declaration of Independence--(IV.) Continental Congress: +Articles of Confederation--(V.) Ordinance of 1787--(VI.) Constitution +of the United States--(VII.) Causes of Growth of Slavery--(VIII.) +Fugitive-Slave Law, 1793--(IX.) Slave Trade Abolished--(X.) Louisiana +Purchase--(XI.) Florida--(XII.) Missouri Compromise--(XIII.) +Nullification--(XIV.) Texas--(XV.) Mexican War, Acquisition of +California and New Mexico--(XVI.) Compromise Measures, 1850--(XVII.) +Nebraska Act--(XVIII.) Kansas Struggle for Freedom--(XIX.) Dred +Scott Case--(XX.) John Brown Raid--(XXI.) Presidential Elections, +1856-1860--(XXII.) Dissolution of the Union--(XXIII.) Secession of +States--(XXIV.) Action of Religious Denominations--(XXV.) Proposed +Concessions to Slavery--(XXVI.) Peace Conference--(XXVII.) District +of Columbia--(XXVIII.) Slavery Prohibited in Territories--(XXIX.) +Benton's Summary--(XXX.) Prophecy as to Slavery and Disunion. + +CHAPTER II +Sumter Fired on--Seizure by Confederates of Arms, Arsenals, and +Forts--Disloyalty of Army and Navy Officers--Proclamation of Lincoln +for 75,000 Militia, and Preparation for War on Both Sides + +CHAPTER III +Personal Mention--Occupancy of Western Virginia under McClellan +(1861)--Campaign and Battle of Rich Mountain, and Incidents + +CHAPTER IV +Repulse of General Lee and Affairs of Cheat Mountain and in Tygart's +Valley (September, 1861)--Killing of John A. Washington, and +Incidents--and Formation of State of West Virginia + +CHAPTER V +Union Occupancy of Kentucky--Affair at Green River--Defeat of +Humphrey Marshall--Battles of Mill Springs, Forts Henry and Donelson +--Capture of Bowling Green and Nashville, and Other Matters + +CHAPTER VI +Battle of Shiloh--Capture of Island No. 10--Halleck's Advance on +Corinth, and Other Events + +CHAPTER VII +Mitchel's Campaign to Northern Alabama--Andrews' Raid into Georgia, +and Capture of a Locomotive--Affair at Bridgeport--Sacking of +Athens, Alabama, and Court-Martial of Colonel Turchin--Burning of +Paint Rock by Colonel Beatty--Other Incidents and Personal Mention +--Mitchel Relieved + +CHAPTER VIII +Confederate Invasion of Kentucky (1862)--Cincinnati Threatened, +and "Squirrel Hunters" Called Out--Battles of Iuka, Corinth, and +Hatchie Bridge--Movements of Confederate Armies of Bragg and Kirby +Smith--Retirement of Buell's Army to Louisville--Battle of Perryville, +with Personal and Other Incidents + +CHAPTER IX +Commissioned Colonel of 110th Ohio Volunteers--Campaigns in West +Virginia under General Milroy, 1862-1863--Emancipation of Slaves +in the Shenandoah Valley, and Incidents + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +J. Warren Keifer + +Andrew H. Reeder, first governor of Kansas Territory, Flight in +Disguise, 1855 [From a painting in Coates' House, Kansas City, +Missouri.] + +Abraham Lincoln + +Map of the United States, 1860 [Showing free and slave States and +Territories.] + +General Ulysses S. Grant, U.S.A. [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Confederate Silver Half-Dollar + +John Beatty, Brigadier-General of Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1863.] + +Rich Mountain and Cheat Mountain Country, W. Va. + +General William T. Sherman, U.S.A. [From a photograph taken 1881.] + +Major-General O. M. Mitchel [From a photograph taken 1862.] + +Brevet Brigadier-General Wm. H. Ball [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Rev. William T. Meloy, D. D., Lieutenant 122d Ohio Volunteers [From +a photograph taken 1896.] + +Major-General Robert H. Milroy [From a photograph taken 1863.] + +Lieutenant James A. Fox, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1863.] + +Map of Shenandoah valley [From Major W. F. Tiemann's _History of +the 159th New York_.] + +Rev. Milton J. Miller, Chaplain 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a +photograph taken 1865.] + +Rev. Charles C. McCabe, D. D., Bishop M. E. Church, Chaplain 122d +Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph taken 1868.] + + +SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS OF WAR + + +SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS +OF WAR + +CHAPTER I +SLAVERY: ITS POLITICAL HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES +(I.) Introductory--(II.) Introduction of Slavery into the Colonies +--(III.) Declaration of Independence--(IV.) Continental Congress: +Articles of Confederation--(V.) Ordinance of 1787--(VI.) Constitution +of the United States--(VII.) Causes of Growth of Slavery--(VIII.) +Fugitive-Slave Law, 1793--(IX.) Slave Trade Abolished--(X.) Louisiana +Purchase--(XI.) Florida--(XII.) Missouri Compromise--(XIII.) +Nullification--(XIV.) Texas--(XV.) Mexican War, Acquisition of +California and New Mexico--(XVI.) Compromise Measures, 1850--(XVII.) +Nebraska Act--(XVIII.) Kansas Struggle for Freedom--(XIX.) Dred +Scott Case--(XX.) John Brown Raid--(XXI.) Presidential Elections, +1856-1860--(XXII.) Dissolution of the Union--(XXIII.) Secession of +States--(XXIV.) Action of Religious Denominations--(XXV.) Proposed +Concessions to Slavery--(XXVI.) Peace Conference--(XXVII.) District +of Columbia--(XXVIII.) Slavery Prohibited in Territories--(XXIX.) +Benton's Summary--(XXX.) Prophecy as to Slavery and Disunion. + +I +INTRODUCTORY + +Slavery is older than tradition--older than authentic history, and +doubtless antedates any organized form of human government. It +had its origin in barbaric times. Uncivilized man never voluntarily +performed labor even for his own comfort; he only struggled to gain +a bare subsistence. He did not till the soil, but killed wild +animals for food and to secure a scant covering for his body; and +cannibalism was common. Tribes were formed for defence, and thus +wars came, all, however, to maintain mere savage existence. Through +primitive wars captives were taken, and such as were not slain were +compelled to labor for their captors. In time these slaves were +used to domesticate useful animals and, later, were forced to +cultivate the soil and build rude structures for the comfort and +protection of their masters. Thus it was that mankind was first +forced to toil and ultimately came to enjoy labor and its incident +fruits, and thus human slavery became a first step from barbarism +towards the ultimate civilization of mankind. + +White slavery existed in the English-American colonies antecedent +to black or African slavery, though at first only intended to be +conditional and not to extend to offspring. English, Scotch, and +Irish alike, regardless of ancestry or religious faith, were, for +political offenses, sold and transported to the dependent American +colonies. They were such persons as had participated in insurrections +against the Crown; many of them being prisoners taken on the battle- +field, as were the Scots taken on the field of Dunbar, the royalist +prisoners from the field of Worcester; likewise the great leaders +of the Penruddoc rebellion, and many who were taken in the insurrection +of Monmouth. + +Of these, many were first sold in England to be afterwards re-sold +on shipboard to the colonies, as men sell horses, to the highest +bidder. + +There was also, in some of the colonies, a conditional servitude, +under indentures, for servants, debtors, convicts, and perhaps +others. These forms of slavery made the introduction of negro and +perpetual slavery easy. + +Australasia alone, of all inhabited parts of the globe, has the +honor, so far as history records, of never having a slave +population. + +Egyptian history tells us of human bondage; the patriarch Abraham, +the founder of the Hebrew nation, owned and dealt in slaves. That +the law delivered to Moses from Mt. Sinai justified and tolerated +human slavery was the boast of modern slaveholders. + +Moses, from "Nebo's heights," saw the "land of promise," where +flowed "milk and honey" in abundance, and where slavery existed. +The Hebrew people, but forty years themselves out of bondage, +possessed this land and maintained slavery therein. + +The advocates of slavery and the slave trade exultingly quoted: + +"And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of +the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to +a people far off; for the Lord hath spoken it."--Joel iii, 8. + +They likewise claimed that St. Paul, while he preached the gospel +to slaveholders and slaves alike in Rome, yet used his calling to +enable him to return to slavery an escaped human being--Onesimus.( 1) + +The advocates of domestic slavery justified it as of scriptural +and divine origin. + +From the Old Testament they quoted other texts, not only to justify +the holding of slaves in perpetual bondage, but the continuance of +the slave trade with all its cruelties. + +"And he said, I am Abraham's servant."--Gen. xxiv., 34. + +"And there was of the house of Saul a _servant_ whose name was +Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the King said unto +him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. . . . + +"Then the King called to Ziba, Saul's _servant_, and said unto him, +I have given unto thy master's son all that pertained to Saul, and +to all his house. + +"Thou, therefore, and thy sons, and they servants shall till the +land for him, and thou shalt bring in _the fruits_, that thy master's +son may have food to eat," etc. "Now Ziba had fifteen sons and +_twenty servants_."--2 Samuel ix., 2, 9-10. + +"I got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house; +also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all +that were in Jerusalem before me."--Eccles. ii., 7. + +"And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence comest thou? and she +said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. + +"And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, +and submit thyself to her hands."--Gen. xvi., 8, 9. + +"A servant will not be corrected by words; for though he understand, +he will not answer."--Prov. xxix., 19. + +And from the New Testament they triumphantly quoted: + +"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. +Art thou called being a servant? care not for it; but if thou mayest +be made free, use it rather."--I Cor., vii., 20-22. + +"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to +the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, +as unto Christ," etc. + +"And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: +knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect +of persons with him."--Eph., vi., 5-9. + +"Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, +not with eye service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, +fearing God."--Col. iii., 22. + +"Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; +knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven."--Col. iv., 1. + +"Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters +worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrines be not +blasphemed," etc.--I Tim., vi., 1, 2. + +"Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to +please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, +but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of +God our Saviour in all things."--Titus ii., 9, 10. + +"Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to +the good and gentle, but also to the froward."--I. Pet. ii, 18. + +The advocates of slavery maintained that Christ approved the calling +as a slaveholder as well as the faith of the Roman centurion, whose +servant, "sick of a palsy," Christ miraculously healed by saying: +"_I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel_."--Matt. +viii., 10. + +They also cited Dr. Adam Clark, the great Bible commentator; Dr. +Neander's work, entitled _Planting and Training the Church_, and +Dr. Mosheim's _Church History_, as evidence that the Bible not only +sanctioned slavery but authorized its perpetuation through all +time.( 2) In other words, pro-slavery advocates in effect affirmed +that these great writers: + + "Torture the hollowed pages of the Bible, + To sanction crime, and robbery, and blood, + And, in oppression's hateful service, libel + Both man and God." + +While the teachings of neither the Old nor the New Testament, nor +of the _Master_, were to overthrow or to establish political +conditions as established by the temporal powers of the then age, +yet it must be admitted that large numbers of people, of much +learning and a high civilization, believed human slavery was +sanctioned by divine authority. + +The deductions made from the texts quoted were unwarranted. The +principles of justice and mercy, on which the Christian religion +is founded, cannot be tortured into even a toleration (as, possibly, +could the law of Moses) of the existence of the unnatural and +barbaric institution of slavery, or the slave trade. + +Slavery was wrong _per se;_ wholly unjustifiable on the plainest +principles of humanity and justice; and the consciences of all +unprejudiced, enlightened, civilized people led them in time to +believe that it had no warrant from God and ought to have no warrant +from man to exist on the face of the earth. + +The friends of freedom and those who believed slavery sinful never +for a moment assented to the claim that it was sanctioned by Holy +Writ, or that it was justified by early and long-continued existence +through barbaric or semi-barbaric times. They denied that it could +thus even be sanctified into a moral right; that time ever converted +cruelty into a blessing, or a wrong into a right; that any human +law could give it legal existence, or rightfully perpetuate it +against natural justice; they maintained that a Higher Law, written +in God's immutable decrees of mercy, was paramount to all human +law or practice, however long continuing; that the lessons taught +by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and in all his life and +teachings were a condemnation of it; and that an enlightened, +progressive civilization demanded its final overthrow. + +In America: Slavery is _dead_. We return to its history. + +Greece had her slaves before tradition blended into history, though, +four centuries before Christ, Alcidamas proclaimed: "_God has sent +forth all men free: Nature has made no man slave_." + +Alexander, the mighty Macedonian (fourth century B.C.), sold captives +taken at Tyre and Gaza, the most accomplished people of that time, +into slavery.( 3) + +Rome had her slaves; and her slave-marts were open at her principal +ports for traffic in men and women of all nationalities, especially +Christians and captives taken in war. + +The German nations of the shores of the Baltic carried on the +desolating traffic. Russia recognized slavery and carried on a +slave trade through her merchantmen. + +The Turks forbade the enslaving of Mussulmans, but sold Christian +and other captives into slavery. Christian and Moor, for seven +hundred years in the doubtful struggle in Western Europe, respectively, +doomed their captives to slavery. + +Contemporary with the discovery of America, the Moors were driven +from Granada, their last stronghold in Spain, to the north of +Africa; there they became corsairs, privateers, and holders of +Christian slaves. Their freebooter life and cruelty furnished the +pretext, not only to enslave the people of the Moorish dominion, +but of all Africa. The oldest accounts of Africa bear testimony +to the existence of domestic slavery--of negro enslaving negro, +and of caravans of dealers in negro slaves. + +Columbus, whose glory as the discoverer of this continent we +proclaim, on a return voyage (1494) carried five hundred native +Americans to Spain, a present to Queen Isabella, and American +Indians were sold into foreign bondage, as "spoils of war," for +two centuries. + +The Saxon carried slavery in its most odious form into England, +where, at one time, not half the inhabitants were absolutely free, +and where the price of a man was but four times the price of an ox. + +He sold his own kindred into slavery. English slaves were held in +Ireland till the reign of Henry II. + +In time, however, the spirit of Christianity, pleading the cause +of humanity, stayed slavery's progress, and checked the slave +traffic by appeals to conscience. + +Alexander III, Pope of Rome in the twelfth century, proclaimed +against it, by writing: "_Nature having made no slaves, all men +have an equal right to liberty_." + +Efficacious as the Christian religion has been to destroy or mitigate +evil, it has failed to render the so-called Christian slaveholder +better than the pagan, or to improve the condition of the bondsmen. + +It may be observed that when slavery seemed to be firmly planted +in the Republic of the United States of America, Egypt, as one of +the powers of the earth, had passed away; her slavery, too, was +gone--only her Pyramids, Sphinx, and Monoliths have been spared by +time and a just judgment. Greece, too, had perished, only her +philosophy and letters survive; Israel's people, though the chosen +of God, had, as a nation, been bodily carried into oriental +Babylonian captivity, and in due time had, in fulfillment of divine +judgment, been dispersed through all lands. God in his mighty +wrath also thundered on Babylon's iniquity, and it, too, passed +away forever, and the prophet gives as a reason for this, that +Babylon dealt in "_slaves and the souls of men_." + +Rome, once the mistress of the world, cased as a nation to live; +her greatness and her glory, her slave markets and her slaves, all +gone together and forever. + +Germany, France, Spain, and other slave nations renounced slavery +barely in time to escape the general national doom. + +Russia, though her mighty Czars possessed absolute power to rule, +trembled before the mighty insurrections of peasant-serfs that +swept over the bodies of slain nobles and slave-masters from remote +regions to the very gates of Moscow. Catherine II., Alexander I., +Nicholas I., and Alexander II. listened to the threatened doom, +and, to save their empire, put forth decrees to loosen and finally +to break the chains of twenty millions of slaves and serfs. Even +Moorish slavery in Northern Africa in large part passed away. +Mohammedan,( 4) Brahmin, and Buddhist had no sanction for human +slavery. + +England heard the warning cry just in time to save the kingdom from +the impending common destiny of slave nations. + +It was not, however, until 1772, that Lord Mansfield, from the +Court of the King's Bench of Great Britain, announced that no slave +could be held under the English Constitution. This decision was +of binding force in her American colonies when the Declaration of +Independence was adopted, and the "Liberty Bell" proclaimed "_Liberty +throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof_." + +The argument that the institution of slavery was sanctified by age +ceased, long since, to be satisfying to those who learned justice +and mercy in the light of Christian love, and who could read, not +only that human slavery had existed from the earliest times, but +that it had existed without right, only by the power of might, not +sanctioned by reason and natural justice, and that in its train a +myriad of coincident evils, crimes, and immoralities had taken +birth and flourished, blasting both master and slave and the land +they inhabited, and that God's just and retributive judgment has +universally been visited on all nations and peoples continuing to +maintain and perpetuate it. + +Murder has existed in the world since Cain and Abel met by the +altar of God, yet no sane person for that reason justifies it. So +slavery has stalked down the long line of centuries, cursing and +destroying millions with its damning power, but time has not +sanctioned it into a right. The longer it existed the more foul +became the blot upon history's pages, and the deeper the damnation +upon humanity it wrought. + +When all the civilized nations of Europe, as well as the nations +and even tribes of Asia, had either abolished slavery and taken +steps effectually to do so, it remained for the _United States_ to +stand alone upholding it in its direst form. + +The nations of the ancient world either shook off slavery in attempts +to wash away its bloody stain, or slavery wiped them from the powers +of the earth. So of the more modern nations. + +Our Republic, boastful of its free institutions, of its constitutional +liberty, of its free schools and churches, of its glories in the +cause of humanity, its patriotism, resplendent history, inventive +genius, wealth, industry, civilization, and Christianity, maintained +slavery until it was only saved from its common doom of slave +nations by the atoning sacrifice of its best blood and the mercy +of an offended God. + +More than two centuries (1562) before Lord Mansfield judicially +announced _freedom_ to be the universal law of England, Sir John +Hawkins acquired the infamous distinction of being the first +Englishman to embark in the slave trade, and the depravity of public +sentiment in England then approved his action. He then seized, on +the African coast, and transported a large cargo of negroes to +Hispaniola and bartered them for sugar, ginger, and pearls, at +great profit.( 5) Here commenced a traffic in human beings by +English-speaking people (scarcely yet ceased) that involved murder, +arson, theft, and all the cruelty and crimes incident to the capture, +transportation, and subjection of human beings to the lust, avarice, +and power of man. + +Sir John Hawkins' success coming to the notice of the avaricious +and ambitious Queen Elizabeth, she, five years later (1567), became +the open protector of a new expedition and sharer in the nefarious +traffic, thus becoming a promoter, abettor, and participant in all +its crimes. + +To the "African Company," for a long period, was granted by England +a monopoly of the slave trade, but it could not be confined to this +company. In 1698, England exacted a tariff on the slave cargoes +of her subjects engaged in the trade. + +From 1680 to 1700, by convention with Spain, the English, it is +estimated, stole from Africa 300,000 negroes to supply the Spanish +West Indies with slaves. By the treaty of Utrecht (1713) Spain +granted to England, during thirty years, the absolute monopoly of +supplying slaves to the Spanish colonies. By this treaty England +agreed to take to the West Indies not less than 144,000 negroes, +or 4800 each year; and, to guard against scandal to the Roman +Catholic religion, heretical slave-traders were forbidden. This +monopoly was granted by England to the "South Sea Company." + +England did not confine her trade to the West Indies. In 1750, it +was shown in the English Parliament that 46,000 negroes were annually +sold to English colonies.( 6) + +As early as 1565, Sir John Hawthorne and Menendez imported negroes +as slaves into Florida, then a Spanish possession, and with Spain's +sanction many were carried into the West Indies and sold into +slavery. + +( 1) Epistle to Philemon. + +( 2) The references to the Bible are taken from the most learned +advocates of the divinity of slavery, in its last years. _Ought +American Slavery to be Perpetuated?_ (Brownlow and Pryne debate), +p. 78, etc. _Slavery Ordained of God_ (Ross), 146, etc., 176, etc. + +Rev. Frederick A. Ross, D. D. (the author), a celebrated Presbyterian +minister, was arrested in 1862 at Huntsville, Alabama, while it +was occupied by the Union forces, for praying from the pulpit for +the success of secession. + +Parson Brownlow was a Union man in 1861, was much persecuted at +his home in Knoxville, Tenn., later advocated emancipation. + +( 3) It is interesting to note that more than fifteen hundred +years (twelfth century) after Alexander's conquests, Saladin, the +great Sultan, and other Mohammedan rulers, and Richard Coeur de +Lion, and other crusade leaders in Syria, respectively, doomed +their captives to slavery, regardless of nationality or color.-- +_Saladin_ (Heroes of Nations, Putnams), 229-232, 338. + +( 4) Slavery and the slave trade, in spite of the teachings of +the Koran, grew up in Mohammedan countries. The traffic in slaves, +however, had been frequently proclaimed against by the Ottoman +Porte. + +( 5) But the first trace of negro slavery in America came in 1502, +only ten years after its discovery, through a decree of Ferdinand +and Isabella permitting negro slaves born in Spain, descendants of +natives brought from Guinea, to be transported to Hispaniola.-- +_Life of Columbus_, by Irving (Putnams), p. 275. + +( 6) _History for Ready Reference_, vol. iv., p. 2923. + + +II +INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY INTO THE COLONIES + +In August, 1619, a Dutch man-of-war sailed up the James River in +Virginia, landed and sold to the colony at Jamestown _twenty_ +negroes as slaves. This event marked the beginning of negro slavery +in English-American colonies. Two centuries and a half did not +suffice to put an end the Ethiopian slavery and the evils of a +traffic begun on so small a scale. + +One year later (1620) the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock, bringing +with them stern religious convictions and severe morals which soon +ripened into written laws and were likewise woven into social, +political, and religious life, the resultant effect of which, on +human existence in America, is never to end. One year later still, +cotton was first planted in the virgin soil of America, where it +grew to perfection, and thenceforth becoming the staple production, +made slavery and slave-breeding profitable to the slaveholder.( 7) + +The earliest importation of negro slaves into New England was to +Providence Isle in the shp _Desire_ (1637). + +From Boston, Mass. (1645), the first American ship from the colonies +set sail to engage in the stealing of African negroes. Massachusetts +then held, under sanction of law, a few blacks and Indians in +bondage.( 8) But slavery did not flourish in New England. It was +neither profitable nor in consonance with the judgment of the people +generally. The General Court of Massachusetts, as early as 1646, +"bearing witness against the heinous crimes of man-stealing, ordered +the recently imported negroes to be restored, at the public charge, +to their native country, with a _letter_ expressing the indignation +of the General Court." Unfortunately, persons guilty of stealing +men could not be tried for crimes committed in foreign lands. + +But the African slave trade, early found to be extremely profitable, +and hence popular, did not cease. England, then as now, the most +enterprising of commercial nations on the high seas, engrossed the +trade, in large part, from 1680 to 1780. In 1711, there was +established a slave depot in New York City on or near what is now +Wall Street; and about the same time a depot was established for +receiving slaves in Boston, near where the old Franklin House stood. +From New England ships, and perhaps from others, negroes were landed +and sent to these and other central slave markets. + +But few of these freshly stolen negroes were sold to Northern +slaveholders. Slave labor was not even then found profitable in +the climate of the North. The bondsman went to a more southern +clime, and to the cotton, rice, and tobacco fields of the large +plantations of the South. + +As late as 1804-7, negroes from the coast of Africa were brought +to Boston, Bristol, Providence, and Hartford to be sold into +slavery. + +Shipowners of all the coast colonies, and later of all the coast +States of the United States, engaged in the slave trade. + +But it was among the planters of Maryland, Virginia, and the +Carolinas that slaves proved to be most profitable. The people in +these sections were principally rural; plantations were large, not +subject to be broken up by frequent partition, if at all. The +crops raised were better suited to cultivation by slaves in large +numbers; and the hot climate was better adapted to the physical +nature of the African negro. + +The first inhabitants of the South preferred a rural life, and on +large plantations. The Crown grants to early proprietors favored +this, especially in the Virginia and Carolina colonies. The Puritans +did not love or foster slavery as did the Cavalier of the South. +Castes or classes existed among the Southern settlers from the +beginning, which, with other favoring causes, made it easier for +slavery to take root and prosper, and ultimately fasten itself upon +and become a dominating factor in the whole social and political +fabric of the South. Slavery there soon came to be considered of +paramount importance in securing a high social status or a high, +so-called, civilization. + +But we have, by this brief _resume_, sufficiently shown that the +responsibility for the introduction and maintenance of slavery and +the slave trade does not rest exclusively on any of our early +colonies, North or South, nor on any one race or nationality of +the world; it remains now to show, in a summary way, how slavery +and the slave trade were treated and regarded by the different +sections of the United States after allegiance to England was thrown +off. + +While slavery died out from local and natural causes, if not wholly +for moral, social, and religious reasons, in the States north of +Maryland, it flourished and ripened into strength and importance +in States south, casting a controlling influence and power over +the whole of the United States socially, and for the most part +dominating the country politically. The greatest statesmen and +brightest intellects of the North, though convinced of the evils +of slavery and of its fatal tendencies, were generally too cowardly +to attack it politically, although but about one fifth of the whole +white population of the slave states in 1860, or perhaps at any +time, was, through family relationship, or otherwise, directly or +indirectly interested in slaves or slave labor. + +Old political parties were in time disrupted, and new ones were +formed on slavery issues. + +The slavery question rent in twain the Methodist Episcopal and +Presbyterian churches. The followers of Wesley and Calvin divided +on slavery. It was always essentially an aristocratic institution, +and hence calculated to benefit only a few of the great mass of +freemen. + +In 1860, there was in the fifteen slave States a white population +of 8,039,000 and a slave population of 3,953,696. Of the white +population only 384,884 were slaveholders, and, including their +families, only about 1,600,000 were directly or indirectly interested +in slaves or their labor. About 6,400,000 (80 per cent.) of the +whites in these States had, therefore, no interest in the institution, +and yet they were wholly subordinated to the few who were interested +in it. + +Curiously enough, slavery continued to exist, until a comparatively +recent period, in many of the States that had early declared it +abolished. The States formed out of the territory "Northwest of +the River Ohio" cannot be said to have ever been slave States. +The sixth section of the Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery +forever therein. The slaves reported in such States were only +there by tolerance. They were free of right. The Constitution of +Illinois, as we shall presently see, did not at first abolish +slavery; only prohibited the introduction of slaves. + +The rebellion of the thirteen colonies in 1776 and the war for +independence did not grow out of slavery; that war was waged neither +to perpetuate nor to abolish it. The Puritan and Cavalier, the +opponents and the advocates of slavery and the slave trade, alike, +fought for independence, and, when successful, united in the purpose +to foster and build up an American Republic, based on the sovereignty +of individual citizenship, but ignoring the natural rights of the +enslaved negro. + +The following table, compiled from the United States Census Reports, +may be of interest. + +It shows the number of slaves reported in each State and Territory +of the United States at each Federal census.( 9) + +_North_ + 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 +Cal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Conn. . . . 2,759 951 310 97 25 17 . . . . . . +Ills. . . . . . . . . . 168 917 747 331 . . . . . . +Ind. . . . . . . 135 237 190 3 3 . . . . . . +Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 . . . . . . +Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 +Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . +Mass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . +Mich. . . . . . . . . . 24 . . . 32 . . . . . . . . . +Minn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Neb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 +N. H. . . . 158 8 . . . . . . 3 1 . . . . . . +N. J. . . . 11,423 12,422 10,851 7,557 2,254 674 236 18 +N. Y. . . . 21,324 20,343 15,017 10,088 75 4 . . . . . . +Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3 . . . . . . +Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Penn. . . . 3,737 1,706 796 211 403 64 . . . . . . +R. I. . . . 952 381 108 48 17 5 . . . . . . +Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 29 +Vermont . . 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Wis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 . . . . . . + ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ + Totals . 40,370 35,646 27,510 19,108 3,568 1,129 262 64 + +/South/ + 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 +D. C. . . . . . . . . . 3,244 5,395 6,377 6,119 4,694 3,687 3,185 +Ala. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,879 117,549 253,532 342,844 435,080 +Ark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,617 5,476 19,935 47,100 111,115 +Del. . . . . . . 8,887 6,153 4,177 4,509 3,292 2,605 2,290 1,798 +Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,501 25,717 39,310 61,745 +Ga. . . . . . . 29,264 59,404 105,218 149,654 217,531 280,944 381,682 462,198 +Ky. . . . . . . 11,830 40,434 80,561 126,732 165,213 182,258 210,981 225,483 +La. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34,660 69,064 109,588 168,452 244,809 331,726 +Md. . . . . . . 103,036 105,635 111,502 107,397 102,994 89,737 90,368 87,189 +Miss. . . . . . . . . . 3,489 17,088 32,814 65,659 195,211 309,878 436,631 +Mo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,011 10,222 25,091 58,240 87,422 114,931 +N. C. . . . . . 100,572 133,296 168,824 205,017 245,601 245,817 288,548 331,059 +S. C. . . . . . 107,094 146,151 196,365 258,475 315,401 327,088 384,984 402,406 +Tenn. . . . . . 3,417 13,584 44,535 80,107 141,603 183,059 239,459 275,719 +Tex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58,161 182,566 +Va. . . . . . . 293,427 345,796 392,518 425,153 469,757 449,087 472,528 490,865 + ------- ------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- + Totals . . . . 657,527 857,095 1,163,854 1,519,017 2,005,475 2,486,326 3,204,051 3,953,696 + ------- ------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- + Grand totals . 697,897 892,741 1,191,364 1,538,125 2,009,043 2,487,455 3,204,313 3,953,760 + +( 7) It is curious to note that 1621 dates the first bringing into +Virginia and America bee-hives for the production of honey. + +( 8) The following letter of Cotton Mather will show the Puritan's +intolerance of Wm. Penn and his Society of Friends, and the prevailing +opinion in his time on slavery and the slave trade. + + "Boston, Massachusetts, September, 3, 1681. +"To ye Aged and Beloved John Higginson: There be now at sea a +skipper (for our friend Esaias Holderoft of London did advise me +by the last packet that it would sail sometime in August) called +ye _Welcome_ (R. Green was master), which has aboard a hundred or +more of ye heretics and malignants called Quakers, with W. Penn, +who is ye scamp at ye head of them. + +"Ye General court has accordingly given secret orders to master +Malachi Huxtell of ye brig _Porpoise_ to waylaye ye said _Welcome_ +as near ye coast of Codd as may be, and make captives of ye Penn +and his ungodly crew, so that ye Lord may be glorified, and not +mocked on ye soil of this new country with ye heathen worshippe of +these people. Much spoil can be made by selling ye whole lot to +Barbadoes, where slaves fetch good prices in rumme and sugar. We +shall not only do ye Lord great service by punishing the Wicked, +but shall make gayne for his ministers and people. Yours in the +bowels of Christ, + + "Cotton Mather." + +( 9) Slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia by law of +Congress, passed April 16, 1862. + +President Lincoln's proclamation of January 1, 1863, emancipated +all slaves in the seceded States (save in Tennessee and in parts +of Louisiana and Virginia excepted therefrom) to the number of +3,063,395; those remaining were freed by the thirteenth amendment +to the Constitution, December 18, 1865. + + +III +DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + +The Declaration of Independence, though accepted at once and to be +regarded through all time by the liberty-loving world as the best +and boldest declaration in favor of human rights, and the most +pronounced protest against oppression of the human race, is totally +silent as to the rights of the slaves in the colonies. It is true +that Jefferson in his draft of this instrument, in the articles of +indictment against King George III., used this language: + +"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its +most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of distant +people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into +slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in the +transportation thither, . . . determined to keep open a market +where white men should be bought and sold; he has prostituted his +negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or +restrain this execrable commerce." + +To conciliate Georgia and South Carolina, this part of the indictment +was struck out. These colonies had never sought to restrain, but +had always fostered the slave trade. Jefferson, in his _Autobiography_ +(vol. i, p. 19), suggests that other sections sympathized with +Georgia and South Carolina in this matter. + +"Our Northern brethren . . . felt a little tender under these +censures: for though their people had very few slaves themselves, +yet they had been considerable carriers of them to others." + +Jefferson said King George preferred the advantage: + +"of a few British corsairs to the lasting interests of the American +States and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this +infamous practice."(10) + +While it is not true, as has often been claimed, that England is +solely responsible for the introduction of slavery into her American +colonies, it is true that her King and Parliament opposed almost +every attempt to prohibit it or to restrict the importation of +slaves. Colonial legislative enactments of Virginia and other +colonies directed against slavery were vetoed by the King or by +his command by his royal governors. Such governors were early +forbidden to give their assent to any measure restricting slavery +in the American colonies, and this policy was pursued until the +colonies became independent.(11) + +The treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, +signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, contained a stipulation that +Great Britain should withdraw her armies from the United States +"with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, +or _carrying_ away any _negroes or other property_ of the American +inhabitants." Both governments thus openly recognized, not only +the existence of slavery in the United States, but that slaves were +merely _property_. + +While slavery was deeply seated in the colonies and had many +advocates, including noted divines, who preached the "divinity of +slavery," there were, in 1776, and earlier, many great men, South +as well as North, who looked confidently to an early emancipation +of slaves, and who were then active in suppressing the African +slave trade, among whom were Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, and +the two Adamses. + +Washington presided at a "Fairfax County Convention," before the +Revolution. It resolved that "no slaves ought to be imported into +any of the British colonies"; and Washington himself expressed "the +most earnest wish to see an entire stop forever put to such a +wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade."(12) + +John Wesley, when fully acquainted with American slavery and the +slave trade, pronounced the latter as "_the execrable sum of all +villanies_," and he inveighed against the former as the wickedest +of human practices. + +The Continental Congress of 1776 resolved, "that no slaves be +imported into any of the thirteen United Colonies." + +There had then been imported by the cruel traffic above 300,000 +blacks, bought or stolen from the African shore; and the blacks +then constituted twenty per cent. of the total population, a greater +per centum than at any time since. + +During the century previous to 1776, English and colonial slavers +had carried into the West Indies and to English colonies nearly +3,000,000 negroes; and it is estimated that a quarter of a million +more died of cruel treatment on shipboard, and their bodies were +cast into the sea. + +The words of the Declaration: "We hold these truths to be self- +evident: That _all men are created equal;_ that they are endowed +by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these +are _life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,_" were not accepted +in fact as a charter of freedom for the enslaved African, but it +remained for a Chief-Justice of the United States (Taney) more than +eighty years later (March 5, 1857), in the Dred Scott decision, +that did so much (as we will hereafter show) to disrupt the Union, +to say: + +"The language used in the Declaration of Independence shows that +neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor +their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then +acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included +in the general words used." + +And the Chief-Justice said further: + +"They [the negroes] had for more than a century before been regarded +as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate +with the white race, either in social or political relations; and +so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was +bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be +reduced to slavery for his benefit." + +Quoting the Declaration, "_that all men are created equal_," he +continued: + +"The general words above quoted would seem to embrace the whole +human family, and if they were used in a similar instrument at this +day would be so understood. But it is too clear for dispute that +the enslaved African race were not intended to be included, and +formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this +Declaration." + +Notwithstanding this interpretation of the Declaration, free negroes +fought for American independence at Bunker Hill; and although later +it was decided that colored men should not be accepted as enlisted +soldiers, General Washington did accept them, and thereafter they +served in his army to the end of the war,(13) notably in large +numbers at Yorktown. + +The Royal Governor of Virginia in vain tried to induce slaves to +revolt against their masters by promising them their freedom. + +During Lord Howe's march through Pennsylvania it is said the slaves +prayed for his success, believing he would set them free. + +The British Parliament discussed a measure to set the slaves in +the colonies free with a view to weaken their masters' ardor for +freedom. In Rhode Island slaves were, by law, set free on condition +that they enlisted in the army for the war. + +(10) Parton's _Life of Jefferson_, p. 138. + +(11) _History Ready Reference_, etc., vol. iv., p. 2923. + +(12) Sparks's _Life of Washington_, vol. ii., p. 494. + +(13) Bancroft, _History of the United States_, vol. iv., 223,322. + + +IV +CONTINENTAL CONGRESS--ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION 1774-1789 + +The Continental Congress, which assembled for the first time, +September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, assumed few +powers, and its proceedings were, until the adoption by it of the +Declaration of Independence, little more than protests against +British oppression. Nor was any central government formed on the +adoption of the Declaration. That Congress continued, by common +agreement, to direct affairs, though, in the beginning, possessing +no delegated political or governmental powers. + +Slavery existed in the colonies or States prior to the Declaration +by the connivance of British colonial authorities without the +sanction of and against English law; and after the Declaration, by +mere toleration as an existing domestic institution, not even by +virtue of express colonial or State authority. + +In 1772 Lord Mansfield, from the Court of the King's Bench, announced +that slavery could not exist under the English Constitution. + +The Articles of Confederation did nothing more than formulate, in +a weak way, a government for the United States, solely through a +Congress to which was delegated little political power. This +Congress continued to govern (if government it could be called) +until the Constitution went into effect, March 4, 1789. + +The "_Articles of Confederation_," adopted (July 9, 1778) by the +Continental Congress of the thirteen original States in the midst +of the Revolution, were substantially silent on slavery. They +constituted in all respects a weak and impotent instrument. But +they recognized the existence of slavery by speaking of _free_ +citizens (Art. 4). + +They provided for a "Confederation and perpetual Union" between +the thirteen States, but provided no power to raise revenue, levy +taxes, or enforce law, save with the consent of nine of the States. +The government created had power to contract debts, but no power +to pay them; it could levy war, raise armies and navies, but it +could not raise revenue to sustain them; it could make treaties, +but could not compel their observance by the States; it could make +laws, but could not enforce them. + +Washington said of it: + +"The Confederation appears to be little more than a shadow without +the substance, and Congress a nugatory body." + +Chief-Justice Story said: + +"There was an utter want of all coercive authority to carry into +effect its own constitutional measures." + +The Articles were, professedly, not in the interest of the whole +people. + +They provided only for a "_league_" of states, guaranteeing to each +state-rights in all things. + +Art. IV. runs thus: + +"The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse +among the people of the different States of this Union, the _free_ +inhabitants of each of these States, _paupers, vagabonds, and +fugitives from justice excepted_, shall be entitled to all the +privileges and immunities of _free_ citizens in the several States," +etc. + +What a classification of persons for exception from the privileges +of government! + +_Free_ negroes were not of the excepted class. Nor were criminals, +unless they became fugitives from justice. + +For ten years the new Republic existed under these Articles by the +tolerance of a people bound together by the spirit of liberty and +the cohesion of patriotism. + +The Articles created no status for slavery, nor did they interfere +with it in the States. They made no provision for a fugitive-slave +law, if, indeed, such a law was dreamed of until after the Constitution +went into effect. + +The Articles of Confederation provided no executive head, no supreme +judiciary, and they provided for no perfect legislative body, +organized on the principle of checks and restraints, possessed of +true republican representation. Congress--the sole governing power +--was composed of one body, each State sending not less than two +or more than seven representatives. The voting in this body was +done by States, each State having one vote. + +It therefore soon became necessary to frame and adopt a new organic +act, supplementing the many deficiencies of these Articles. + + +V +ORDINANCE OF 1787 + +The memorable Congress of 1776 was willing to do much to the end +that slavery might be restricted, hence, as we have seen, it resolved +"_that no slaves be imported into any of the thirteen United +Colonies_." + +Had it been possible thus early to stop effectually the slave trade, +and to prevent the extension of slavery to new territory, slavery +would have died out. Jefferson sought, shortly after the treaty +of peace, to prohibit slavery extension, and to this end he prepared +and reported an Ordinance (1784) prohibiting slavery _after the +year 1800_ in all the territory then belonging to the United States +above the parallel of 31 deg. North latitude, which included what became +the principal parts of the slave States of Alabama and Mississippi, +all of Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as the whole Northwest +Territory. In 1784 the United States owned no territory south of +31 deg. North latitude. + +This Ordinance of freedom was lost by a single vote. Had that one +vote been reversed, what a "hell of agony" would have been closed, +and what a sea of blood would have been saved! Slavery would have +died in the hands of its friends and the new Republic would have +soon been free in _fact_ as well as name. + +Jefferson, though himself a slaveholder, was desperately in earnest +in advocacy of this Ordinance, and, speaking of its prohibitory +slave-clause two years later, he wrote: + +"The voice of a single individual would have prevented that abominable +crime. Heaven will not always be silent; the friends to the rights +of human nature will in the end prevail."(14) + +The most important victory for freedom in the civil history of the +United States (until the Rebellion of 1861) was the Ordinance of +1787, reported by Nathan Dane,(15) of Massachusetts, as a substitute +for the defeated one just referred to, but differing from it in +two important respects: + +(1) It applied only to the territory northwest of the River Ohio +recently (March 1, 1784) ceded to the United States by Virginia; + +(2) It prohibited slavery at once and forever therein. Its sixth +section is in these words: + +"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the +said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof +the party shall have been duly convicted." + +But it has been, with much force, claimed by those who denied the +binding character of this Ordinance, that as it was an act of the +old Congress under the Articles of Confederation, and established +a territorial form of government, not in all respects in conformity +with the Constitution, it was necessarily superseded by it. + +This view was general on the meeting of the First Congress (1789) +under the Constitution, but the Ordinance, so dear to the hearts +of Jefferson and other lovers of liberty, was early attended to. + +On August 7, 1789, the eighth act of the First Congress, embodying +a long explanatory and declaratory preamble, was passed, and approved +by President Washington. This act in effect re-enacted the Ordinance +of 1787, adapting and applying it, however, to the Constitution by +requiring the Governor of the Northwest Territory to report and +become responsible to the President of the United States, instead +of to Congress as originally provided.(16) + +The territory which the ordinance governed was in area 260,000 +square miles, and included what is now the great states of Ohio, +Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, with, in 1890, 13,471,840 +inhabitants. + +The Ordinance is a model of perfection. It was the only great act +of legislation under the Articles of Confederation. There is +evidence that, as some members of the Congress that enacted the +Ordinance were at the same time members of the Convention that +framed the Constitution,(17) there was much intercommunication of +views between the members of the two bodies, especially on the +slavery clause of the Ordinance. It is probable that the clause +of the Constitution respecting the rendition of slaves, as well as +other provisions, was copied from the Ordinance.(18) + +Upon the surpassing excellence of this Ordinance, no language of +panegyric would be extravagant. + +It is a matchless specimen of sagacious forecast. It provides for +the descent of property, for the appointment of territorial officers, +and for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious +liberty by securing religious freedom in the inhabitants. It +prohibits legislative interference with private contracts, secures +the benefit of the writ of _habeas corpus_, trial by jury, and of +the common law in judicial proceedings: it forbids the infliction +of cruel or unusual punishments, and enjoins the encouragement of +schools and the means of education. + +The Ordinance has not only stood, unaltered, as the charter of +government for the Northwest Territory, but its clause respecting +slavery was incorporated into most of the acts passed prior to the +Rebellion providing for territorial governments. + +Historically, it will stand as the great _Magna Charta_, which, by +the prescient wisdom of our fathers, dedicated in advance of the +coming civilization the fertile and beautiful Northwest, with all +its possibilities, for all time, to freedom, education, and liberty +of conscience. + +Frequent efforts to rescind or suspend the clause restricting +slavery were made, especially after Indiana Territory was formed +in 1800. + +At the adoption of the Ordinance some slaves were held in what is +now Indiana and Illinois by immigrants from Southern States. +Slavery also existed at the Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and +other French settlements, where it had been planted under the +authority of the King of France while the territory was a part of +the French possessions. The Government of Great Britain authorized +the continuance of slavery when the territory was under its +jurisdiction. Indians as well as black men were held as slaves in +the French settlements.(19) + +Immigrants and old inhabitants favorable to slavery united in +memorials to Congress asking a suspension of the article prohibiting +slavery. The first of these was reported on adversely by a committee +of Congress, May 12, 1796. Governor William Henry Harrison, +December, 1802, presided, at Vincennes, over a meeting of citizens +of the Indiana Territory, at which it was resolved to make an +effort to secure a suspension of this article. A memorial was +drawn up, which Governor Harrison, with a letter of his own favoring +it, forwarded to Congress. They were referred to a special committee, +of which John Randolph, of Virginia, was chairman. + +He, March 2, 1803, reported: + +"That it is inexpedient to suspend, even for a limited time, the +operation of the sixth article of the compact between the original +States and the people and States west of the river Ohio." + +Adding, by way of reason, that: + +"The rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces, +in the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not +necessary to promote the growth and settlement of the colonies in +that region." + +This did not end the effort to secure slavery in the Indiana +Territory. In March, 1804, a special committee of Congress reported +in favor of the suspension of the inhibition for ten years; a +similar report was made in 1806 by Mr. Garnett, of Virginia; and +in 1807 Mr. Parker, delegate from Indiana, reported favorably on +a memorial of Governor Harrison and the Territorial Legislature, +praying for a suspension of that part of the Ordinance relating to +slavery. These reports were not acted on in the House. Subsequently, +Governor Harrison and his Legislature appealed to the Senate and +a special committee to suspend the article, but when the committee +reported adversely, all efforts to break down the legal barrier to +slavery in the Northwest Territory ceased.(20) + +But notwithstanding the mandatory terms of the Ordinance, and the +repeated failures in Congress to suspend the provision relating to +slavery, it existed in the Northwest throughout its territorial +existence and in the State of Illinois until 1844.(21) The early +slaveholding inhabitants well understood the Ordinance to mean the +absolute emancipation of their slaves, and hence manumitted them +or commenced to remove them to the Spanish territory beyond the +Mississippi. Some few of the inhabitants complained to Governor +St. Clair that the inhibition against slavery retarded the growth +of the Territory. He volunteered the opinion that the Ordinance +was not retroactive; that it did not apply to existing conditions; +that it was "a declaration of a principle which was to govern the +Legislature in all acts respecting that matter (slavery) and the +courts of justice in their decisions in cases arising after the +date of the Ordinance"; and that if Congress had intended the +immediate emancipation of slaves, compensation would have been +provided for to their owners. But he admitted Congress "had the +right to determine that _property_ of that kind afterwards acquired +should not be protected in future, and that slaves imported into +the Territory after that declaration might reclaim their freedom."(22) +This unfortunate opinion operated to continue slavery in the +Territory, and fostered the idea that the sixth article might be +annulled and slavery be made perpetual in the Territory. Governor +St. Clair was President of the Congress when the Ordinance was +passed, and his opinion in relation to it was therefore given much +weight. + +By Act of Congress, passed May 7, 1800, what is now the State of +Ohio became the Territory of Ohio, and that part of the Northwest +Territory lying west and north of Ohio was erected into the Territory +of Indiana; by like Acts, January 11, 1805, the Territory of Michigan +was formed, and February 3, 1809, all that part lying west of +Indiana and Lake Michigan became the Territory of Illinois. Prior, +however, to the last Act, the Legislature of Indiana Territory +(September 17, 1807) passed an act "to encourage emigration," making +it lawful to bring negroes and mulattoes into the Territory, "owing +service or labor as slaves." + +The act provided that these people and their children should be +held for a term of years, and if they refused to serve as slaves +they might be removed, "within sixty days thereafter," to any place +where they could be lawfully held. This statute was substantially +re-enacted by the Legislature of the Territory of Illinois in 1812. + +The first Constitution (1818) of Illinois did not prohibit slavery. +The first section of Article VI, declared that: "Neither slavery +nor involuntary servitude _shall hereafter be introduced_ into this +State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes." Slavery +existed in Illinois after it became a State. The French and Canadian +inhabitants or their descendants continued to hold colored and +Indian slaves, and others were held under the Territorial Acts of +1807 and 1812. The old slaves and their descendants, held at the +time of the cession by Virginia to the United States, were sold +from hand to hand in the State, and transported to and sold in +other slave States.(23) + +The Constitution of Indiana (1816) prohibited slavery, but slaves +were held therein until its Supreme Court in 1820, in a _habeas +corpus_ case, held the Constitution freed all persons hitherto held +in bondage, including the old French slaves, regardless of the +Ordinance of 1787, of the deed of cession of Virginia, or of any +treaty stipulations.(24) + +After the separation (1805) of Michigan from Indiana, the former's +Territorial Chief Justice held slavery existed in Michigan by virtue +of the Jay treaty (1796) with Great Britain (not otherwise) +notwithstanding the Ordinance of 1787,(25) but Michigan's Constitution +(1837) put an end to slavery in the State, as did also the Constitution +(1802) of Ohio, likewise the Constitution (1848) of Wisconsin. +Slaves shown by census reports in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and +Wisconsin after they became States, were there by tolerance, not +by legal right. + +Whatever contrariety of views obtained, and regardless of the +conflicting opinions of the courts or judges as to the effect of +the great Ordinance on the condition of the slaves in the Northwestern +Territory, certain it is that the Ordinance operated to prevent, +after its date, the legal importation of slaves into the Territory, +and hence resulted in each of the States formed therefrom becoming +free States. In the light of history it seems certain that at +least Indiana and Illinois would have become slave States but for +the Ordinance.(26) + +This Ordinance contained a clause requiring the rendition of +fugitives from "service or labor," and being applicable to only a +part of the Territory of the United States, partook of the nature +of a compromise on the slavery question,(27) and was the first of +a series of compromises, some of which are found in the Federal +Constitution, others in the Act of 1820 admitting Missouri as a +State, and also the Compromise Measures of 1850, in which Clay, +Webster, Calhoun, Seward, and others of the great statesmen of the +Union participated, all of which were, however, ruthlessly overthrown +by the Nebraska Act (1854), of which Douglas, of Illinois, was the +author. + +The slavery-restriction section of the Ordinance was copied into +and became a part of the Act of 1848 organizing the Territory of +Oregon, the champions of slavery, then in Congress, voting therefor; +and three years after the enactment of the Compromise Measures of +1850, this provision of the Ordinance was again extended over the +newly organized Territory of Washington by the concurrent votes of +substantially the same persons who voted, a year later, that all +such legislation was unconstitutional. + +But neither origin, age, nor precedent then sanctified anything in +the interest of freedom,--slavery only could appeal to such things +for justification. The propagators of human slavery were on the +track of this Ordinance; they overtook and overthrew it by +Congressional legislation in 1854; then by the Dred Scott decision +of 1857, as we shall soon see. But it reappeared in principle, in +1862, as we shall also see, and spread its wings of universal +liberty (as was its great author's purpose in 1784) over all the +territory belonging to the United States, to remain irrepealable +through time, immortalized by the approval of President Lincoln, +and endorsed by the just judgment of enlightened mankind. + +Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia each held territory not +subject to the Ordinance of 1787. + +North Carolina (December, 1789), in ceding her territory west of +her present limits, provided that: + +"No regulations made or to be made by Congress shall tend to +emancipate slaves." + +Thus Tennessee became a slave State. + +A year later (1790) Virginia consented to relinquish her remaining +territory; as Kentucky it was (June 1, 1792) admitted into the +Union and became a slave State, without ever having a separate +territorial organization. + +Georgia, in 1802, ceded the territory on her west to the United +States, and provided that the Ordinance of 1787 should extend to +the ceded territory, "the article only excepted which forbids +slavery." Thus, later, Alabama and Mississippi each became a slave +State.(28) + +(14) Jefferson's _Works_, vol. ix., 276. + +(15) The authorship of the admirably-drawn Ordinance has been much +in dispute. Thomas H. Benton, Gov. Edward Coles, and others +attribute the authorship to Jefferson; Daniel Webster and others +to Nathan Dane, while a son of Rufus King claimed him to be the +author of the article prohibiting slavery. Wm. Frederick Poole, +in a contribution to the _North American Review_, gives much of +the credit of authorship to Mr. Dane, but the chief credit for the +formation and the entire credit for the passage of the Ordinance +to Dr. Manasseh Cutler, _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i, p. 122. + +(16) On the continuing binding force of the Ordinance on States +formed out of the Northwest Territory there has been some contrariety +of opinion. In Ohio it was early held the Ordinance was more +obligatory than the State Constitution, which might be amended by +the people of the State, whereas the Ordinance could not. (5 +_Ohio_, 410, 416.) But see: 10 Howard (_U. S._), 82, and 3 Howard, +589. + +(17) Madison of Virginia, Rufus King of New York, Johnson of +Connecticut, Blount and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, and +Few of Georgia were members of both bodies.--_Historical Ex._, +etc., Dred Scott Case (Benton), p. 37 _n_. + +The Ordinance was adopted July 13, 1787; the Constitution was +adopted by the Convention September 17, 1787. + +(18) _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i, p. 134. + +(19) Dunn's _Indiana_, p. 126. + +(20) _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i, pp 120-1, note. _Historical +Ex_., etc., Dred Scott Case, pp. 32-47, etc. _Political Text Book_, +1860 (McPherson), pp. 53-4. + +(21) Not until 1844 did the highest court of Illinois decide (four +to three) that a colored man, held as a slave by a descendant of +an old French family, was free. Jarrot case (2 Gillman), 7 _Ill._, 1. + +(22) _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i., pp. 120, 206, and vol. ii, pp. +117-119, 318, 331. + +(23) Much valuable information in relation to the legal history +of slavery in the Northwest has been obtained from the manuscript +of "An Unwritten Chapter of Illinois," by ex-U. S. Judge Blodgett, +of Chicago. + +(24) State _vs_. Lasselle, 1 _Blatchford_, 60. + +(25) Cooley's _Michigan_, pp. 136-7. + +(26) For an exhaustive legal history of the slavery restriction +clause of the Ordinance and its effect on slavery in the Northwest +Territory, see Dunn's _Indiana_, pp. 219-260. + +(27) _St. Clair Papers_, vol. i., p. 122, note. + +(28) _Political Text-Book_, 1860 (McPherson), p. 53. + + +VI +CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES + +The Convention to frame the Constitution met in Philadelphia (1787). +George Washington was its President; it was composed of the leading +statesmen of the new nation, sitting in a delegate capacity, but +in voting on measures the rule of the then Congress was observed, +which was to vote by States. + +The majority of the thirteen States were then slave States, and +all, save Massachusetts, still held slaves; and all the coast States +indulged in the African slave trade. + +Massachusetts provided for the abolition of slavery in 1780 by +constitutional provision declaring that: + +"All men are born _free and equal_, and have certain natural, +essential, and unalienable rights," etc., by which declaration its +highest judicial tribunal struck the shackles at once from every +slave in the Commonwealth. + +Connecticut provided in 1784 for freeing her slaves. + +New Hampshire did not prohibit slavery by express law, but all +persons born after her Constitution of 1776 were free; and slave +importation was thereafter prohibited. + +Pennsylvania, in 1780, by law provided for the gradual emancipation +of slaves within her territory. To her German population and the +Society of Friends the credit is mainly due for this act of justice. +This Society had theretofore (1774) disowned, in its "yearly +Meeting," all its members who trafficked in slaves; and later (1776) +it resolved: + +"That the owners of slaves, who refused to execute proper instruments +for giving them their freedom, were to be disowned likewise." + +New York adopted gradual emancipation in 1799, but final emancipation +did not come until 1827. + +Rhode Island, in the first year of the First Continental Congress +(1774), enacted: + +"That for the future no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought +into the colony . . . and that all previously enslaved persons on +becoming residents of Rhode Island should obtain their freedom." + +New Jersey in 1778, through Governor Livingstone, made an attempt +at emancipation which failed; it was not until 1804 that she +prohibited slavery in what proved a qualified way, and it seems +she held slaves at each census, including that of 1860, and possibly +in some form human slavery was abolished there by the Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution. + +The census of 1790 showed slaves in all the original States save +Massachusetts alone; Vermont was admitted into the Union in 1790; +her Constitution prohibited slavery, but she returned at that census +seventeen slaves. + +The first census under the Constitution, however, showed, in the +Northern States, 40,370 slaves, and in the Southern States, 657,572; +there being in Virginia alone 293,427, nearly one half of all. + +The Convention closed its work September 17, 1787, and on the same +date George Washington, its President, by letter submitted the +"Constitution to the consideration of the United States in Congress +assembled," saying: + +"It is obviously impracticable in the Federal Government of these +States to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each and +yet provide for the interest and safety of all. . . . In all our +deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in our view that +which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, +_the consolidation of our Union_, in which is involved our prosperity, +felicity, safety; perhaps our national existence." + +This Constitution by its preamble showed it was, in many things, +to supersede and become paramount to State authority. It was to +become a _charter of freedom_ for the people collectively, and in +some sense individually. Its preamble runs thus: + +"We, the _people_ of the United States, in order to form a _more_ +perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, +provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and +secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do +ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of +America." + +Nine States were, by its seventh article, necessary to ratify it +before it went into effect. + +The ratification of the Constitution, on various grounds, was +fiercely opposed by many patriotic men, Patrick Henry among the +number. Some thought it did not contain sufficient guarantees for +individual freedom, others that private rights of property were +not adequately secured, and still others that States were curtailed +or abridged of their governmental authority and too much power was +taken from the people and centered in the Federal Government. +Mason, of Virginia, a member of the Convention that framed it, led +a party who opposed it on the ground, among others, that it authorized +Congress to levy duties on imports and to thus encourage home +industries and manufactories, promotive of free labor, inimical +and dangerous to human slavery. The best efforts and influence of +Washington and other friends of the Constitution would not have +been sufficient to secure its ratification had they not placated +many of its enemies by promising to adopt, promptly on its going +into effect, the amendments numbered one to ten inclusive. (The +First Congress, September 25, 1789, submitted those ten amendments +according to the agreement, and they were shortly thereafter ratified +and became a part of the Constitution.) + +By a resolution of the Old Congress, of September 13, 1788, March +4, 1789, was fixed as the time for commencing proceedings under +the Constitution. At the date of this resolution eleven of the +thirteen States had ratified it. North Carolina ratified it November +21, 1789, and Rhode Island, the last, on May 29, 1790. + +Vermont, not of the original thirteen States, ratified the Constitution +January 10, 1791, over a month prior to her admission into the +Union. This latter event occurred February 18, 1791. + +Thus fourteen States became, almost at the same time, members of +the Union under the Constitution, and each and all of which then +held or had theretofore held slaves. + +Notwithstanding all this, there were many of the framers of the +Constitution and its warmest friends who sincerely desired to +provide for the early abolition of slavery, some by gradual +emancipation, others by heroic measures; and there were many from +the South who favored emancipation, while by no means all the +leading and influential citizens of the Northern States desired it. + +It may, however, be assumed, in the light of authentic history, +that the majority of the framers of the Constitution, and a majority +of its friends in the States, hoped and believed that slavery would +not be permanent under it. In this belief it was framed. Slavery +was not affirmatively recognized in it, though there was much +discussion as to it in the Constitutional Convention. There was +no attempt to abolish it; such an attempt would have failed in the +Convention, and the Constitution, so necessary to the new nation, +had it even provided for gradual emancipation, would not have been +ratified by the States. + +It can hardly be said that the Constitution was framed on the line +of compromise as to the preservation of human slavery, though it +was necessary, in some occult ways, to recognize its existence. +This was in the nature, however, of a concession to it; the word +_slave_ or _slavery_ was not used in it. + +The Supreme Court of the United States, however, early interpreted +the third clause of Section IV., Article 2, as providing for the +return from one State to another of fugitive slaves. This +interpretation has been, on high authority, and with much reason, +in the light of history, stoutly denied. The clause reads: + +"No person _held to service or labor_ in one State, under the laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law +or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, +but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service +or labor is due." + +The "service or labor" here referred to, it is claimed, was that +owing by persons who were under indentures of some kind, growing +out of contracts for transportation into the colonies of persons +from the Old World, and possibly growing out of other contract +obligations wherein they had agreed, for a long or short term, to +perform "service or labor." Many such obligations then existed. + +Slaves were not then nor since regarded by their owners as "_persons_" +merely "held to service or labor," but they were held as personal +chattels, owing no duty to their masters distinguishable from that +owing by an ox, a horse, or an ass. + +But the supreme judiciary and the executive and legislative +departments of the government came soon to treat this as a fugitive- +slave clause. It is only now interesting to examine its peculiar +phraseology and the history and surrounding circumstances under +which it became a part of the Constitution, to demonstrate the +great care and desire of the eminent and liberty-loving framers of +the Constitution to avoid the direct recognition of African slavery. + +The only other clause in which the adherents of slavery claimed it +was recognized is paragraph 3, Section 2, Article I., which provided +that: + +"Representation and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the +several States . . . according to their respective numbers, which +shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, +including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding +Indians not taxed, _three fifths of all other persons_." + +The "other persons" referred to here, if only slaves, are very +delicately described. But this clause, too, came to be recognized +by all the departments of the government as referring to slaves. +It is quite sure that if the good and plain men of the Revolutionary +period had been dealing with a subject not shocking to their +consciences, sense of justice, and humanity, they would have dealt +with it in plain words, of direct and not doubtful import. + +The clause of the Constitution giving representation in the House +of Representative of Congress and in the Electoral College in the +choice of President and Vice-President, came soon to be regarded +as unjust to the free States. Three fifths of all slaves were +counted to give representation to free persons of the South; that +is, three fifths of all _slave property_ was counted numerically, +and thus, in many Congressional districts, the vote of one slaveholder +was more than equal to two votes in a free State. For example, in +1850, the number of free inhabitants in the slave States was +6,412,605, and in the free States, 13,434,686, more than double. +The representation in Congress from the slave States was 90 members, +from the free States 144. Three fifths of the slaves were 1,920,182, +giving the South 20 (a fraction more) members, the ratio of +representation then being 93,420. If the 234 representatives had +been apportioned equally, according to free inhabitants, the North +would have had 159 and the South 75, a gain of fifteen to the free +and a loss of that number to the slave States, a gain of 30 to the +North. + +The same injustice was shown in levying direct taxes. (All this, +however, has been changed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the +Constitution.) + +The same discriminating language is used (Sec. 9, Art. I.) when +obviously referring to the African slave trade. A strong sentiment +existed in favor of putting an end at once to the traffic in human +being; the Christian consciences of our forefathers revolted at +its wickedness, and there was then beginning a general movement +throughout the civilized world against it. Some European countries +had denounced it as piracy. + +It was, however, profitable, and much capital was invested in it, +and there was even then an increased demand for slaves in the +cotton, rice, and tobacco States. + +It was feared so radical a measure as the immediate stoppage of +this trade would endanger the Constitution, and as to this, also, +it was deemed wise to compromise; so Congress was prohibited from +legislating to prevent it prior to the year 1808. This trade was +not only then carried on by our own people, but, through ships of +other countries, slaves were imported into the United States. Each +State was left free to prohibit the importation of slaves within +its limits. + +We have now referred to all the clauses of the Constitution as +originally adopted relating, by construction or possibility, to +slavery or slave labor. + +The Republic, under this _great charter_, set out upon the career +of a nation, properly aspiring to become of the first among the +powers of the earth, and succeeding in the higher sense in this +ambition, it yet remains to be told how near our Republic came, in +time, to the brink of that engulfing chasm which in past ages has +swallowed up other nations for their wicked oppression and enslavement +of man. + +Slavery, thus delicately treated in our Constitution, brought that +Republic, in less than three quarters of a century, to the throes +of death, as we shall see. + + +VII +CAUSES OF GROWTH OF SLAVERY + +It may be well here, before speaking of slavery in its legislative +history under the Constitution, to refer briefly to some of the +more important causes of its growth and extension, other than +political. + +First in importance was cotton. It required cheap labor to cultivate +it with profit, and even then, at first, it was not profitable. +The invention by Whitney of the cotton-gin, in 1793, was the most +important single invention up to that time in agriculture, if not +the most important of any time, and especially is this true as +affecting cotton planters. + +Cotton was indigenous to America; the soil and climate of the South +were well adapted to its growth. Its culture from the seed was +there very easy, but the separation of the seed from the fibre was +so slow that it required an average hand one day to secure one +pound. + +Whitney's cotton-gin, however, at once increased the amount from +one to fifty pounds. + +This invention came at a most opportune time for slavery in the +United States, as the cheapness of rice, indigo, and other staples +of the South were such as to prevent their large and profitable +production even with the labor of slaves. Cotton was not, in 1794, +the date of Jay's treaty with Great Britain, known to him as an +article of export. Soon, by the use of the cotton-gin, cotton +became the principal article of export from the United States; +cotton plantations rapidly increased in size and number, and their +owners multiplied their slaves and grew rich. Cotton production +increased from 1793 to 1860 one thousand fold. + +It is highly probably that Eli Whitney's cotton-gin operated to +prevent the much-hoped-for early emancipation of slaves in America, +and that thus the inventive genius of man was instrumental in +forging the fetters of man. + +Other products, such as rice and sugar, were successfully produced +in the South, but the demand for them was limited by competition +in other countries, in some of which slave labor was employed. +The ease of producing cotton stimulated its common use throughout +the world, and it soon became a necessary commodity in all civilized +countries. "Cotton is king" was the cry of the slaveholder and +the exporter. Southern aristocracy rested on it. In the more +northern of the slave States, where cotton, on account of the +climate, could not be successfully grown, the breeding of slaves +with which to supply the cotton planters with the requisite number +of hands became a source of great profit; and the slave trade was +revived to aid in supplying the same great demand. + +Tobacco and some of the cereals were also produced by slave labor, +but they could be produced by free labor North as well as South. +Of the above 3,000,000 slaves in the United States in 1850, it has +been estimated that 1,800,000 were employed in the growth and +preservation of cotton alone, and its value that year was $105,600,000, +while the sugar product was valued, the same year, at only $12,400,000, +and rice at $3,000,000. The total domestic exports for the year +ending 1850 were $137,000,000, of which cotton reached $72,000,000, +and all breadstuffs and provisions only $26,000,000.(29) + +(29) DeBow's _Resource_, etc., vol. iii., p. 388. + + +VIII +FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW--1793 + +Contemporaneous with the cotton-gin came, in 1793, the first fugitive- +slave law. + +The Constitution was not self-executing, if it really contained, +as we have seen, a clause requiring escaped slaves to be surrendered +from one State to their masters in another. + +The Governor of the State of Virginia refused the rendition of +three kidnappers of a free negro, on the requisition of the Governor +of Pennsylvania, from which State he had been kidnapped, on the +sole ground that no law required the surrender of fugitive slaves +from Virginia. The controversy thus arising was called to the +attention of President Washington and by him to Congress, and it +ended by the passage of the first fugitive-slave act. It was for +a time tolerably satisfactory to the different sections of the +country, though in itself the most flagrant attempt to violate +state-rights, judged from the more modern secession, state-rights +standpoint, ever attempted by Federal authority. + +It required _state magistrates_, who owed their offices solely to +state law, to sit in judgment in fugitive-slave cases, and to aid +in returning to slavery negroes claimed as slaves by masters from +foreign States. The act provided for the return of fugitive +apprentices as well as fugitive slaves. + +In time the Northern States became free, and the public conscience +in them became so changed that the magistrates were deterred or +unwilling to act in execution of the law. Massachusetts and +Pennsylvania each passed a law making it penal for any of their +officers to perform any duties or to take cognizance of any case +under the fugitive-slave law. Other States, through their judiciary, +pronounced it unconstitutional, even some of the Federal judges +doubted its consonance with the Constitution, but, such as it was, +it lasted until 1850. It did not provide for a jury trial. The +scenes enacted in its execution shocked the moral sense of mankind, +and even the slaveholder often shrank from attempting its execution. + +But it was not until about the time of the excitement of the fugitive- +slave law of 1850 that the highest excitement prevailed in the +North over its enforcement, and of this we shall speak hereafter. + + +IX +SLAVE TRADE: ABOLISHED BY LAW + +In the English Parliament, in 1776, the year of the Declaration of +Independence, the first motion was made towards the abolition of +the slave trade, long theretofore fostered by English kings and +queens, but not until 1807 did the British moral sense rise high +enough to pass, at Lord Granville's instance, the famous act for +"the Abolition of the Slave Trade." As early as 1794 the United +States prohibited their subjects from trading in slaves to foreign +countries; and in 1807, they prohibited the importation of slaves +into any of the States, to take effect at the beginning of 1808, +the earliest time possible, as we have seen, under the Constitution. +But it was not until 1820 that slave-traders were declared pirates, +punishable as such. + +The prohibition of the slave trade by law did not effectually end +it, nor was the law declaring it piracy wholly effectual, though +the latter did much, through the co-operation of other nations, to +restrict it. + +There were active movements in 1852 and 1858, in the South, to +revive the African slave trade, and especially was there fierce +opposition to the "piracy act." Jefferson Davis, at a convention +in Mississippi, July, 1858, advocated the repeal of the latter act, +but doubted the practicability then of abrogating the law prohibiting +slave traffic.(30) + +It is worthy of mention here that April 20th, eight days after +Sumter was fired upon, Commander Alfred Taylor, commanding the +United States naval ship _Saratoga_, in the port of Kabenda, Africa, +captured the _Nightingale of Boston_, flying American colors, with +a cargo of 961 recently captured, stolen, or purchased African +negroes, destined to be carried to some American part and there +sold into slavery. This human cargo was sent to the humane Rev. +John Seys, at Monrovia, Liberia, to be provided for. One hundred +and sixty died on a fourteen-days' sea-voyage, from ship-fever and +confinement, though the utmost care was taken by Lieutenant Guthrie +and the crew of the slaver for their comfort.(31) + +The laws abolishing the foreign slave trade and prohibiting the +introduction of African slaves (after 1807) into the United States +even helped to rivet slavery more firmly therein. They more than +doubled the value of a slave, and, therefore, incited slave-breeding +to supply the increasing demand in the cotton States, and in time +this proved so profitable that the South sought new territory whence +slavery could be extended, and out of which slave States could be +formed. + +The "_Declaration against the Slave Trade_" of the world, signed +by the representatives of the "Powers" at the Congress of Vienna, +in 1815, and repeated at the Congress of Paris at the end of the +Napoleonic wars, was potential enough to abate but not to end this +most inhuman and sinful trade.(32) + +Even as late as 1816, English merchants, supported by the corporations +of London and Liverpool, through mercantile jealousy, and pretending +to believe that the very existence of commerce on the seas and +their own existence depended on the continuance of the slave trade, +not only opposed the abolition of the black slave traffic, but they +opposed the abolition of _white slavery_ in Algiers.(33) + +This nefarious traffic did not cease in the United States, although +at the Treaty of Ghent (1815) it was declared that: "Whereas the +traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with the principles of humanity +and justice," and the two countries (Great Britain and the United +States) therein stipulated to use their best endeavors to abolish it. + +The revival of the slave trade was openly advocated by leading +Southern politicians, and the illicit traffic greatly increased +immediately after the admission into the Union of Texas as a State +and the aggressions on Mexico for more slave territory, and especially +just after the discussions over the Compromise measures of 1850 +and the Nebraska Act of 1854, followed by the Dred Scott decision +in 1857. It was principally carried on under the United States +flag, the ships carrying it denying the right of search to foreign +vessels engaged in suppressing the trade. British officials claimed +in June, 1850, "that at least one half of the successful part of +the slave trade was carried on under the American flag." The +fitting out of slavers centred at New York city; Boston and New +Orleans being good seconds. Twenty-one of twenty-two slavers taken +by British cruisers in 1857-58 were from New York, Boston, and New +Orleans. + +"During eighteen months of the years 1859-60 eighty-five slavers +are reported to have fitted out in New York harbor, and these alone +transported from 30,000 to 60,000 slaves annually to America."(34) + +The greed of man for gain has smothered and will ever smother the +human conscience. The slave trade, under the denunciation of +piracy, still exists, and will exist until African slavery ceases +throughout the world. So long as there is a demand, at good prices, +this wicked traffic will go on, and in the jungles of Africa there +will be found stealers of human beings. + +(30) Rhode's _Hist. United States_, vol. ii., p. 372. + +(31) Official Records, etc., _Navies of the War of the Rebellion_, +vol. i., p. 11. + +(32) It stands to the eternal credit of Napoleon that on his return +from Elba to Paris (1815) he decreed for France the total abolition +of the slave-trade. This decree was confirmed by the Bourbon +dynasty in 1818. _Suppression of African Slave Trade U. S._ +(DuBois), p. 247. + +(33) Osler's _Life of Exmouth_, p. 303; _Slavery, Letters_, etc., +Horace Mann, p. 276. + +(34) _Sup. of African Slave Trade_ (DuBois) pp. 135, 178-9. + + +X +LOUISIANA PURCHASE + +In 1803, Napoleon, fearing that he could not hold his distant +American possession, known as the Louisiana Province, acquired from +Spain, and which by treaty was to be re-ceded to Spain and not +disposed of to any other nation, put aside all scruples and good +faith, and for 60,000,000 francs, on April 30th signed a treaty of +cession of the vast territory, then mostly uninhabited, to the +United States. This was in Jefferson's administration. + +The United States bought this domain and its people just as they +might buy unoccupied lands with animals on it. + +It was early claimed as slave territory. There were only a few +slaves within its limits when purchased, though slavery was recognized +there. This purchase was a most important one, although at the +time it was not so regarded. + +The Louisiana Purchase was much greater, territorially speaking, +than all the States then in the Union, with all its other +possessions.(35) + +It comprised what are now the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, +Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, nearly all +of Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, large parts of Colorado +and the Indian Territory, and a portion of Idaho. These States +and Territories in 1890 contained 11,804,101 inhabitants. + +At the time of this great acquisition a conviction prevailed that +slavery was rapidly diminishing. Adams and Jefferson, each, while +President, entertained the belief that slavery would, ere long, +come to a peaceful end. It might then have been possible, by law +of Congress, to devote this new region to freedom, but, as slavery +existed at and around New Orleans in 1812 when the State of Louisiana +was admitted into the Union, it became a slave State. This fate +was largely due to the claim of its original inhabitants that they +were secured the right to hold slaves by the treaty of cession from +France. + +Later on, the provision of this treaty, under which it was claimed +slavery was perpetuated, was a subject of much discussion, and on +it was founded the most absurd arguments on behalf of the slave +power. + +Its third article was the sole one referred to as fastening forever +the institution of slavery on the inhabitants of this vast empire. +There are those yet living who deny that, even under the present +Constitution of the United States or the constitutions of the States +since erected therein, slavery is _lawfully_ excluded therefrom. + +This article reads: + +"The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in +the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, +according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the +enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens +of the United States; and in the meantime they shall be maintained +and protected in the enjoyment of their liberty, _property_, and +the religion they profess." + +Justice Catron, of the United States Supreme Court, speaking in +the Dred Scott case, for the majority of the court and of this +article, says: + +"Louisiana was a province where slavery was not only lawful, but +where property in slaves was the most valuable of all personal +property. The province was ceded as a _unit_, with an equal right +pertaining to all its inhabitants, in every part thereof, to own +slaves." + +He and others of the concurring justices held that the inhabitants +at the time of the purchase, also all immigrants after the cession, +were protected in the right to hold slaves in the entire purchase. + +Near the close of his opinion, still speaking of this article and +the acquired territory, he says: + +"The right of the United States in or over it depends on the contract +of cession, which operates to incorporate as well the Territory as +its inhabitants into the Union. + +"My opinion is that the third article of the treaty of 1803, ceding +Louisiana to the United States, stands protected by the Constitution, +and cannot be repealed by Congress." + +This view was heroically combatted by a minority of the court, +especially by Justices McLean and Curtis. The latter, in his +opinion, said + +"That a treaty with a foreign nation cannot deprive Congress of +any part of its legislative power conferred by the people, so that +it no longer can legislate as it is empowered by the Constitution." + +Also, that if the treaty expressly prohibited (as it did not) the +exclusion of slavery from the ceded territory the "court could not +declare that an act of Congress excluding it was void by force of +the treaty. . . . A refusal to execute such a stipulation would +not be a judicial, but a political and legislative question. . . . +It would belong to diplomacy and legislation, and not to the +administration of existing laws."(36) + +Plainly no part of the treaty of cession fastened slavery, or any +other institution of France, on the territory ceded to the United +States. If its provisions were violated by the United States, +France, internationally, or the inhabitants at the date of the +treaty, might have complained and had redress. Obviously the treaty +had no bearing on the question of slavery in the United States, +but its provisions were seized upon, as was every possible pretext, +by the votaries of slavery to maintain and extend it. + +It was also, by a majority of the court, held in this memorable +case (hereafter to be mentioned) that under the third article of +the cession slaves could be taken from any State into any part of +the Louisiana Purchase during its territorial state, and there +held, and hence that the Missouri Compromise, of 1820, forbidding +slavery in the territory north of 36 deg. 30', was in violation of the +treaty and was unconstitutional, as were all other acts of Congress +excluding slavery from United States territory. This was in the +heyday (1857) of the slave power, and when it aspired, practically, +to make slavery national. + +This aggressive policy, as we shall see when we come to consider +the Nebraska Act of 1854 relating to a principal part of the +Louisiana Purchase, led to a great uprising of the friends of +freedom, the political overthrow of the advocates of slavery in +most branches of the Union; then to secession; then to war, whence +came, with peace, universal freedom, and slavery in the Republic +forever dead. + +(35) For map showing territory acquired by the U. S., by each +treaty, etc., see _History Ready Ref._, vol. v., p. 3286, and +_Louisiana Purchase_ (Hermann, Com. Gen. Land Office). The original +thirteen States and Territories comprised 8,927,844 sq. mi. The +Louisiana Purchase, 1,171,931, sq. mi. + +(36) Dred Scott Case, 19 Howard, 393, etc. + + +XI +FLORIDA + +Florida did not become a slave colony even on being taken possession +of by the English in 1763, nor on its re-conquest by Spain in 1781. + +By the treaty of peace at the end of the war of the Revolution +(1783) Great Britain recognized as part of the southern boundary +of the United States a line due east from the Mississippi at 31 deg. +of latitude; and at the same time, by a separate treaty, she ceded +to Spain the then two Floridas. Florida became a refuge for fugitive +slaves from Georgia and South Carolina. + +"Georgians could never forget that the _fugitive_ slaves were +roaming about the Everglades of Florida."(37) + +The Seminole Indians welcomed to their wild freedom the escaped +negro from the lash of the overseer, and consequently the long and +bloody Florida Indian wars were literally a slave hunt. The wild +tribes of Indians knew no fugitive-slave law. + +In the War of 1812, Spain permitted the English to occupy, for +their purposes, some points in Florida. When the war ended they +abandoned a fort on the Appalachicola, about fifteen miles above +its mouth, with a large amount of arms and ammunition. This fort +the fugitive negroes seized and held for about _three years_ as a +refuge for escaped slaves, and, consequently, as a menace to slavery. +It was during this time called "Negro Fort." At the instigation +of slave owners, it was attacked by General Gaines of the United +States Army. + +"A hot shot penetrated one of the magazines, and the whole fort +was blown to pieces, July 27, 1816. There were 300 negro men, +women, and children, and 20 Choctaws in the fort; 270 were killed. +Only three came out unhurt, and these were killed by the allied +Indians." + +Thus slavery established and maintained itself, through individual +and national crime and blood, until the day when God's retributive +justice should come. And we shall see how thoroughly His justice +was meted out; how "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," +measure of blood for measure of blood, anguish for anguish, came +to the dominating white race! + +It was not until February, 1821, that notice of the ratification +of a treaty, made two years before, was received, by which Spain +ceded Florida to the United States in consideration of their paying +$5,000,000 in satisfaction of American claims against Spain. + +This was not all the Republic paid for Florida. A second Seminole +war (1835-43) ensued, the bloodiest and most costly of all our +Indian wars, in which the Indians were assisted by fugitive slaves +and their descendants, in whom the negro blood was admixed, often +with the white blood of former masters, and again with the +Indian.(38) + +At the end of eight years, after many valuable lives had been lost, +and $30,000,000 had been expended, but not until after the great +Seminole leader (Osceola (39)) had been, by deliberate treachery +and bad faith, captured, and the Indians had been worn out rather +than conquered, Florida became an American province, and two years +thereafter (1845) a slave State in the Union. + +The extinction of the brave Seminole Indians left no _race_-friend +of the poor enslaved negro. Untutored as they were, they knew what +freedom was, and, until 1861, they were the only people on the +American continent to furnish an asylum and to shed their blood +for the wronged African. + +Florida, as a slave State, was a factor in establishing a balance +of power, politically, between the North and South. + +As the war between the United States and Great Britain (1812-15) +did not grow out of slavery, nor was it waged to acquire more slave +territory, nor did it directly tend to perpetuate slavery where +established, we pass it over. + +(37) W. G. Summer's _Andrew Jackson_, ch. iii. + +(38) In 1821 at Indian Springs, Florida, a forced treaty was +negotiated with the Creek Indians for part of their lands by which +the United States agreed to apply $109,000 of the purchase price +as compensation to Georgia claimants for escaped slaves, and $141,000 +for "_the offsprings which the females would have borne to their +masters had they remained in bondage_."--_Rise and Fall of Slavery_ +(Wilson), vol. i, 132,454. + +(39) _Osceola_, or _As-Se-He-Ho-Lar_ (black drink), was the son +of Wm. Powell, an English Indian-trader, born in Georgia, 1804, of +a daughter of a Seminole chief. His mother took him early to +Florida. He rose rapidly to be head war-chief, and married a +daughter of a fugitive slave who was treacherously stolen from him, +as a slave, while he was on a visit to Fort King. When he demanded +of General Thompson, the Indian agent, her release, he was put in +irons, but released after six days. A little later, December, +1835, he avenged himself by killing Thompson and four others outside +of the fort, thus inaugurating the second Seminole war. He hated +the white race, and his ambition was to furnish a safe asylum for +fugitive slaves. + +Surprises and massacres ensued for two years, Osceola showing great +bravery and skill, and _not_ excelling his white adversaries in +treachery. He fought Generals Clinch, Gaines, Taylor and Jesup, +of the U. S. A. Jesup induced him (Oct. 21, 1837) under a flag of +truce to hold a parley near St. Augustine, where Jesup treacherously +caused him to be seized, and the U. S. authorities (treating him +as England treated Napoleon) immured him in captivity for life, +hopelessly, at Fort Moultrie. His free spirit could not endure +this, and he died of a broken heart three months later (January +30, 1838), at thirty-four years of age. His body lies buried on +Sullivan's Island, afterwards the scene of a larger struggle for +human freedom. + +The remains of the _civilized_ statesman-champion of perpetual +_human_ slavery, Calhoun, and the remains of the savage, untutored +Seminole _Chief_, Oscoeola, the champion of _human liberty_, lie +buried near Charleston, S. C. Let the ages judge each--kindly! + + +XII +MISSOURI COMPROMISE--1820 + +In pursuance of the policy of trying to balance, politically, +freedom and slavery, and to deal tenderly with the latter, and not +offend its champions, new States were admitted into the Union in +pairs, one free and one slave. + +Thus Vermont and Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio, Louisiana and Indiana, +Mississippi and Illinois were coupled, preserving in the Senate an +exact balance of power.(40) + +When Missouri had framed a Constitution (1819) and applied for +admission into the Union, Alabama was on the point of admission as +a slave State, and was admitted the same year, and thus the usage +required the admission of Missouri as a free State. In 1790 the +two sections were nearly equal in population, but in 1820 the North +had nearly 700,000 more inhabitants than the South. + +Missouri was a part of the Louisiana Purchase, and she had in 1820 +above 10,000 slaves. + +The usual form of a bill was prepared admitting her, with slavery, +on an equal footing with other States. It came up for consideration +in the House during the session of 1818-1819, and Mr. Tallmadge, +of New York, precipitated a controversy, which was participated in +by all the great statesmen, North and South, who were then on the +political stage. + +He offered to amend the bill so as to prohibit the further introduction +of slaves into Missouri, and providing that all children born in +the State after its admission should be free at twenty-five years +of age. + +This amendment was a signal for the fiercest opposition. Clay and +Webster, Wm. Pinckney of Maryland, and Rufus King of New York, John +Randolph of Roanoke, Fisher Ames, and others, who were in the early +prime of their manhood, were heard in the fray. In it the first +real threats of disunion, if slavery were interfered with, were +heard. It is more than possible those threats pierced the ears of +John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who still survived,(41) and caused +them to despair of the Republic. + +It is worthy of note that none of the great statesmen engaged in +this first memorable combat in which the Union was threatened in +slavery's cause, lived to confront disunion in fact, face to face. + +Clay, then Speaker of the House, and possessed of great influence, +spoke first in opposition to the amendment. Though his speech, +like others of that time, was not reported, we know he denied the +power of Congress to impose conditions upon a new State after its +admission to the Union. He maintained the sovereign right of each +State to be slave or free. He did not profess to be an advocate +of slavery. He, however, vehemently asserted that a restriction +of slavery was cruel to the slaves already held. While their +numbers would be the same, it would so crowd them in narrow limits +as to expose them "in the old, exhausted States to destitution, +and even to lean and haggard starvation, instead of allowing them +to share the fat plenty of the new West."(42) (What an argument +in favor of perpetuating an immoral thing! So spread it over the +world as to make it thin, yet fatten it!) + +Clay's arguments were the most specious and weighty of those made +against the amendment. And they did not fail to claim the amendment +was in violation of the third article of the cession of Louisiana, +already, in another connection, referred to. + +The Missouri delegate denounced the amendment as a shameful +discrimination against Missouri and slavery, which would endanger +the Union; in this latter cry a member from Georgia joined. + +The friends of the amendment fearlessly answered Clay's speech and +the speeches of others. The House was reminded that the great +Ordinance of 1787, passed contemporaneous with the adoption of the +Constitution, and approved and enforced by its framers (some of +whom were also then members of the Continental Congress) imposed +an absolute inhibition on slavery forever, precedent to the admission +of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the other States to be formed from +the Northwest Territory; they showed the treaty with France did +not profess to perpetuate slavery in the ceded Territory; they +denounced slavery as an evil, unnatural, cruel, opposed to the +principles of the Declaration of Independence, and that it had only +been tolerated, not approved, by the Constitution; and Mr. Talmadge +closed the debate by characterizing slavery as a "scourge of the +human race," certain to bring on "dire calamities to the human +race"; ending by boldly defying those who threatened, if slavery +were restricted, to dissolve the Union of the States. This amendment +passed the House, 87 to 76, but was beaten, the same session, in +the Senate, 22 to 16; one Senator from Massachusetts, one from +Pennsylvania, and two from Illinois voted with the South. Again +the too often easily frightened Northern statesmen struck their +colors just when the battle was won. + +In January (1820) of the succeeding Congress the measure was again +under consideration in the Senate, then composed of only forty-four +members. It was then that Rufus King and Wm. Pinckney, the former +for, the latter against, the slavery restriction amendment, displayed +their eloquence. Pinckney, a lawyer of much general learning, +paraphrased a passage of Burke to the effect that "the spirit of +liberty was more high and haughty in the slaveholding colonies than +in those to the northward." He also planted himself, with others +from the South, on state-sovereignty, afterwards more commonly +called "state-rights," and in time tortured into a doctrine which +led to nullification--Secession--_War_. + +All these speeches were answered in both Houses by able opponents +of slavery extension, but meantime a matter arose which did much +to favor the admission of Missouri as a slave State. + +Maine, but recently separated from Massachusetts, applied for +statehood, and could not be refused. + +A Senator from Illinois (Mr. Thomas) introduced a proviso which +prohibited slavery north of 36 deg. 30' in the Louisiana acquisition, +except in Missouri. + +Here, again, at the expense of freedom, was an opportunity for +_compromise_. It was promptly seized upon. It was agreed that +Maine, where by no possibility slavery would or could go, should +come into the Union as a free State; Missouri as a slave State, +and the proviso limiting slavery in the remaining territory south +of 36 deg. 30' should be adopted. This compromise was adopted in the +Senate, and later, after close votes on amendments, the House also +agreed to it. John Randolph and thirty-seven Southern members +voted against it, and, but for weak-kneed Northern members, it +would have failed. This compromise Randolph said was a "_dirty +bargain_," and the Northern members who supported it he denounced +as "doughfaces,"--a coined phrase still known to our political +vocabulary. + +Missouri, however, did not become a State until August, 1821. +Thus, for the time only was this question settled. + +Of it Jefferson wrote, as if in prophecy: + +"This momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened +and filled me with terror. I considered it the knell of the +Union."(43) + +Clay wrote of the height to which the heated debate arose: + +"The words civil war and disunion are uttered almost without +emotion."(44) + +(40) Later, Arkansas and Michigan (1836-7), Florida and Iowa (March +3, 1845) and Maine and Missouri were, in pairs--slave and free-- +admitted as States. + +(41) Both died July 4, 1826. + +(42) Hildreth, vol. vi., p. 664. + +(43) Jefferson's _Works_, vol. vii., p. 159. + +(44) Clay's _Priv. Cor._, p. 61. + + +XIII +NULLIFICATION--1832-3 (1835) + +A debate arose in the United States Senate over a resolution of +Senator Foote of Connecticut proposing to limit the sale of the +public lands, which took a wide range. Hayne of South Carolina +elaborately set forth the doctrine of nullification, claiming it +inhered in each State under the Constitution. He boldly announced +that the Union formed was only a _league_ or a _compact_. This +called forth from Webster his celebrated "Reply to Hayne," of +January 26, 1830, in which he assailed and apparently overthrew +the then new doctrine of nullification. He denounced its exercise +as incompatible with a loyal adherence to the Constitution, and +showed historically that the government formed under it was not a +mere "compact" or "_league_" between sovereign or independent States +terminable at will. He then asserted that any attempt of any State +to act on the theory of nullification would inevitably entail civil +war or a dissolution of the Union. + +The first real attempt, however, at nullification, or the first +attempt of a State to declare laws of Congress nugatory and of no +binding force when not approved by the State, was made in South +Carolina in 1832, under the leadership of John C. Calhoun, then +Vice-President of the United States, and hitherto a statesman of +so much just renown, and esteemed so moderate and patriotic in his +views on all national questions as to have been looked upon, with +the special approval of the North, as eminently qualified for the +Presidency. He hopefully aspired to it until he quarrelled with +President Jackson; he had been in favor of a protective tariff. + +Cotton was, as we have seen, the principal article of export, and +the slaveholding cotton planters conceived the idea that to secure +a market for it there must be no duties on imports, and that home +manufactures of needed articles for consumption would restrict the +foreign demand for the raw material. Besides, the South with its +slave labor could not indulge in manufacturing. A tariff on imports +meant protection to home industries and to free white labor, both +inimical to slavery. Some leading Southern statesmen, adherents +of slavery, had vehemently opposed the ratification of the Constitution +of 1787, on the ground that as it empowered Congress to levy import +duties, it would encourage and build up home industries, with free +labor; and they prophesied that with them slavery would eventually +become unprofitable and therefore unpopular, hence would die. This +idea never left the Southern mind, so, when the Confederacy of 1861 +was formed, its Constitution (framed at Montgomery, Alabama) +prohibited such duties for the express reason that no branch of +industry was to be promoted in the new slave government, using this +language: + +"Nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations +be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry."(45) + +This was then supposed to be the highest bulwark of slavery. Its +votaries understood its strength and weakness. Independent, well- +paid free labor and industries (46) would ennoble the men of toil, +bring wealth and power, build up populous towns and cities, and +consequently overwhelm, politically and otherwise, the institution +of slavery, or draw into successful social competition with plantation +life wealthy inhabitants who knew not slavery and its demoralizing +influences. + +Already, in 1832, the effects of protection on the prosperity of +our country were manifest, especially since the Tariff Act of 1828, +which levied a duty equivalent to 45 per cent. ad valorem. The +Act of 1832 made a small reduction in the duties, but because it +was claimed it did not distribute them equally, nullification was +determined on as the remedy. + +It was agreed by the strict constructionists of that day that a +State Legislature could not declare a law of the United States +void, but to do this the _people_ must speak through a convention. +Such a convention met in South Carolina, in November, 1832, and +passed a Nullification Ordinance, declaring the tariff acts "null +and void," not binding on the State, and that under them no duties +should be paid in the State after February 1, 1833. + +Immediately thereafter medals were struck, inscribed "_John C. +Calhoun, first President of the Southern Confederacy_." Nullification, +thus proclaimed, was the legitimate forerunner of secession. + +President Jackson, with his heroic love of the Union, regarded the +movement as only _treason;_ he called it that in his proclamations; +he prepared to collect the duties in Charleston or to confiscate +the cargoes; he warned the nullifiers by the presence of General +Scott there that he would be promptly used to coerce the State into +loyalty; and he seemed eager to find an excuse for arresting, +condemning for treason, and hanging Calhoun, who then went to +Washington as a Senator, resigning the Vice-Presidency.(47) + +Jackson tersely said: + +"To say that any State may, at pleasure, secede from the Union, is +to say that the United States are not a nation." + +The situation was too imminent for Calhoun's nerves. To confront +an indignant nation, led by a fearless, never doubting President, +was a different thing then from what it was in 1860-61 with Buchanan +as President, surrounded as he was by traitors in his Cabinet. +Calhoun and his State backed down, and import duties continued to +be collected in South Carolina, although a gradual reduction of +them was made an excuse for Calhoun and his friends in Congress, +in 1833, to vote for a protective tariff act, so recently before +by them declared unconstitutional.(48) + +On a "Force Bill" and a new tariff act being passed (March 15, +1833) the Nullification Ordinance was repealed in South Carolina. +The next Ordinance of Secession of this State (1860) was based on +the principles of the first one and the doctrines of Calhoun, +slavery being the direct, as it had been the indirect, cause of +their first enunciation. We must not anticipate here. + +In the debate, in 1833, between Webster and Calhoun, the former, +as in his great reply to Hayne,(49) expounded the Constitution as +a "Charter of Union for all the States." + +"The Constitution does not provide for events that must be preceded +by its own destruction. + +"That the Constitution is not a league, confederacy, or compact +between the people of the several States in their sovereign capacity, +but a government proper, founded on the adoption of the people, +and creating direct relations between itself and individuals. That +no State authority has power to dissolve these relations. That as +to certain purposes the people of the United States are one people." + +Nullification, attempted first on account of a protective tariff +to foster home and young industries and for needed revenue to carry +on the Federal government, was in two years, by its author, Calhoun, +transferred, for a new cause on which to attempt to justify it-- +from the tariff to domestic slavery. Calhoun soon discovered and +admitted that the South could not be united against the North and +for _disunion_ on opposition to a protective tariff. He therefore +promptly sought an opportunity to bring forward in Congress the +slavery question, and to attack the "_agitators_" and opponents of +slavery extension in the North, and to threaten disunion if the +institution of slavery was not permitted to dictate the political +policy of the Republic. + +The exact method of reviving in Congress the whole subject of +slavery so soon after nullification had been so signally suppressed +by Jackson is worth briefly stating. + +President Jackson, in his Annual Message, December, 1835, called +attention to attempts to use the mails to circulate matter calculated +to excite slaves to insurrection, but he did not recommend any +legislation to prevent it. Mr. Calhoun moved in the Senate that +so much of the message relating to mail transportation of incendiary +publications be referred to a select committee of five. + +He was made chairman of this committee, and, on his request, three +others from the South, with but one from the North, were put on +the committee, and he promptly made an elaborate and carefully- +prepared report, going into the whole doctrine of states-rights +and nullification. + +In it he said: + +"That the States which form our Federal Union are sovereign and +independent communities, bound together by a constitutional _compact_, +and are possessed of all the powers belonging to distinct and +separate States, etc. + +"The Compact itself expressly provides that all powers not delegated +are reserved to the States and the people. . . . On returning to +the Constitution, it will be seen that, while the power of defending +the country against _external_ danger is found among the enumerated, +the instrument is wholly silent as to the power of defending the +_internal_ peace and security of the States: and of course reserves +to the States this important power, etc. + +"It belongs to slave-holding States, whose institutions are in +danger, and not to _Congress_, as is supposed by the message, to +determine what papers are incendiary and intended to excite +insurrection among the slaves, etc. + +"It has already been stated that the States which comprise our +Federal Union are sovereign and independent communities, united by +a constitutional compact. Among its members the laws of nations +are in full force and obligation, except as altered or modified by +the compact, etc. + +"Within their limits, the rights of the slave-holding States are +as full to demand of the States within whose limits and jurisdiction +their peace is assailed, to adopt the measures necessary to prevent +the same, and, if refused or neglected, _to resort to means to +protect themselves_, as if they were separate and independent +communities." + +Here, perhaps, was the clearest statement yet made, not only of +the independence of States from Federal interference and of their +right, on their own whim, to break the "_compact_," but of the +right of the slaveholding States to dictate to the other States +legislation on the subject of slavery. + +It was at once a declaration of independence for the Southern +States, and a declaration of their right to hold all the Northern +States so far subject to them as to be obliged, on demand, to pass +and enforce any prescribed law in the interest of slavery. The +South was to be the sole judge of what law on this subject was +requisite for slavery's purposes. + +No duty was demanded on this question of the Federal Government; +and Southern States, according to Calhoun, owed it none where +slavery was concerned. + +Calhoun and his committee could discover no power in the Southern +States to enforce their demands save to act as separate and +independent communities--that is, by setting up for themselves. +This led logically to disunion, the result intended. + +There was much in this report setting forth and professing to +believe that it was the purpose of the North to emancipate the +slaves, and through the agencies of organized anti-slavery societies +bring about slave insurrections. The fanaticism of the North was +descanted on, and the character of slavery and its wisdom as a +social institution upheld. + +He further said: + +"He who regards slavery in those States simply under the relation +of master and slave, as important as that relation is, viewed merely +as a question of property to the slave-holding section of the Union, +has a very imperfect conception of the institution, and the +impossibility of abolishing it without disasters unexampled in the +history of the world. To understand its nature and importance +fully, it must be borne in mind that slavery, as it exists in the +Southern States, involves _not only the relation of master and +slave, but also the social and political relation of the two races_, +of nearly equal numbers, from different quarters of the globe, and +the most opposite of all others in every particular that distinguishes +one race of men from another." + +The whole report was replete with accusations against the North, +and full of warning as to what the South would do should its demands +not be complied with. The bill brought in by the committee was +more remarkable than the report itself, and wholly inconsistent +with its doctrine. + +The bill provided high penalties for any postmaster who should +knowingly receive and put into the mail any publication or picture +_touching the subject of slavery_, to go into any State or Territory +in which its circulation _was forbidden by state law_. + +The report concluded: + +"Should such be your decision, by refusing to pass this bill, I +shall say to the people of the South, look to yourselves. + +"But I must tell the Senate, be your decision what it may, the +South will never abandon the principles of this bill. . . . We have +a remedy in our own hands." + +Clay, Webster, Benton, and others ably and effectually combated +both the report and the bill, and the latter failed (25 to 19) in +the Senate. + +Besides denying the doctrine of the report, they showed the evil +was not in mailing, but in taking from the mails and circulating +by their own citizens the supposed objectionable publications. + +Benton, himself a slaveholder, then and in subsequent years assailed +and pronounced the doctrine of this report as the "_birth of +disunion_." He has also shown that Calhoun delighted over the +agitation of slavery more than he deprecated it; that he profoundly +hoped that on the slavery question the South would be united and +a Slave-Confederacy formed.(50) + +In support of this Mr. Benton quotes from a letter of Mr. Calhoun +to a gentleman in Alabama (1847) in which he says: + +"I am much gratified with the tone and views of your letter, and +concur entirely in the opinion you express, that instead of shunning, +we ought to court the issue with the North on the slavery question. +I would even go one step further and add that it is our duty _to +force the issue_ on the North. We are now stronger relatively than +we shall be hereafter, politically and morally. Unless we bring +on the issue, delay to us will be dangerous indeed. . . . Something +of the kind was indispensable to the South. On the contrary, if +we should not meet it as we ought, I fear, greatly fear, our _doom_ +will be fixed."(51) + +Comment is unnecessary, but the letter, almost exultantly, mentions +as fortunate that the Wilmot Proviso was offered, as it gave an +opportunity to unite the South. + +It proceeds: + +"With this impression, I would regard any compromise or adjustment +of the proviso, _or even its defeat_, without meeting the danger +in its whole length and breadth, as very unfortunate for us. + +"This brings up the question, how can it be so met, without resorting +to the dissolution of the Union. + +"There is and can be but one remedy short of disunion, and that is +to retaliate on our part by refusing to fulfill the stipulations +in their (other States) favor, or such as we may select, as the +most efficient." + +The letter, still proceeding to discuss modes of dissolution or +retaliation against Northern States, declares a convention of +Southern States indispensable, and their co-operation absolutely +essential to success, and says: + +"Let that be called, and let it adopt measures to bring about the +co-operation, and I would underwrite for the rest. The non- +slaveholding States would be compelled to observe the stipulations +of the Constitution _in our favor_, or abandon their trade with +us, _or to take measures to coerce us_, which would throw on them +the responsibility of dissolving the Union. Their unbounded avarice +would in the end control them."(52) + +It is certain that President Jackson's heroic proclamation of +December, 1832, aborted the project of nullification under the +South Carolina Ordinance, and certain it is, also, that the +disappointed leaders of it turned from a protective tariff as a +ground for it, to what they regarded as a better excuse, to wit: +A slavery agitation, generated out of false alarms in the slave +States. + +After the tariff compromise of 1833, in which Calhoun sullenly +acquiesced, he returned home and immediately announced that the +South would never unite against the North on the tariff question, +--"That the sugar interest of Louisiana would keep her out,--and +consequently the basis of Southern union must be shifted to the +slave question," which was then accordingly done.(53) + +Jackson, discussing nullification, is reported to have said: + +"It was the _tariff_ this time; next time it will be the _negro_." + +This new and dangerous departure was not overlooked. The report +and bill of 1835 relating to the use of the mails was only a chapter +in execution of the new plan. + +The observing friends of the Union did not overlook or misunderstand +the movement. They at once took alarm. Mr. Clay, in May, 1833, +wrote a letter to Mr. Madison expressing his apprehensions of the +new danger, which brought from him a prompt response. + +Mr. Madison in his letter said: + +"It is painful to see the unceasing efforts to alarm the South by +imputations against the North of unconstitutional designs on the +subject of the slaves. You are right. I have no doubt that no +such intermeddling disposition exists in the body of our Northern +brethren. Their good faith is sufficiently guaranteed by the interest +they have as merchants, ship-owners, and as manufacturers, in +preserving a union with the slave-holding states. On the other +hand, what madness in the South to look for greater safety in +_disunion_."(54) + +What Clay and Madison saw in 1833 as the real starting-point for +ultimate secession proved true to history. From that time dates +the machinations which led, through the steps that successively +followed, to actual dissolution of the Union in 1860-61; then to +coercion--War; then to the eradication of slavery. It was Southern +madness that hastened the destruction of American slavery. "Whom +the gods would destroy, they first make mad." + +The excuse for even this much significance given to "nullification" +is, that in less than thirty years, under a new name--"state-rights" +--it worked secession--disunion, and lit up the whole country with +the flames and frenzy of internal war that did not die down for +four years more; and then only when slavery was consumed. + +The great abolition movement commenced in earnest, January 1, 1831. +Wm. Lloyd Garrison published, at Boston, the _Liberator_, with the +motto--"_Our countrymen are all mankind_." Benjamin Lundy, and +perhaps others, had preceded Garrison, but not until after the +Webster-Hayne debate did the abolition movement spread. Thenceforth +it took deeper root in the human conscience, and it had advocates +of determined spirit throughout the North, led on fearlessly, not +alone by Garrison, but by Rev. Dr. Channing, Rev. James Freeman +Clarke, and, later, by Rev. Samuel May (Syracuse, N. Y.), Gerritt +Smith, the poet Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, Horace +Mann, Charles Sumner, Joshua R. Giddings, Owen Lovejoy, and others, +who spoke from pulpit, rostrum, and some in the halls of legislation; +others in the courts and through the press. The enforcement of +the fugitive-slave law was often violent, and always added new fuel +to the fierce and constantly growing opposition to slavery. + +The Anti-Slavery party was not one wholly built on abstract sentiment +of philanthropists, but it involved physical resistance: Violence +to violence. + +The American Anti-Slavery Society was founded at a National Anti- +Slavery Convention held in Philadelphia, in December, 1831. + +Hard upon the establishment of the _Liberator_ came the Nat Turner +insurrection in Southampton County, Virginia (August, 1831). This +gave to the South a fresh ground to complain of the North. Turner's +insurrection was held to be the legitimate fruit of abolition +agitation. Turner was an African of natural capacity, who quoted +the Bible fluently, prayed vehemently, and preached to his fellow +slaves. + +He told them, as did Joan of Arc, of "_Voices_" and "_Visions_," +and of his communion with the Holy Spirit. An eclipse of the sun +was the signal to strike their enemies and for freedom. The massacre +lasted forty-eight hours, and sixty-one whites, women and children +not spared, were victims. On the other hand, negroes were shot, +tortured, hanged, and burned at the stake on whom the slightest +suspicion of complicity fell. + +The Nat Turner negro slave insurrection is the only one known to +slavery in the United States. Others may possibly have been +contemplated. The John Brown raid was not a negro insurrection. +Even in the midst of the war (1861-65), believed by most slaves to +be a war for their freedom, insurrections were unknown.(55) + +The African race, the most wronged through the centuries, has been +the most docile and the least revengeful of the races of the world. + +(45) Confederate Con., Art. 1, Sec. 8, par. 1. + +(46) The South in the days of slavery had, practically, no +manufactories. + +(47) Benton, _Thirty Years' View_, vol. i., p. 343. + +(48) Rhodes, _Hist. U. S._, vol. i., pp. 49-50. + +(49) January 26, 1830. + +(50) For this report and history see Benton's _Thirty Years' View_, +vol. i, pp. 580, etc. + +(51) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., chap. clxxxix.; Historical, +etc. Examination, _Dred Scott Case_ (Benton), p. 139. + +(52) Historical, etc., Examination, _Dred Scott Case_ (Benton), +p. 141-4. + +(53) _Ibid_., p. 181. + +(54) Historical, etc., Ex., _Dred Scott Case_, pp. 181-2. + +(55) There were some small insurrections and some threatened ones +in the colonies as early as 1660, the guilty negroes or Indians +being then punished by crucifixion, burning, and by starvation; +other insurrections took place in the Carolinas and Georgia in +1734, and the Cato insurrection occurred at Stono, S. C., in 1740. +There was a wide spread "Negro Plot" in New York in 1712. These +attempts alarmed the colonies and caused some of them to take steps +to abolish slavery.--_Sup. of African Slave-Trade U. S._, pp. 6, +10, 22, 206. + + +XIV +TEXAS--ADMISSION INTO THE UNION (1845) + +Texas was a province of Mexico when the latter seceded from Spain +through a "Proclamation of Independence" by Iturbide (February 24, +1821) with a view to establishing a constitutional monarchy. At +the end of about two years of Iturbide's reign, this form of +government was overthrown, and he was compelled (March 19, 1823) +to resign his crown. Through the efforts, principally of General +Santa Anna, a Republic was established under a Constitution, +modelled, in large part, on that of the United States, which went +into full effect October 4, 1824. Spain did not formally recognize +the independence of Mexico until 1836. The Mexican Republic was +opposed to slavery, and after some of her provinces had decreed +freedom to slaves its President (Guerro), September 15, 1829, +decreed its total abolition, but as Texas, on account of slave- +holding settlers from the United States, demurred to the decree, +another one followed, April 5, 1837, by the Mexican Congress, also +abolishing slavery, without exception, in Texas. Despite these +decrees the American settlers carried slaves into Texas, which +became part of the State of Coahuila, whose Constitution also +forbade the importation of slaves. + +Thus was slavery extension to the southwest cut off by a power not +likely ever to be in sympathy with it. It is worthy of note that +neither the independent Spanish blood (notwithstanding Spain's deep +guilt in the conduct of the slave trade), nor that blood as intermixed +with the Indian, nor the Mexican Indians themselves, ever willingly +maintained human slavery in America. Mexico's established religion +under the Constitution, being Roman Catholic, did not permit its +perpetuation. The Pope of Rome, in the nineteenth century and +earlier, had denounced it as inhuman and contrary to the divine +justice. + +The maintenance of slavery in Texas was regarded as of paramount +importance to the South, and as slavery could not exist in Texas +under Mexican authority, efforts were put forth to secure her +independence, then to annex her to the United States as a State +wherein slavery should exist. Even Clay, as Secretary of State, +under Adams, in 1827, proposed to purchase Texas. President Jackson, +in 1830, offered $5,000,000 for Texas. The Mexican Government, +foreseeing the coming danger, by law prohibited American immigration +into Texas, but this was unavailing, as the ever-unscrupulous hand +of slavery was reaching out for more room and more territory to +perpetuate itself. Americans, like their natural kinsmen the +Englishmen, then regarded not the rights of others, the weak +especially, when the slave power was involved. + +Sam Houston, of Tennessee, a capable man who had fought under +Jackson in the Indian wars, inspired by his pro-slavery proclivities +in 1835, went to Texas avowedly to wrest Texas from free Mexico, +and, it is said, of his real intentions President Jackson was not +ignorant. + +The unfortunate internal political contentions in Mexico gave the +intruding Americans pretexts for disputes which soon led to the +desired conflicts with the Mexican authorities. + +Santa Anna, who had, through a revolution, put himself at the head +of the new Mexican Republic, attempted to coerce the invading +settlers to observance of the laws, but in this was only partially +successful. On March 2, 1836, a Texas _Declaration of Independence_ +was issued, signed by about _sixty_ men, _two_ of whom only were +Texas-Mexicans, and this was followed by a Constitution for the +Republic of Texas, chief among its objects being the establishment +of human slavery. Santa Anna, with the natural fierceness of the +Spanish-Indian, waged a ferocious war on the revolutionists. A +garrison of 250 men at "The Alamo," a small mission church near +San Antonio, was taken by him after heroic resistance, and massacred +to a man. + +"Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat, but The Alamo had none." + +David Crockett, an uneducated, eccentric Tennessean, who was a +celebrated hunter, Indian fighter, story teller, wit, and member +of Congress three terms (where he opposed President Jackson, and +refused to obey any party commanding him "to-go-wo-haw-gee," just +at his pleasure) here lost his life. On the 27th of the same month +500 more Americans at Goliad were also massacred. These atrocities +were used successfully to produce sympathy and create excitement +in the United States. On April 21, 1836, a decisive battle was +fought at San Jacinto between Santa Anna's army of 1500 men and a +body of 800 men under General Sam Houston, in which the former was +defeated, and Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, captured. While +a prisoner, to save his life he immediately concluded an armistice +with Houston, agreeing to evacuate Texas and procure the recognition +by Mexico of its independence. This the Mexican Congress afterwards +refused. But in October, 1836, with a Constitution modelled on +that of the United States, the Republic of Texas (recognizing +slavery) was organized, with Houston as President, and forthwith +the United States recognized its independence. + +In a few months application was made to the United States to receive +it into the Union, but on account of a purpose to divide Texas into +a number of slave States to secure the preponderance of the slave +political power in the Union, which for want of sufficient population +was not immediately possible, her admission was delayed, and Sam +Houston's Republic of Texas existed for above eight years. President +Van Buren, who succeeded Jackson as President, was opposed to its +annexation, and it was left to the apostate Tyler to take up the +business. + +He, too, would have failed but Mr. Upshur, his Secretary of State, +being killed in 1844 by the accidental explosion of a cannon, John +C. Calhoun became his successor. The latter at once arranged a +treaty of annexation, but this the Senate rejected. Both Van Buren +and Clay, leading candidates of their respective parties for the +Presidency in 1844, were opposed to the annexation; the former was +defeated for nomination, and the latter at the election, because, +during the canvass, to please the slaveholding Whigs he sought to +shift his position, thus losing his anti-slavery friends, "whose +votes would have elected him"; and Polk became President. Annexation, +however, did not wait for his administration. + +In the House of Representatives, in December, 1844, an attempt was +made to admit Texas, half to be free and half slave, making two +States. + +By resolutions of Congress, dated March 1, 1845, consent was given +to erect Texas into a State with a view to annexation; and in order +that she might be admitted into the Union such resolutions provided +that thereafter four other States, with her consent, might be formed +out of its territory. In August succeeding, a Constitution was +framed prohibiting emancipation of slaves (56) and authorizing +their importation into Texas, which was thereafter adopted by the +people of the Republic of Texas, under which Congress, by resolution +(December 29, 1845) formally admitted Texas into the Union--the +last slave State admitted. + +As a sop to Northern "dough-faces," and to induce them to vote for +the resolutions of March 1st, it recited that the new States lying +south of latitude 36 deg. 30' should be admitted with or without slavery +as their inhabitants might decide, those north of the line without +slavery. In the subsequent adjustment of the north boundary line +of Texas, it was found _no part of it_ was within two hundred miles +of 36 deg. 30'; so all of Texas (in territory an empire, in area 240,000 +square miles, six times greater than Ohio) was thus dedicated +forever, by law, to human slavery, in the professed interest of +the nineteenth century civilization. The intrigue, the bad faith, +the perfidy by which this great political and moral wrong was +consummated were laid up against the "day of wrath." + +(56) How different is Texas' Constitution of 1876, the first +paragraph of which runs: "Texas is a free and independent State." + + +XV +MEXICAN WAR--ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO 1846-8 + +With Texas came naturally a desire for more slave territory. Wrong +is never satiated; it hungers as it feeds on its prey. + +Pretence for quarrel arose over the boundary between Texas and +Mexico. The United States unjustly claimed that the Rio Grande +was the southwestern boundary of Texas instead of the Nueces, as +Mexico maintained. Mexico was invaded, her cities, including her +ancient capital, were taken, and her badly-organized armies +overthrown. Congress, by an Act of May 13, 1846, declared that +"by the act of the Republic of Mexico a state of war existed between +that government and the United States," and it virtually ended in +September, 1847, though the final treaty of peace at Guadalupe +Hidalgo was not signed until February 2, 1848. While the annexation +of Texas was regarded by Mexico as a cause of war, yet she did not +declare war on that ground. + +The principle of "manifest destiny" was proclaimed for the United +States. In the prosecution of the war, with shameless effrontery +it was justified on the necessity that "_we want room_" for the +two hundred millions of inhabitants soon to be under our flag. + +Answering this cry, put up by Senator Cass of Michigan, Senator +Thomas Corwin, in a spirit of prophecy, said: + +"But you still say you want _room_ for your people. This has been +the plea of every robber-chief from Nimrod to the present hour. +I dare say, when Tamerlane descended from his throne, built of +seventy thousand human skulls, and marched his ferocious battalions +to further slaughter,--I dare say he said, 'I want room.' Alexander, +too, the mighty 'Macedonian Madman,' when he wandered with his +Greeks to the plains of India, and fought a bloody battle on the +very ground where recently England and the Sikhs engaged in a strife +for 'room' . . . Sir, he made quite as much of that sort of history +as you ever will. Mr. President, do you remember the last chapter +in that history? It is soon read. Oh! I wish we could understand +its moral. Ammon's son (so was Alexander named), after all his +victories, died drunk in Babylon. The vast empire he conquered to +'get room' became the prey of the generals he trained; it was +desparted, torn to pieces, and so ended. Sir, there is a very +significant appendix; it is this: The descendants of the Greeks-- +of Alexander's Greeks--are now governed by a descendant of Attilla." + +Through the greed of the slave power Texas was acquired, and they +still longed for more slave territory, and weak Mexico alone could +be depleted to obtain it. + +Southern California and New Mexico had a sufficiently warm climate +for slavery to flourish in. + +The war was far from popular, though the pride of national patriotism +supported it. Clay and Webster each opposed it, and each gave a +son to it.(57) + +Abraham Lincoln, then for a single term in Congress, spoke against +it, but, like most other members holding similar views, voted men, +money, and supplies to carry it on. + +Senator Benton of Missouri, a party friend to the administration +of Polk and favoring the war, said: + +"The truth was, an intrigue was laid for peace before the war was +declared! And this intrigue was even part of the scheme for making +war. It is impossible to conceive of an administration less warlike, +or more intriguing, than that of Mr. Polk. They were men of peace, +with objects to be accomplished by means of war. . . . They wanted +a small war, just large enough to require a treaty of peace, and +not large enough to make military reputations dangerous for the +Presidency."(58) + +It was predicted the war would not last to exceed "90 to 120 days." +The proposed conquest of Mexico was so inlaid with treachery that +this prediction was justified. The Administration conspired with +the then exiled Santa Anna "not to obstruct his return to Mexico." + +"It was the arrangement with Santa Anna! We to put him back in +Mexico, and he to make peace with us: of course an _agreeable peace_ +. . . not without receiving a consideration: and in this case some +millions of dollars were required--not for himself, of course, but +to enable him to promote the peace at home."(59) + +Accordingly, in August, 1846, before Buena Vista and other signal +successes in the war, the President asked an appropriation of +$2,000,000 to be used in promoting a peace. + +But already jealousy and envy toward the generals in the field had +arisen, which culminated in President Polk offering to confer on +Senator Thomas H. Benton (of his own party) the rank of Lieutenant- +General, with full command, thus superseding the Whig Generals, +Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, then possible Presidential +candidates.(60) + +The acquisition of more territory from Mexico being no secret, a +bill for the desired appropriation precipitated, unexpectedly, a +most violent discussion of the slavery question, never again allayed +until slavery was eliminated from the Union. + +A Democratic Representative from Pennsylvania, David Wilmot, who +favored the acquisition of California and New Mexico, for the +purpose of "_preserving the equilibrium of States_," and as an +offset to the already acquired slave State of Texas, which was then +expected to be soon erected into five slave States, moved, August, +1846, the following proviso to the "two million bill": + +"That no part of the territory to be acquired should be open to +the introduction of slavery." + +This famous "Wilmot Proviso" never became a part of any law; its +sole importance was in its frequent presentation and the violent +discussions over it. + +Thus far the national wrong against Mexico had for its manifest +object the spread of slavery. + +The proposition to seize Mexican territory and dedicate it to +freedom threw the advocates of slavery and the war into a frenzy, +and consternation in high circles prevailed. + +The proviso was adopted in the House, but failed in the Senate. +It was, in February, 1847, again, by the House, tacked on the "three +million bill," but being struck out in the Senate, the bill passed +the House without it. But the proviso had done its work; the whole +North was alive to its importance, and Presidential and Congressional +_timber_ blossomed or withered accordingly as it did or did not +fly a banner inscribed "_Wilmot Proviso_." + +Calhoun, professing great alarm and great concern for the Constitution, +on February 19, 1847, introduced into the Senate his celebrated +resolution declaring, among other things, that the Territories +belonged to the "several States . . . as their joint and common +property." "That the enactment of any law which should . . . +deprive the citizens of any of the States . . . from emigrating +with their property [slaves] into any of the Territories . . . +would be a violation of the Constitution and the rights of the +States, . . . and would tend directly to subvert the Union itself." + +Here was the doctrine of state-rights born into full life, with +the old doctrine of nullification embodied. Benton, speaking of +the dangerous character of Calhoun's resolution, said of them: + +"As Sylla saw in the young Caesar many Mariuses, so did he see in +them many nullifications." + +Benton, quite familiar with the whole history of slavery before, +during, and after the Mexican War, himself a Senator from a slave +State, says the Wilmot proviso "was secretly cherished as a means +of keeping up discord, and forcing the issue between the North and +the South," by Calhoun and his friends, citing Mr. Calhoun's Alabama +letter of 1847, already quoted, in proof of his statement. + +By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February, 1848) for $15,000,000 +(above $3,000,000 more than was paid Napoleon for the Louisiana +Purchase), New Mexico and Upper California were ceded by Mexico to +the United States, and the Rio Grande from El Paso to its mouth +became the boundary between the two countries. Upper California +is now the State of California, and the New Mexico thus acquired +included much of the present New Mexico, nearly all of Arizona, +substantially all of Utah and Nevada, and the western portion of +Colorado, in area 545,000 square miles, which, together with the +Gadsden Purchase, by further treaty with Mexico (December 30, 1853) +for $10,000,000 more, completed the despoiling of the sister +Republic. The territory acquired by the last treaty now constitutes +the southern part of Arizona and the southwest corner of New Mexico. + +Almost contemporaneous with the invasion of Mexico, and as part of +the plan for the acquisition of her territory, Buchanan, then +Secretary of State, dispatched Lieutenant Gillespie, of the United +States Army, _via_ Vera Cruz, the City of Mexico, and Mazatlan, to +Monterey, Upper California, ostensibly with dispatches to a consul, +but really for the purpose of presenting a mere _letter of +introduction_ and a verbal request to Captain John C. Fremont, +U.S.A., then on an exploring expedition to the Pacific Coast. The +Lieutenant found Fremont at the north end of the Great Klamath +Lake, Oregon, in the midst of hostile Indians. The _letter_ being +presented, Gillespie verbally communicated from the Secretary a +request for him to counteract any foreign scheme on California, +and to cultivate the good-will of the inhabitants towards the United +States. + +On this information Fremont returned, in May, 1846 (the month the +war opened on the Rio Grande), to the valley of the Sacramento. +His arrival there was timely, as already the ever-grasping hand of +the British was at work. There had been inaugurated (1) the massacre +of American settlers, (2) the subjection of California to British +protection, and (3) the transfer of its public domain to British +subjects. Fremont did not even know war had broken out between +the United States and Mexico, yet he organized at first a defensive +war in the Sacramento Valley for the protection of American settlers, +and blood was shed; then he resolved to overturn the Mexican +authority, and establish "California Independence." The celerity +with which all this was accomplished was romantic. In thirty days +all Northern California was freed from Mexican rule--the flag of +independence raised; American settlers were saved, and the British +party overthrown. + +Since its discovery by Sir Francis Drake--two hundred years--England +had sought to possess the splendid Bay of California, with its +great seaport and the tributary country. The war between the United +States and Mexico seemed her opportune time for the acquisition, +but her efforts, both by sea and land, were thwarted by her only +less voracious daughter.(61) + +Often in human affairs events concur to control or turn aside the +most carefully guarded plans. California and the other Mexican +acquisitions were by the war party--the slave propagandists--fore- +ordained to be slave territory. The free State men had done little +to favor its theft and purchase, and it was therefore claimed that +they of right should have little interest in its disposition. + +Just nine days (January 24, 1848) before the treaty of peace +(Guadalupe Hidalgo), John A. Sutter, a Swiss by parentage, German +by birth (Baden), American by residence and naturalization (Missouri), +Mexican in turn, by residence and naturalization, together with +James A. Marshall, a Jerseyman wheelwright in Sutter's employ, +while the latter was walking in a newly-constructed and recently +flooded saw-mill tail-race, in the small valley of Coloma, about +forty-five miles from Sacramento (then Sutter's Fort), in the foot- +hills of the Sierras, picked up some small, shining yellow particles, +which proved to be free _gold_.(62) + +"_The accursed thirst for gold_" was now soon to outrun the _accursed +greed_ for more slave territory. The race was unequal. The whole +world joined in the race for gold. The hunger for wealth seized +all alike, the common laborer, the small farmer, the merchant, the +mechanic, the politician, the lawyer and the clergyman, the soldier +and the sailor from the army and navy; from all countries and climes +came the gold seeker; only the slaveholder with his slaves alone +were left behind. There was no place for the latter with freemen +who themselves swung the pick and rocked the cradle in search of +the precious metal. + +California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona still give +up their gold and their silver to the free miner; and the financial +condition and prosperity of the civilized countries of the world +have been favorably affected by these productions, but of this we +are not here to speak. Slavery is our text, and we must not stray +too far from it. + +Turning back to the negotiations for the first treaty with Mexico, +we find, to her everlasting credit, though compelled to part with +her possessions, she still desired they should continue to be free. + +Slavery, as has already been shown, did not exist in Mexico by law; +and California and New Mexico held no slaves, so, during the +negotiations, the Mexican representatives begged for the incorporation +of an article providing that slavery should be prohibited in all +the territory to be ceded. N. P. Trist, the American Commissioner, +promptly and fiercely resented the bare mention of the subject. +He replied that if the territory to be acquired were tenfold more +valuable, and covered _a foot thick_ with pure gold, on the single +condition that slavery was to be excluded therefrom, the proposition +would not be for a moment entertained, nor even communicated to +the President.(63) + +Though the invocation was in behalf of humanity, the "invincible +Anglo-Saxon race" (so cried Senator Preston in 1836) "could not +listen to the prayer of superstitious Catholicism, goaded on by a +miserable priesthood." + +Now that California and New Mexico were United States territory, +how was it to be devoted to slavery to reward the friends of its +acquisition? + +As slavery was prohibited under Mexican law, this territory must +by the law of nations remain free until slavery was, by positive +enactment, authorized therein. This ancient and universal law, +however, was soon to be disregarded or denied by the advocates of +the doctrine that the Constitution of the United States spread +itself over territories, and, by force of it, legalized human +slavery therein, and guaranteed to citizens of a State the right +to carry their property--human slaves included--into United States +territory and there hold it, by force of and protected by the +Constitution, in defiance of unfriendly territorial or Congressional +legislation. This novel claim also sprung from the brain of Calhoun, +and was met with the true view of slavery, to wit: That it was a +creature solely of law; that it existed nowhere of natural right; +that whenever a slave was taken from a jurisdiction where slaves +could be held by law, to one where no law made him a slave, his +shackles fell off and he became a free man. The soundness of the +rule that a citizen of a State could carry his personal property +from his State to a Territory was admitted, but it was claimed he +could not hold it there if it were not such as the laws of the +Territory recognized as property. In other words, he might transfer +his property from a State to a Territory, but he could not take +with him the law of his State authorizing him to hold it as property. +The law of the _situs_ is of universal application governing +property. + +It remains to briefly note the effort to extend and interpret the +Constitution, with the sole view to establish and perpetuate human +slavery. + +Near the close of the session of Congress (1848-49), Mr. Walker of +Wisconsin, at the instigation of Calhoun moved, as a rider on an +appropriation bill, a section providing a temporary government for +such Territories, including a provision to "_extend the Constitution +of the United States to the Territories_." This astounding +proposition was defended by Calhoun, and, with his characteristic +straightforwardness, he avowed the true object of the amendment +was to override the anti-slavery laws of the Territories, and plant +the institution of slavery therein, beyond the reach of Congressional +or territorial law. + +Mr. Webster expounded the Constitution and combated the newly +brought forward slave-extension doctrine, but a majority of the +Senate voted for the amendment. + +The House, however, voted down the rider, and between the two +branches of Congress it failed. For a time appropriations of +necessary supplies for the government were made to depend on the +success of the measure.(64) + +Thus again the newly acquired domain escaped the doom of perpetual +slavery. + +But we have done with the Mexican War and the acquisition of Mexican +territory. It remains to be told how this vast domain was disposed +of. No part of it ever became slave. + +There was not time in Polk's administration to dispose of it. +General Zachary Taylor, the hero of Palo Alto, Resaca, Monterey, +and Buena Vista, became President, March 4, 1849. He was wholly +without political experience and had never even voted at an election. +He was purely a professional soldier, and a Southerner by birth +and training; was a patriot, possessed of great common sense, and +knew nothing of intrigue, and was endowed with a high sense of +justice, and believed in the rights of the majority. He belonged +to no cabal to promote, extend, or perpetuate slavery, and, probably, +in his conscience was opposed to it. His Southern friends could +not use him, and when they demanded his aid, as President, to plant +slavery in California, he not only declined to serve them, but +openly declared that California should be free. In different words, +but words of like import, he responded to them, as he did to General +Wool, at a critical moment in the battle of Buena Vista. Wool +remarked: "_General, we are whipped_." Taylor responded: "_That +is for me to determine_."(65) + +(57) Lt.-Col. Henry Clay, Jr., fell at Buena Vista February 23, +1847, and Maj. Edward Webster died at San Angel, Mexico, January +23, 1848. + +(58) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 680. + +(59) _Ibid_., p. 681. + +(60) Taylor became President March, 1849, succeeding Polk, and +died in office July 9, 1850. Scott was nominated by his party +(Whig) in 1852, and defeated; Franklin Pierce, a subordinate General +of the war, was elected by his party (Democrat) President in 1852. + +(61) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., pp. 688-692. + +(62) _Hist. Ready Ref._, vol. i, p. 350. + +(63) Trist's letter to Buchanan, Secretary of State, Von Holst, +vol. iii., p. 334. + +(64) Historical Ex., etc., _Dred Scott Case_, pp. 151-9. This is +the first Congress where its sessions were continued after twelve +o'clock midnight, of March 3d, in the odd years. _Ibid_., pp. 136-9. + +(65) _Hist. of Mexican War_ (Wilcox), p. 223. + + +XVI +COMPROMISE MEASURES--1850 + +The slavery agitation first began in 1832 on a false tariff issue, +and precipitated upon the country in 1835, on the lines of +nullification and disunion, and was again revived at the close of +the Mexican War, and continued violently through 1849 and 1850. +The year 1850 will be ever memorable in the history of the United +States as a year wherein all the baleful seeds of disunion were +sown, which grew, to ripen, a little more than ten years later, +into _disunion_ in fact. Prophetically, a leading South Carolina +paper in its New Year-Day edition, said: + +"When the future historian shall address himself to the task of +portraying the rise, progress, and decline of the American union, +the year _1850_ will arrest his attention, as denoting and presenting +the first marshalling and arraying of those hostile forces and +opposing elements which resulted in dissolution." + +At the close of Polk's administration an inflammatory address, +drawn and signed by Calhoun and forty-one other members of Congress +from the slave States, was issued, filled with unfounded charges +against the North, professing to be a warning to the South that a +purpose existed to abolish slavery and bring on a conflict between +the white and black races, and to San Domingoize the South, which +could only be avoided, the address states: + +"By fleeing the homes of ourselves and ancestors, and by abandoning +our country to our slaves, to become the permanent abode of disorder, +anarchy, poverty, misery, and wretchedness." + +This manifesto did not go quite to the extent of declaring for a +dissolution of the Union, but it appealed to the South to become +united, saying, if the North did not yield to its demands, the +South would be the assailed, and + +"Would stand justified by all laws, human and divine, in repelling +a blow so dangerous, without looking to consequences, and to resort +to all means necessary for that purpose."(66) + +The _Southern Press_ was set up in Washington to inculcate the +advantages of disunion, and to inflame the South against the North. +It portrayed the advantages which would result from Southern +independence; and assumed to tell how Southern cities would recover +colonial superiority; how ships of all nations would crowd Southern +ports and carry off the rich staples, bringing back ample returns, +and how Great Britain would be the ally of the new "United States +South." In brief, it asserted that a Southern convention should +meet and decree a separation unless the North surrendered to Southern +demands for the extension of slavery, for its protection in the +States, and for the certain return of fugitive slaves; it urged +also that military preparation be made to maintain what the convention +might decree. + +A disunion convention actually met at Nashville, near the home of +Jackson, but the old hero was then in his grave.(67) It assumed +to represent seven States. It invited the assembling of a "Southern +Congress." South Carolina and Mississippi alone responded to this +call. In the Legislature of South Carolina secession and disunion +speeches were delivered, and throughout the South public addresses +were made, and the press advocated and threatened dissolution of +the Union unless the North yielded all.(68) + +All this and more to immediately effect the introduction of slavery +into California and New Mexico. The South saw clearly that the +free people of the Republic were resolved that there should be no +more slave States, but believed that the mercantile, trading people, +and small farmers of the North would not fight for their rights, +and hence intimidation seemed to them to promise success. + +It had its effect on many, and, unfortunately, on some of America's +greatest statesmen. + +By a singular coincidence the Thirty-first Congress, which met +December, 1849, embraced among its members Webster, Clay, Calhoun, +Benton, Cass, Corwin, Seward, Salmon P. Chase, John P. Hale, Hamlin +of Maine, James M. Mason, Douglas of Illinois, Foote and Davis of +Mississippi, of the Senate; and Joshua R. Giddings, Horace Mann, +Wilmot of Pennsylvania, Robert C. Schenck, Robert C. Winthrop, +Alexander H. Stephens, and Thaddeus Stevens, of the House. + +To avert the impending storm of slavery agitation then threatening +disunion, Clay, by a set of resolutions, with a view to a "_lasting +compromise_," on January 29, 1850, proposed in the Senate a general +plan of compromise and a committee of thirteen to report a bill or +bills in accordance therewith. + +His plan was: + +1. The admission of California with her free Constitution. + +2. Territorial governments for the other territory acquired from +Mexico, without any restriction as to slavery. + +3. The disputed boundary between Texas and New Mexico to be +determined. + +4. The _bona fide_ public debt of Texas, contracted prior to +annexation, to be paid from duties on foreign imports, upon condition +that Texas relinquish her claim to any part of New Mexico. + +5. The declaration that it was inexpedient to abolish slavery in +the District of Columbia, without the consent of Maryland and the +people of the District, and without compensation to owners of +slaves. + +6. The prohibition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. + +7. A more effectual provision for the rendition of fugitive slaves. + +8. A declaration that Congress has no power to interfere with the +slave trade between States. + +These resolutions and the plan embodied led to a most noteworthy +discussion, chiefly participated in by Clay, Webster, Calhoun, +Benton, Seward, and Foote. The debate was opened by Clay. He +favored the admission of California with her already formed free +State Constitution, but he exclaimed: + +"I shall go with the Senator from the South who goes farthest in +making penal laws and imposing the heaviest sanctions for the +recovery of fugitive slaves and the restoration of them by their +owners." + +He, however, tried to hold the olive branch to both the North and +the South, and pleaded for the Union. He pathetically pleaded for +mutual concessions, and deprecated, what he then apprehended, _war_ +between the sections, exclaiming: + +"War and dissolution of the Union are identical." + +After prophesying that if a war came it would be more ferocious, +bloody, implacable, and exterminating than were the wars of Greece, +the Commoners of England, or the Revolutions of France, Senator +Clay predicted that it would be "not of two or three years' duration, +but a war of interminable duration, during which some Philip or +Alexander, some Caesar or Napoleon, would arise and cut the Gordian +knot and solve the problem of the capacity of man for self-government, +and crush the liberties of both the several portions of this common +empire." + +Happily, events have falsified most of these prophecies. + +Then came the dying Calhoun, with a last speech in behalf of slavery +and on the imaginary wrongs of the South. His last appearance in +public life was pathetic. Broken with age and disease, enveloped +in flannels, he was carried into the Capitol, where he tottered to +the old Senate Hall and to a seat. He found himself too weak to +even read his last warning to the North and appeal for his beloved +institution. The speech was written, and was read in his presence +by Senator Mason of Virginia. He referred to the disparity of +numbers between the North and the South by which the "equilibrium +between the two sections had been destroyed." He did not recognize +the fact that slavery alone was the cause of this disparity. He +professed to believe the final object of the North was "the abolition +of slavery in the States." He contended that one of the "cords" +of the Union embraced "plans for disseminating the Bible," and "for +the support of doctrines and creeds." + +He said: + +"The first of these _cords_ which snapped under its explosive force +was that of the powerful Methodist Episcopal Church. The next +_cord_ that snapped was that of the Baptists, one of the largest +and most respectable of the denominations. That of the Presbyterian +is not entirely snapped, but some of its strands have given way. +That of the Episcopal Church is the only one of the four great +Protestant denominations which remains unbroken and entire." + +He referred to the strong ties which held together the two great +parties, and said: + +"This powerful _cord_ has fared no better than the spiritual. To +this extent the union has already been destroyed by agitation." + +He laid at the door of the North all the blame for the slavery +agitation. + +The admission of California as a free State was the immediate, +exciting cause for Calhoun's speech. + +Already, on October 13, 1849, after a session of forty days, a +Convention in California had, with much unanimity, framed a +Constitution which, one month later, was, with like unanimity, +adopted by her free, gold-mining people. It prohibited slavery. +It had been laid before Congress by President Taylor, who recommended +the immediate admission under it of California as a State. + +President Taylor had not overlooked the disunion movements. In +his first and only message to Congress he expressed his affection +for the Union, and warningly said: + +"In my judgment its dissolution would be the greatest of calamities, +and to avert that should be the study of every American. Upon its +preservation must depend our own happiness, and that of countless +generations to come. Whatever dangers may threaten it, I shall +stand by it and maintain it in its integrity, to the full extent +of the obligations imposed and the power conferred on me by the +Constitution." + +Recommending specially that territorial governments for New Mexico +and Utah should be formed, leaving them to settle the question of +slavery for themselves, President Taylor, in his Message, said +further: + +"I repeat the solemn warning of the first and most illustrious of +my predecessors against furnishing any ground for characterizing +parties by geographical discriminations." + +Alluding to these passages, Calhoun, in his last speech, said: + +"It (the Union) cannot, then, be saved by eulogies on it, however +splendid or numerous. The cry of 'Union, Union, the glorious +Union,' can no more prevent _disunion_ than the cry of 'Health, +Health, glorious Health,' on the part of the physician can save +a patient from dying that is lying dangerously ill." + +To the allusion of the President to Washington, Calhoun sneeringly +said: + +"There was nothing in _his_ history to deter us from seceding from +the Union should it fail to fulfil the objects for which it was +instituted." + +The prime objects for which the Union was formed, were, as he +contended, the preservation, perpetuation, and extension of the +institution of human slavery. In the antithesis of this speech he +asked and answered: + +"How can the Union be saved? + +"To provide for the insertion of a provision in the Constitution, +by an amendment which will restore to the South in substance the +power she possessed of protecting herself before the equilibrium +between the sections was destroyed by the action of this +government." + +The speech did not state what, exactly, this amendment was to be, +but it transpired that it was to provide for the election of _two_ +Presidents, one from the free and one from the slave States, each +to approve all acts of Congress before they became laws. + +Of this device, Senator Benton said: + +"No such double-headed government could work through even one +session of Congress, any more than two animals could work together +in the plough with their heads yoked in opposite directions."(69) + +In the same month (March 31, 1850) the great political gladiator +and pro-slavery agitator and originator and disseminator of disunion +doctrines was dead;(70) but there were others to uphold and carry +forward his work to its fatal ending. + +Calhoun was early accounted a sincere and honest man, a patriot of +moderate views, and at one time was much esteemed North as well as +South. It is believed than an unfortunate quarrel with President +Jackson dashed his hopes of reaching the Presidency, and so embittered +him that he became the champion, first of nullification, then of +disunion. + +There is not room here to speak in detail of the other champions +of the great debate on the Clay resolutions. + +On the 18th of April these resolutions, and others of like import, +were referred to a committee of thirteen, with Clay as its chairman. +This was Clay's last triumph, and he accepted it with the greatest +joy, though then in ill health and fast approaching the grave.(71) + +Of his joy, Benton, in a speech at the time, said: + +"We all remember that night. He seemed to ache with pleasure. It +was too great for continence. It burst forth. In the fullness of +his joy and the overflow of his heart he entered upon the series +of congratulations."(72) + +The sincere old hero was doomed to much disappointment; he did not +live, however, to see his views on slavery contained in the Compromise +measures (1) overthrown by an act of Congress four years later, +(2) by a decision of the Supreme Court seven years later, and then +(3) made an issue on which the South seceded from the Union and +precipitated a war, in which for ferocity, duration, and bloodshed, +his prophecies fell far short. On the 8th of May this memorable +committee reported its recommendations somewhat different from his +resolutions. + +Its report favored: + +1. The postponement of the subject of the admission of new States +formed out of Texas until they present themselves, when Congress +should faithfully execute the compact with Texas by admitting them. + +2. The admission forthwith of California with the boundaries she +claimed. + +3. The establishment of territorial government, without the Wilmot +Proviso, for New Mexico and Utah; embracing all territory acquired +from Mexico not included in California. + +4. The last two measures to be combined in one bill. + +5. The establishment of the boundary of Texas by the exclusion of +all New Mexico, with the grant of a pecuniary equivalent to Texas; +also to be a part of a bill including the last two measures. + +6. A more effectual fugitive-slave law. + +7. To prohibit the slave trade, not slavery, in the District of +Columbia. + +Bills to carry out these recommendations were also reported. + +A discussion ensued in both branches of Congress, which continued +for five months; and daily Clay met and presided in caucus over +what he called the Union men of the Senate, including Whigs and +Democrats. + +These measures were supported by Clay, Webster, Cass, Douglas, and +Foote; opposed by Seward, Chase, Hale, Davis of Massachusetts, and +Dayton, anti-slavery men; also by Benton, an independent Democrat, +a slaveholder in Missouri and the District of Columbia,(73) and by +Jefferson Davis, and others of the Calhoun Southern type. + +President Taylor opposed the Clay plan. He denominated the blending +on incongruous subjects as an "Omnibus Bill." He favored dealing +with each subject on its own merits. He regarded the Texas and +New Mexico boundary dispute as a question between the United States +and New Mexico, not between Texas and New Mexico.(74) He favored +the admission of California with her free State Constitution. Even +earlier, he announced that he would approve a bill containing the +Wilmot Proviso. He indignantly responded to Stephens' and Toombs' +demands in the interests of slavery, coupled with threatened +disunion, by giving them to understand he would, if necessary, take +the field himself to enforce the laws, and if the gentlemen were +taken in rebellion he would hang them as he had deserters and spies +in Mexico.(75) + +Taylor died (July 8, 1850) pending the great discussion, chagrined +and mortified over the unsettled condition of his country. His +last words were: "_I have always done my duty; I am ready to die. +My only regret is for the friends I leave behind me_." + +He was a great soldier and patriot, and his character hardly +justified the whole of the common appellation, "Rough and Ready." +He was perhaps always ready, but not rough; on the contrary, he +was a man of peace and order. On his election to the Presidency +he desired some plan to be adopted for California by which "to +substitute the rule of law and order there for the bowie knife and +revolver."(76) + +In August, 1850, the great debate ceased, and voting in the Senate +commenced. The plan of the "thirteen" underwent changes, their +bills being segregated, substitutes were offered for them, and many +amendments were made to the several bills. Davis of Mississippi +insisted upon the extension of the Missouri Compromise line--36 deg. +30'--to the Pacific Ocean. This brought out Mr. Clay's best +sentiments. He said: + +"Coming as I do from a slave State, it is my solemn, deliberate, +and well matured determination that no power, no earthly power, +shall compel me to vote for the positive introduction of slavery, +either south or north of that line. Sir, while you reproach, and +justly, too, our British ancestors for the introduction of this +institution upon the continent of America, I am, for one, unwilling +that the posterity of the present inhabitants of California and +New Mexico shall reproach us for doing just what we reproach Great +Britain for doing for us." + +The Wilmot Proviso made its appearance for the last time when Seward +offered it as an amendment. It failed in the Senate by a vote of +23 to 33. + +Finally, when the bill for the admission of California was ready +for a vote, Turney of Tennessee moved to limit the southern boundary +of the State to 36 deg. 30', so as to allow slavery in all territory +south of that line. This failed, 24 to 32, the South voting almost +unitedly for the amendment. + +Mr. Benton was a prominent exception. To him the friends of freedom +owed much for support, by speech and vote. While he opposed Clay's +plan, he voted with the free State party on all questions of slavery, +save on the Wilmot Proviso, which he deemed unnecessary to the +exclusion of slavery from territory where the laws of Mexico, still +in force, excluded it. + +The California bill passed, August 13th, 34 to 18. Clay is not +recorded as voting. He may have been absent or paired. Webster +had become Secretary of State, and Winthrop succeeded him in the +Senate. To emphasize the opposition, ten Senators immediately had +read at the Secretary's desk a protest, with a view to its being +spread on the Journal. This was refused, after a most spirited +debate, as being against precedent.(77) The protest was a long +complaint against making the Territory of California a State without +its being first organized, territorially, and an opportunity given +to the South to make it a slave State, and for admitting it as a +free State, thus destroying the equilibrium of the States; the +protestors declaring that if such course were persisted in, it +would lead to a dissolution of the Union. A bill establishing New +Mexico with its present boundaries, also Utah, was passed in August, +leaving both to become States with or without slavery. A fugitive- +slave act was likewise passed at the same time in the Senate. The +whole of the bills covered by the compromise having in some form +passed the Senate, went to the House, where, after some animated +discussion, they all passed, in September following, and were +approved by President Fillmore. + +It remains to speak briefly of the Fugitive-Slave Act. It was +odious to the North in the extreme. United States Commissioners +were provided for to act instead of state magistrates, on whom +jurisdiction was attempted to be conferred by the Act of 1793. +_Ex-parte_ testimony was made sufficient to determine the identity +of the negro claimed, and the affidavit of an agent or attorney +was made sufficient. The alleged fugitive was not permitted, under +any circumstances, to testify. He was denied the right to trial +by jury. The cases were to be heard in a summary manner. The +claimant was authorized to use all necessary force to remove the +fugitive adjudged a slave. All process of any court or judge was +forbidden to molest the claimant, his agent or attorney, in carrying +away the adjudged slave. United States marshals and their deputies +were authorized to summon bystanders as a _posse comitatus_; and +all good citizens were commanded, by the act, to aid and assist in +the prompt and efficient execution of the law; all under heavy +penalty for failing to do so. The officers were liable, in a civil +suit, for the value of the negro if he escaped. Heavy fine or +imprisonment was to be imposed for hindering or preventing the +arrest, or for rescuing or attempting to rescue, or for harboring +or concealing the fugitive, and, if any person was found guilty of +causing his escape, a further fine of $1000 by way of civil damages +to the owner. In case the commissioner adjudged the negro was the +claimant's slave, his fee was fixed at $10, and if he discharged +the negro, it was only $5. The claimant had a right, in case of +apprehended danger, to require the officer arresting the fugitive +to remove him to the State from whence he fled, with authority to +employ as many persons to aid him as he might deem necessary, the +expense to be paid out of the United States Treasury. This act +became a law September 18, 1850. The law contained so many odious +provisions against all principles of natural justice and judicial +precedents that it could not be executed in many places in the +North. The consciences of civilized men revolted against it, and +the Abolitionists did not fail to magnify its injustice; on the +other hand, the pro-slavery agitators saw in its imperfect execution +new and additional grounds for complaint against the North. + +What, then, was intended to be a settlement of the slavery agitation +proved to be really a most violent reopening of it. + +Webster, like Clay, did not survive to witness the next great +discussion in Congress on the slavery question, which resulted in +overturning much that was supposed to have been settled; nor did +they live to hear thundered from the supreme judicial tribunal of +the Union the appalling doctrines of the Dred Scott decision. +Webster died October 24, 1852. Benton lived to condemn the great +tribunal for this decision in most vehement terms. He died April +10, 1858. But few of the leading participants of the 1850 debates +lived to witness the final overthrow of slavery. Lewis Cass, +however, who, though a Democrat, generally followed and supported +Clay in his plan of compromise, not only lived to witness the birth +of the new doctrine of "Squatter Sovereignty" (and to support it), +but to hear that slavery was, according to our Supreme Court, almost +national; then to see disunion in the _live tree;_ then war; then +slaves proclaimed free as a war measure; then disunion overthrown +on the battle-field; then restoration of a more perfect Union, +wherein slavery and involuntary servitude was forbidden by the +Constitution.(78) + +In the succeeding Presidential election (1852) the two great parties +endorsed the late action of Congress in relation to the Territories +and slavery. + +The Whig platform declared the acquiescence of the party in all +its acts: "The act known as the Fugitive Slave Law included. . . . +as a settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and +exciting questions which they embrace. . . . We will maintain them +and insist on their strict enforcement." + +On this platform General Winfield Scott was nominated for the +Presidency. + +The Democratic platform of the same year, having first denied that +Congress had power under the Constitution to interfere with slavery +in the States, declared also that the party would "abide by and +adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known as the Compromise +measures settled by the last Congress,--the act for reclaiming +fugitives from service or labor included." + +Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, a subordinate officer (Brigadier- +General) under Scott in Mexico, of no special renown, but a polite +and respectable gentleman, was nominated and elected on this platform +by a decided vote; Scott carrying only Massachusetts, Vermont, +Kentucky, and Tennessee. The "Free-Soil" party nominated John P. +Hale of New Hampshire on a platform repudiating the Compromise +measures, declaring against the aggressions of the slave power and +for: + +"No more slave States, no slave territory, no nationalized slavery, +and no national legislation for the extradition of slaves. That +slavery is a sin against God, and a crime against man, which no +human enactment or usage can make right; and that Christianity, +humanity, and patriotism alike demand its abolition. + +"That the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is repugnant to the Constitution, +to the principles of the common law," etc. + +The Whig party, with this election, disappeared; its great leaders +were dead, and it could not vie with the Democratic party in pro- +slavery principles. There was no longer room for two such parties. +The American people were already divided and dividing on the living +issue of freedom or slavery. Slavery, like all wrong, was ever +aggressive, and demanded new constitutional expositions in its +interest by Congress and the courts, and it tolerated no more +temporizing or compromises. Its advocates tried for a time to +unite in the Democratic party. + +(66) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., pp. 733-6. + +(67) Jackson died June 8, 1845, past seventy-eight years of age. + +(68) _Thirty Years' View_, ii., p. 782. + +(69) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 747. + +(70) His remains were entombed in St. Philip's churchyard, +Charleston, S. C. In 1865, on that city's occupancy by the Union +forces, friends seized and secreted them from fancied desecration +by the conquerors.--Draper's _Civil War in Am._, vol. i., p. 565. + +(71) Born April 12, 1777, died June 29, 1852. + +(72) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 764. + +(73) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 759. + +(74) _Ibid_., p. 765. + +(75) _Hist. of the U. S._ (Rhodes), vol. i., pp. 134 (190). + +(76) _Hist. Pac. States_, H. H. Bancroft, vol. xviii., p. 262. + +(77) _Thirty Years' View_, vol. ii., p. 770. + +(78) Cass died March 17, 1866, eighty-two years of age. + + +XVII +NEBRASKA ACT--1854 + +Over the disposition of the Territory of Nebraska it remained to +have the last Congressional struggle for the extension of slavery. +This Territory in 1854 comprised what are now the States of Kansas, +Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, and parts of +Colorado and Wyoming. It was a large part of the Louisiana Purchase, +in area 485,000 square miles, twelve times as large as Ohio, about +ten times the size of New York, 140,000 square miles larger than +the original thirteen States,(79) and more than four times the area +of Great Britain and Ireland. It was what was left of the purchase +after Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Indian +Territory were carved out. It then had only about one thousand +white inhabitants. + +The desire to still placate the threatening South and to win its +political favor, led some great and patriotic men of the North to +attempt measures in the interest of slavery. + +On January 4, 1854, Stephen A. Douglas, Chairman of the Senate +Committee on Territories, made a report embodying constitutional +theories not hitherto promulgated, and questioning or repudiating +others long supposed to have been settled. + +The report announced the discovery of a new principle of the Compromise +measures of 1850. + +It declared: + +"They were intended to have a far more comprehensive and enduring +effect than the mere adjustment of difficulties arising out of the +recent acquisition of Mexican territory. They were designed to +establish certain great principles, which would not only furnish +adequate remedies for existing evils, but in all time to come avoid +the perils of similar agitation by withdrawing the question of +_slavery_ from the halls of Congress and the political arena, +committing it to the arbitration of those who are immediately +interested in and alone responsible for its consequences. . . . A +question has arisen in regard to the right to hold slaves in the +Territory of Nebraska. . . . It is a disputed point whether slavery +is prohibited in the Nebraska country by _valid_ enactment. In +the opinion of eminent statesmen. . . . the eighth section of the +act preparatory to the admission of Missouri is null and void." + +The eighth section prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory +north of 36 deg. 30', hence from the Nebraska Territory. The report +reiterated the absurd doctrine: + +"That the Constitution. . . . secures to every citizen an inalienable +right to move into any of the Territories with his property, of +whatever kind and description, and to hold and enjoy the same under +the sanction of law." + +(What law? The law of the place whence it came, or the law of the +place to which it was taken? Not even an ox or an ass can be held +as property save under the law of the place where it is; nor is +the title to the soil valid except under the law of the place where +it is located. As well as might a person claim the right to move +to a Territory and there own the land by virtue of the Constitution +and the laws of the State of his former residence as to claim under +them the right to own and sell his slave in a Territory. The +difficulty is, while the emigrant might take with him his human +chattel, he could not take with him the law permitting him to hold +it.) + +The report did not, however, as presented, propose to repeal the +Missouri Compromise line that had stood thirty-four years with the +approval of the first statesmen of all parties in the Union. + +It assumed simply to interpret for the dead Clay and Webster their +only four-year-old work, and ran thus: + +"The Compromise Measures of 1850 affirm and rest upon the following +propositions: + +"First--That all questions pertaining to slavery in the Territories, +and the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the +decision of the people residing therein. + +"Second--That 'all cases involving the title to slaves' and 'questions +of personal freedom' are to be referred to the jurisdiction of the +local tribunals, with the right to appeal to the Supreme Court of +the United States. + +"Third--That the provisions of the Constitution, in respect to +fugitives from service, are to be carried into faithful execution +in all 'the organized Territories,' the same as in the States." + +The first of these propositions, in another form, announced the +new doctrine of popular sovereignty, soon thereafter popularly +called "Squatter Sovereignty," in derision of the rights thus to +be vested in the territorial _squatter_, however temporary his stay +might be. It was opposed to the principle of Congressional right +(expressly granted by the Constitution (80)) to provide rules (laws) +and regulations for United States territory until it became clothed +with statehood. + +The second proposition announced nothing new, as cases involving +titles to slaves, or questions of personal freedom, must necessarily +go for final determination to the courts, with a right of appeal. + +The third proposition, like the second, was a mere platitude. + +The bill accompanying the report, as first presented, required that +any part of Nebraska Territory admitted as a state (as provided in +the New Mexico and Utah Acts of 1850) "shall be received into the +Union with or without slavery, as its Constitution may prescribe +at the time of admission." This, too, was not new in any sense, +as new States had ever been thus received. The anti-slavery press +and societies, and all people opposed to further slavery aggression +and extension, at once took alarm and violently assailed the new +doctrines of the report; the South, too, at first viewed them with +surprise, denominating them "a snare set for the South," yet later +regarded them as favorable to the extension of slavery. Southern +statesmen, however, determined to force Douglas to amend them so +as to accomplish the ends of the South. Accordingly, Senator Dixon +of Kentucky, on January 16th, offered an amendment to the Nebraska +Bill providing for the absolute repeal of the Missouri Compromise +line. This amendment Douglas, apparently with reluctance,(81) +accepted, after a consultation with Jefferson Davis, then Secretary +of War, and President Pierce, both of whom promised it their +support.(82) + +January 23, 1854, Douglas presented a substitute for his original +bill, wherein it was provided that the restriction of the Missouri +Compromise "was superseded by the principles of the legislation of +1850, and is hereby declared inoperative." + +The new bill divided the Territory in two parts; the southern, +called Kansas, lay between 37 deg. and 40 deg. of latitude, extending west +to the Rocky Mountains, and the northern was still called Nebraska. + +As early as 1853 a movement in Missouri was started, avowedly to +make Nebraska slave Territory, and this was well known to Douglas +and the supporters of his newly announced doctrines. Kansas, lying +farthest south, was climatically better suited for slavery than +the new Nebraska. Before the bill passed, plans were made to invade +Kansas from Missouri and Arkansas by slaveholders with their slaves. + +January 24, 1854, the _Appeal of the Independent Democrats in +Congress to the People of the United States_ was published. + +Chase and Giddings of Ohio were its authors; some verbal additions, +however, were made to it by Sumner and Gerritt Smith.(83) + +This _Appeal_ was signed by S. P. Chase, Charles Sumner, Joshua R. +Giddings, Edward Wade, Gerritt Smith, and Alexander De Witt; three +at least of whom were then, or soon became first among the great +statesmen opposed to human slavery. The _Appeal_ declared the new +Nebraska Bill would "open all the unorganized Territories of the +Union to the ingress of slavery." A plot to convert them "into a +dreary region of despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves," to +the exclusion of immigrants from the Old World and free laborers +from our own States. It reviewed the history of Congressional +legislation on slavery in the Territories, reciting, among other +things, that President Monroe approved the Missouri Compromise +after his Cabinet had given him a written opinion that the section +restricting slavery was constitutional. + +John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, John C. Calhoun, Secretary +of War, Wm. H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury, and Wm. Wirt, +Attorney-General--three from slave States--then constituted Monroe's +Cabinet. + +The _Appeal_ warningly proceeded: + +"The dearest interests of freedom and the Union are in imminent +peril. Demagogues may tell you that the Union can be maintained +only by submitting to the demands of slavery. We tell you that +the Union can only be maintained by the full recognition of the +just claims of freedom and man. When it fails to accomplish these +ends it will be worthless, and when it becomes worthless it cannot +long endure. . . . Whatever apologies may be offered for the +toleration of slavery in the States, none can be offered for its +extension into the Territories where it does not exist, and where +that extension involves the repeal of ancient law and the violation +of solemn compact. + +"For ourselves, we shall resist it by speech and vote, and with +all the abilities which God has given us. Even if overcome in the +impending struggle, we shall not submit. We shall go home to our +constituents, erect anew the standard of freedom, and call on the +people to come to the rescue of the country from the dominion of +slavery. We will not despair; for the cause of human freedom is +the cause of God." + +These patriotic expressions electrified the whole country. The +North was aroused to their truth, the South seized upon them as +threats of disunion, and still louder than before, if possible, +called for a united South to vindicate slavery's rights in the +Territories. Douglas attempted in the Senate to answer the _Appeal_. +This led to an acrimonious debate, participated in by Chase, Sumner, +Seward, Everett, and others, too long to be reviewed here. + +Senator Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, took a prominent part in the +memorable debate over the Douglas-Nebraska Bill. He was bold, and +never dealt in sophistry, but in plain speech. + +Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, while making a slavery-dilution +argument, appealingly said: + +"Why, if some Southern gentleman wishes to take the nurse who takes +charge of his little baby, or the old woman who nursed him in +childhood, and whom he called 'Mammy' until he returned from college, +. . . and whom he wishes to take with him . . . into one of these +new Territories, . . . why, in the name of God, should anybody +prevent it?" + +Mr. Wade responded: + +"The Senator entirely mistakes our position. We have not the least +objection, and would oppose no obstacle to the Senator's migrating +to Kansas and taking his old 'Mammy' along with im. We only insist +that he shall not be empowered to _sell_ her after taking her +there." + +Mr. Chase moved to amend the bill by adding the words: + +"Under which the people of the Territories, through their appropriate +representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the existence of +slavery therein." + +This amendment failed, but it served to test the good faith of +those who supported the squatter sovereignty feature of the bill. + +After a long struggle the bill passed, and was approved by the +President in May, 1854. + +(79) Area of original thirteen States, 354,504 square miles. + +(80) "Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful +rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property +belonging to the United States," etc.--Art. IV., Sec. 3, Con. U. S. + +(81) _Three Decades of Fed. Leg._ (Cox), p. 49. + +(82) _Rise and Fall Con. Government_ (Davis), vol. i., p. 28. + +(83) Schucker's _Life of Chase_, p. 140. + + +XVIII +KANSAS' STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM + +The storm that arose over the Nebraska Act was ominous of the +future. Public meetings in New York and other great cities of the +North were held, where it and slavery were denounced. The clergyman +from the pulpit, the orator from the rostrum, and the great press +of the North vehemently denounced the measure. Anti-slavery +movements appeared everywhere. + +And as Kansas was thrown open to settlement, with Missouri slaveholders +already moved and organized to move in and take possession of and +dedicate it to slavery under the new doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, +emigration at once commenced from the North, encouraged and promoted +by aid societies. + +Douglas, in the next Congress (March, 1856), as Chairman of the +Committee on Territories, made a report on Kansas affairs, condemning +the action of the free State people and of the aid societies, +referring especially to an imaginary "Emigration Aid Company" of +Massachusetts, with a capital of $5,000,000, and in consequence +holding their existence justified the Border Ruffians of Missouri. +The crack of the rifle was soon to be heard on the plains of Kansas. + +The first election in Kansas was held in November, 1854, when, by +fraud and violence, Whitfield, a pro-slavery man, was elected +delegate to Congress. Non-residents from Missouri cast the majority +of votes at this election. Though not of the requisite population, +this was regarded as the opportune time for Kansas' admission as +a slave State. Douglas in his report so recommended. + +The House, the political complexion of which had changed at the +recent election, appointed Howard of Michigan, Sherman of Ohio, +and Oliver of Missouri a special committee to investigate the Kansas +outrages and election frauds. + +A majority of this committee, July 1, 1856, reported, showing in +a most conclusive way that frauds and outrages had been perpetrated +to control the several Kansas elections. + +From this report it appeared that in February, 1855, the total +population of Kansas was 8501; slaves 242, free negroes 151. A +lengthy debate ensued over the report and over Kansas affairs, +Wade, Seward, Sumner, and others participating. + +Presidents Pierce and Buchanan successively appointed governor +after governor of their party--Reeder, Shannon, Geary, Walker, +Stanton--all of whom resigned or were removed because they each +failed to support or endorse the determined and fraudulent efforts +to make Kansas a slave State against the will of the majority of +the resident people. Hon. J. W. Denver of Ohio, a sensible, quiet +man, was the last of this long line of governors. One of them, +Andrew Reeder, who was indicted with others for high treason on +the ground of their participation in the organization of a free +State government under the Topeka Constitution, for fear of +assassination fled the territory in disguise. Robert J. Walker, +though himself pro-slavery, firmly refused to participate in forcing +the Lecompton Constitution on Kansas, even after President Buchanan, +at the demand of his pro-slavery party friends, had decided Kansas +should be admitted under it without its submission to a vote of +the people. This Constitution was framed at Lecompton by fraudulently +elected delegates to a pro-slavery convention, and it provided for +perpetual slavery in the State. In Governor Walker's letter of +resignation, December 16, 1857, he said: + +"I state it as a fact . . . that an overwhelming majority of the +people (of Kansas) are opposed to the Lecompton Constitution. . . . +but one out of twenty of the press of Kansas sustains it. . . . +Any attempt by Congress to force this Constitution upon the people +of Kansas will be an effort to substitute the will of a small +minority for that of an overwhelming majority of the people." + +It is due to Douglas to say that he was opposed to the Lecompton +Constitution scheme of admission. He was doubtless disappointed +in not having the South rally to his support and nominate him for +President in 1856. A more pliant tool of the pro-slavery party +from the North was given the preference in the person of Buchanan. + +President Buchanan, having early expressed the purpose to support +the Lecompton plan, announced this purpose to Douglas, and urged +him to co-operate in admitting Kansas as a State under it, which, +being refused, terminated their party relations. Douglas did not +go far enough. Popular Sovereignty was only recognized by pro- +slavery advocates when it insured the success of slavery; and it +was now certain to make Kansas a free State if the actual settlers +alone were permitted to vote unintimidated and their votes were +honestly counted and returned. + +On December 9, 1857, Douglas, almost heroically, in opposition to +President Buchanan and his administration and the majority of his +party in the Senate, denounced the Lecompton scheme, and showed +that it was an attempt to foist slavery on Kansas against the will +of the people. + +The peculiar feature of the Lecompton Constitution was that, while +it was submitted to the vote of the people of Kansas, they were +required to vote for it or not vote at all. The ballot provided +required them to vote "_For the Constitution with Slavery_," or +"_For the Constitution without Slavery_." Thus the Constitution +must be adopted, and necessarily with slavery, as there was no +provision for excluding the clauses authorizing it. At an election, +where for fraud and violence nothing thitherto had approached it, +and by the special feature of ballot-box stuffing (actual settlers +generally being driven from the polls when willing to vote), this +Constitution was returned adopted by about 6000 majority in favor +of slavery.(84) + +The Senate, March 23, 1858, passed (33 to 25) a bill to admit Kansas +as a State under the Lecompton Constitution, _with slavery;_ but +notwithstanding the active efforts of the Administration, the House +(120 to 112) so amended the Senate bill as to require it, before +the State was admitted, to be voted on by the people, the ballot +to be--"For the Constitution" or "Against the Constitution." This +amendment the Senate reluctantly concurred in. + +On January 4, 1858, according to an act of the Territorial Legislature, +a vote was again taken and, notwithstanding many temptations offered +in lands, etc., and the desire for statehood, this Constitution +was rejected by over 10,000 majority. + +February 11, 1859, the Territorial Legislature authorized another +convention to form a constitution. Fifty-two delegates were elected, +and they met July 5, 1859, at Wyandotte, and on the 27th adjourned +after framing a constitution prohibiting slavery, and limiting and +establishing the western boundary of Kansas as it now is. This +Constitution was ratified at an election held in October following. +April 11, 1860, the House of Representatives passed a bill (134 to +73) for the admission of Kansas under this Wyandotte Constitution, +but a similar bill failed in the Senate, and both Houses adjourned, +still leaving Kansas a Territory. + +January 29, 1861, when secession had depleted Congress of many +members, Kansas was admitted under the Wyandotte Constitution--_a +free State_. + +This last struggle for slavery extension was by no means bloodless. +The angry flash of Sharps' rifles was seen on the plains; the Bible +and the shot-gun were companions of the free State advocate, and +many were the daring deeds of men, and women, too, to save fair +Kansas to liberty. John Brown (Osawatomie) here first became famous +for his zeal in the cause of freedom; and it is said he did not +fail to retaliate, blood for blood, man for man. + +Douglas, who, by his "Popular Sovereignty" invention, brought on +the contest over Kansas which came so near making it slave, lived +to see his new doctrine fail in practice, but first to be cast down +by the Supreme Court, as we shall presently see. + +Douglas, however, cannot, in justice to him, be thus carelessly +dismissed. After being defeated in the previous election, he held +his great opponent's hat when the latter was inaugurated President, +and gave him warm assurance of support in maintaining the Union, +personally and by speech and votes in Congress; and, on the war +breaking out, in April, 1861, he proclaimed to the people, from +the political rostrum, that "there are now only two parties in this +country: _patriots and traitors_." He appealed to his past party +friends to stand by the Union and fight for its integrity, come +what might. But he, too, did not live to see the triumph of freedom +and of his country. He died June 3, 1861. + +It is believed by many that if slavery had been forced upon California +and into the New Mexico and Nebraska Territories four more slave +States would soon have been admitted from Texas (as the act of +annexation provided), and that thus the slave power having secured +such domination in the Union as was desired and expected by its +leaders, there would have been no secession,--no rebellion, but, +instead, slavery would have become _national_. + +But with California free and Kansas free, all hope of further +extending slavery in the United States was forever gone. + +Had Kansas even become slave, what then? + +The final contest in Kansas was augmented and intensified by a +national event partly passed over. + +During the Kansas struggle the excitement of debate in Congress +rose to its zenith, surpassing any other period. + +The North had been bullied into a frenzy over the demands of those +desiring the extension of slavery. The anti-slavery members of +Congress met this in many instances by sober, candid discussion, +but in others by sharp invective, dealt out by superior learning +and consummate skill in the use of the English language. + +Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was a profound student and scholar, +and an inveterate hater of slavery and all that was incident to it. + +On May 19 and 20, 1856, he pronounced his famous philippic against +slavery and its supporters. Regarding the opening of the Kansas- +Nebraska Territory to the influx of slavery, and the evident purpose +of the Administration to dedicate it to slavery, he poured out +warning invectives against all who in any way favored the new policy +of opening this Territory to the chance of coming into the Union +as slave States. Mr. Sumner's remarks were personal in the extreme, +only justified by the general dictatorial and bullying attitude of +some Southern Senators. A mere extract here would do him and the +occasion injustice. Senators Cass and Douglas, on the floor of +the Senate, resented this speech of Sumner. + +On the 22nd of May, two days after the speech, at the close of a +session of the Senate, while Sumner was seated at his desk in the +Senate chamber writing, he was approached by Preston Brooks, a +member of the House from South Carolina, who accosted him: "I have +read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South +Carolina and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine," and he forthwith +assaulted Mr. Sumner by blows on the head with a gutta-percha cane +one inch in diameter at the larger end. The blows were repeated, +the cane broken, and Brooks still continued to strike with the +broken parts of it. Sumner, thus taken by surprise, and being +severely injured, could not defend himself, and soon, after vain +efforts to protect himself, fell prostrate to the floor, covered +with his own blood. He was severely injured, and though he lived +for many years, he never wholly recovered from the injuries. He +died March 11, 1874. + +This outrage did much to precipitate events and to intensify +hostility to slavery. Southern Senators and Representatives assumed +to justify the assault.(85) + +The House did not expel Brooks, as the requisite two thirds vote +was not obtained. He resigned, and was re-elected by his district, +six votes only being cast against him, but he died in January, +1857. Butler, of South Carolina, the alleged immediate cause of +Brooks' assault on Sumner, died in the same year. + +The whole North looked upon the personal assault upon Sumner as +not only brutal, but as intended to be notice to other Senators +and members of Congress of a common design and plan to intimidate +the friends of freedom. The assault was largely justified throughout +the South, also by leading Southern statesmen in both branches of +Congress.(86) + +Remarks on the manner of Brooks' assault in the House made by +Burlingame of Massachusetts led to a challenge from Brooks, which +was accepted, the duel to be fought near the Clifton House, Canada; +but Brooks declined to fight at the place named, alleging a fear +to go there through the enraged North. + +Brooks also, for remarks in the Senate characterizing the assault, +challenged Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, but the latter declined +the challenge because he "regarded duelling as the lingering relic +of a barbarous civilization, which the law of the country has +branded as a crime."(86) + +So threatening, then, was the attitude of the Southern members of +both Senate and House that Senators Wade of Ohio, Chandler of +Michigan, and Cameron of Pennsylvania made a compact to resent any +insult from a Southerner by a challenge to fight.(87) + +A last attempt was made in Buchanan's administration, pending the +Kansas agitation, to buy and annex Cuba in the interest of the +slave power. It was then a province of Spain. Buchanan was both +dull and perverse in obeying the demands of his party, especially +on the slavery issue. In his Annual Message of 1858 he expressed +satisfaction that the Kansas question no longer gave the country +trouble. He also expressed gratitude to "Almighty Providence" that +it no longer threatened the peace of the country, and congratulated +himself over his course in relation to the Lecompton policy, saying, +"it afforded him heartfelt satisfaction." He, in the same message, +set forth his anxiety to acquire Cuba, assigning as a reason that +it was "the only spot in the civilized world where the African +slave trade is tolerated." + +Cuba was wanted simply to make more slave States to extend the +waning slave power, and thus to offset the incoming new free States, +which then seemed to the observing as inevitable. + +Buchanan suggested that circumstances might arise where the law of +self-preservation might call on us to acquire Cuba by force, thus +affirming the policy set forth in the Ostend Manifesto, prepared +and signed by Mason, Soule, and himself four years earlier. + +Slidell of Louisiana, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the +Senate, promptly reported a bill appropriating $30,000,000 to be +used by the President to obtain Cuba; and it soon transpired that +Southern Senators were willing to make the sum $120,000,000. + +The introduction of the bill caused a sensation in Spain, and her +Cortes voted at once to support her King in maintaining the integrity +of the Spanish dominions. + +A most violent debate ensued in Congress, reopening afresh the +slavery question. + +The bill was antagonized by the friends of a homestead bill--"A +question of homes; of lands for the landless freemen." The friends +of the latter bill denominated the Cuba bill a "question of slaves +for the slaveholders." + +Toombs of Georgia, ever a fire-eater, save in war,(88) vehemently +denounced the opponents of the Cuba appropriation and the friends +of "lands for the landless" as the "shivering in the wind of men +of particular localities." This brought to his feet Senator Wade +of Ohio, impetuous to meet attacks from all quarters, who exclaimed: + +"I am very glad this question has at length come up. I am glad, +too, it has antagonized with the nigger question. We are 'shivering +in the wind,' are we, sir, over your Cuba question? You may have +occasion to shiver on that question before you are through with +it. The question will be, shall we give niggers to the niggerless, +or land to the landless, etc. . . . When you come to niggers to +the niggerless, all other questions sink into perfect insignificance."(89) + +Although a majority of the Senate seemed to favor the bill, Mr. +Slidell withdrew it after much discussion, declaring it was then +impracticable to press it to a final vote. + +The once famous Ostend Manifesto, dated October 18, 1854, was a +remarkable document, prepared and signed by Pierre Soule, John Y. +Mason, and James Buchanan, then Ministers, respectively, to Spain, +France, and England, at a conference held at Ostend and Aix-la- +Chapelle, France. It assumed to offer $120,000,000 for Cuba, and, +if this were refused, it announced that it was the duty of the +United States to apply the "great law" of "self-preservation" and +take Cuba in "disregard of the censures of the world." The further +excuse stated in the Manifesto was that "Cuba was in danger of +being Africanized and become a second St. Domingo." + +The real purpose, however, was to acquire it, and then admit it +into the Union as two or more slave States. + +Buchanan, as Secretary of State under Polk, had offered $100,000,000 +for Cuba. His efforts to obtain Cuba secured for him the support +of the South for President in 1856. + +There was no special instance of acquiring or attempting to acquire +territory by the United States authorities to dedicate to freedom. + +Cuba is still Spanish (though not slave) (90) and just now in the +throes of insurrection, and the Congress of the United States has +just voted (April, 1896) to grant the Cuban Provisional Government +belligerent rights.(91) + +(84) From one election, held in 1857 at Oxford, Kansas, a roll +was returned on which 1624 persons' names appeared which had been +copied in alphabetical order from a Cincinnati directory. These +persons were reported as voting with the anti-slavery party. + +(85) Keitt of South Carolina and Edmundson of Virginia stood by +during the assault, in a menacing manner, to protect Brooks from +assistance that might come to Sumner. + +(86) _Life of Sumner_ (Lesten), pp. 250, etc. + +(87) Appleton's _Cyclop. Am. Biography_, vol. vi., p. 311. + +(88) _Manassas to Appotmattox_ (Longstreet), pp. 113, 161. + +(89) In 1862 the first homestead bill became a law, under which, +by July 30, 1878, homesteads were granted to the number of 384,848; +in area, 61,575,680 acres, or 96,212 square miles; greater in extent +by 7000 square miles than England, Wales, and Scotland. + +(90) In 1870 the Spanish Government enacted a law emancipating +all slaves in Cuba over sixty years of age, and declaring all free +who were born after the enactment. In 1886 but 25,000 slaves +remained, and these were emancipated _en masse_ by a decree of the +Spanish Cortes. The last vestige of slavery (the patronato system) +was swept away by a royal decree dated October 7, 1886. + +(91) But see _Service in Spanish War_, Appendix A. + + +XIX +DRED SCOTT CASE--1857 + +On March 6, 1857, two days after Buchanan was inaugurated President +of the United States, the famous Dred Scott case was decided. + +Chief-Justice Taney of Maryland, Justices Wayne of Georgia, Catron +of Tennessee, Daniel of Virginia, Campbell of Alabama, Grier of +Pennsylvania, and Nelson of New York concurred in the decision, +though some of them only in a qualified way. + +Chief-Justice Taney read the opinion of the court. + +Justices McLean of Ohio and Curtis of Massachusetts dissented on +all points. All the justices read opinions at length.(93) + +Chief-Justice Taney was a devout Roman Catholic, given much to +letters, of great industry, and generally regarded as a great +jurist. When the case was decided he was nearly eighty years of +age, and he was then, in the distracted condition of the country, +deeply imbued with the idea that the Supreme Court had the power +to and could settle the slavery question. + +All the other justices were eminent jurists and men of learning. + +The decision reached marked an epoch in American history, and it +gave slavery an apparent perpetual lease of life; this was, however, +only apparent. + +The case was twice argued by eminent lawyers; Blair and G. F. Curtis +for Dred Scott, and by Geyer and Johnson for the defendant. + +Dred Scott brought a suit in the United States Circuit Court in +Missouri for trespass against one Sanford, charging him with assault +on him, his wife, and two children--in fact, for his and their +freedom. + +The facts, as agreed, were as follows: + +"In the year 1834, the plaintiff (Dred Scott) was a negro slave +belonging to Dr. Emerson, who was a surgeon in the army of the +United States. In that year, 1834, said Dr. Emerson took the +plaintiff from the State of Missouri to the military post at Rock +Island, in the State of Illinois, and held him there as a slave +until the month of April or May, 1836. At the time last mentioned, +said Dr. Emerson removed the plaintiff from said military post at +Rock Island to the military post at Fort Snelling, situate on the +west bank of the Mississippi River, in the Territory known as Upper +Louisiana, acquired by the United States of France, and situate +north of the latitude of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north, +and north of the State of Missouri. Said Dr. Emerson held the +plaintiff in slavery at said Fort Snelling from said last-mentioned +date until the year 1838. + +"In the year 1835, Harriet, who is named in the second count of +the plaintiff's declaration, was the negro slave of Major Taliaferro, +who belonged to the army of the United States. In that year, 1835, +said Major Taliaferro took said Harriet to said Fort Snelling, a +military post, situated as hereinbefore stated, and kept her there +as a slave until the year 1836, and then sold and delivered her as +a slave at said Fort Snelling unto the said Dr. Emerson hereinbefore +named. Said Dr. Emerson held said Harriet in slavery at said Fort +Snelling until the year 1838. + +"In the year 1836, the plaintiff and said Harriet, at said Fort +Snelling, with the consent of said Dr. Emerson, who then claimed +to be their master and owner, intermarried, and took each other +for husband and wife. Eliza and Lizzie, named in the third count +of the plaintiff's declaration, are the fruits of that marriage. +Eliza is about fourteen years old, and was born on board the +steamship _Gipsey_, north of the north line of the State of Missouri, +and upon the river Mississippi. Lizzie is about seven years old, +and was born in the State of Missouri, and at the military post +called Jefferson Barracks. + +"In the year 1838, said Dr. Emerson removed the plaintiff and said +Harriet and their said daughter Eliza from said Fort Snelling to +the State of Missouri, where they have ever since resided. + +"Before the commencement of this suit, said Dr. Emerson sold and +conveyed the plaintiff, said Harriet, Eliza, and Lizzie, to the +defendant as slaves, and the defendant has ever since claimed to +hold them and each of them as slaves. + +"At the times mentioned in the plaintiff's declaration, the defendant, +claiming to be the owner as aforesaid, laid his hands upon said +plaintiff, Harriet, Eliza, and Lizzie, and imprisoned them, doing +in this respect, however, no more than what he might lawfully do +if they were of right his slaves at such times." + +It is our purpose here only to set forth what was decided, or +attempted to be decided, bearing upon slavery and its political +status in the United States. + +This purpose we can accomplish no better than by quoting parts of +the Syllabi of the case. + +We quote: + +"A free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to +this country and sold as slaves, is not a 'citizen' within the +meaning of the Constitution of the United States. + +"When the Constitution was adopted, they were not regarded in any +of the States as members of the community which constituted the +State, and were not numbered among its 'people or citizens.' +Consequently, the special rights and immunities guaranteed to +citizens do not apply to them. And not being 'citizens' within +the meaning of the Constitution, they are not entitled to sue in +that character in a court of the United States, and the Circuit +Court has no jurisdiction in such a suit. + +"The only two clauses in the Constitution which point to this race +treat them as persons whom it was _morally_ lawful to deal in as +articles of property and to hold as slaves. + +"The change in public opinion and feeling in relation to the African +race which has taken place since the adoption of the Constitution +cannot change its construction and meaning, and it must be construed +and administered now according to its true meaning and intention +when it was formed and adopted. + +"The plaintiff, having admitted (by his demurrer to the plea in +abatement) that his ancestors were imported from Africa and sold +as slaves, he is not a citizen of the State of Missouri according +to the Constitution of the United States, and was not entitled to +sue in that character in the Circuit Court. + +"The clause in the Constitution authorizing Congress to make all +needful rules and regulations for the government of the territory +and other property of the United States applies only to territory +within the chartered limits of some of the States when they were +colonies of Great Britain, and which was surrendered by the British +Government to the old Confederation of States in the treaty of +peace. It does not apply to territory acquired by the present +Federal Government, by treaty or conquest, from a foreign nation. + +"The United States, under the present Constitution, cannot acquire +territory to be held as a colony, to be governed at its will and +pleasure. But it may acquire and may govern it as a Territory +until it has a population which, in the judgment of Congress, +entitles it to be admitted as a State of the Union. + +"During the time it remains a Territory Congress may legislate over +it within the scope of its constitutional powers in relation to +citizens of the United States--and may establish a territorial +government--and the form of this local government must be regulated +by the discretion of Congress--but with powers not exceeding those +which Congress itself, by the Constitution, is authorized to exercise +over citizens of the United States, in respect to their rights of +persons or rights of property. + +"The Territory thus acquired is acquired by the people of the United +States for their common and equal benefit, through their agent and +trustee, the Federal Government. Congress can exercise no power +over the rights of persons or property of a citizen in the Territory +which is prohibited by the Constitution. The government and its +citizens, whenever the Territory is open to settlement, both enter +it with their respective rights defined and limited by the +Constitution. + +"Congress has no right to prohibit the citizens of any particular +State or States from taking up their home there, while it permits +citizens of other States to do so. Nor has it a right to give +privileges to one class of citizens which it refuses to another. +The territory is acquired for their equal and common benefit--and +if open to any it must be open to all upon equal and the same terms. + +"Every citizen has a right to take with him into the Territory any +article of property which the Constitution of the United States +recognizes as property. + +"The Constitution of the United States recognizes slaves as property, +and pledges the Federal Government to protect it. And Congress +cannot exercise any more authority on property of that description +than it may constitutionally exercise over property of any other +kind. + +"The act of Congress, therefore, prohibiting a citizen of the United +States from taking with him his slaves when he removes to the +Territory in question to reside, is an exercise of authority over +private property which is not warranted by the Constitution--and +the removal of the plaintiff, by his owner, to that Territory, gave +him no title to freedom. + +"The plaintiff himself acquired no title to freedom by being taken +by his owner to Rock Island, in Illinois, and brought back to +Missouri. This court has heretofore decided that the status or +condition of a person of African descent depended on the laws of +the State in which he resided." + +Thus the highest and most august judicial tribunal of this country +pronounced doctrines abhorrent to the age, overthrowing the acts +and practices of the fathers and framers of the Republic, and +pronouncing the Ordinance of 1787, in so far as it restricted human +slavery, and all like enactments as, from the beginning, +_unconstitutional_. + +This decision startled the bench and bar and the thinking people +of the whole country, not alone on account of the doctrines laid +down by the court, but because of the new departure of a high court +in going beyond the confines of the case made on the record to +announce them. + +It is, to say the least, only usual for any court to decide the +issues necessary to a determination of the real case under +consideration, nothing more; but the court in this case first +decided that the Circuit Court, from which error was prosecuted, +had no jurisdiction to render any judgment, it having found "upon +the showing of Scott himself that he was still a slave; not even +to render a judgment against him and in favor of defendants for +costs." + +In the opinion it is said: + +"It is the judgment of this court that it appears by the record +before us that the plaintiff in error is not a citizen of Missouri, +in the same sense in which that word is used in the Constitution; +and that the Circuit Court of the United States, for that reason, +had _no jurisdiction_ in the case, and could give no judgment in +it. Its judgment for the defendant must, consequently, be reversed, +and a mandate issued, directing the suit to be dismissed for want +of jurisdiction." + +Having thus decided, it followed that anything said or attempted +to be decided on other questions was extra-judicial--mere _obiter +dicta_, if even that. + +Nor does the objection to the matters covered by the decision rest +alone on its extra-judicial character, but on the fact that in +settling a mere individual controversy it passed from private rights +to public rights of the people in their national character, wholly +pertaining to political questions, entirely beyond the province of +the court, legally, judicially, or potentially. It had no legal +right as a court to decide or comment upon what was not before it; +it had no judicial power to make any decree to enforce public or +political rights, nor yet to enforce, by any instrumentalities or +judicial machinery,--fines, jails, etc.,--any such decrees. + +Moreover, the decision invaded the express powers of the Constitution +grated to it by the Constitution "respecting the Territory of other +property belonging to the United States." This grant is preceded +in the Constitution by the language, "The Congress shall have power +to,"(93) etc. + +The court entered the political field, though clothed only with +judicial power, one of the three distinct powers of the government. +For wise purposes executive, legislative, and judicial departments +were provided by the Constitution, each to be potential within its +sphere, acting always, of course, within their respective proper, +limited, constitutionally conferred authority. + +"The judicial power shall extend to all _cases_ in law and equity +arising under this Constitution."(94) + +This highest judicial tribunal, it is seen, passed from a case +wherein no jurisdiction, as it held, rested in the courts to enter +any form of judgment--not even for costs, to decide matters not +pertaining in any sense to the particular case, nor even to _judicial_ +public rights of the people or the government, but wholly to the +political, legislative powers of Congress, not in any degree involved +in the jurisdictional question arising and decided. If it be said +that courts of review or error sometimes decide all the questions +made on the record, though some of them may not be necessary to a +complete disposition of the case before it, it must be answered +that this is most rare, if at all, where the case is disposed of, +as was the Dred Scott case, against the trial court's jurisdiction. +But, manifestly, the many political questions discussed at great +length in the opinions and formulated as _syllabi_ (quoted above) +for the case, did not and could not arise of record, and they were +not covered by assignments of error, and hence, whether the sole +question decided or to be decided was one of jurisdiction or not, +these questions can only be regarded as discussions--personal +opinions of the justices--not rising to the dignity of mere volunteer +opinions on matters of _law_; of no binding force even as _legal +precedents_, because outside of the case and record--not even +properly _obiter dicta_. + +But slavery then dominated and permeated everything and everybody. +Why should the justices of the Supreme Court be free from its +influence? The Ordinance of 1787 was re-enacted by the First +Congress under the Constitution, and its slavery restriction clause +was enforced, without question, by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, +Madison, Monroe, and Jackson and their administrations. The Missouri +Compromise line had stood unassailed for above a third of a century. +In 1848 Polk and his Cabinet approved the Oregon Bill prohibiting +slavery; also Pierce and his Administration approved (1853) the +extension of the same prohibition over Washington Territory. + +Earlier, in 1845, the Texas Annexation Act, as we have seen, re- +enacted the 36 deg. 30' line of restriction for slavery, and in 1848 +the pro-slavery party in Congress voted to extend this line to +California. Congress again and again exercised the power of +legislating for the Territories; eleven times, between 1823 and +1838, it amended the laws of the Legislature of Florida, thus +asserting the absolute right to legislate for the Territories. +The Supreme Court of the United States for nearly seventy years +had assumed and acted on the principle of the right of Congress to +legislate for them. + +Now all became changed, as though a new oracle of construction had +appeared, higher and wiser than all who had gone before--an oracle +who knew more of the Constitution than its makers. This new oracle +did not divine the fates. The announcement of the principle that +the Constitution treats negroes "as persons whom it is _morally_ +lawful to deal in as articles of property and to hold as slaves," +shocked the consciences of just men throughout the earth. + +Referring to the times when the Declaration of Independence and +the Constitution of the United States were adopted, and speaking +of the African race, the Chief-Justice, in his opinion, said: + +"They had, for more than a century before, been regarded as beings +of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the +white race, either in social or political relations: and so far +inferior, _that they had no rights which the white man was bound +to respect:_ and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced +to slavery for his benefit." + +These and kindred expressions astonished all civilization and all +Christian people. + +The North was stunned by the decision, some fearing that slavery +was soon to become national. The South exulted boastfully of their +cause,(95) loudly proclaiming the paramount, binding force of the +supreme judicial tribunal in the Republic. Free labor and free +laborers were decried. They were, in speech and press, called +"_mud sills of society:_" only negro slavery ennobled the white +race. + +The over-zealous South was even persuaded that the small farmers, +trafficking merchants, and mechanics did not possess bravery enough +to fight for _liberty_. + +Justice Catron, especially, claimed that Napoleon I., by the +insertion of the third article of the treaty of cession of the +Louisiana Province, had forever fastened slavery on it. But of +this we have already spoken.(96) + +It was slavery's last triumph. Dred Scott, his wife, and two little +girls were remanded to slavery, to be freed by the irresistible +might of divine justice, worked out through the expiating blood of +the long-offending white race, commingled on many fields with the +blood of their own race. + +(92) 19th Howard (_U. S._), pp. 393-633. + +(93) Con., Art. IV., Sec. 3, Par. 2. + +(94) Con., Art. III., Sec. 2. + +(95) Robert Toombs of Georgia in extravagant exuberance is reported +to have said: "I expect to call the roll of my slaves at the foot +of Bunker Hill." + +(96) _Ante_, p. 43-5. + + +XX +JOHN BROWN RAID--1859 + +John Brown, of Kansas fame, eccentric, misguided, and intense in +his hatred of slavery, and of martyr stuff, encouraged by some of +the most influential anti-slavery men of the North, who were goaded +on by slavery's perennial aggressions, with a "_pike-pole_" at +Harper's Ferry (October 16, 1859) pricked the fetid pit of slavery, +causing a tremor to run through the whole body of it. He had with +him an _army of eighteen_, five of whom were free negroes.(97) +They had rifles and pistols for themselves, and a few pikes for +the slaves they hoped to free. + +Brown had assembled his band at the Kennedy farm in Maryland, a +few miles distant from Harper's Ferry, Virginia. + +He professed to believe he might succeed if he could take the latter +place, as it "would serve as a notice to the slaves that their +friends had come, and as a trumpet to rally them to his standard." +This he stated to Frederick Douglass, whom he urged in vain to join +his expedition.(98) His object was to free slaves, not to take +life. + +This daring body seized the United States armory, arsenal, and the +rifle-works, all government property. By midnight Brown was in +full possession of Harper's Ferry. Before morning he caused the +arrest of two prominent slave owners, one of whom was Colonel Lewis +Washington, the great grandson of a brother of George Washington, +capturing of him the sword of Frederick the Great, and a brace of +pistols of Lafayette, presents from them, respectively, to General +Washington. It was Brown's special ambition to free the Washington +slaves. Fighting began at daybreak of the 17th. The Mayor of +Harper's Ferry and another fell mortally wounded. + +Brown and his party by noon were driven into an engine-house near +the armory, where they had barred the doors and windows, and made +port-holes for their rifles. There they were besieged and fired +on by their assailants. + +Colonel Washington and others of their captives were held by Brown +in the engine-house. Shots were returned by Brown and his men. +Some idea of Brown's character and bravery can be formed from +Colonel Washington's description of his conduct in the engine-house +fort: + +"Brown was the coolest and firmest man I ever saw in defying danger +and death. With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, +he felt the pulse of his dying son with one hand and held his rifle +with the other, and commanded his men with the utmost composure, +encouraging them to be firm and sell their lives as dearly as they +could." + +He wreaked no vengeance on his prisoners. Though his sons and +friends were dead and dying around him, and himself, near the end +of the fight, cleaved down with a sword, and bayonets were thrust +in his body, he sheltered his prisoners so that not one of them +was harmed. And non-combatants were not fired on by his band. + +When Brown's party in the _fort_ were reduced to himself and six +men, two or more of these being wounded, Colonel Robert E. Lee, +_then of the United States Army_, arrived with a company of marines. +After Lee's demand to surrender was refused by Brown, an entrance +was forced, and, bleeding, some dying, he and those left were taken. +Of the nineteen, ten were killed, five taken prisoners, and four +had succeeded in escaping, two of the four being afterwards captured +in Pennsylvania. They had killed five and wounded nine of the +inhabitants and of their besiegers. + +Not only was all the vicinity wildly excited, but the whole South +was in an uproar. Slavery had been physically assaulted in its +home. The North partook of the excitement, generally condemning +the rash proceeding, though many deeply sympathized with the purpose +of Brown's movement, and his heroic conduct and life caused many +to admire him. He was a devout believer in the literal reading of +the Holy Bible, and of the special judgments of God, as he interpreted +them in the Old Testament. His attack on slavery he regarded as +more rational than and as likely to triumph as Joshua's attack on +a walled city with trumpets and shouts, and as Gideon's band of +three hundred, armed only with trumpets, lamps, and pitchers in +its encounter with a great army. As Jericho's walls had fallen, +and Gideon's band had put to flight Midianites and Amalekites in +countless multitudes like grasshoppers, so, Brown expected, at +least fondly hoped and devoutly prayed, to see the myriads of +human slaves go free in America. He did not, however, expect a +general rising of the slaves. + +He did not seek to San Domingoize the South, and against this he +provided penalties in his prepared provisional constitution.(99) + +Brown had been encouraged and materially aided by Gerritt Smith, +Dr. Howe of Boston, Stearns, Sanborn, Frederick Douglass, Higginson, +Emerson, Parker, Phillips, and others of less renown; some, if not +all, of whom had neither understood nor approved of his plan of +attack. + +The slaves did not rise, not did they in any considerable number +even know at the time the real purpose of their would-be liberator. + +During the excitement of the first news Greeley prophetically wrote: + +"We deeply regret this outbreak; but remembering if their fault +was grievous, grieviously have they answered for it, we will not +by one reproachful word disturb the bloody shrouds wherein John +Brown and his compatriots are sleeping. They dared and died for +what they felt to be right, though in a manner which seems to us +to be fatally wrong. Let their epitaphs remain unwritten until +the _not distant day_ when no slave shall clank his chains in the +shades of Monticello or by the graves of Mount Vernon."(100) + +Brown's raid did not seriously, as was then expected, affect the +November elections of that year, and they were favorable to the +young, aggressive Republican party, formed to stay the extension +of slavery. + +It is not the purpose here to write a detailed history of particular +events, only to name such as had a substantial effect on slavery; +yet John Brown's _fate_ should be recorded. He was captured October +18th; indicted on October 20th; arraigned and put on his trial at +Charlestown, in Jefferson County, Virginia, though his open wounds +were still bleeding; and on October 31, 1859, a jury brought in a +verdict finding him "Guilty of treason, and conspiring and advising +with slaves and others to rebel; and murder in the first degree." +Save in the matter of precipitation, his trial was fair, under all +the circumstances, and no other result could have been expected. +November 2 he was sentenced to be hung on December 2, 1859. + +When arraigned for sentence, among other things he said: + +"If it is deemed necessary I should forfeit my life in furtherance +of the end of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood +of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country +whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust exactments, +I say, let it be done." + +A little later he wrote: + +"I can leave to God the time and manner of my death, for I believe +now that the sealing of my testimony before God and man with my +blood will do far more to further the cause to which I have earnestly +devoted myself than anything I have done in my life . . . I am +quite cheerful concerning my approaching end, since I am convinced +I am worth infinitely more on the gallows than I could be anywhere +else." + +On his way from the prison to the scaffold he handed to a guard a +paper on which were written his last words. + +"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty +land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now +think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it +might be done." + +Emerson, Parker, and the Abolition press of the North eulogized +Brown and his followers. + +His raid was made another pretence for uniting the South. + +The American Anti-Slavery Society in its calendar of events designated +_1859_ as "The John Brown Year." + +John Brown was immortalized in a song written and sung first in +1861, and thereafter by the Union army wherever it marched. On +the spot where he was hanged a Massachusetts regiment (1862) sung: + + "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, + But his soul goes marching on," etc. + +The significance of John Brown's attack, small as it was in the +point of numbers engaged in it, lies in the fact that it is the +only one of its character openly made on slavery in the history of +the United States, and in the further fact that it was at the +threshold of _Secession--War_, ending in _universal emancipation_. + +(97) _Hist. of the U. S._ (Rhodes), vol. ii., p. 393. + +(98) _Ibid_., p. 392. + +(99) Mason's _Report_, p. 57. + +(100) _Hist. of U. S._ (Rhodes), vol. ii., p. 403; New York _Tribune_, +Oct. 19th. + + +XXI +PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, 1856-1860 + +The political campaign of 1856 has thus far been passed by, as it +more appropriately belongs to a history of the political movements +leading up to secession. + +Between the two great parties--Republican and Democratic--the most +important issue was the slavery question. + +The Republican party, born of the slavery agitation, in its platform +(1856) denied + +"The authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, of any +individual or association of individuals, to give legal existence +to slavery in any Territory of the United States. + +"Declared that the Constitution confers on Congress sovereign power +over the Territories of the United States for their government, +and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and +the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin +relics of barbarism--Polygamy and Slavery." + +On the other hand, the Democratic party in 1856, fresh from the +contest in Congress over the Nebraska Bill and the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise, denied the right of Congress to exclude slavery +from the Territories, and declared it + +"The right of the people of all the Territories, including Kansas +and Nebraska . . . to form a Constitution, with or without domestic +slavery, and be admitted into the Union." + +There were other but minor issues discussed in 1856. John C. +Fremont was nominated by the Republicans and James Buchanan by the +Democrats. Douglas failed of the Presidential prize through violent +antagonism from the South, especially from Jefferson Davis, Wm. L. +Yancey, Robert Toombs, and other leading pro-slavery statesmen. +They distrusted him, though he had led them to victory in 1854 in +repealing the 36 deg. 30' restriction of slavery, and in throwing open, +as we have seen, the Nebraska territorial empire to the influx of +slaves. He was patriotic, and hence could not be depended on to +take the next step towards forcing slavery into the Territories +and to favor a dissolution of the Union. + +Buchanan, a pliant tool, was elected by a plurality vote over +Fremont and Fillmore, the candidate of the American party. Fremont +carried, with good majorities, all the free States save Indiana, +New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California. + +The popular discussion of the slavery question in the campaign was +thorough, memorable, exciting, educating, and, though resulting in +defeat to the anti-slavery party, it marked the trend of public +sentiment, and clearly foreshadowed that it would soon triumph. + +The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 still further elucidated to +the masses of the people the issues impending, and indicated that +the end of slavery extension was near. + +The Dred Scott decision, announced March, 1857, had completely +overthrown, so far as it could be done by judicial-political _obiter +dicta_, Douglas's Popular Sovereignty theory, leaving him with only +the northern end (and that not united) of his party endeavoring to +uphold it. + +Next came the Presidential campaign of 1860, the last in which a +slave party participated. + +The Democratic party met in delegate convention in April, 1860, in +Charleston, South Carolina, and after seven days of struggle, during +which disunion threats were made by Yancey and others, the delegates +from the Cotton States--South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, +Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas--seceded, for the alleged +reason that a majority of the convention adopted the 1856 Democratic +platform which upheld the Douglas - Popular Sovereignty doctrine +as applied to the Territories. + +The seceding delegates had voted for a platform declaring the right +of all citizens to settle in the Territories with all their property +(including slaves) "without its being destroyed or impaired by +Congressional or territorial legislation," and further, + +"That it is the duty of the Federal Government in all its departments +to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property in +the Territories, and wherever else its constitutional authority +extends." + +This was not only the new doctrine of the Supreme Court, but to it +was superadded the further claim that the Constitution _required_ +Congress and all the departments of the government to protect the +slaveholder with his slaves, when once in a Territory, against +territorial legislation or other unfriendly acts. By this most +startling doctrine the Constitution was to become an instrument to +_establish and protect slavery_ in all the territorial possessions +of the Republic. + +Douglas failed of nomination at Charleston for want of a two thirds +vote of the entire convention as originally organized. The convention +adjourned to meet, June 11th, at Baltimore, and the seceding branch +of it also adjourned to meet at the same time at Richmond, but +later it decided to meet with and again become a part of the +convention at Baltimore. At this time the South had control of +the Senate, and May 25, 1860, before the convention reassembled, +and after a most acrimonious debate into which Douglas was drawn +and in which Jefferson Davis bitterly assailed him, the resolutions +of the latter were passed, affirming the "_property_" theory, with +the new doctrine of constitutional protection of it in the Territories +added. + +The convention reassembled, and at the end of five days' wrangle +and recrimination, during which the members called each other +"disorganizers," "bolters," "traitors," "disunionists," "abolitionists," +accompanied by violent threats, it disrupted again, its chairman, +Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, led the bolters and was followed +by the delegates generally from the Southern States. They organized +at once a separate convention. + +Douglas was nominated by the originally organized convention, and +John C. Breckinridge by the bolters, each on the sharply defined +platform relating to slavery, mentioned above. + +Still another political body assembled in Baltimore in 1860, to +wit: "The Constitutional Union Convention." It met May 9th. Its +platform was intended to be comprehensive and so simple and patriotic +that everybody might endorse it. It declared against recognizing +any principle other than + +"_The Constitution of the Country, the Union of the States, and +the Enforcement of the Laws._" + +John Bell of Tennessee was nominated on this broad platform for +President, with Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President, +both eminently respectable statesmen, but the times were not +auspicious for mere generalized principles or mere respectability. + +The great Wigwam - Republican Convention met at Chicago, May 16, +1860, with delegates from all the free States, the Territories of +Kansas and Nebraska, and from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, +and Missouri. + +Its platform was long, and affirmed the principles of the Declaration +of Independence, pronounced against interfering with slavery in +the States, denounced the John Brown raid as "among the gravest of +crimes," and, in the main, was temperate and conservative. + +On the question of slavery in the Territories it was radical: + +"That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force, carries +slavery in to any or all of the Territories of the United States, +is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit +provisions of that instrument itself," etc. + +"That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States +is that of freedom, . . . and we deny the authority of Congress, +or a Territorial Legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal +existence to slavery in any Territory in the United States." + +Lincoln of Illinois, Seward of New York, Chase of Ohio, and Cameron +of Pennsylvania were the principal candidates for nomination, but +the contest turned out to be between Lincoln and Seward, each of +whom was regarded eminently qualified for the Presidency and an +especial representative of his party on the slavery issue. + +Lincoln was nominated on the third ballot, and Hannibal Hamlin, a +sturdy New England statesman, was nominated for Vice-President. + +Slavery, with its tri-cornered issues, was the sole absorbing +question discussed in the campaign. In the South, the Breckinridge +wing assailed the Douglas party, which combated _it_ there in turn. +In the North, the Republican party attacked furiously both the +Douglas and Breckinridge wings of the Democratic party; they, in +turn, fighting back and fighting each other. + +The Bell and Everett party, though it claimed to be the only party +of the Constitution, fell into ridicule, as it really advocated no +well-defined principles on any subject whatsoever. Bell and Everett, +however, carried Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. Lincoln carried +all the Northern States, save three of the electoral votes in New +Jersey. + +Of the 303 electoral votes, Lincoln had 180, Douglas 12 (Missouri +9 and New Jersey 3), Breckinridge 72, and Bell 39, thus giving +Lincoln 57 over all. He was the first and only President elected +on a direct slavery issue. + +The slavery question, thus sharply presented, was decided at the +polls by the people, and their verdict was for freedom in the +Territories. No more slave States; no more dilution of slavery by +spreading it (as was once advocated by Clay and others) for its +amelioration. + +It must live or die in States wherein it was established. Neither +successful secession, state-rights, nor accomplished disunion could +extend it. Like all wrong, it could not stand still; to flourish, +it must be aggressive and progressive. To limit it was to strangle +it. This its votaries well understood. + +In the history of the world there never were more brilliant, more +devoted, more earnest, more infatuated, and yet more inconsistent +propagandists of the institution of human slavery than in our +Republic during the period of the agitation of nullification--state- +rights--secession--disunion lines. They were of the Calhoun school. +They declaimed in halls of legislation and on the stump and rostrum +for "Liberty," and hugged closely _human slavery_, often professing +to believe it of _divine right_. + + +XXII +DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION + +Secession was at hand! At first it was justified under the banner +of state-rights, on the theory that the Union was a voluntary +compact of States which could be broken at the will of one or all. +That a Republic was only an experiment, to exist until overthrown +by any member of it. That the blood of the Revolution was shed, +not for the establishment of an independent nation, but for a +confederacy of separate states. In the guise of nullification it +appeared, as we have seen, 1832; excessive tariff duties were the +pretext. In 1835 it assumed to be the champion of slavery, because +on the slavery question only could the South be united. It is due +to history to say, of the decade preceding 1860, patriotism was +not universal even in the free States. Slavery had her votaries +there. Interests of trade affected many. Prejudice against the +blacks and ties of kinship affected others. Parties and affiliations +and love of political power controlled the policy of influential +men in all sections of the country. + +The South was aggressive, and smarted under its defeats in attempts +to extend its beloved institution. The prayer of Calhoun for a +united South was fast being realized, and a fatal destiny goaded +on its leaders. Slavery, indeed, no longer stood on a firm +foundation. Public sentiment had sapped it. It could not live +and tolerate free speech, and a free press, or universal education +even of the white race where it existed. All strangers sojourning +in the South were under espionage; they, though innocent of any +designs on slavery, were often brutally treated and driven away. +It was only the distinguished visitors who were entertained with +the much boasted-of Southern hospitality. The German or other +industrious foreign emigrant rarely, if ever, ventured into the +South. + +Its towns and cities languished. Slavery was bucolic and patriarchal. +It could not, in its most prosperous state, flourish on small +plantations; nor could the many own slaves or be interested in +their labor. Not exceeding two tenths of the white race South +owned, at any time, or were interested in slave labor or slaves. +The eight tenths had no political or social standing. They were, +in a large sense, in another form, white slaves. + +The Border States held their negroes by a precarious tenure. The +most intelligent were constantly escaping. The inter-traffic in +slaves bred in the more northern slave States was likely to become +less profitable. And patrols by night, to insure order, had become +generally necessary. + +The publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ had +a great effect on public sentiment North, and some influence even +in the South. _The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet +It_, written by Hilton R. Helper, a poor white man of North Carolina +(1857), an arraignment of slavery from the standpoint of the white +majority South, was denounced as incendiary in Congress. Sherman +of Ohio, having in some way endorsed its publication, when a +candidate for Speaker, was denounced by Millson of Virginia, who +declared that "one who consciously, deliberately, and of purpose +lent his name and influence to the propagation of such writings is +not only not fit to be Speaker, but is not fit to live." + +Sherman's endorsement of the Helper book caused his defeat for +Speaker, and a riot occurred in the House during this contest: +Not quite bloodshed. Of the scene, Morris of Illinois said: + +"A few more such scenes . . . and we shall hear the crack of the +revolver and see the gleam of the brandished blade." + +The contents of the book, though temperate in tone, were said by +Pryor of Virginia to deal only "in rebellion, treason, and +insurrection." + +Scenes, most extraordinary, were not unfrequently enacted in the +House of Representatives, all having the effect to inflame the +public mind. Some of these were brought on by violent speeches of +Northern statesmen, made in response to the defiant attitude or +utterances of Southern men, boastful of their bravery. + +One such scene was precipitated in 1860 by Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, +who, in a speech to the House, denounced + +"Slaveholding as worse than robbing, than piracy, than polygamy. +The enslavement of human beings because they are inferior . . . is +the doctrine of the Democrats, and the doctrine of devils as well! +and there is no place in the universe outside the five-points of +hell and the Democratic party where the practice and prevalence of +such doctrines would not be a disgrace." + +Lovejoy had more than an ordinary excuse for using such violent +language. + +As long before as November 7, 1837, his brother, Elijah P. Lovejoy, +had been murdered at Alton, Illinois, while defending his printing- +press from a mob, chiefly from Missouri, his offence being that he +published an Abolition paper (_The Observer_). His press had thrice +before in a year been destroyed. + +Pryor of Virginia, Barksdale of Mississippi, and others resented +Lovejoy's expletives, calling him "an infamous, perjured villain," +"a perjured negro-thief," and demanding of the Speaker to "order +that blackhearted scoundrel and negro-stealing thief to take his +seat." + +Personal conflicts were imminent between opposing members. Potter +of Iowa, Kellogg of Illinois, and others promptly and fiercely came +to Lovejoy's defence. The latter finished his speech amid excitement +and threats. Pryor afterwards demanded of Potter "the satisfaction +usual among gentlemen," who promptly proposed to give it to him, +naming bowie-knives as the weapons for the duel. This mode of +gaining "_satisfaction_" was not accepted, because it was "vulgar, +barbarous, and inhuman." Potter thenceforth became a hero, and +less was heard of Northern cowardice. + +This, and like incidents, kindled the fast-spreading flame,--real +battle-fires were then almost in sight. + +It must not be assumed the Republican party, before the war, favored +the abolition of slavery. Its principal leaders denied they were +abolitionists; on the contrary, they insisted that their party +would not interfere with slavery where it existed by State law. + +The sentiment of the people in that party, however, was, on this +question, in advance even of its progressive leaders. The enforcement +of the Fugitive-Slave Law caused many and most important accessions +to the Abolitionists. Wendell Phillips became an Abolitionist on +seeing Garrison dragged by a mob through the streets of Boston; +Josiah Quincy by the martyrdom of Lovejoy; other men of much note, +and multitudes of the moving, controlling masses, were decided to +oppose human slavery by kindred scenes all over the North. They +took solemn, often secret vows, on witnessing men and women carried +off in chains to slavery, to wage eternal war on the institution; +this, in imitation of the vow of Hannibal of old to his father, +Hamilcar, to wage eternal war on Rome. + +At last, through causes for the existence of which the South was +chiefly to blame, the sentiment North was culminating so strongly +against slavery that soon, had secession and war not come, slavery +would have everywhere been assailed. It is impossible to stay the +march of a great moral movement, when backed by enlightened masses, +as to stem the rushing waters of a great stream in flood time. +Hence, the experiment of dissolution of the Union to save slavery +was due, if ever, to be tried in _1861!_ + +Secession was made easier by reason of a long cherished habit of +the Southern people to speak of themselves boastfully as citizens +of their respective States, thus, "I am a Virginian"; "I am a +Kentuckian," seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were citizens +of the United States. This habit destroyed in some degree national +patriotism, and promoted a State pride, baleful in its consequences. +In many of the slave State voting was done _viva voce;_ that is, +by the voter announcing at the polls to the judges the name of the +person for whom he voted for each office. This, it was contended, +promoted frankness, manliness, independence, and honesty in elections. +On the other hand, it was claimed, with much truth, that it was a +most refined and certain method of coercing the dependent poorer +classes into voting as the dominant class might desire, and hence +almost totally destructive of independence in voting. + +An anecdote is told of John Randolph of Roanoke, who, when at the +Court of St. James (England) was conspicuous for his boasting that +he was a _Virginian_. He was introduced by an English official +for an after-dinner speech with a request that he should tell the +distinguishing difference between a _Virginian_ and a citizen of +the American Republic. He curtly responded: + +"The difference is in the system of voting on election days; in +Virginia a voter must stand up, look the candidates in the eye, +and bravely and honestly name his preference, like a man; while +generally a voter in other States of the Union is permitted to +sneak to the polls like a thief, and slip a folded paper into a +hole in a box, then in a cowardly way steal home; the one promotes +manliness, the other cowardice." + + +XXIII +SECESSION OF STATES--1860-1 + +From what has been said, it will be seen the hour had arrived for +practical secession--disunion--or a total abandonment by the South +of its defiant position on slavery. The latter was not to be +expected of the proud race of Southern statesmen and slaveholders. +They had pushed their cause too far to recede, and the North, though +conceding generally that there was no constitutional power to +interfere with slavery where it existed, was equally determined +not to permit its extension. In secession lay the only hope of +either forcing the North to recede from its position, or, if +successful, to create a new government wherein slavery should be +universal and fundamental. Never before had it been proposed to +establish a nation solely to perpetuate human slavery. + +The election of Lincoln was already announced as a sufficient cause +for secession. The South had failed to make California slave; to +make four more slave States out of Texas; to secure pledges that +out of the New Mexico Territory other slave States should be formed; +and to make Kansas a slave State. It had also failed to acquire +Cuba, already slave, for division into more slave States. There +was, moreover, a certainly that many more free States would be +admitted from the territorial domain of the great West. The +political equilibrium in Congress on the line of slavery had +therefore become impossible for all the future. These were the +grievances over which the South brooded. + +But was it not in the divine plan that slavery in the Republic +should come to a violent end? Nowhere among the kingdoms and +empires of the earth had it become, or had it ever been so deeply +implanted, as a part of a political system. In the proud, boastful, +free Republic of America, in the afternoon of the nineteenth century, +where the Christian religion was taught, where liberty of conscience +was guaranteed by organic law, where civilization was assumed to +exist in its most enlightened and progressive stage, there, _alone_, +the slave owner marshalled boastfully his human slaves, selling +them on the auction block or otherwise at will, to be carried to +distant parts, separating wife and husband, parents and children, +and in a thousand ways shocking all the purer instincts of humanity. + +Nor did its evil effects begin or cease with the black slave. + +Jefferson, speaking of slavery in the United States when it existed +in a more modified form, described its immoral effect on the master +and his family thus: + +"The whole commerce between master and slave is perpetual exercise +of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on +the one part and degrading submission on the other. Our children +see this, and learn to imitate it. . . . The parent storms, the +child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same +airs in the circle of small slaves, gives a loose to the worst of +passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, +cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities."(101) + +The virtue of the white race was necessarily involved in the +institution. The blood of the dominant race became intermingled +with the black, and often white blood predominated in the slave. +The offspring of slaveholders became slaves, and were dealt in the +same as the pure African. Concubinage existed generally where +slaves were numerous. + +The rule was that any person born of a slave mother was doomed to +perpetual slavery. + +As early as 1856, perhaps earlier, conferences were proposed among +leaders in some of the Southern States looking to secession. They +were repeated again in 1858, and before the election of Lincoln in +1860.(102) And Southern secret societies were formed in 1860 to +promote the same end. + +The existence of a disunion cabal in Buchanan's Cabinet, working +to bring about disunion, was hardly a secret. + +Howell Cobb of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury, John B. Floyd +of Virginia, Secretary of War, Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, +Secretary of the Interior, and possibly others, were of the Cabinet +cabal. + +Buchanan, though himself desiring to preserve the Union, had not +the bold temperament, and he had too long been a political tool of +the slave power to effectually resist its violent aggressions; nor +did he have the discernment to discover that his official household +was the centre of a disunion movement. His Secretary of War +distributed officers of the army believed to be friendly to the +South where they could become available to it; he sent from the +North small arms and cannon, ammunition and stores where they could +be seized at the right time.(103) Members of the Cabinet kept the +secession leaders advised of all acts of the administration, and +generally aided them. The auspicious time, if ever, seemed to have +come for a successful dissolution of the Union. The army and navy +were full of able Southern men, ready, as the sequel proves, to go +with their States, abandon the country that had nurtured and educated +them, and the flag that had been their glory. + +Governor Wm. H. Gist, of South Carolina, October 5, 1860, by +confidential letters to the governors of the cotton States, fairly +inaugurated disunion, based on the anticipated election of Abraham +Lincoln a month thence.(104) + +One week later, without waiting for a consultation of governors of +slave States, he, by proclamation, convened the Legislature of +South Carolina to "_take action for the safety and protection of +the State_." + +This body met November 5th, the day preceding the Presidential +election. + +The alleged grounds of justification for this early meeting were: + +"The strong possibility of the election to the Presidency of a +sectional candidate by a party committed to the support of measures +which, if carried out, will inevitably destroy _our equality in +the Union_," etc. + +This was the avowed reason, finally, for secession, though the true +reason was the absolute restriction of slavery and the overthrow +of the slave power in the Republic. The election of a Republican +President was, of course, a disappointment to Southern statesmen, +long used to absolute sway in Congress and in the administration +of the government. The charge that Lincoln was a sectional President +was true only to the extent that freedom was sectional. Slavery +only was then, by secessionists, regarded as national. + +The first important step of the South Carolina Legislature was to +appropriate $100,000 to be expended by the Governor in purchasing +small-arms and a battery of rifled cannon. Without opposition a +convention was called to take "into consideration the dangers +incident to the position of the State in the Federal Union." Her +two United States Senators and other of her Federal officers forthwith +resigned. A grand mass meeting was held, November 17th, at +Charleston, generally participated in by the ladies, merchants, +etc. The Stars and Stripes were not displayed, but a white palmetto +flag, after solemn prayer, was unfurled in its stead. Disunion +was here inaugurated. November 13th the Legislature of South +Carolina stayed the collection of all debts due to citizens of non- +slaveholding States. It was not sufficient to repudiate the Union, +but honest debts must also be repudiated. + +The convention thus called first met at Columbia, December 17th, +thence adjourned to Charleston, where (appropriately) on December +20, 1860, an Ordinance of Secession was passed reading thus: + +"_An Ordinance, + +"To dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and +other States united with her under the compact entitled 'The +Constitution of the United States of America_.' + +"We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention +assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and +ordained: That the Ordinance adopted by us in convention on the +23d day of May, in the year of our Lord 1788, whereby the Constitution +of the United States was ratified, and also, all acts and parts of +acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying amendments +of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the Union now +subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name +of 'The United States of America,' is hereby dissolved." + +This action was taken in Buchanan's administration while secessionists +and promoters of disunion were yet in his Cabinet, and Jefferson +Davis and others were still plotting in Congress. + +Great stress was laid upon the right to rescind the original +Ordinance of 1788 ratifying the Constitution of the United States, +and the Union of the States was denominated only a "_compact_." +The passage of the Ordinance of Secession was followed by "bonfires +and illuminations, ringing of bells, insults to the Stars and +Stripes," participated in by South Carolina aristocracy, especially +cheered on by the first ladies of the State and city, little dreaming +that slavery's opening death-knell was being proclaimed.(105) + +It was fitting that South Carolina should lead the van of secession. +She had, in a Colonial state, furnished more Tories in the Revolution +of 1776 than any of the other colonies; she had initiated secession +through nullification in 1832; and her greatest statesman, Calhoun, +was the first to propose disunion as a remedy for slavery +restrictions. + +Events succeeded rapidly. + +An Alabama convention met, and, on January 8, 1861, received +commissioners from South Carolina, and on the 11th passed, in secret +session, an Ordinance of Secession, refusing to submit it to a vote +of her people. + +Mississippi, on January 9, 1861, passed, through a convention, a +like Ordinance. + +Georgia, January 19th, by a convention passed her Ordinance of +Secession. + +Louisiana's convention passed an Ordinance of Secession January +25, 1861. + +Texas passed, in convention, on February 1, 1861, a like Ordinance, +which was ratified by a vote of her people February 24th.(106) + +Thus seven States resolved to secede before Abraham Lincoln became +President. + +And each of these States had prepared for armed opposition; most, +if not all, of their Senators and Representatives in Congress had +withdrawn; in most of the States named United States forts, arms, +military stores, and other public property had been seized; and +many officers of the army and navy had deserted, weakly excusing +their action by declaring they must go with their States. + +Events were happening in Washington. Cass resigned as Secretary +of State because Buchanan adhered to the doctrine that there was +no power to coerce a seceding State. Under this baleful doctrine, +secession had secured, apparently, a free and bloodless right of +way in its mad rush to dissolve the Union and to establish a slave +empire. It was at first thought by Southern leaders wise to postpone +the formation of a "Confederacy" until Lincoln was inaugurated. +But about January 1st there came a Cabinet rupture. Floyd was +driven from it, and Joseph Holt of Kentucky, a most able and patriotic +Union man, succeeded him. Later, Edwin M. Stanton and Jeremiah +Black came into the Cabinet, Buchanan yielding to more patriotic +influences and adopting more decided Union measures, though not +based wholly on a coercive policy. + +But, on January 5, 1861, a "Central Cabal," consisting of "Southern +Statesmen," who still lingered at Washington, where they could best +promote and direct the secession of the States and keep the +administration in check, if not control it, met in one of the rooms +of the _Capitol_ to devise an ultimate programme for the future. +It agreed on these propositions: + +First. Immediate secession of States. + +Second. A convention to meet at Montgomery, Alabama, not later +than February 15th, to organize a Confederacy. + +To prevent hostile legislation under the changed and more loyal +impulses of the President and his reconstructed Cabinet, the cotton +States Senators should remain awhile in their places, to "keep the +hands of Buchanan tied."(107) + +This cabal appointed Senators Jefferson Davis, Slidell, and Mallory +"to carry out the objects of the meeting." + +Thus, beneath the "Dome of the Capitol," treason was plotted by +Senators and Representatives who still held their seats and official +places, and still received their pay from the United States Treasury, +for the sole purpose of enabling them the better to accomplish the +end sought. Think of the prospective President of the "Confederate +States of America," their future Minister to the Court of France, +and their future Secretary of the Navy, plotting secretly in the +Capitol at Washington to destroy the Union! But these were +treasonable times. + +Through resolution of the Mississippi Legislature, the Montgomery +Convention was hastened, and it met February 4, instead of February +15, 1861, as suggested by the Washington caucus of Southern +Congressmen. The delegates from the six seceded States east of +the Mississippi assembled, and a little later (March 2d) delegates +from Texas joined them. On the fourth day of its session the +national _slave-child_ was born, and christened "_Confederate States +of America_." The next day Jefferson Davis was elected President, +and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, Vice-President. Stephens +took the oath of office on the day following his election. Davis +arrived from Washington, and was, on the 18th, inaugurated the +first (and last) President of this Confederacy. + +The next step was a permanent Constitution. With characteristic +celerity, this was prepared and adopted March 11, 1861, one week +after Lincoln became President of the United States, though the +Confederacy had been formed almost a month before his official term +commenced. + +This instrument was modelled on the Constitution of the United +States. + +It forbade the importation of negroes of the African race from any +foreign country, other than the slaveholding States or Territories +of the United States. Then following, for the first time probably +in the history of nations, the proposed new Republic dedicated +itself to eternal slavery, thus: + +"No bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, or _law denying or +impairing_ the right of property in negro slaves, shall be +passed."(108) + +Singularly enough, the astute friends of the institution of slavery, +knowing and avowing that it could not survive competition with the +free, well-paid labor necessary to manufacturing industries, and +knowing also that slavery was only adapted to rural pursuits, not +to skilled mechanical labor, and desiring to plant human slavery +permanently in the new nation, removed from all possibility of +competition with anything that might, by dignifying labor, build +up wealth as witnessed in the great Northern cities and thus endanger +slavery, sought to protect it by a clause incorporated in their +organic act, prohibiting any form of _tariff_ to protect home +industries. + +"Nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations +be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry."(109) + +Cotton was ever to be "King" in the Confederacy. + +Mississippi's "Declaration of the Immediate Causes" justifying +secession with perfect honesty announced: + +"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of +slavery--the greatest material interest in the world. . . . A blow +at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has +been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching +its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to +the mandates of abolition or a dissolution of the Union." + +The best, most candid, conservative, and comprehensive statement +in explanation and vindication of the Confederate Constitution, +the purposes and objects of the nation and people to be governed +by and under it, is found in a speech of Vice-President Stephens +at Savannah, Georgia, delivered ten days (March 21, 1861) after +its adoption. + +Here is a single extract: + +"The new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating +questions relating to our peculiar institution--African slavery as +it exists among us--the proper status of the negro in our form of +civilization. _This was the immediate cause of the late rupture +and present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated +this as the rock upon which the old Union would split_. He was +right. What was conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But +whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock +stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained +by him, and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the +formation of the old Constitution, were that the enslavement of +the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was +wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an +evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion +of the men of that day was that, somehow or other, in the order of +Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. +This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the +prevailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured +every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, +and hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional +guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the +day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested +upon the assumption of the equality of the races. This was an +error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a government +built upon it: when the 'storms came and the wind blew, it fell.' + +"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its +foundations are laid, _its corner stone rests upon the great truth +that the negro is not equal to the white man_. That slavery-- +subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal +condition. This, our new government, is the first in the history +of the world based upon this great physical and moral truth. This +truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all +the other truths in the various departments of science. It has +been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect +well that this truth was not generally admitted, even within their +day. The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late +as twenty years ago. Those at the North who still cling to these +errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics." + +This is a fair and truthful exposition of the fundamental principles +of the Confederacy, fallacious as they were. + +North Carolina, after her people had voted down a convention to +consider the question of secession at an extra session of her +Legislature, called a convention which, on May 21, 1861, when the +war had begun, passed an Ordinance of Secession without submission +to a vote of her people. + +Virginia through her Legislature called a convention which, April +17, 1861, passed an Ordinance of Secession in secret session, +subject to ratification by a vote of her people. This was after +Sumter had been fired on. + +The vote was taken June 25th, and the Ordinance was ratified. + +Arkansas defeated in convention an Ordinance for secession March +18, but passed one May 6, 1861, without a vote of her people. + +Tennessee, by a vote of her people, February 8, 1861 (67,360 to +54,156) voted against a convention, but her Legislature (May 7, +1861) in secret session adopted a "Declaration of Independence and +Ordinance dissolving her Federal relations," subject to a vote of +her people on June 8th. The vote being for separation, her Governor, +June 24, 1861, declared the State out of the Union.(110) + +This was the last State of the eleven to secede. All these four +ratified the Confederate Constitution and joined the already-formed +Confederacy. + +The seceded States early passed laws authorizing the organization +of their militia, and making appropriations for defence against +coercion, and providing for the seizure of United States forts, +arsenals, and other property within their respective limits, and +later, that they should be turned over to the Confederate States. + +Some of the States by law provided severe penalties against any of +their citizens holding office under the Government of the United +States. Virginia, in July, 1861, in convention, passed an ordinance +declaring that any citizen of Virginia holding office under the +old Government should be forever banished from that State, and if +he undertook to represent the State in the Congress of the United +States, he should, in addition, be guilty of treason and his property +confiscated. + +The other Border States failed to break up their relation to the +Union, though in all of them (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and +Missouri) various irregular expedients were resorted to, to declare +them a part of the Confederacy. From their people, however, much +material and moral support was given to the Confederate cause. + +(101) Jefferson's _Works_, viii., p. 403.--Notes on Virginia. + +(102) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. ii., pp. 299-314. + +(103) _Annual Cyclopaedia_ (Appleton), 1861, p. 123. + +(104) For this letter, see _Lincoln_ (N. and H.), vol. ii., p. 306. + +(105) The prophecy: "The rebellion, which began where Charleston +is, shall end where Charleston _was_," was fulfilled. + +For a vivid, though sad description of Charleston at the end of +the war, by an eye-witness, see _Civil war in Am._ (Draper), vol. +i, p. 564. Andrew's Hall, where the first Ordinance passed, and +the Institute in which it was signed, were then charred rubbish. + +The _Demon_ war had been abroad in Charleston--who respects not +life or death. + +(106) Sam Houston was the rightful Governor of Texas in 1861, but +on the adoption of an Ordinance of Secession (February 24, 1861) +he declined to take an oath of allegiance to the new government +and was deposed by a convention March 16, 1861. Just previous to +the vote of the State on ratifying the ordinance, at Galveston, +before an immense, seething, secession audience, with few personal +friends to support him, in face of threatened violence, he denounced +the impolicy of Secession, and painted a prophetic picture of the +consequences that would result to his State from it. He said: + +"Let me tell you what is coming on the heels of secession. The +time will come when your fathers and husbands, your sons and brothers, +will be herded together like sheep and cattle, at the point of the +bayonet, and your mothers and wives, your sisters and daughters, +will ask: Where are they? You may, after the sacrifice of countless +millions of treasure and hundreds and thousands of precious lives, +succeed, if God is not against you, in winning Southern independence. +But I doubt it. It is a bare possibility at best. I tell you that +while I believe, with you, in the doctrine of state rights, the +North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, +impulsive people, as you are, for the live in cooler climates. +But when they begin to move in a given direction, where great +interests are involved, they move with the steady momentum of a +giant avalanche, and what I fear is that they will overwhelm the +South with ignoble defeat." + +During this speech a horse in a team near by grew restive, and +kicked out of harness, but was soon beaten to submission by his +driver. Houston seized on the incident for an illustration, saying: +"That horse tried a little practical secession--See how speedily +he was whipped back into the Union." This quick-witted remark +brought him applause from unsympathetic hearers. + +Houston refused to recognize any Secession authority, and a few +days subsequent to his deposition retired to his home near Huntsville, +without friends, full of years, weak in body, suffering from wounds +received in his country's service, but strong in soul, and wholly +undismayed, though mourning his State's folly. In front of his +house on the prairie he mounted a four-pound cannon, saying: "Texas +may go to the devil and ruin if she pleases, but she shall not drag +me along with her." History does not record another such incident. +To the credit of the Secessionists, they respected the age and +valor of the old hero, and did not molest, but permitted him to +hold his personal "fortress" until his death, which occurred July +26, 1863 (three weeks after Vicksburg fell), in his seventy-first +year. + +He died satisfied the Confederacy and secession would soon be +overthrown and the Union preserved. + +(107) _Lincoln_ (N. and H.), vol. iii, pp. 180-1. + +(108) Con., Art. I., Sec. 9, pars. 1, 4. + +(109) Confederate Con., Art. I., Sec. 8, par. 1. + +(110) McPherson's _Hist. of the Rebellion_, pp. 4-8. + + +XXIV +ACTION OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS, ETC.--1860-1 + +Significant above all other of the great events resulting from the +secession of the Southern States was the dissolution of the great +religious denominations in the United States.(111) + +First, the Old School Presbyterian Church Synod of South Carolina, +early as December 3, 1860, declared for a slave Confederacy. This +was followed by other such synods in the South, all deciding for +separation from the Church North. The Baptists in Alabama, Georgia, +and South Carolina were equally prompt in taking similar action. + +Likewise the Protestant Episcopal Church, in a General Convention, +held in Columbia, South Carolina, after having endorsed the +Confederacy, adopted a "Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal +Church in the Confederate States of America"; all its Southern +bishops being present and approving, save Bishop Leonidas Polk of +Louisiana, who was absent, a Major-General in the Confederate +army.(112) + +The Methodist Episcopal Church South endorsed disunion and slavery; +it had, however, in 1845, separated from the Methodist Church North. + +The Roman Catholic Church, through Bishop Lynch, early in 1861, +espoused the Confederate cause, and he, later, corresponded with +the Pope of Rome in its interests, receiving a conciliatory answer +in the Pope's name by Cardinal Antonelli. + +The Young Men's Christian Association of New Orleans, May 22, 1861, +issued an _Address to the Young Men's Christian Associations of +North America_, declaring secession justifiable, and protesting, +"in the name of Christ and his divine teachings," against waging +war against the Southern States and their institutions. + +Later, in 1863, the "Confederate clergy" issued a most memorable +"_Address to Christians throughout the World_," likewise protesting +against further prosecution of the war; declaring that the Union +was forever dissolved, and specially pointing out "the most +indefensible act growing out of the inexcusable war" to be + +"The recent proclamation of the President of the United States +seeking the _emancipation of the slaves_ of the South." + +And saying further: + +"It is in our judgment a suitable occasion for solemn protest on +the part of the people of God throughout the world." + +Thus encouraged and upheld, the new Confederacy, with slavery for +its "corner-stone," defiantly embarked. + +The counter-action of the Church North was equally emphatic for +_freedom_, and the Union of the States under one flag and one +God.(113) + +It is appropriate in connection with the attitude of the religious +people of the country toward slavery and the Confederacy, and the +war to preserve the one and to establish the other, to quote from +President Lincoln's valedictory Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865), +in which he refers to the attitude of opposing parties, the cause +of the conflict, and to each party invoking God's aid. + +"Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration +which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause +of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict +itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a +result less fundamental and astounding. _Both read the same Bible +and pray to the same God_, and each invoked His aid against the +other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just +God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other +men's faces; but let us 'judge not that we be not judged.' The +prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been +answered fully. + +"The Almighty has His own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because +of offences. For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to +that man by whom the offence cometh.' If we shall suppose that +American slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence +of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His +appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both +North and South this terrible war, as the woe to those by whom the +offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those +divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe +to Him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray that this mighty +scourge of woe may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it +continue until all the wealth piled up by the bondsman's two hundred +and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every +drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn +with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it +must be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous +altogether.' + +"With malice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in +the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to +finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care +for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and +his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and +lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." + +(111) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), 508-520. + +(112) He was, as Lieutenant-General, June 14, 1864, killed by a +shell, at Marietta, Ga., while reconnoitering the Union lines. + +(113) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), pp. 460-508. + + +XXV +PROPOSED CONCESSIONS TO SLAVERY--BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION AND +CONGRESS--1860-1 + +The manner of receiving and treating the secession of the States +by the administration of Buchanan and the Thirty-Sixth Congress +can only here have a brief notice. There was a pretty general +disposition to make further concessions and compromises to appease +the disunion sentiment of the South. His administration was weak +and vacillating. Two serious attempts at conciliation were made. +President Buchanan, in his last Annual Message (December 4, 1860), +while declaring that the election of any one to the office of +President was not a just cause for dissolving the Union, and while +denying that "Secession" could be justified under the Constitution, +yet announced his conclusion that the latter had not "delegated to +Congress the power to coerce a State into submission which is +attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn, from the +Confederacy"; that coercion was "not among the specific and enumerated +powers granted to Congress." He did not think it was constitutional +to preserve the Constitution or the Union of the States. This view +was held by most leaders of his party at the time and throughout +the ensuing war; not so, however, by the rank and file. + +Buchanan did not believe that self-preservation inhered in the +Constitution or the Union. + +The President in this Message suggested an explanatory amendment +to the Constitution: (1) To recognize the right of property in +slaves in the States where it existed; (2) to protect this right +in the Territories until they were admitted as States with or +without slavery; (3) a like recognition of the right of the master +to have his escaped slave delivered up to him; and (4) declaring +all unfriendly State laws impairing this right unconstitutional. + +This was the signal for the presentation of a numerous brood of +propositions to amend the Constitution in the interest of slavery, +and by way of concessions to the South. + +A committee of thirty-three, one from each State, of which Thomas +Corwin of Ohio was chairman, was (December 4, 1860) appointed to +consider the part of the President's Message referred to. + +Mr. Noel of Missouri proposed to instruct this committee to report +on the expediency of abolishing the office of President, and in +lieu thereof establishing an Executive Council of three, elected +by districts composed of contiguous States--each member armed with +a veto power; and he also proposed to restore the equilibrium of +the States by dividing slave States into two or more. + +Mr. Hindman of Arkansas proposed to amend the Constitution so as +to expressly recognize slavery in the States; to protect it in the +Territories; to allow slaves to be transported through free States; +to prohibit representation in Congress to any State passing laws +impairing the Fugitive-Slave Act; giving slave States a negative +upon all acts relating to slavery, and making such amendment +unalterable. + +Mr. Florence of Pennsylvania and Mr. Kellogg of Illinois each +proposed to amend the Constitution "granting the right to hold +slaves in all territory south of 36 deg. 30', and prohibiting slavery +in territory north of this line," etc. + +Mr. Vallandigham of Ohio proposed a long amendment to the Constitution, +the central idea of which was a division of the Union into four +sections, with a complicated and necessarily impracticable plan of +voting in Congress, and of voting for the election of President +and Vice-President. + +These are only samples of the many propositions to amend the +Constitution, but they will suffice for all. None of them had the +approval of both Houses of Congress. + +There were many patriotic propositions offered looking to the +preservation of the Union as it was. They too failed. + +The great committee reported (January 14, 1861) five propositions. +The first a series of resolutions declaratory of the duty of Congress +and the government to the States, and in relation to slavery; the +second an amendment to the Constitution relating to slavery; the +third a bill for the admission of New Mexico, including therein +Arizona, as a State; the fourth a bill amending and making more +efficient the Fugitive-Slave Law, among other things giving the +United States Commissioner _ten dollars_ whether he remanded or +discharged the alleged fugitive; and the fifth a bill for the +rendition of fugitives from justice. These several propositions +(save the fifth, which was rejected) passed the House, the proposed +constitutional amendment of the committee being amended on motion +of Mr. Corwin before its passage. + +None of the propositions were considered in the Senate save the +second, and even this one did not receive the support of the +secessionists still lingering in Congress. + +The proposition to amend the Constitution passed both Houses by +the requisite two thirds vote. It read: + +"Art. XIII. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which +will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, +within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including +that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of any State." + +_Two_ States _only_--Maryland and _Ohio_ (114)--ratified this +proposed amendment. It was needless, and, if adopted, would have +taken no power from Congress, which any respectable party had ever +claimed it possessed, but the amendment was tendered to answer the +false cry that slavery in the slave States was in danger from +Congressional action. + +(What a contrast between this proposed Thirteenth Amendment to the +Constitution and the Thirteenth Amendment adopted four years later! +The former proposed to establish slavery forever; the latter +abolished it _forever_.) + +The resolutions of John J. Crittenden in the Senate proposed various +amendments to the Constitution, among others to legalize slavery +south of 36 deg. 30'; to admit States from territory north of that +line, with or without slavery; to prohibit the abolition of slavery +in the States and also in the District of Columbia so long as it +existed in Virginia or Maryland, such abolition even then to be +only with the consent of the inhabitants of the District and with +compensation to the slave owners; to require the United States to +pay for fugitive slaves who were prevented from arrest or return +to slavery by violence and intimidation, and to make all the +provisions of the Constitution, including the proposed amendments, +unchangeable forever. The Crittenden resolutions, at the end of +much debate, and after various votes on amendments proposed thereto, +failed (19 to 20) in the Senate, and therefore were never considered +in the House.(115) + +It was claimed at the time that had the Congressmen from the Southern +States remained and voted for the Corwin and Crittenden propositions +the Constitution might have been amended, giving slavery all these +guarantees. + +(114) Joint resolution of ratification, _Ohio Laws_, 1861, p. 190. + +(115) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), pp. 57-67. + + +XXVI +PEACE CONFERENCE--1861 + +By appointments of governors or legislatures, commissioners from +each of twenty States, chosen at the request of the Legislature of +Virginia, met in Washington, February 4, 1861, in a "_Peace +Conference_."(116) Ex-President John Tyler of Virginia was made +President, and Crafts J. Wright of Ohio Secretary.(117) + +It adjourned February 27th, having agreed to recommend to the +several States amendments to the Constitution, in substance: That +north of 36 deg. 30' slavery in the Territories shall be, and south of +that line it shall not be, prohibited; that neither Congress nor +a Territorial Legislature shall pass any law to prevent slaves from +being taken from the States to the Territories; that no Territory +shall be acquired by the United States, except by discovery and +for naval stations, without the consent of a majority of the Senators +from the slave and also from the free States; that Congress shall +have no power to abolish slavery in any State, nor in the District +of Columbia without the consent of Maryland; nor to prohibit +Congressmen from taking their slaves to and from said District; +nor the power to prohibit the free transportation of slaves from +one slave State or Territory to another; that bringing slaves into +the District of Columbia for sale, or to be placed in depot for +transfer and sale at other places, is prohibited; that the clauses +in the Constitution and its amendments relating to slavery shall +never be abolished or amended without the consent of all the States; +and that Congress shall provide by law for paying owners for escaped +slaves where officers, whose duty it was to arrest them, were +prevented from arresting them or returning them to their owners +after being arrested. + +"The Peace Conference" was composed of 133 members, among whom were +some of the most eminent men of the country, though generally, +however, only conservatives from each section were selected as +members. Its remarkable recommendations were made with considerable +unanimity, voting in the conference being by States, the Continental +method. + +Wm. Pitt Fessenden and Lot M. Morrill of Maine, Geo. S. Boutwell +of Massachusetts, David Dudley Field and Erastus Corning of New +York, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, David Wilmot of +Pennsylvania, Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, John Tyler, Wm. C. Rives, +and John A. Seddon of Virginia, Wm. O. Butler, James B. Clay, James +Guthrie, and Charles A. Wickcliffe of Kentucky, C. P. Wolcott, +Salmon P. Chase, John C. Wright, Wm. S. Groesback, Franklin T. +Backus, Reuben Hitchcock, Thomas Ewing (Sen.), and Valentine B. +Horton of Ohio, Caleb B. Smith and Godlove S. Orth of Indiana, John +M. Palmer and Burton C. Cook of Illinois, and James Harlan and +James W. Grimes of Iowa were of the number. Many of them were +then, or afterwards, celebrated as statesmen; and some of them +subsequently held high rank as soldiers. + +March 2, 1861, the "Peace Conference" propositions were offered +twice to the Senate, and each time overwhelmingly defeated, as they +had been, on the day preceding, by the House.(118) + +There were many other propositions offered, considered, and defeated, +to wit: Propositions from the Senate Committee of thirteen appointed +December 18, 1860; propositions of Douglas, Seward, and others; +also propositions from a meeting of Senators and members from the +border, free, and slave States, all relating to slavery, and proposed +with a view of stopping the already precipitated secession of +States.(119) + +Some of these propositions were exasperatingly humiliating, and +only possibly justifiable by the times. + +Though Lincoln's election as President was claimed to be a good +cause for secession, and though much of the compromise talk was to +appease his party opponents as well as the South, he was opposed +to bargaining himself into the office to which the people had +elected him. With respect to this matter (January 30, 1861) he +said: + +"I will suffer death before I will consent, or advise my friends +to consent, to any concession or compromise which looks like buying +the privilege of taking possession of the government to which we +have a constitutional right." + +We have now done with legislation, attempted legislation, and +constitutional amendments to protect and extend slavery in the +Republic. Slavery appealed to war, and by the inexorable decree +of war its fate must be decided. + +The _Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln_ (January 1, +1863) and the _Thirteenth_ Amendment to the Constitution (1865) +freed all slaves in the Union; the _Fourteenth_ Amendment (1868) +provided that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, +and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United +States and of the State wherein they reside"; and the _Fifteenth_ +Amendment (1870) gave the right to vote to all citizens of the +United States regardless of "_race, color, or previous condition +of servitude_." These are all simply the decrees of war, written +in the organic law of the United States at the end of the national +four years' baptism of blood. Embodied in them are no concessions +or compromises; the evil was torn out by the roots, and the Christian +world, the progressive civilization of the age, and the consciences +of enlightened mankind _now_ approve what was done. + +The war, with its attendant horrors and evils, was necessary to +terminate the deep-seated, time-honored, and unholy institution of +human slavery, so long embedded in our social, political, and +commercial relations, and sustained by our prejudices, born of a +selfish disposition, common to white people, to esteem themselves +superior to others. + +The history of emancipation and of these constitutional amendments +belongs, logically, to periods during and at the end of the war. + +There are, however, two important acts relating to slavery which +passed Congress during the War of the Rebellion, not strictly the +_result_ of that war, though incident to it, which must be +mentioned. + +(116) Kansas joined later, and Michigan, California, and Oregon +were not represented; nor were the then seceded Southern States, +or Arkansas, represented. + +(117) Blaine (_Twenty Years of Congress_, vol. i., p. 269), says: +"Puleston, a delegate from Pennsylvania, a subject of Queen Victoria, +later (1884) of the British Parliament, was chosen Secretary of +the Conference."--This is an error. He was not a delegate: only +one of several assistant secretaries. + +On the next page of Blaine's book he falls into another error in +saying the Wilmot Proviso was embodied (1848) in the Oregon +territorial act. It was never embodied in any act. The sixth +section of the Ordinance of 1787 is embodied in that act word for +word. + +(118) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), pp. 68-9. + +(119) _Ibid_., p. 76. + + +XXVII +DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA--SLAVERY ABOLISHED--1862 + +The District of Columbia, acquired by the United States in 1791 +for the purpose of founding the city of Washington as the permanent +Federal Capital, was, by the laws of Virginia and Maryland, slave +territory. The District was originally ten miles square, and +included the city of Alexandria. Later (1846) the part acquired +from Virginia (about forty square miles) was retroceded to that +State. Congress had complete jurisdiction over it, though the laws +of Maryland and Virginia, for some purposes, were continued in +force. It was, however, from the beginning claimed that Congress +had the right to abolish slavery within its boundaries. + +Congress is given the right "to exercise exclusive legislation in +all cases whatsoever over such District."(120) But slavery was +claimed to be excepted because of its peculiar character. + +The institution of slavery was therefore perpetuated in the District, +and in the Capital of the Republic slave-marts existed where men +and women were sold from the auction block, and families were torn +asunder and carried to different parts of the country to be continued +in bondage. In the shadow of the Capitol the voice of the auctioneer +proclaiming in the accustomed way the merits of the slave commingled +with that of the statesmen in the Halls of Congress proclaiming +the boasted liberty of the great American Republic! Daniel Drayton +(1848) was tried in the District for the larceny of seventy-four +human beings, his crime consisting of affording means (in the +schooner _Pearl_) for their escape to freedom.(121) + +Under the laws of the District many others were punished for like +offences. + +As late as 1856, when the sculptor Crawford furnished a design for +the _Statue of Liberty_ to crown the dome of the Capitol, Secretary +of War Jefferson Davis ordered the "_liberty cap_" struck from the +model, because in art it had an "established origin in its use as +a badge of the freed slave."(122) + +We have seen how much the consciences of just men were shocked, +and how assiduously such men labored to abolish slavery in the +District of Columbia, and with what tenacity the slave party fought +to maintain it there, and even by constitutional amendments to fix +it there forever. + +But when slavery had brought the country to war, the emancipation +of slaves in the District was early considered. + +Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, December 16, 1861, introduced a bill +in the Senate, which, after a most memorable debate in both Houses +of Congress, passed, and on April 16, 1862, became a law, with the +approval of President Lincoln. This act emancipated forthwith all +the slaves of the District, and annulled the laws of Maryland over +it relating to slavery and all statutes giving the cities of +Washington and Georgetown authority to pass ordinances discriminating +against persons of color. + +(120) Con. U. S., Art. I., Sec. 8, par. 17. + +(121) Drayton did not succeed in the attempt to afford these slaves +means to escape. He was tried on two indictments for larceny, +convicted, and on each sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary. +The Circuit Court reversed these convictions on the erroneous charge +of the trial judge (Crawford), to the effect that a man might be +guilty of larceny of property--slaves--without the intent to +appropriate it to his own use. On re-trial Drayton was acquitted +on the larceny indictments; but verdicts were taken against him on +seventy-four indictments for transporting slaves--not a penitentiary +offense--and he was sentenced to pay a fine of $10,000, and to +remain in prison until paid. He was most ably defended by Horace +Mann of Boston, and J. M. Carlisle of Washington, D. C., either as +volunteer counsel or employed by Drayton's friends, he being poor. +There were 115--41 for larceny, 64 for transportation--indictments +against Drayton, which led Mr. Mann to remark of the threatened +penalty: "_Methuselah himself must have been caught young in order +to survive such a sentence_."--_Slavery, Letters, etc._ (Mann), p. +93. + +President Fillmore, being defeated in 1852 for nomination for +President, pardoned Drayton after four years' and four months' +imprisonment, which pardon, it was claimed, defeated Scott, the +Whig nominee, at the polls.--_Memoir of Drayton_, p. 118. + +(122) Correspondence in War Department between Davis and Quartermaster- +General Meigs. + +The present nondescript hood, giving the statue crowning the dome +its appearance, in some views, of a wild Indian, was substituted +for the Liberty cap. + + +XXVIII +SLAVERY PROHIBITED IN THE TERRITORIES--1862 + +Growing out of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, +the question was raised by Lovejoy of Illinois and others as to +the duty of Congress to declare freedom _national_ and slavery +_sectional;_ and also to prohibit slavery in all the Territories +of the Union. + +A bill was passed, which (June 19, 1862) was approved by the +President, and became the last general law of Congress on the +subject of slavery in the Territories. It reads: + +"That from and after the passage of this act there shall be neither +slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the Territories of the +United States, now existing, or which may at any time hereafter be +formed or acquired by the United States, otherwise than in punishment +of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." + +By this act the principles of the Ordinance of 1787 (sixth section) +were applied universally to all existing and to be acquired territory +of the United States. + +It was only, in effect, Jefferson's Ordinance of 1784, defeated by +_one_ vote in the old Congress, the loss of which he deplored so +much. His benign purpose to restrict slavery was delayed seventy- +eight years--until blood flowed to sanction it. + + +XXIX +BENTON'S SUMMARY + +We close this already too long history of human slavery in the +United States with Thomas H. Benton's summary of the "cardinal +points" in the aggressive policy of the impetuous South in pushing +forward slavery as a cause for disunion. He wrote, four years +anterior to the Rebellion of 1861, with a prophetic pen, nibbed by +the experience of a Senator for thirty years, and as a slaveholder. +He had actively participated in most of the events of which he +speaks, and was personally familiar with all of them.(123) + +"But I am not now writing the history of the present slavery +agitation--a history which the young have not learnt, and the old +have forgotten, and which every American ought to understand. I +only indicate cardinal points to show its character; and of these +a main one remains to be stated. Up to Mr. Pierce's administration +the plan had been defensive--that is to say, to make the secession +of the South a measure of self-defence against the abolition +encroachments, aggressions, and crusades of the North. In the time +of Mr. Pierce, the plan became offensive--that is to say, to commence +the expansion of slavery, and the acquisition of territory to spread +it over, so as to overpower the North with new slave States, and +drive them out of the Union. In this change of tactics originated +the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise, the attempt to purchase +one half of Mexico, and the actual purchase of a large part; the +design to take Cuba; the encouragement to Kinney and to Walker in +Central America; the quarrels with Great Britain for outlandish +coasts and islands; the designs upon the Tehuantepec, the Nicaragua, +the Panama, and the Darien routes; and the scheme to get a foothold +in the Island of San Domingo. The rising in the free States in +consequence of the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise checked +these schemes, and limited the success of the disunionists to the +revival of the agitation which enables them to wield the South +against the North in all the Federal elections and Federal legislation. +Accidents and events have given this part a strange pre-eminence-- +under Jackson's administration proclaimed for treason; since, at +the head of the government and of the Democratic party. The death +of Harrison, and the accession of Tyler, was their first great +lift; the election of Mr. Pierce was their culminating point. It +not only gave them the government, but power to pass themselves +for the Union party, and for democrats; and to stigmatize all who +refused to go with them as disunionists and abolitionists. And to +keep up this classification is the object of the eleven pages of +the message which calls for this Review--unhappily assisted in that +object by the conduct of a few real abolitionists (not five per +centum of the population of the free States); but made to stand, +in the eyes of the South, for the whole." + +(123) Hist., etc., Ex., _Dred Scott Case_, pp. 184-5. + + +XXX +PROPHECY AS TO SLAVERY'S FATE: ALSO AS TO DISUNION + +We are approaching the period for the fulfilment of prophecy in +relation to the perpetuity of human slavery in the United States. + +We summarize a few of the prophecies made by distinguished American +statesmen and citizens. George Washington, Patrick Henry, and +other Virginia statesmen and slaveholders at the close of the +Revolution predicted that slaves would be emancipated, or they +would acquire their freedom violently. These patriots advocated +emancipation. The stumbling-block to abolition in Virginia at that +time was, what to do with the blacks. The white population could +not reconcile themselves to the idea of living on an equality with +them, as they deemed they must if the blacks were free. As early +as 1782 Jefferson expressed his serious forebodings: + +"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that +these people are to be free; nor is it less certain that the two +races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. . . . + +"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that +His justice cannot sleep forever. The way, I hope, is preparing, +under the auspices of Heaven, for a total emancipation." + +The anti-slavery societies when they first met in annual convention +(1804) proclaimed that + +"Freedom and slavery cannot long exist together." + +John Quincy Adams, in 1843, prophesied: + +"I am satisfied slavery will not go down until it goes down in +blood."(124) + +Abraham Lincoln, at the beginning of his celebrated debate with +Douglas (1858) expressed his belief that this nation could not +exist "half slave and half free." He had, however, made the same +declaration in a letter to a Kentucky friend to whom he wrote: + +"Experience has demonstrated, I think, that there is no peaceful +extinction of slavery in prospect for us. . . . + +"On the question of liberty as a principle, we are not what we have +been. When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted +to be free, we called the maxim that 'all men are created equal' +a _self-evident truth;_ but now, when we have grown fat, and have +lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have become so greedy +to be masters that we call the maxim '_a self-evident lie_.' The +Fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great dy +for burning fire-crackers. That spirit which desired the peaceful +extinction of slavery has itself become extinct with the occasion +and the men of the Revolution. . . . So far as peaceful, voluntary +emancipation is concerned, the condition of the negro slave in +America, scarcely less terrible to the contemplation of the free +mind, is now as fixed and hopeless of change for the better as that +of lost souls of the finally impenitent. The autocrat of all the +Russias will resign his crown, and proclaim his subjects free +Republicans, sooner than will our masters voluntarily give up their +slaves. + +"Our political problem now is, 'Can we as a nation continue together +_permanently_--forever--half slave, and half free'? The problem +is too mighty for me. May God in his mercy superintend the +solution." + +(Under God, within ten years after this was written, Lincoln was +the instrument for the solution of the _mighty problem!_) + +This was a fitting prelude to his speech on slavery at Springfield, +Illinois (June, 1858), wherein he said: + +"In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis shall have been +reached and passed. '_A house divided against itself cannot +stand_.' + +"I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave +and half free. I do not expect the house to fall--but I do expect +it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all +the other."(125) + +Seward of New York compressed the issue between freedom and slavery +into a single sentence in his Rochester speech (October 25, 1858): + +"It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring +forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner +or later, become either an entirely slave holding nation or entirely +a free labor nation."(126) + +But statesmen were not the only persons who predicted the downfall +of slavery in the Republic; not the only persons who contributed +to that end, nor yet the only persons who foretold its overthrow +in blood. + +The institution had grown to arrogant and intolerant as to brook +no opposition, and its friends did not even seek to clothe its +enormities. + +A leading Southern journal, in 1854, honestly expressed the affection +in which slavery was held: + +"We cherish slavery as the apple of our eye, and we are resolved +to maintain it, peaceably, if we can, forcibly, if we must."(127) + +The clergy and religious people of the North came to believe slavery +must, in the mill of justice, be ground to a violent death, in +obedience to the will of God. + +Theodore Parker, the celebrated Unitarian divine, a personal friend +of John Brown, on hearing, in Rome, of his failure, trial, and +sentence to the scaffold, in a letter to Francis Jackson of Boston, +November 24, 1859, gave vent to what was then regarded as fanatical +prophecy, but now long since fulfilled: + +"The American people will have to march to rather severe music, I +think, and it is better for them to face it in season. A few years +ago it did not seem difficult, first to check slavery, and then to +end it without bloodshed. I think this cannot be done now, nor +ever in the future. All the great charters of _Humanity_ have been +writ in blood. I once hoped that American _Democracy_ would be +engrossed in less costly ink; but it is plain, now, that our +pilgrimage must lead through a Red Sea, wherein many a _Pharoah_ +will go under and perish. . . . + +"Slavery will not _die a dry death_. It may have as many lives as +a cat; at last, it will dies like a mad dog in a village, with only +the enemies of human kind to lament its fate, and they too cowardly +to appear as mourners."(128) + +Parker was fast descending, from broken health, into the grave, +but in the wildest of his dreams he did not peer into futurity far +enough to see that within a single decade the "_sin of the nation_" +would be washed out, root and branch, in blood; and that in Virginia +--the State that hung John Brown--at the home of its greatest +Governor, Henry A. Wise, there would be seen "a Yankee school-marm" +teaching free negroes--sons of Africa--to read and write--to read +the Holy Bible, and she the humble daughter of "Old John +Brown."(129) + +One sample of prophecy of what _disunion_ would be, we give from +a speech of Henry Winter Davis of Maryland: + +"It would be an act of suicide, and sane men do not commit suicide. +The act itself is insanity. It will be done, if ever, in a fury +and madness which cannot stop to reason. _Dissolution_ means death, +the suicide of Liberty, without a hope of resurrection--death +without the glories of immortality; with no sister to mourn her +fall, none to wrap her decently in her winding-sheet and bear her +tenderly to a sepulchre--_dead Liberty_, left to all the horrors +of corruption, a loathsome thing, with a stake through the body, +which men shun, cast out naked on the highway of nations, where +the tyrants of the earth who feared her living will mock her dead, +passing by on the other side, wagging their heads and thrusting +their tongues in their cheeks at her, saying, 'Behold _her_ now, +how _she_ that was fair among the nations is fallen! is fallen!'-- +and only the few wise men who loved her out of every nation will +shed tears over her desolation as they pass, and cast handfuls of +earth on her body to quiet her manes, while we, her children, +stumble about our ruined habitations to find dishonorable graves +wherein to hide our shame. Dissolution? How shall it be? Who +shall make it? Do men dream of Lot and Abraham parting, one to +the east and the other to the west, peacefully, because their +servants strive? That States will divide from States and boundary +lines will be marked by compass and chain? Sir, that will be a +portentous commission that shall settle that partition, for cannon +will be planted at the corners and grinning skeletons be finger- +posts to point the way. It will be no line gently marked on the +bosom of the Republic--some meandering vein whence generations of +her children have drawn their nourishment--but a sharp and jagged +chasm, rending the hearts of commonwealths, lacerated and smeared +with fraternal blood. On the night when the stars of her constellation +shall fall from heaven the blackness of darkness forever will settle +on the liberties of mankind in this Western World. _This is +dissolution!_ If such, Sir, is _dissolution_ seen in a glass +darkly, how terrible will it be face to face? They who reason +about it are half crazy now. They who talk of it do not mean it, +and dare not mean it. They who speak in earnest of a dissolution +of this Union seem to me like children or madmen. He who would do +such a deed as that would be the maniac without a tongue to tell +his deed, or reason to arrest his steps--an instrument of mad +impulse impelled by one idea to strike his victim. Sir, _there +have been maniacs who have been cured by horror at the blood they +have shed_."(130) + +This eloquent, patriotic, word-picture of _dissolution_, intended +to deter those who so impetuously and glibly talked of it, was not, +as the sequel proved, overdrawn. When delivered it was not generally +believed that a dissolution of the Union could or would be attempted. +In the Presidential campaigns of 1856 and 1860, as well as in +Congress, there was much eloquence displayed in line with the above; +few of the orators, however, believed that dissolution, with all +the wild terrors of war, was near at hand. But there were some +men in public life who early comprehended the destiny awaiting the +politically storm-racked Republic, and as it approached, boldly +gave the opinion that "_a little blood-letting would be good for +the body politic_."(131) + +The story of the war which secession inaugurated remains to be in +part narrated in succeeding chapters, portraying the impetuous rush +to battle; the unparalleled heroism of the mighty hosts on either +side; the slaughter of men; the hell of suffering; the bitter tears; +the incalculable sorrow; the billions expended; the destruction of +property; the alternating defeats and triumphs; the final victory +of the Union arms; the overthrow of state-rights, nullification, +secession--disunion; the emancipation of four million human slaves, +and the annihilation in the United States of the institution of +slavery, including all its baleful doctrines, whether advanced by +partisan, pro-slavery statesmen, or advocated by learned politicians, +or upheld by church or clergy in the name of the prophets of Holy +Writ or of Christ and his Apostles, or expounded by a tribunal +clothed in the ermine, majesty, dignity, and power of the Supreme +Court of the United States of America. + +Abraham Lincoln, whose beautiful character is illumined in the +intense light of a third of a century of heightened civilization, +will be immortalized through all time as God's chiefest instrument +in accomplishing the end. + +In closing this chapter we desire again to remind the reader that +in 1861 the Congress of the United States, by a two thirds majority +in each branch, voted to so amend the Constitution as to make +forever unalterable its provisions for the recognition and perpetuation +of human bondage; that if the amendment thus submitted had been +ratified by three fourths of the States, this nation would have +been the first and only one in the history of the world wherein +the right to enslave human beings was fundamental and decreed to +be eternal. + +This amendment, guaranteeing perpetual slavery, was the tender made +by Union men in 1861 to avert disunion and war. It was the +humiliating and unholy pledge offered to a slave-loving people to +induce them to remain true to the Constitution and the Union. In +the providence of God the amendment was not ratified, nor was a +willingness to accept it shown by the defiant South. On the +contrary, it was spurned by it with singular unanimity and deserved +contempt. A nation to be wholly slave was alone acceptable to the +disunionists; and to establish such a nation the hosts were arrayed +on the one side; to preserve and perpetuate the Union and to +overthrow the would-be slave nation, they were also, thank God, +arrayed on the other. + +This was the portentous issue made up--triable by the tribunal of +last resort from which there is no earthly appeal. + +Promptly, even enthusiastically, did the South respond to the +summons to battle, and with a heroism worthy of a better cause did +it devote life and property to the maintenance of the Confederacy. +But from mountain, hillside, vale, plain, and prairie, from field, +factory, counting-house, city, village, and hamlet, from all +professions and occupation alike came the sons of freedom, with +the cry of "Union and Liberty," under one flag, to meet the opposing +hosts, heroically ready to make the necessary sacrifice that the +unity of the American Republic should be preserved. + +The effort to establish a slave nation in the afternoon of the +nineteenth century resulted in a civil war unparalleled in magnitude, +and the bloodiest in the history of the human race. In the eleven +seceding States the authority of the Constitution was thrown off; +the National Government was defied; former official oaths of army, +navy, and civil officers were disregarded, and other oaths were +taken to support another government; the public property of the +United States was seized in the seceding States as of right, Cabinet +officers of the President assisting in the plunder; Senators and +Representatives in Congress, while yet holding seats, making laws, +and drawing pay, plotted treason, and, later, defiantly joined the +Confederacy; sequestration acts were passed by the Confederate +Congress, and citizens of the United States were made aliens in +the Confederacy, and their property there was confiscated, and +debts due loyal men North were collected for the benefit of the +Confederate Treasury; piratical vessels, with the aid and connivance +of boastful _civilized_ monarchies of Europe, destroyed our commerce +and drove our flag from the high seas; above a half million of men +fell in battle, and another half million died of wounds and disease +incident to war; above sixty thousand Union soldiers died in Southern +prisons; the direct cost of the Rebellion, paid from the United +States Treasury, approximated seven billions of dollars, and the +indirect cost to the loyal people, in property destroyed, etc., +was at least equal to seven billions more. Fairly estimated, slaves +not considered, the people of the seceding States expended and lost +in the prosecution and devastations of the war more than double +the expenditures and losses of the North; imagination cannot compass +or language portray the suffering and sorrow, agony and despair, +which pervaded the whole land. All this to settle the momentous +question, whether or not human slavery should be fundamental as a +domestic, social, and political institution. + +Thus far slavery has been our theme, and the war for the suppression +of the Rebellion only incidentally referred to, but in succeeding +chapters slavery will only be incidentally referred to, and the +war will have such attention as the scope of the narrative permits. + +(124) _Life of Seward_, vol. i., p. 672. + +(125) A. Lincoln, _Complete Works_, vol. i., pp. 215, 240, 251. + +(126) Seward's _Works_, vol. iv, p. 289. + +(127) _Hist. U. S._ (Rhodes), vol. i, p. 469. + +(128) _Life of Parker_ (Weiss), vol. ii., p. 172-4 (406). + +(129) _Civil War in America_ (Draper), vol. i, 565-6. + +(130) Speech of Henry Winter Davis, House of Representatives, Aug. +7, 1856. + +(131) Zachariah Chandler, 1860. + + +CHAPTER II +Sumter Fired on--Seizure by Confederates of Arms, Arsenals, and +Forts--Disloyalty of Army and Navy Officers--Proclamation of Lincoln +for Seventy-Five Thousand Militia, and Preparation for War on Both +Sides + +The _Star of the West_, a merchant vessel, was sent from New York, +with the reluctant consent of President Buchanan, by Lieutenant- +General Winfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the army, to carry +re-enforcements and provisions to Fort Sumter. As this vessel +attempted to enter Charleston harbor (January 9, 1861) a shot was +fired across its bows which turned it back, and its mission failed. +"Slapped in the mouth" was the opprobrious epithet used to express +this insult to the United States. This was not the shot that +summoned the North to arms. It was, however, the first angry gun +fired by a citizen of the Union against his country's flag, and it +announced the dawn of civil war. When this shot was fired, only +South Carolina had passed an Ordinance of Secession; the Confederate +States were not yet formed. + +On the night of December 26, 1860, Major Robert Anderson, in command +of the land forces, forts, and defences at Charleston, South +Carolina, being threatened by armed secession troops, and regarding +his position at Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, untenable if +attacked from the land side, as a matter of precaution, without +order from his superiors, but possessing complete authority within +the limits of his command, removed his small force, consisting of +only sixty-five soldiers, from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, where, +at high noon of the next day, after a solemn prayer by his chaplain, +the Stars and Stripes were run up on a flagstaff, to float in +triumph only for a short time, then to be insulted and shot down, +not to again be unfurled over the same fort until four years of +war had intervened. + +An ineffectual effort was made by Governor Pickens of South Carolina +to induce Major Anderson by his demands and threats to return to +his defenceless position at Fort Moultrie. President Buchanan, at +the instigation of his Secretary of War, Floyd, was on the point +of ordering him to do so, but when the matter was considered in a +Cabinet meeting, other counsels prevailed, and Floyd made this his +excuse for leaving the Cabinet.( 1) Fortunately, his place was +filled by Hon. Joseph Holt of Kentucky, a Union man of force, +energy, will power, and true courage, who, later, became Judge- +Advocate-General U.S.A., serving as such until after the close of +the war. + +To the end of Buchanan's administration, Sumter was held by Major +Anderson with his small force, and around it centered the greatest +anxiety. It was the policy of the South to seize and occupy all +forts, arsenals, dock-yards, public property, and all strongholds +belonging to the United States located within the limits of seceded +States, and to take possession of arms and material of war as though +of right belonging to them. The right and title to United States +property thus located were not regarded. Louisiana seized the +United States Mint at New Orleans, and turned over of its contents +$536,000 in coin to the Confederate States treasury, for which she +received a vote of thanks from the Confederate Congress.( 2) All +the forts of the United States within or on the coast of the then +seceded States, save Forts Sumter and Pickens, were soon, with +their armament and military supplies, in possession of and manned +by Southern soldiers. At first seizures were made by State authority +alone, but on the organization, at Montgomery, of the Confederacy +(February 8, 1861) it assumed charge of all questions between the +seceded States and the United States relating to the occupation of +forts and other public establishments; and, March 15th, the +Confederacy called on the States that had joined it to cede to it +all the forts, etc., thus seized, which was done accordingly. + +On February 28th the Confederate Congress passed an act under which +President Davis assumed control of all military operations and +received from the seceding States all the arms and munitions of +war acquired from the United States and all other material of war +the States of the Confederacy saw proper to turn over to him. + +A letter from the Chief of Ordnance of the United States Army to +Secretary of War Holt, of date, January 15, 1861, shows that, +commencing in 1859, under orders from Secretary of War Floyd, +115,000 muskets were transferred from the Springfield (Mass.) and +Watervliet (N. Y.) arsenals to arsenals South; and, under like +orders, other percussion muskets and rifles were similarly transferred, +all of which were seized, together with many cannon and other +material of war, by the Confederate authorities.( 3) + +Harper's Ferry, and the arsenal there, with its arms and ordnance +stores, were seized by the Confederates, April 18, 1861, and the +machinery and equipment for manufacturing arms, not burned, was +taken South. + +The arsenal at Fayetteville, N. C., was also seized, April 22, 1861. + +In February, 1861, Beauregard ( 4) was commissioned by Davis a +Brigadier-General, and ordered to Charleston, South Carolina, to +organize an army. Other officers were put in commission by the +Confederacy, and a large force was soon mustering defiantly for +the coming struggle. + +Beauregard took command at Charleston, March 1st, three days before +Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United States.( 5) + +Disloyalty extended to the army and navy. + +The regular army was small, and widely scattered over the Western +frontiers and along the coasts of lake and ocean. March 31, 1861, +it numbered 16,507, including 1074 officers. Some officers had +joined the secession movement before this date. + +The disaffection was among the officers alone. Two hundred and +eighty-two officers resigned or deserted to take service in the +Confederate Army; of these 192 were graduates of West Point Military +Academy, and 178 of the latter became general officers during the +war.( 6) + +The number of officers, commissioned and warrant, who left the +United States Navy and entered the Confederate service was, +approximately, 460.( 7) + +To the credit of the rank and file of the regular army, and of the +seamen in the navy, it is, on high authority, said that: + +"It is worthy of note that, while in this government's hour of +trial large numbers of those in the army and navy who have been +favored with the offices have resigned and proved false to the hand +which had pampered them, not one common soldier or common sailor +is known to have deserted his flag."( 8) + +David E. Twiggs, a Brevet Major-General, on February 18, 1861, +surrendered, at San Antonio, Texas, all the military posts and +other property in his possession; and this after receiving an order +relieving him from command. He was an old and tried soldier of +the United States Army, and his example was pernicious in a high +degree. + +There were few, however, who, like him, took the opportunity to +desert and at the same time to do a dishonorable official act +calculated to injure the government they had served. + +March 5, 1861, Twiggs was given a grand reception in New Orleans; +salutes were fired in honor of his recent treachery.( 9) President +Buchanan, to his credit, through Secretary of War Holt, March 1st, +dismissed him from the army.(10) + +It is a curious fact that this order of dismissal was signed by _S. +Cooper_, Adjutant-General of the United States Army (_a native_ of +New Jersey), who, _six days later_, resigned his position, hastened +to Montgomery, Alabama, and there accepted a like office in the +Confederate government. Disloyalty among prominent army officers +seemed, for a time, the rule.(11) + +It was industriously circulated, not without its effect, that +General Winfield Scott had deserted his country and flag to take +command of the Confederate Army. To his honor it must be said, +however, that he never faltered, and the evidence is overwhelming +that he never entertained a thought of joining his State--Virginia. +He early foresaw that disunion and war were coming, and not only +deprecated them but desired to strengthen the United States Government +and to avert both. Only his great age prevented his efficiently +leading the Union armies. + +George H. Thomas, like General Scott, was a native of Virginia. +He was also unjustly charged with having entertained disloyal +notions and to have contemplated joining the South, but later both +Scott and Thomas were bitterly denounced by secessionists for not +going with Virginia into the Rebellion. + +Officers connected with the United States Revenue Service stationed +in Southern cities were, generally, not only disloyal, but property +in their custody was without scruple turned over to the Confederate +authorities. The revenue cutters under charge and direction of +the Secretary of the Treasury were not only seized, but their +commanding officers in many cases deserted to the Confederacy and +surrendered them. A notable example is that of Captain Breshwood, +who commanded the revenue cutter _Robert McClelland_, stationed at +New Orleans. When ordered, January 29, 1861, to proceed with her +to New York, he refused to obey. This led John A. Dix, Secretary +of the Treasury, to issue his celebrated and patriotic "Shoot-him- +on-the-spot" order.(12) Louisiana had not at that time seceded, +but the cutter, with Captain Breshwood, went into the Confederacy. +So of all other such vessels coming within reach of the now much- +elated, over-confident, and highly excited Confederate authorities. + +Before the end of February, 1861, the "Pelican Flag" was flying +over the Custom-House, Mint, City Hall, and everywhere in Louisiana. +At the New Orleans levees ships carried every flag on earth except +that of the United States. The only officer of the army there at +the time who was faithful to the country was Col. C. L. Kilburn, +of the Commissary Department, and he was preparing to escape +North.(13) + +So masterful had become the spirit of the South, born of the nature +of the institution of slavery, that many disinclined to disunion +were carried away with the belief that it was soon to be an +accomplished fact, and that those who had favored it would alone +be the heroes, while those who remained with the broken Union would +be socially and forever ostracized. There were also many, indeed, +who seriously entertained the belief that the North, made up as it +was of merchants, manufacturers, farmers, and laborers, and with +the education and disposition to follow pursuits incident to money- +getting by their own personal efforts, would not be willing to +engage in war, and thus destroy their prospects. There were also +others who regarded Northern men as cowards, who, even if willing +to fight, would not at best be equal, a half dozen of them, to one +Southern man. These false notions were sincerely entertained. +The Southern people regarded slavery as ennobling to the white +race, and free white labor as degrading to the people of the free +States, and hence were confident of their own superiority in arms +and otherwise. There were even some people North who had so long +heard the Southern boasts of superior courage that they half believed +in it themselves, until the summons to arms dispelled all such +illusions. + +To the half credit of most of the officers of the United States +army, and many of the navy, it may be said that when they determined +to desert their country and flag they resigned their commissions, +or at least tendered them, so they might go into rebellion with +some color of excuse. + +The War Department was generally, even under Lincoln's administration, +gracious enough in most cases to accept such resignations, even +when it knew or suspected the purpose for which they were tendered. +Lieut. Julius A. De Lagnel, of the artillery, a Virginian, who +remained long enough in the Union to be surrendered to Secession +authorities (not discreditable to himself) at Fayetteville, North +Carolina, with the North Carolina arsenal (April 22, 1861) informed +the writer since the war that, on sending his resignation to the +War Department, he followed it to the Adjutant-General's office, +taking with him some bags of coin he had in the capacity of disbursing +officer, for the purpose of making a settlement. He found Adjutant- +General Lorenzo Thomas not in good humor, and when requested to +direct him to a proper officer to settle his accounts, Thomas flew +at him furiously, ordered him to drop his coin-bags, and decamp +from his presence and from the Department, which he did accordingly. +His accounts were thus summarily settled. (We shall soon hear of +De Lagnel again.) + +Captain James Longstreet, of Georgia, who became a Lieutenant- +General in the C.S.A., and one of the ablest fighting generals in +either army, draws a rather refined distinction as to the right of +an officer to resign his commission and turn enemy to his country, +while denying the right of a non-commissioned officer or private +soldier to quit the army in time of rebellion to follow his State. + +Longstreet was stationed at Albuquerque, New Mexico, when Sumter +was fired on. On receiving the news of its capture he resigned +and went South, through Texas, to join his State, or rather, as it +proved, to join the Confederate States Army. + +He says his mind was relieved by information that his resignation +was accepted, to take effect June 1st. He tells us a sergeant from +Virginia and other soldiers wished to accompany him, but he would +not entertain that proposition; he explained to them that they +could not go without authority of the War Department, but it was +different with commissioned officers; they could resign, and when +their resignations were accepted could do as they pleased, while +the sergeant and his comrades were bound by their oaths to the term +of their enlistment.(14) + +It might be hard to construct a more satisfactory constitutional +or moral theory than this for persons situated as were Captain +Longstreet and others, disposed as they were to desert country and +comrades for the newly formed slave Confederacy; yet if the secession +of the native State of an officer is sufficient to dissolve allegiance +he has sworn to maintain, it requires a delicate discrimination to +see why the common soldier might not also be absolved from his term +contract and oath for the same reasons. + +There is a point of honor as old as organized warfare, that in the +presence of danger or threatened danger it is an act of cowardice +for an officer to resign for any but a good physical cause. + +The better way is to justify, or if that cannot be done, to excuse +as far as possible, the desertion of the Union by army and navy +officers on the ground that the times were revolutionary, when +precedents could not be followed, and legal and moral rights were +generally disregarded. Such periods come occasionally in the +history of nations. They are properly called _rebellions_, when +they fail. + +"_Rebellion_, indeed, appears on the back of a flying enemy, but +_revolution_ flames on the breastplate of the victorious +warriors."(15) + +Robert E. Lee, born in Virginia, of Revolutionary stock, had won +reputation as a soldier in the Mexican War. He was fifty-four +years of age, a Colonel of the First Cavalry, and, though in +Washington, was but recently under orders from the Department of +Texas. There is convincing evidence that General Scott and Hon. +Frank P. Blair tendered him the command of the army of the United +States in the impending war. This is supposed to have caused him +to hesitate as to his course. In a letter (April 20, 1861) to a +sister he deplores the "state of revolution into which Virginia, +after a long struggle, has been drawn," saying: + +"I recognize no necessity for this state of things, . . . yet in +my own person I had to meet the question whether I would take part +against my native State. With all my devotion to the Union, and +the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not +been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, +my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission +in the army, and, _save in defence of my native State_, with the +hope that my poor services will never be needed, I hope I may never +be called on to draw my sword." + +On the same day, in a letter to General Scott accompanying his +resignation, he says: "Save in defence of my State, I never desire +to draw my sword." + +Lee registered himself, March 5, 1861, in the Adjutant-General's +office as Brevet-Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel Second Cavalry.(16) +He was nominated, March 21, 1861, _by President Lincoln_, Colonel +First Cavalry, and on March 23d the nomination was confirmed by +the Senate. He was then commissioned by the President, Colonel, +March 25th, to rank from March 16, 1861; he received this commission +March 28th, and accepted it by letter March 30, 1861. Seven States +had then seceded from the Union, and the Confederate States of +America had existed since February 8, 1861. + +Three weeks after (April 20th) Lee accepted this last commission +he tendered his resignation in the United States Army. It did not +reach the Secretary of War until April 24th, nor was it accepted +until April 27th, to take effect April 25, 1861.(17) + +Lee, however, accepted, April 22nd, a commission as Major-General +in the "Military and Naval Forces of Virginia," assuming command +of them by direction of Governor John Letcher, April 23, 1861. + +It thus appears that two months and a half after the Confederate +States were formed Robert E. Lee accepted President Lincoln's +commission in the U.S.A.; then twenty-four days later, and pending +the acceptance of his resignation, took command of forces hostile +to the Federal Union. He, April 24th, gave instructions to a +subordinate: "Let it be known that you intend no attack; but +invasion of our soil will be considered an act of war." + +He did not have Longstreet's consolation of knowing his resignation +had been accepted before he abandoned his rank and duties in the +United States Army; nor had his State yet seceded from the Union. +Virginia did not enter into any relations with the Confederacy +until April 25, 1861, and then only conditionally. Her convention +passed an Ordinance of Secession April 17th, to take effect, if +ratified by the votes of her people, at an election to be held May +23, 1861. An election held in Virginia the previous February +resulted in choosing to a convention a very large majority of +delegates opposed to secession. The convention, March 17th--90 to +45--rejected an Ordinance of Secession. Virginia's people were, +until coerced by her disloyal State Governor, faithful to the Union +of Washington. The fact remains that Lee, before his State voted +to secede, accepted a commission in the army of the Confederacy, +and took an oath to support its laws and Constitution, and thenceforth +drew his sword to overthrow the Union of his fathers and to establish +a new would-be nation under another flag. His son, G. W. Custis +Lee, did not resign from the U.S.A. until May 2, 1861. Fitzhugh +Lee also accepted a commission from Lincoln, and resigned (May 21, +1861) after his illustrious uncle. + +It is hard to understand how fundamental principles in government +and individual patriotism and duty may be made, on moral or political +grounds, to depend on the conduct of the temporary authorities of +a State, or even on the voice of its people. + +The action of Robert E. Lee in leaving the United States Army, and +his reasons therefor, serve to show how and why many other army +and navy officers abandoned their country's service. The Confederacy +promptly recognized these "_seceding officers_," and for the most +part gave them, early, high rank, and otherwise welcomed them with +enthusiasm. + +It is probably that the slowness of promotion in time of peace, in +both the army and navy of the United States, caused many officers +to resign and seek, with increased rank, new fortunes and renown +in war. + +It is not to be denied that the custom of hospitably treating +officers while serving in the South, and otherwise socially +recognizing them and their families, had won many to love the +Southern people and their gallant ways. This, at least, held the +most of the Southern-born officers to their own States, though in +some cases, and perhaps in many, they did not believe in slavery. + +It may be said also that the generally cold business character of +the well-to-do Northern people, and their social indifference to +one another, and especially to officers and their families serving +at posts and in cities, did not attach them to the North. An +officer in the regular service in time of peace, having no hope of +high promotion before he reaches old age, has but little, save +social recognition of himself and family, to make him contented +and happy. This somewhat helpless condition makes him grateful +for attentions shown, and jealous of inattention. + +Turning more directly to the military situation on Lincoln's +inauguration, we find Major Anderson holding Sumter, but practically +in a state of siege, the Confederate authorities having assembled +a large army at Charleston under Beauregard. Fort Moultrie and +Castle Pinckney had been seized and manned; heavy ordnance had been +placed in them, and batteries had been established commanding Fort +Sumter. + +Finally, on April 7th, Anderson was forbidden to purchase fresh +provisions for his little band. On April 10th, Captain G. V. Fox, +an ex-officer of the navy, sailed with a relief expedition, consisting +of four war-ships, three steam-tugs, and a merchant steamer, having +on board two hundred men and the necessary supplies of ammunition +and provisions. + +Beauregard and the Confederate authorities hearing promptly of +Captain Fox's expedition and destination, on April 11th, formally +demanded of Major Anderson the evacuation of Fort Sumter, which +demand was refused. + +At 4.30 o'clock, April 12th, a signal shell was fired at Fort Sumter +from a mortar battery on James Island, and, immediately after, +hostile guns were opened from batteries on Morris Island, Sullivan's +Island, and Fort Moultrie, which were responded to from Fort Sumter. + +This signal shell opened actual war; its discharge was, figuratively +speaking, heard around the world; it awakened a lethargic people +in the Northern States of the Union; it caused many who had never +dreamed of war to prepare for it; it set on fire the blood of a +people, North and South, of the same race, not to cool down until +a half-million of men had been consumed in the fierce heat of +battle; it was the opening shot intended to vindicate and establish +human slavery as the essential pillar of a new-born nation, the +first and only one on earth formed solely to eternally perpetuate +human bondage as a social and fundamental political institution; +but, in reality, this shot was also a signal to summon the friends +of human freedom to arms, and to a battle never to end until slavery +under the Constitution of the restored Union should cease to exist. + +Captain Fox's expedition was not organized as he had planned it, +and though it reached its destination off Sumter an hour before +the latter was fired on, it could not, from want of light boats or +tugs, send to the fort the needed supplies or men. Major Anderson, +after two days' bombardment, was therefore forced to agree to +evacuate the fort, which he accordingly did on Sunday afternoon, +April 14th, after having saluted the flag as it was lowered.(18) + +There were men North as well as South who censured President Lincoln +and his advisers for not, as was at one time contemplated, peacefully +evacuating Fort Sumter, thus removing the immediate cause for +bringing on hostilities, and leaving still more time for compromise +talk and Northern concession. But the Union was already dissolved +so far as the seceding States were able to do it, and a peaceable +restoration of those States to loyalty and duty was then plainly +impossible. + +South Carolina was the first to secede, and it is more than probable +that President Lincoln clearly discerned that the overt act of +assailing the Union by war would take place at Charleston. So long +as surrenders of public property went on without resistance, the +Confederacy was growing stronger and more defiant, and in time +foreign recognition might come. It was much better for the Union +cause for the first shot to be fired by Confederate forces in taking +United States public property than by United States forces in +retaking it after it had been lost. + +The people North had wavered, not in their loyalty to the Union, +but in their judgment as how to preserve it, or whether it could +be preserved at all, until Sumter came, then firmness of conviction +took immediate possession of them, and life and treasure alike +thenceforward devoted to the maintenance of Federal authority. Of +course, there was a troublesome minority North, who, either through +political perversity, cowardice, or disloyalty, never did support +the war, at least willingly. It was noticeable, however, that many +of these were, through former residence or family relationship, +imbued with pro-slavery notions and prejudice against the negro. + +It should be said, also, that there were many in the North, born +in slave States, who were the most pronounced against slavery. +And there were those also, even in New England, who had never had +an opportunity of being tainted with slavery, who opposed the +coercion of the seceding States, and who would rather have seen +the Union destroyed than saved by war. Again, long contact and co- +operation of certain persons North with Southern slave-holders +politically, and bitter opposition to President Lincoln and his +party, made many reluctant to affiliate with the Union war-party. +Some were too weak to rise above their prejudices, personal and +political. Some were afraid to go to battle. There was also, +though strangely inconsistent, a very considerable class of the +early Abolitionists of the Garrison-Smith-Phillips school who did +not support the war for the Union, but who preferred the slave- +holding States should secede, and thus perpetuate the institution +of slavery in America--the very thing, on moral grounds, such +Abolitionists had always professed a desire to prevent. They +opposed the preservation of the Union by coercion. They thus laid +themselves open to the charge that they were only opposed to slavery +_in the Union_, leaving it to flourish wherever it might outside +of the Union. This position was not only inconsistent, but +unpatriotic. The persons holding these views gave little or no +moral or other support to the war for the preservation of the +integrity of the Republic. + +There were many loyal men in the South, especially in sections where +slavery did not dominate. In the mountain regions of the South, +opposition to secession was the rule, notably in Western Virginia, +Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Tennessee, and Western North Carolina. +There were also loyal men in Northern Alabama and Georgia. But +wherever the determined spirit of the slave-holding disunionists +controlled, as in the cities and more densely populated parts of +the South, though the slave-holding population was even therein +the minority, the white community was forced to array themselves +with the Confederates. There were many South who, at first, +determined to oppose disunion, but who succumbed to the pressure, +under the belief that the Confederacy was an accomplished fact, or +that the North either would not or could not fight successfully, +and would be beaten in battle. Boasts of superiority and the great +display and noisy preparation for war were misleading to those who +only witnessed one side of the pending conflict. The North had, +up to Sumter, been slow to act, and this was not reassuring to the +friends of the Union South, or, perhaps, anywhere. The proneness +of mankind to be on the successful side has shown itself in all +trying times. It is only the virtue of individual obstinacy that +enables the few to go against an unjust popular clamor. + +But political party ties North were the hardest to break. Those +who had been led to political success generally by the pro-slavery +politicians of the South could not easily be persuaded that coercion +did not mean, in some way, opposition to themselves and their past +party principles. Though patriotism was the rule with persons of +all parties North, there were yet many who professed that true +loyalty lay along lines other than the preservation of the Union +by war. These even, after Sumter fell, pretended to, and possibly +did, believe what the South repudiated, to wit: That by the siren +song of peace it could be wooed back to loyalty under the Constitution. +There were, of course, those in the North who honestly held that +the Abolitionists by their opposition to slavery and its extension +into the Territories had brought on secession, and that such +opposition justified it. This number, however, was at first not +large, and as the war progressed it grew less and less. It should +be remembered that coercion of armed secession was not undertaken +to abolish slavery or to alter its status in the slave States. +The statement, however, that the destruction of slavery was the +purpose and end in view was persistently put forth as the justifying +cause for dissolving the Union of States. The cry that the war on +the part of the North was "an abolition war," that it was for "negro +equality," had its effect on the more ignorant class of free laborers +in both sections. There is an inherent feeling of or desire for +superiority in all races, and this weakness, if it is such, is +exceedingly sensitive to the touch of the demagogue. + +There were those high in authority in the Confederate councils who +were not entirely deluded by the apparent indifference and supineness +of the Northern people. When Davis and his Cabinet held a conference +(April 9th) to consider the propriety of firing on Fort Sumter, +there was not entire unanimity on the question. Robert Toombs, +Secretary of State, is reported to have said: + +"The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than +any the world has yet seen; and I do not feel competent to advise +you."(19) + +And later in the conference Toombs, in opposing the attack on +Sumter, said: + +"Mr. President, at this time it is suicide, murder, and will lose +us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet's +nest which extends from mountain to ocean, and legions now quiet +will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts +us in the wrong; it is fatal."(20) + +The taking of Fort Sumter was the signal for unrestrained exultation +of the part of the Secessionists. They for a time gave themselves +up to the wildest demonstrations of joy. The South now generally +looked upon the Confederacy as already established. The Confederate +flag floated over Sumter in place of the Stars and Stripes. At +the Catholic cathedral in Charleston a _Te Deum_ was celebrated +with great pomp, and the Episcopal bishop there attributed the +event to the "infinite mercy of God, who specially interposed His +hand in behalf of _their_ righteous cause." + +The taking of Sumter was undoubtedly the most significant event of +the age. The achievement was bloodless; not a man was killed or +a drop of blood spilled by a hostile shot, yet in inaugurated a +war that freed four millions of God's people.(21) + +Montgomery, the temporary Capital of the Confederacy, wildly +celebrated the event as the first triumph. + +Bloodless was Sumter; but the war it opened was soon to swallow up +men by the thousand. + +Fort Pickens, in Pensacola Harbor, now only remained in the possession +of the United States of all the forts or strongholds in the seceded +South. + +This fortification was taken possession of by Lieut. A. J. Slemmer +of the United States Army, and though in great danger of being +attacked and taken, it was successfully reinforced on April 23, +1861, and never fell into Confederate hands. At a special session +of the Confederate Congress at Montgomery (May 21, 1861), Richmond, +Virginia, was made the Capital of the Confederacy, and the Congress +adjourned to meet there. + +Howell Cobb (late Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury), the +President of this Congress, with some of the truth of prophecy +defiantly said: + +"We have made all the necessary arrangements to meet the present +crisis. Last night we adjourned to meet in Richmond on the 20th +of July. I will tell you why we did this. The 'Old Dominion,' as +you know, has at last shaken off the bonds of Lincoln, and joined +her noble Southern sisters. Her soil is to be the battle-ground, +and her streams are to be dyed with Southern blood. We felt that +her cause was our cause, and that if she fell we wanted to die by +her." + +How was the news of the failure to reinforce Sumter, and of its +being fired on and taken possession of by a rebellious people, +received in the North? The evacuation of Fort Sumter was known in +Washington and throughout the country almost as soon as at Charleston. +Hostilities could no longer be averted, save by the ignominious +surrender of all the blood-bought rights of the founders of the +Republic. + +It must not be assumed that the President of the United States had +not already calculated on the probabilities of war. The portentous +clouds had been long gathering, and the certain signs of the +impending battle-storm had been discerned by Lincoln and his +advisers. He had prepared, as best he could under the circumstances, +to meet it. The long suspense was now broken. This was some relief. +There were to be no more temporizing, no more compromises, no more +offers of concession to slavery or to disunionists. The doctrine +of the assumed right of a State, at will, and for any real or +pretended grievance, to secede from and to dissolve its relation +with the Union of the States, and to absolve itself from all its +constitutional relations and obligations, was now about to be tried +before a tribunal that would execute its inexorable decree with a +power from which there is no appeal. Mercy is not an attribute of +war, either in its methods or decisions. The latter must stand in +the end as against the conquered. From war there is no appeal but +to war. Time and enlightenment may modify or alter the mandates +of war, but in this age of civilization and knowledge, neither +nations nor peoples move backward. Ground gained for freedom or +humanity, in politics, science, literature, or religion, is held, +and from this fresh advances may be made. Needless cruelty may be +averted in the conduct of war, but mercy is not an element in the +science of destroying life and shedding blood on the battle-field. + +Sunday, April 14th (though bearing date the 15th), the same day +Sumter was evacuated, President Lincoln issued his proclamation, +reciting that the laws of the United States had been and then were +opposed and their execution obstructed in the States of South +Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and +Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by ordinary +judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by +law; he called for seventy-five thousand of the militia of the +several States of the Union; appealed to all loyal citizens to +maintain the honor, integrity, and existence of the National Union, +and "the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs +already long enough endured." "The first service," the proclamation +recites, "assigned to the forces called forth will probably be to +repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized +from the Union." + +It commanded the persons composing the combinations referred to, +"to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within +twenty days." + +It called Congress to convene Thursday, July 4, 1861, in extraordinary +session, "to consider and determine such measures as, in their +wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand." + +This proclamation was the first announcement by President Lincoln +of a deliberate purpose to preserve the integrity of the Republic +by a resort to arms. In his recent Inaugural Address he had, almost +pathetically, pleaded for peace--for friendship; and there is no +doubting that his sincere desire was to avoid bloodshed. He then +had no thought of attacking slavery, but rather to protect and +grant it more safeguards in the States where it existed. Later, +on many occasions, when the war had done much to inflame public +sentiment in the North against the South, he publicly declared he +would save the "Union as it was." His most pronounced utterance +on this point was: + +"I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under +the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored, +the nearer the Union will be 'the Union as it was.' If there be +those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same +time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those +who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time +destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in +this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or +destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any +slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and +leaving others alone, I would also do that."(22) + +But Abraham Lincoln was not understood in 1861, nor even later +during the war, and not fully during life, by either his enemies +or his personal or party friends. The South, in its leadership, +was implacable in the spirit of its hostility, but the masses, even +there, in time came to understand his true purposes and sincere +character. + +Two days after the call for seventy-five thousand troops, President +Davis responded to it by proclaiming to the South that President +Lincoln had announced the intention of "invading the Confederacy +with an armed force for the purpose of capturing its fortresses, +subverting its independence, and subjecting the free people thereof +to a foreign power." In the same proclamation he invited persons +to take service in private armed vessels on the high seas, tendering +to such persons as would accept them commissions or letters of +_marque_ and reprisal. + +At this time a military spirit had been aroused throughout the +seceded States, and a large number of well-equipped Southern troops +were already in the field, chiefly at Charleston and Pensacola--in +all (including about 16,000 on their way to Virginia) about 35,000. +The field, staff, and general officers in charge of these troops +were mainly graduates of West Point or other military schools; even +the captains of companies were many of them educated in the +institutions referred to. It is not to be denied that a higher +military spirit existed in the South than in the North prior to +the war. The young men from plantations were more generally +unemployed at active labor, and hence had more time to cultivate +a martial spirit than the hard-working young men of the North. + +The summons to arms found the North unprepared so far as previous +spirit and training were concerned; yet it did not hesitate, and +troops were, within two days, organized and on their way from +several of the States to the defense of Washington. The 6th +Massachusetts was fired upon by a riotous mob in the streets of +Baltimore on April 19th. On every side war levies and preparations +for war went forward. The farm, the shop, the office, the counting- +room, the professions, the schools and colleges, the skilled and +the unskilled in all kinds of occupation, gave up of their best to +fill the patriotic ranks. The wealthy, the well-to-do, and the +poor were found in the same companies and regiments, on a common +footing as soldiers, and often men theretofore moving in the highest +social circles were contentedly commanded by those of the humblest +social civil life. + +The companies were, as a general rule, commanded by men of no +previous military training, though wherever a military organization +existed it was made a nucleus for a volunteer company. Often +indifferent men, with a little skill in drilling soldiers, and with +no other known qualifications, were sought out and eagerly commissioned +by governors of States as field officers, a colonelcy often being +given to such persons. A volunteer regiment was considered fortunate +if it had among its field officers a lieutenant from the regular +army, or even a person from civil life who had gained some little +military experience. + +General officers were too often, from apparent necessity, taken +from those who had more influence than military skill. Some of +these, however, by patient toil, coupled with zeal and brains, +performed valuable service to their country and won honorable names +as soldiers. But the most of them made only moderate officers and +fair reputations. War develops and inspires men, and if it continues +long, great soldiers are evolved from its fierce conflicts. + +Accidental _good_ fortune in war sometimes renders weak and unworthy +men conspicuous. Accidental _bad_ fortune in war often overtakes +able, worthy, honest, honorable men of the first promise and destroys +them.(23) Very few succeed in a long war through pure military +genius alone, if there is such a thing. Many, in the heat of battle- +field experiences and in campaigns are inspired with the _common +sense_ that makes them, through success, really great soldiers. +The indispensable quality of personal bravery, commonly supposed +sufficient to make a man a valuable officer, is often of the smallest +importance. A merely brave, rash man in the ranks may be of some +value as an inspiring example to his immediate comrades, but he is +hardly equal for that purpose to the intelligent soldier who obeys +orders, and, though never reckless, yet, through a proper amount +of individual pride, does his whole duty without braggadocio. + +A mere dashing officer is more and more a failure, and unfitted to +command, in proportion as he is high in rank. Rash personal conduct +which might be tolerated in a lieutenant would in a lieutenant- +general be conclusive of his unfitness to hold any general command. +Of course, there are rare emergencies when an officer, let his rank +be what it may, should lead in an assault or forlorn hope, or rush +in to stay a panic among his own troops. + +This, like all other actions of a good officer, must also be an +inspiration of duty. The coward in war has no place,(24) and when +found in an army (which is rare) should be promptly mustered out. +There was no such thing in the late war as a regiment of cowards. +Inefficient or timid officers may have given their commands a bad +name, and caused them to lose confidence in success, and hence to +become unsteady or panicky. The average American is not deficient +in true courage. + +Careful drill and discipline make good soldiers. + +The American people were now awake to the realities of a war in +which the same race, blood, and kindred were to contend, on the +one side for a separate nationality and for a form of government +based on the single idea of perpetuating and fostering the institution +of domestic slavery and a so-called civilization based thereon, +and on the other for the preservation of the integrity of the Union +of States, under one Constitution and one flag. + +In addition to the 15th of April proclamation for 75,000 volunteers +for ninety days' service, the President (May 3d) called into the +United States service 42,034 more volunteers to serve for three +years, unless sooner discharged. He at the same time directed that +eight regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery +should be added to the regular army, making a maximum of 22,714 +regular officers and enlisted men; he also called for 18,000 seamen +for the naval service. + +All these calls for enlistment were responded to by the loyal States +with the greatest promptness, and the numbers called for were more +then furnished, notwithstanding the failure of some of the Southern +non-seceding States to promptly fill their assigned quotas. + +Governor Burton of Delaware (April 26th) issued a proclamation for +the formation of volunteer companies to protect lives and property +in the State, not to be subject to be ordered into the United States +service, the Governor, however, to have the option of offering them +to the general government for the defence of the Capital and the +support of its Constitution and laws. + +Governor Hicks of Maryland (May 14th) called for four regiments to +serve within the limits of the State, or for the defence of the +Capital of the United States. + +Governor Letcher of Virginia (April 16th) spitefully denied the +constitutionality of the call for troops "to subjugate the Southern +States." + +Governor Ellis of North Carolina (April 15th) dispatched that he +regarded the levy of troops "for the purpose of subjugating the +States of the South as in violation of the Constitution and a +usurpation of power." + +Governor Magoffin of Kentucky (April 15th) wired: + +"Your dispatch is received. In answer I say emphatically, Kentucky +will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister +Southern States." + +Governor Harris of Tennessee (April 18th) replied: + +"Your requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, +and revolutionary in its objects, inhuman and diabolical, and can +not be complied with." + +Governor Rector of Arkansas (April 22d) responded: + +"None will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to +injury."(25) + +Four of the slave-holding States thus responding to the President's +call, to wit: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, +soon joined the Confederate States; Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, +and Delaware remained in the Union, and, later, filled their quotas +under the several calls for troops for the United States service, +though from each many also enlisted in the Confederate Army. + +The Union volunteers were either hastened, unprepared by complete +organization or drill, to Washington, D. C., to stand in its defence +against an anticipated attack from Beauregard's already large +organized army, or they were assembled in drill camps, selected +for convenience of concentration and dispersion, to the scenes of +campaigns soon to be entered upon. + +Arms in the North were neither of good quality nor abundant. Some +were hastily bought abroad--Enfield rifles from England, Austrian +rifles from Austria; each country furnishing its poorest in point +of manufacture. But there were soon in operation establishments +in the North where the best of guns then known in warfare were +made. The old flint-lock musket had theretofore been superseded +by the percussion-lock musket, but some of the guns supplied to +the troops were old, and altered from the flint-lock. These muskets +were muzzle-loaders, smooth bores, firing only buck and ball +cartridges--.69 calibre. They were in the process of supersession +by the .58 calibre rifle for infantry, or the rifle-carbine for +cavalry, generally of a smaller calibre. The English Enfield rifle +was of .58 calibre, and the Springfield rifle, which soon came into +common use, was of like calibre. The Austrian rifle of .54 calibre +proved to be of poor construction, and was generally condemned.(26) +A rifle for infantry of .58 calibre was adopted, manufactured and +used in the Confederacy. The steel rifled cannon for field artillery +also came to take the place, in general, of the smooth-bore brass +gun, though many kinds of cannon of various calibres and construction +were in use in both armies throughout the war. + +The general desire of new volunteers was to be possessed of an +abundance of arms, such as guns, pistols, and knives. The two +latter weapons were even worse than useless for the infantry soldier +--mere incumbrances. An officer even had little use for a pistol; +only sometimes in a melee. The cavalry resorted, under some +officers, to the pistol instead of the sword. In the South, at +the opening of the wr, shot-guns and squirrel rifles were gathered +together for arms, and long files were forged in large quantities +by common blacksmiths into knives or a sort of cutlass (or machete) +for use in battle.(27) These were never used by regularly-organized +troops. Guerillas, acting in independent, small bands, were, +however, often armed with such unusual weapons. The North had no +such soldiers. The South had many bands of them, the leaders of +which gained much notoriety, but they contributed little towards +general results. Guerillas were, at best, irregular soldiers, who +in general masqueraded as peaceful citizens, only taking up arms +to make raids and to attack small, exposed parties, trains, etc. +This sort of warfare simply tended to irritate the North and +intensify hatred for the time. + +Not in the matter of arms alone was there much to learn by experience. +McClellan and others had visited the armies of Europe and made +reports thereon; Halleck had written on the _Art of War;_ General +Scott and others had practical experience in active campaigns, but +nobody seemed to know what supplies an army required to render it +most effective on the march or in battle. + +When the volunteers first took the field the transportation trains +occupied on the march more than four times the space covered by +the troops. Large details had, as a consequence, to be made to +manage the trains and drive the teams; large detachments, under +officers, to go with them as guards. To supply forage for the +immense number of horses and mules was not only a great tax upon +the roads but a needless expense to the government. Excessive +provision of tents for headquarters and officers as well as the +soldiers was also made. Officers as well as private soldiers +carried too much worse than useless personal clothing, including +boots (wholly worthless to a footman) and other baggage; each +officer as a rule had one or more trunks and a mess-chest, with +other supplies. McClellan, in July, 1861, had about fifteen four- +horse or six-mule teams to carry the personal outfit of the General +and his staff; brigade headquarters (there were no corps or divisions) +had only a proportionately smaller number of teams; and for the +field and staff of a regimental headquarters not less than six such +teams were required, including one each for the adjutant and the +regimental quartermaster and commissary; and the surgeon of the +regiment and his assistants required two more. + +Each company was assigned one team. A single regiment--ten companies +--would seldom have less than eighteen large teams to enable it to +move from its camp. Something was, however, due to the care of +new and unseasoned troops, but in the light of future experience, +the extreme folly of thus trying to make war seems ridiculous. A +great change, however, occurred during the later years of the war. +When I was on active campaigns with a brigade of seven regiments, +one team was allowed for brigade headquarters, and one for each +regiment. In this arrangement each soldier carried his own half- +ten (dog-tent) rolled on his knapsack, and the quartermaster, +commissary, medical and ordnance supplies were carried in general +trains. This applied to all the armies of the Union. The Confederates +had even less transportation with moving troops. + +But we must not tarry longer with these details. Henceforth we +shall briefly try to tell the story of such of the campaigns, +events, and scenes of the conflict as in the ensuing four years of +war came under our observation or were connected with movements in +which we participated, interweaving some personal history. + +( 1) His resignation was accepted December 29, 1860. Howell Cobb, +of Georgia, Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury, resigned December +8, 1860, and was, on February 4, 1861, chosen the presiding officer +of the first Confederate Congress. He left the United States +Treasury empty. Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, Buchanan's Secretary +of the Interior, resigned January 8, 1861. He had corresponded +with secessionists South, and while yet in the Cabinet had been +appointed a commissioner by his State to urge North Carolina to +secede. He became an aid to Beauregard, but attained no military +distinction. In 1864 he went to Canada, and there promoted a plan +to release prisoners at Camp Douglas, Chicago, and to seize the +city, and was charged with instigating plots to burn New York and +other Northern cities. + +( 2) _Am. Cyclopedia_, 1861 (Appleton), pp. 430, 431. + +It is interesting to note that Louisiana, jointly with the Confederate +States, issued in April and May, 1861, made from captured United +States bullion, on United States dies of 1861, gold coin, $254,820 +in double eagles, and silver coin, $1,101,316.50 in half dollars. +In May, 1861, the remaining bullion was transferred to A. J. Guizot, +Assistant Treasurer Confederate States of America, who at once +destroyed the United States dies and had a Confederate States die +for silver half dollars engraved by the coiner, A. H. M. Peterson. +From this die _four_ pieces only were struck on a screw press, the +die being of such high relief that its use was impracticable. +These _four_ coins composed the _entire_ coinage of the Confederate +States. Its design, _Obverse:_ Goddess of Liberty (same as United +States coins) with arc of thirteen stars (representing original +States), date, "1861." _Reverse:_ American shield beneath a "Liberty +Cap"; union of shield and seven stars (representing original seceded +States), surrounded by a wreath, to the left (cotton in bloom), to +the right (sugar cane). _Legend: "Confederate States of America_," +exergue, "_Half Dol._"--_U. S._(Townsend), p. 427. + +( 3) _Am. Cyclop._, 1861, p. 123. + +( 4) P. G. T. Beauregard resigned, February 20, 1861, a captaincy +in the United States army while holding the appointment of +Superintendent of West Point. + +( 5) _Life of Beauregard_ (Roman), vol. i., p. 25. + +( 6) _Hist. Reg. U. S. A._ (Heitman), pp. 836-845. + +( 7) Scharf's _Hist. C. S. N._, p. 14. + +( 8) President Lincoln's Message, July, 1861. + +( 9) _Am. Cyclop._, 1861, p. 431. + +(10) This is the only instance where Buchanan issued such an order, +hence we give it. + + "March 1, 1861. +"By direction of the President, etc., it is ordered that Brig.-Gen. +David E. Twiggs, Major-General by brevet, be, and is hereby dismissed +from the army of the United States for his treachery to the flag +of his country, in having surrendered on the 18th of February, +1861, on demand of the authorities of Texas, the military posts +and other property of the United States in his department and under +his charge. + + "J. Holt, Secretary of War. +"S. Cooper, Adjutant-General." + +(11) Lieutenant Frank C. Armstrong (First Cavalry), pending his +resignation, fought at Bull Run (July, 1861) for the Union, then +went into the Confederacy and became a Brigadier-General. + +(12) "Treasury Department, Jan. 29, 1861. +"W. Hemphill Jones, New Orleans: + +"Tell Lieutenant Caldwell to arrest Captain Breshwood, assume +command of the cutter and obey the order through you. If Captain +Breshwood, after arrest, undertakes to interfere with the command +of the cutter, tell Lieutenant Caldwell to consider him a mutineer, +and treat him accordingly. + +"_If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, Shoot him on +the Spot._ + + "John A. Dix, Secretary of the Treasury." + +(13) Sherman's _Memoirs_, vol. i, p. 163. + +(14) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), pp. 29-30. + +(15) John Wilkes, British Par., 1780 (_Pat. Reader_, p. 135). + +(16) In 1861 an army officer was not required (as now) to take an +oath of office on receiving promotion. The following is a copy of +the last oath taken by Robert E. Lee as a United States Army officer, +and it shows the form of oath then taken by other army officers. + +"I, Robert E. Lee, appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second +Regiment of Cavalry in the Army of the United States, do solemnly +swear that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of +America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against +all their enemies or opposers whatsoever; and observe and obey the +orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of +the officers appointed over me, according to the Rules and Articles +for the government of the Armies of the United States. + + "R. E. Lee, Bt.-Col., U. S. A. + +"Sworn to and subscribed before me at West Point, N. Y., this 15th +day of March, 1855. + + "Wm. H. Carpenter, Justice of the Peace." + +(17) Letter of Adjutant-General Thomas to Garfield. _Army of +Cumberland Society Proceedings_ (Cleveland), 1870, p. 94. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. i., pp. 11-13. + +It is worthy of note that at high noon, exactly four years later +(1865) the identical flag lowered in dishonor was "raised in glory" +over Fort Sumter, Robert Anderson participating. + +(19) Crawford, p. 421. + +(20) _Life of Toombs_ (Stovall), p. 226. + +(21) One man was killed on each side by accident. + +(22) Letter to Greeley, August 22, 1862, Lincoln's _Com. Works_, +vol. ii., p. 227; also same sentiment, letter to Robinson, August +17, 1864, p. 563. + +(23) General Benjamin Lincoln, of the Revolution, affords a striking +example. He was brave, skillful, often held high command, and +always possessed Washington's confidence, yet he never won a battle. +To compensate him somewhat for his misfortunes Washington designated +him to receive the surrender at Yorktown, October 19, 1781.-- +_Washington and His Generals_ (Headley), vol. ii., pp. 104, 121. + +(24) Euripides said, more than two thousand years ago: "Cowards +do no _count_ in battle; they are _there_, but _not in it._" + +(25) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), pp. 114, 115. + +(26) Ordnance and inspecting officers during the War of the +Rebellion contended that the .58 calibre rifle was the smallest +practicable. In 1863 I purchased for special use a small number +of Martini-Henry repeating rifles, calibre .44, and on applying +for ammunition, the ordnance officer protested against supplying +it on the ground that the ball used was too small for effective +use. This, I demonstrated at the time, was a mistake. And now +(1896), after years of most careful experiments and tests by the +most skilled boards of officers, English, German, French, Austrian, +Swedish, United States, etc., it has been ascertained that a steel- +jacket, leaden ball fired from a rifle of .30 calibre has the +highest velocity and greatest penetrating power. + +The armies of all these countries are now, or are fast being, armed +with this superior, small-calibre rifle. + +(27) As late as April, 1862, Jeff. Davis, though a soldier by +training and experience, attached importance to "pikes and knives" +as war-weapons.--_War Records_, vol. x., pt. 2., p. 413. + + +CHAPTER III +Personal Mention--Occupancy of Western Virginia under McClellan +(1861)--Campaign and Battle of Rich Mountain, and Incidents + +Events leading, as we have seen, to the secession of States; to +the organization of the Confederate States of America; to the +assembling of Confederate forces in large numbers; to the firing +on Fort Sumter and its subsequent capitulation, and to the summons +to arms of seventy-five thousand volunteer United States troops, +ended all thoughts of peace through means other than war. + +President Lincoln and his advisers did not delude themselves with +the notion that three months would end the war. He and they knew +too well how deep-seated the purpose was to consummate secession, +hence before the war had progressed far the first three years' call +was made. + +By common judgment, South as well as North, Virginia was soon the +be the scene of early battle. Its proximity to Washington, the +Capital, made it necessary to occupy the south side of the Potomac. +The western part of the State was not largely interested in slaves +or slave labor, and it was known to have many citizens loyal to +the Union. These it was important to protect and recognize. The +neutral and doubtful attitude Kentucky at first assumed made its +occupation a very delicate matter. + +While many volunteer troops were hastened to the defense of +Washington, large numbers were gathered in camps throughout the +North for instruction, organization, and equipment. + +When Lincoln's first call for troops was made I was at Springfield, +Ohio, enjoying a fairly lucrative law practice as things then went, +but with competition acutely sharp for future great success. + +I had, in November, 1856, come from the common labor of a farm to +a small city, to there complete a course of law reading, commenced +years before and prosecuted at irregular intervals. After my +removal to Springfield I finished a preparatory course, and January +12, 1858, when not yet twenty-two years of age, I was admitted to +practice law by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and settled in Springfield, +where I had the good fortune to enjoy a satisfactory share of the +clientage. I had from youth a desire to learn as much as possible +of war and military campaigns, but, save a little volunteer militia +training of a poor kind, obtained as a member of a uniformed military +company, and a little duty on a militia general's staff, I had no +education or preparation for the responsible duties of a soldier-- +certainly none for the important duties of an officer of any +considerable command. + +Thus situated and unprepared, on the first call for volunteers I +enlisted as a private soldier in a Springfield company, and went +with it to Camp Jackson, now Goodale Park, Columbus, Ohio.( 1) + +The first volunteers were allowed to elect their own company and +field officers. I was elected Major of the 3d Ohio Volunteer +Infantry, and commissioned, April 27, 1861, by Governor William +Dennison. + +A few days subsequently, my regiment was sent to Camp Dennison, +near Cincinnati, to begin its work of preparation for the field. +Here I saw and came to know in some sense Major-General George B. +McClellan, also Wm. S. Rosecrans, Jacob D. Cox, Gordon Granger, +and others who afterward became Major-Generals. I also met many +others, whom in the campaigns and battles of the succeeding four +years I knew and appreciated as accomplished officers. But many +I met there fell by the way, not alone by the accidents of battle +but because of unfitness for command or general inefficiency. + +The Colonel of my regiment (Marrow) so magnified a Mexican war +experience as to make the unsophisticated citizen-soldier look upon +him with awe, yet he never afterwards witnessed a real battle. John +Beatty, who became later a Colonel, then Brigadier-General, was my +Lieutenant-Colonel; he did not, I think, even possess the equivalent +of my poor pretense of military training. He was, however, a +typical volunteer Union soldier; brainy, brave, terribly in earnest, +always truthful, and what he did not know he made no pretense of +knowing, but set about learning. He had by nature the spirit of +a good soldier; as the war progressed the true spirit of the warrior +became an inspiration to him; and at Perryville, Stone's River, +Chickamauga, and on other fields he won just renown, not alone for +personal gallantry but for skill in handling and personally fighting +his command. + +The 3d Ohio and most of the three-months' regiments at Camp Dennison +were promptly re-enlisted under the President's May 3d call for +three years' volunteers, and I was again (June 12, 1861) commissioned +its Major. + +In early June, McClellan, who commanded the Department of Ohio, +including Western Virginia, crossed the Ohio and assembled an army, +mainly at and in the vicinity of Grafton. + +He had issued, May 26th, 1861, from his headquarters at Cincinnati, +a somewhat bombastic proclamation to the people of Western Virginia, +relating in part to the recent vote on secession, saying his invasion +was delayed to avoid the appearance of influencing the result. It +promised protection to loyal men against armed rebels, and indignantly +disclaimed any disposition to interfere with slaves or slavery, +promising to crush an attempted insurrection "with an iron hand." + +The proclamation closed thus: + +"Notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to induce +you to believe that our advent among you will be signalized with +interference with your slaves, understand one thing clearly--not +only will we abstain from all such interference, but we will, on +the contrary, with an iron hand, crush any attempt at insurrection +on their part. Now that we are in your midst, I call upon you to +fly to arms and support the General Government. + +"Sever the connection that binds you to traitors. Proclaim to the +world that the faith and loyalty so long boasted by the Old Dominion +are still preserved in Western Virginia, and that you remain true +to the Stars and Stripes."( 2) + +This proclamation won no friends for the Union in the mountains of +Western Virginia, where slaves were few and slavery was detested. +The mountaineers were naturally for the Union, and such an appeal +was likely to do more harm than good. + +The proclamation, however, was in harmony with the then policy of +the Administration at Washington and with public sentiment generally +in the North. + +Colonel George A. Porterfield, on May 4th, was ordered by Robert +E. Lee, then in command of the Virginia forces, to repair to Grafton, +the junction of two branches of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, +and there assemble the Confederate troops with a view to holding +that part of the State of Virginia; in case, however, he failed in +this and was unable permanently to hold that railroad, he was +instructed to cut it. + +On June 8th, General R. S. Garnett was assigned by Lee to the +command of the Confederate troops of Northwestern Virginia. + +The Union forces under Col. B. F. Kelley, 1st Virginia Volunteers, +occupied Grafton May 30th, the forces under Porterfield having +retired without a fight to Philippi, about sixteen miles distant +on a turnpike road leading from Webster (four miles from Grafton) +over Laurel Hill to Beverly. As roads are few in Western Virginia, +and as this road proved to be one of great importance in the campaign +upon which we are just entering, it may be well to say that it +continues through Huttonville, across Tygart's Valley River, through +Cheat Mountain Pass over the summit of Cheat Mountain, thence +through Greenbrier to Staunton at the head of the Shenandoah Valley. +At Beverly it is intersected by another turnpike from Clarksburg, +through Buchannon _via_ Middle Fork Bridge, Roaring Creek (west of +Rich Mountain), Rich Mountain Summit, etc. From Huttonville a road +leads southward up the Tygart's Valley River, crossing the mouth +of Elk Water about seven miles from Huttonville, thence past Big +Springs on Valley Mountain to Huntersville, Virginia. The region +through which these roads pass is mountainous. + +Ohio and Indiana volunteers made up the body of the army under +McClellan. These troops assembled first in the vicinity of Grafton. +The first camp the 3d Ohio occupied was at Fetterman, two miles west +of Grafton. Porterfield made a halt at Philippi, where he gathered +together about eight hundred poorly-armed and disciplined men. +Detachments under Col. B. F. Kelley and Col. E. Dumont of Indiana, +surprised him, June 3d, by a night march, and captured a part of +his command, much of his supplies, and caused him to retreat with +his forces disorganized and in disgrace. There Colonel Kelley was +seriously wounded by a pistol shot. General Garnett, soon after +the affair at Philippi, collected about four thousand men at Laurel +Hill, on the road leading to Beverly. This position was naturally +a strong one, and was soon made formidable with earthworks and +artillery. He took command there in person. At the foot of Rich +Mountain (western side), on the road leading from Clarksville +through Buchannon to Beverly, a Confederate force of about two +thousand, with considerable artillery, was strongly fortified, +commanded by Colonel John Pegram, late of the U.S.A. Beverly was +made the base of supplies for both commands. Great activity was +displayed to recruit and equip a large Confederate force to hold +Western Virginia. They had troops on the Kanawha under Gen. Henry +A. Wise and Gen. J. B. Floyd. The latter was but recently President +Buchanan's Secretary of War. + +Brig.-Gen. Thomas A. Morris of Indiana was given about 4000 men +after the affair at Philippi to hold and watch Garnett at Laurel +Hill. McClellan having concentrated a force at Clarksburg on the +Parkersburg stem of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, moved it thence +on the Beverly road, _via_ Buchannon, to the front of Pegram's +position. + +His army on this road numbered about 10,000. + +Gen. Wm. S. Rosecrans, the second in command, led a brigade; Gen. +N. Schleich, a three-months' general from Ohio, and Col. Robert L. +McCook (9th O.V.I.), also in some temporary way commanded brigades. + +The 3d Ohio Infantry was of Schleich's brigade. + +While the troops were encamped at Buchannon, Schleich, on July 6th, +without the knowledge of McClellan, sent two companies under Captain +Lawson of the 3d Ohio on a reconnoitring expedition to ascertain +the position of the enemy. Lawson found the enemy's advance pickets +at Middle Fork Bridge, and a spirited fight occurred in which he +lost one man killed and inflicted some loss on the enemy. This +unauthorized expedition caused McClellan to censure Schleich, who +was only to be excused on the score of inexperience. + +By the evening of July 9th the Union army reached and camped on +Roaring Creek, near the base of Rich Mountain, about one and a half +miles from the front of Pegram's fortified position. + +General Morris was ordered at this time to take up a position +immediately confronting Garnett's entrenched position at Laurel +Hill, to watch his movements, and, if he attempted to retreat, to +attack and pursue him. + +On the 10th of July the 4th and 9th Ohio Regiments with Capt. C. +O. Loomis' battery (Cold Water, Mich.), under the direction of +Lieut. O. M. Poe of the engineers, made a reconnoissance on the +enemy's front, which served to lead McClellan to believe the enemy's +"intrenchments were held by a large force, with several guns in +position to command the front approaches, and that a direct assault +would result in heavy and unnecessary loss of life." + +This belief, he says, determined him to make an effort to turn the +enemy's flank and attack him in the rear. + +Rosecrans, however, has the honor of submitting, about 10 P.M. of +the night of July 10th, a plan for turning the enemy's position, +which, with some reluctance, McClellan directed him to carry out. + +Rosecrans' brigade consisted of the 8th, 10th, and 13th Indiana, +19th Ohio and Burdsell's company of cavalry, numbering in all 1917 +men. + +The plan proposed by Rosecrans and approved by McClellan was first +suggested by a young man by the name of Hart, whose father's house +stood on the pike near the summit of Rich Mountain, two miles in +the rear of Pegram's position. Young Hart had been driven from home +by the presence of Confederates, and was eager to do what he could +for the Union cause. He sought Rosecrans, and proposed to lead +him by an unfrequented route around the enemy's _left_, and under +cover of the dense timber, by a considerable circuit, to the crest +of Rich Mountain, thence to the road at his old home in the enemy's +rear. He so impressed himself on Rosecrans and those around him +as to secure their confidence in him and his plan. In arranging +details it was ordered that Rosecrans, guided by Hart, should, at +daylight of the 11th, leave the main road about one mile in front +of the enemy's fortifications, keep under cover of the declivities +of the mountain spurs, avoid using an axe or anything to make a +noise, reach the road at the mountain summit, establish himself +there as firmly as possible, and from thence attack the enemy's +rear by the main road. While Rosecrans was doing this McClellan +was to move the body of the army close under the enemy's guns and +be in readiness to assault the front on its being known that +Rosecrans was ready to attack in the rear. + +The whole distance the flanking column would have to make was +estimated to be five miles, but it proved to be much greater. The +mountain was not only steep, but extremely rocky and rugged. +Pegram, after inspection, had regarded a movement by his left flank +to his rear as absolutely impossible.( 3) + +His right flank, however, was not so well protected by nature, and +to avoid surprise from this direction he kept pickets and scouts +well out to his right. Hart regarded a movement around the enemy's +right as certain of discovery, and hence not likely to be +successful. + +Promptly at day-dawn Rosecrans passed into the mountain fastness, +whither the adventurous hunter only had rarely penetrated, accompanied +by Col. F. W. Lander, a volunteer aide-de-camp of McClellan's staff +--a man of much frontier experience in the West. In a rain lasting +five hours the column slowly struggled through the dense timber, +up the mountain, crossing and recrossing ravines by tortuous ways, +and by 1 P.M. it had arrived near the mountain top, but yet some +distance to the southward of where the Beverly road led through a +depression, over the summit. After a brief rest, when, on nearing +the road at Hart's house, it was discovered and fired on unexpectedly +by the enemy. + +To understand how it turned out that the enemy was found near the +summit where he was not expected, it is necessary to recur to what +McClellan was doing in the enemy's front. Hart had assured Rosecrans +there was no hostile force on the summit of the mountain, and on +encountering the Confederates there, Rosecrans for the time suspected +his guide of treachery. + +But first an incident occurred in the 3d Ohio Regiment worth +mentioning. I. H. Marrow, its Colonel, who professed to be in +confidential relations with McClellan, returned from headquarters +about midnight of the 10th, and assuming to be possessed of the +plans for the next day, and pregnant with the great events to +follow, called out the regiment, and solemnly addressed it in +substance as follows: + +"Soldiers of the Third: The assault on the enemy's works will be +made in the early morning. The Third will lead the column. The +secessionists have ten thousand men and forty rifled cannon. They +are strongly fortified. They have more man and more cannon than +we have. They will cut us to pieces. Marching to attack such an +enemy, so intrenched and so armed, is marching to a butcher-shop, +rather than to a battle. There is bloody work ahead. Many of you, +boys, will go out who will never come back again."( 4) + +This speech, thus delivered to soldiers unused to battle was +calculated to cause the credulous to think of friends, home--death, +and it certainly had no tendency to inspire the untried volunteers +with hope and confidence. The speech was, of course, the wild, +silly vaporings of a weak man. + +I was sent with a detachment of the 3d Ohio to picket the road in +front of the enemy and in advance of the point from whence Rosecrans +had left it to ascend the mountain. My small force took up a +position less than one half mile from the enemy's fortified position, +driving back his pickets at the dawn of day through the dense timber +on each side of the road. About 9 A.M. a mounted orderly from +McClellan came galloping from camp carrying a message for Rosecrans, +said to be a countermand of former orders, and requiring him to +halt until another and better plan of movement could be made. The +messenger was, as he stoutly insisted, directed to overtake Rosecrans +by pursuing a route to the enemy's _right_, whereas Rosecrans had +gone to our _right_ and the enemy's _left_. Of this the orderly +was not only informed by me, but he was warned of the proximity of +the Confederate pickets. He persisted, however, in the error, and +presented the authority of the commanding General to pass all Union +pickets. This was reluctantly respected, and the ill-fated orderly +galloped on in search of a route to his _left_. In a moment or +two the sharp crack of a rifle was heard, and almost immediately +the horse of the orderly came dashing into our picket lines, wounded +and riderless. The story was told. The dispatch, with its bearer, +dead or alive, was in the enemy's hands. The orderly was, however, +not killed, but had been seriously hurt by a rifle ball. He and +his dispatch for Rosecrans gave Pegram his first knowledge of the +movements of the column to the mountain summit. + +For reasons already stated, Pegram entertained no fear of an attack +on his left and rear, but was somewhat apprehensive that his right +was not equally secure, and hence, early on the 11th, he had sent +a small picket to near Hart's house and taken the further precaution +to have his right vigilantly watched. The message found on the +captured orderly informed Pegram that Rosecrans was leading a column +to his rear.( 5) The latter thereupon sent a strong reinforcement +under Captain Julius A. De Lagnel to the picket already on the +mountain summit. By reason of the expected approach of a force +around the right, breastworks were hastily thrown up and two pieces +of artillery put in position to repel an attack from that direction. +Pegram, in his uncertainty, concluded that Rosecrans might take a +still wider circuit around his right and thus pass over the mountain +by a pathway or road leading into the turnpike one and a half miles +from Beverly; and to guard against this he ordered Col. Wm. C. +Scott, with the 44th Virginia, then at Beverly, to take position +with two pieces of artillery at the junction of the roads mentioned, +and to scout well the flanking road.( 6) + +The unexpected presence of the enemy at the summit of the mountain +is thus explained, and the reliability and faithfulness of the +guide vindicated. Captain De Lagnel, as well as Rosecrans, was +doomed also to a surprise. + +Rosecrans' command debouched from the wooded mountain and along +its crest upon the rear of De Lagnel's position, and new dispositions +of the Confederate force had to be made to meet the attack. + +The position of De Lagnel's force was on and near the line of the +turnpike as it passed over the mountain, and hence Rosecrans' +column, in its approach from the southward, having gained the +heights some distance from the road, was from a greater elevation. + +The 10th Indiana, under Colonel Manson, was in advance and received +the first fire of the enemy. + +After a delay of some forty minutes, during which time the enemy +was receiving reinforcements, and both sides rectifying their +positions to the real situation, the order to advance and attack +was given by Rosecrans, and though the troops were new and little +drilled, they were well led and responded gallantly. The battle +proper did not last beyond fifteen minutes. The Confederates made +a brave resistance, but they were not exceeding 800 strong, and +though they had the advantage of artillery, they were not advantageously +posted, consequently were soon overthrown, their commander being +shot down, and 21 prisoners, about 50 stand of arms, 2 pieces of +artillery, and some supplies taken. The Union loss was 12 killed +and 69 wounded, and the Confederate loss probably about the same. + +Captain De Lagnel was, by both sides, reported killed, and his +gallantry was highly lauded.( 7) General McClellan and others of +the regular army officers assumed next day to recognize his body +and to know him, and to deplore his early death. He had been +shortly before, as we have seen, captured as a _Union_ officer at +Fayetteville, N. C., and had at a still later date resigned from +the U.S.A. His alleged death, being generally reported through +the Confederacy, was made the occasion of many funeral sermons and +orations, eulogizing his _Southern_ loyalty and glorious sacrifice +of life "on the heights of Rich Mountain" in the cause of human +slavery, called Southern rights, or Southern freedom. + +But we shall hear of De Lagnel again. + +Pegram, learning of the disaster on the mountain in his rear, called +his best troops around him and in person started to attack and +dislodge Rosecrans. He reached the proximity of the battlefield +about 6 P.M., but being advised by his officers that his men were +demoralized, and could not be relied on, desisted from attacking, +and returned to his main camp and position.( 8) + +Of the dispersed Confederate forces some escaped towards Beverly, +joining Scott's 44th Virginia on the way, and some were driven back +to the fortified camp and to join Pegram. + +While Rosecrans was operating on the enemy's rear, McClellan was +inactive in front. McClellan claimed he was to receive hourly word +from Rosecrans during his progress through and up the rugged +mountain, and not thus often hearing from him, he, in the presence +of his officers, denounced the movement, and put upon Rosecrans +the responsibility of its then predicted certain failure. + +The only information received from Rosecrans during the day was a +message announcing the successful progress of the column at 11 A.M. +on the 11th; it was then approaching Hart's house, and about one +and a half miles distant from it.( 9) + +The arrangement made in advance was that on Rosecrans gaining a +position on the mountain he was to move down it upon Pegram's rear, +and McClellan with the main army was to attack from the front. It +was not contemplated that Pegram should be fully advised of the +plan before it could be, in considerable part, executed. Rosecrans' +men, being much exhausted by the laborious ascent of the precipitous +mountain, and having to fight an unexpected battle, did not advance +to attack the enemy's intrenchments in the rear, but awaited the +sound of McClellan's guns on the front. The day was too far spent +the communicate the situation by messenger, and McClellan remained +for the day and succeeding night in total ignorance of the real +result of the battle; and though its smoke could be plainly seen, +and the sound of musketry and artillery distinctly heard from his +position, from circumstances which appeared to be occurring in the +enemy's camp after the sound of the battle had ceased, McClellan +reached the conclusion that Rosecrans was defeated, if not captured +and destroyed, and this led McClellan and certain members of his +staff to industriously announce that Rosecrans had disobeyed orders +and would be held responsible for the disaster which had occurred. +McClellan remained with the main body of his army quietly in camp +on Roaring Creek until about midday when, he states in his report, +"I moved up all my available force to the front and remained in +person just in rear of the advance pickets, ready to assault when +the indicated movement arrived." + +While the troops were waiting for the "indicated movement," the +enemy had drawn in his skirmishers in expectation of an assault. +I was on the front with the skirmishers, and in my eagerness and +inexperience naturally desired to see the real situation of the +enemy's fortifications and guns. With two or three fearless soldiers +following closely, and without orders, by a little detour through +brush and timber to the left of the principal road, I came out in +front of the fortifications close under some of the guns and obtained +a good survey of them. The enemy, apprehending an assault, opened +fire on us with a single discharge from one piece of artillery,(10) +which he was not able to depress sufficiently to do us any harm. +We, however, withdrew precipitately, and I attempted at once to +report to McClellan the situation and location of the guns of the +enemy and the strength and position of his fortified camp, but, +instead of thanks for the information, I received a fierce rebuke, +and was sharply told that my conduct might have resulted in bringing +on a general battle before the _General_ was ready. I never sinned +in that way again while in McClellan's command. + +Late in the afternoon of the 11th, when the sound of the battle on +the mountain had ceased, an officer was seen to gallop into the +camp of the enemy on the mountain side; he made a vehement address +to the troops there, and the loud cheers with which they responded +were distinctly heard in our camp. + +This proceeding being reported to McClellan, at once settled him +and others about him in the belief that Rosecrans had been defeated. +A little later Confederate troops were seen moving to the rear and +up the mountain. This, instead of being as reinforcements for +defeated troops, as it really was, was taken as a possible aggressive +movement which, in some occult way, must assail and overthrow the +main army in front. As the day wore away, Poe, of the engineers, +was sent to our right to find a position on the immediate left of +the enemy where artillery could be used. I was detailed with two +companies of the 3d Ohio to accompany him. We climbed a mountain +spur and soon reached a position within rifle-musket range of the +enemy which completely commanded his guns and fortifications. So +near was my command that I desired permission to open fire without +awaiting the arrival of artillery, but this not being given by Poe, +of the headquarters staff, and being fresh from a rebuke from that +quarter, I gave a peremptory order _not_ to fire unless attacked. +On discovering us in his rear, the enemy turned his guns and fired +a few artillery shots at us, doing no harm, but affording a plausible +excuse for a discharge of musketry that seemed to silence the +enemy's guns, as their firing at once ceased. + +Poe was a young officer of fine personal appearance, superb physique, +a West Point graduate, and a grandson of one of the celebrated +Indian fighters, especially noted for killing the Wyandot Chief, +Big Foot, on the Ohio River in 1782. + +Poe was on staff duty throughout the war; became a Brevet-Brigadier, +corps of engineers, and died as a Colonel in the United States army +at Detroit, Michigan, October 2, 1895. + +My acquaintance with him commenced on the spur of Rich Mountain +under the circumstances mentioned. + +McClellan, in his report, says: + +"I sent Lieutenant Poe to find such a position for our artillery +as would enable us to command the works. Late in the afternoon I +received his report that he had found such a place. I immediately +detailed a party to cut a road to it for our guns, but it was too +late to get them into position before dark, and as I had received +no intelligence whatever of General Rosecrans' movements, I finally +determined to return to camp, leaving merely sufficient force to +cover the working party. Orders were then given to move up the +guns with the entire available infantry at daybreak the following +morning. _As the troops were much fatigued_, some delay occurred +in moving from camp, and just as the guns were starting intelligence +was received that the enemy had evacuated their works and fled over +the mountains, leaving all their guns, means of transportation, +ammunition, tents, and baggage behind. + +"Then for the first time since 11 o'clock the previous day, I +received a communication from General Rosecrans, giving me the +first intimation that he had taken the enemy's position at Hart's +farm."(11) + +Here was a commanding general in the peculiar situation that he +could almost see and could plainly hear a battle raging, but did +not learn its successful result until fifteen hours after it ceased. + +I remained on the mountain spur in command of a few companies of +infantry with orders to keep the men standing in line of battle, +without fires, during the entire night. It rained most of the +time, and the weather becoming cold the men suffered intensely. +The rest of the army retired to its camp a mile and a half distant. + +Pegram gathered his demoralized forces together, and with such as +were supposed able to make a long march, started about midnight to +escape by a mountain path around to the westward of the Hart farm, +hoping to gain the main road and join Garnett's forces, still +supposed to be at Laurel Hill. + +On the morning of the 12th of July we found a few broken-down men +in Pegram's late camp, and a considerable number of mere boys-- +students from William and Mary and Hamden-Sidney colleges--too +young yet for war. + +McClellan and his staff, with dazzling display, rode through the +deserted works, viewed the captured guns, gazed on the dejected +prisoners, and then wired the War Department: "In possession of +all the enemy's works up to a point in sight of Beverly. Have +taken all his guns. . . . Behavior of troops in action and towards +prisoners admirable." + +The army moved up the mountain to the battle-field, and halted a +few moments to view it. The sight of men with gunshot wounds was +the first for the new volunteers, and they were deeply impressed +by it; all looked upon those who had participated in the battle as +veritable heroes. + +Late on the 12th the troops reached Beverly, the junction of the +turnpike roads far in the rear of Laurel Hill, and there bivouacked. + +Garnett, learning of Pegram's disaster at Rich Mountain, abandoned +his intrenchments at Laurel Hill, and leaving his tents and other +property hastily retreated towards Beverly, pursued rather timidly +by Morris' command. Had Garnett pushed his army rapidly through +Beverly he could have passed in safety on the afternoon of the +12th, but being falsely informed that it was occupied in the +morning of that day by McClellan's troops, he turned off at Leadsville +Church, about five miles from Beverly, and retreated up the Leading +Creek road, a very rough and difficult one to travel. A portion +of Morris' command, led by Captain Benham of the regular army, +followed in close pursuit, while other went quietly into camp under +Morris' orders. + +Pegram, with his fleeing men, succeeded in finding a way over the +mountain, and at 7 P.M. of the 12th reached Tygart's Valley River, +near the Beverly and Laurel Hill road, about three miles from +Leadsville Church. They had travelled without road or path about +twelve miles, and were broken down and starving. Pegram here +learned from inhabitants of Garnett's retreat, the Union pursuit, +and of the Union occupancy of Beverly. All hope of escape in a +body was gone, and though distant six miles from Beverly, he +dispatched a note to the commanding officer of the Union forces, +saying: + +"Owing to the reduced and almost famished condition of the force +now here under my command, I am compelled to offer to surrender +them to you as prisoners of war. I have only to ask that they +receive at your hands such treatment as Northern prisoners have +invariably received from the South." + +McClellan sent staff officers to Pegram's camp to conduct him and +his starving soldiers to Beverly, they numbering 30 officers and +525 men.(12) Others escaped. + +The prisoners were paroled and sent South on July 15th, save such +of the officers, including Colonel Pegram, as had recently left +the United States army to join the Confederate States army; these +were retained and sent to Fort McHenry.(13) + +Garnett retreated through Tucker County to Kalea's Ford on Cheat +River, where he camped on the night of the 12th. His rear was +overtaken on the 13th at Carrick's Ford, and a lively engagement +took place, with loss on both sides; during a skirmish at another +ford about a mile from Carrick's, Garnett, while engaged in covering +his retreat and directing skirmishers, was killed by a rifle +ball.(14) + +Garnett had been early selected for promotion in the Confederate +army, and he promised to become a distinguished leader. His army, +now much demoralized and disorganized, continued its retreat _via_ +Horse-Shoe Run and Red House, Maryland, to Monterey, Virginia. +General C. W. Hill, through timidity or inexperience, permitted +the broken Confederate troops to pass him unmolested at Red House, +where, as ordered, he should have concentrated a superior force. + +McClellan, July 14th, moved his army over the road leading through +Huttonville to Cheat Mountain Pass, and a portion of it pursued a +small force of the enemy to and beyond the summit of Cheat Mountain, +on the Staunton pike, but no enemy was overtaken, and the campaign +was at an end. + +It was the first campaign; it had the appearance of success, and +McClellan, by his dispatches, gathered to himself all the glory of +it. He received the commendation of General Scott, the President, +and his Cabinet.(15) + +From Beverly, July 16, 1861, McClellan issued a painfully vain, +congratulatory address to the "_Soldiers of the Army of the +West_."(16) + +As early as July 21, 1861, he dispatched his wife that he did not +"feel sure that the men would fight very well under any one but +himself"; and that it was absolutely necessary for him to go in +person to the Kanawha to attack General Wise. Thus far _he had +led no troops in battle_. The Union defeat, on this date, at Bull +Run, however, turned attention to McClellan, as he alone, apparently, +had achieved success, though a success, as we have seen, mainly, +if not wholly, due to Rosecrans. + +On July 22, 1861, he was summoned to Washington, and on the 24th +left his "Army of the West" to assume other and more responsible +military duties, of which we will not here speak. In dismissing +him from this narrative, I desire to say that I wrote to a friend +in July, 1861, an opinion as to the capacity and character of +McClellan as a military leader, which I have not since felt called +on to revise, and one now generally accepted by the thoughtful men +of this country. McClellan was kind and generous, but weak, and +so inordinately vain that he thought it unnecessary to accept the +judgment of men of higher attainments and stronger character. Even +now strong men shudder when they recall the fact that George B. +McClellan apparently had, for a time, in his keeping the destiny +of the Republic. + +To indicate the state of his mind, and likewise the immensity of +his vanity, I here give an extract from a letter, of August 9, +1861, to his wife, leaving the reader to make his own comment and +draw his own conclusions. + +"General Scott is the great obstacle. He will not comprehend the +danger. I have to fight my way against him. To-morrow the question +will probably be decided by giving me absolute control independently +of him. . . . The people call on me to save the country. _I_ must +save it, and cannot respect anything that is in the way. + +"I receive letter after letter, have conversation after conversation, +calling on me to save the nation, alluding to the presidency, +dictatorship, etc. . . . _I would cheerfully take the dictatorship +and agree to lay down my life when the country is saved_," etc.(17) + +General McClellan was not disloyal, nor did he lack a technical +military education. He was a good husband, an indulgent father, +a kind and devoted friend, of pure life, but unfortunately he was +for a time mistaken for a great soldier, and this mistake _he_ +never himself discovered. + +He had about him, while holding high command, many real and professed +friends, most of whom partook of his habits of thought and possessed +only his characteristics. President Lincoln did not fail to +understand him, but sustained and long stood by him for want of a +known better leader for the Eastern army, and because he had many +adherents among military officers. + +Greeley, in the first volume of his _American Conflict_, written +at the beginning of the war, has a page containing the portraits +of twelve of the then most distinguished "Union Generals." Scott +is the central figure, and around him are McClellan, Butler, +McDowell, Wool, Fremont, Halleck, Burnside, Hunter, Hooker, Buell, +and Anderson. All survived the war, and not one of them was at +its close a distinguished commander in the field. One or two at +most had maintained only creditable standing as officers; the others +(Scott excepted, who retired on account of great age) having proved, +for one cause or another, failures. + +In Greeley's second volume, published at the close of the war, is +another group of "Union Generals." Grant is the central figure, +and around him are Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, Meade, Hancock, Blair, +Howard, Terry, Curtis, Banks, and Gilmore--not one of the first +twelve; and he did not even then exhaust the list of great soldiers +who fairly won eternal renown. + +The true Chieftains had to be evolved in the flame of battle, amid +the exigencies of the long, bloody war, and they had to win their +promotions on the field. + +( 1) For a summary life of the writer before and after the war, +see Appendix A. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 48. + +( 3) Colonel Pegram's Rep., _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 267. + +( 4) _Citizen Soldier_ (John Beatty), p. 22. + +( 5) It seems that this orderly did decline to say which flank +Rosecrans was turning, as he must have had doubts after what had +transpired as to his instructions; nevertheless Pegram decided +Rosecrans was passing around his right, and so notified Garnett.-- +_War Records_, vol. ii., pp. 256, 260, 272. + +( 6) _Ibid_., vol. ii., p. 275. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 245. + +( 8) _Ibid_., (Pegram's Report), vol. ii., p. 265. + +( 9) _War Records_ (McClellan's Report), vol. ii., p. 206. + +(10) _Citizen Soldier_ (Beatty), p. 24. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 206. + +(12) _War Records_ (Pegram's Report), vol. ii., p. 267. + +(13) At Beverly lived a sister of Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall), +Mrs. Arnold, who, though her husband was also disloyal, was a +pronounced Union woman and remained devoted to the Union cause +throughout the war. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. ii., p. 287. + +(15) _Ibid_., p. 204. + +(16) _Ibid_., p. 236. + +(17) _McClellan's Own Story_, p. 84. + + +CHAPTER IV +Repulse of General Lee and Affairs of Cheat Mountain and in Tygart's +Valley (September, 1861)--Killing of John A. Washington, and +Incidents, and Formation of State of West Virginia + +General Rosecrans, from headquarters at Grafton, July 25, 1861, +assumed command of the "Army of Occupation in Western Virginia." +He subsequently removed his headquarters to the field on the Kanawha +and there actively participated in campaigns. + +Brigadier-General Joseph J. Reynolds, of Indiana, a regular officer, +was assigned to the first brigade and to command the troops in the +Cheat Mountain region. + +Many of the troops who served under McClellan were three-months' +men who responded to President Lincoln's first call and, as their +terms of service expired, were mustered out, thus materially reducing +the strength of the army in Western Virginia, and as the danger +apprehended at Washington was great, new regiments, as rapidly as +they could be organized, were sent there. + +Already a movement at Wheeling had commenced to repudiate the +secession of Virginia, and to organize a state government, and +subsequently a new State. + +Great efforts were put forth at Richmond by Governor Letcher and +the Confederate authorities to regain possession of Western Virginia +and to suppress this loyal political movement. + +John B. Floyd and Henry A. Wise, both in the Confederate service, +and others were active on the Kanawha and in Southwestern Virginia, +but as the line from Staunton across Cheat Mountain led to Buchannon +and Clarksburg, and also _via_ Laurel Hill to Webster and Grafton, +striking the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at two points, it was +regarded at Richmond as the gateway to Western Virginia which, if +opened, would insure its permanent recovery. + +General R. E. Lee, from the first a favorite of the Confederate +authorities, who had thus far won no particular renown, not even +participating in the Bull Run battle and campaign, was now (about +August 1st) sent to Western Virginia "to strike a decisive blow at +the enemy in that quarter."( 1) + +He established his headquarters at Staunton, but we find him, in +August, with his main army at Valley Mountain (Big Springs), on +the Huntersville road, and about twelve miles south of the Union +camp at Elk Water on the Tygart's Valley River. General W. W. +Loring, late of the United States Army, an officer who won some +fame in the Mexican War, was in immediate command of the Confederate +troops at Valley Mountain. Brigadier-General H. R. Jackson--not +Stonewall Jackson, as so often stated--commanded the Confederate +forces, subject to the orders of Loring, on the Greenbrier, on the +Staunton road leading over Cheat Mountain to Huttonville. On these +two lines Lee soon had above 11,000 effective soldiers present for +duty, and he could draw others from Floyd and Wise in the Kanawha +country.( 2) + +Confronting Lee's army was the command of General Reynolds, with +headquarters at Cheat Mountain Pass,( 3) three miles from Huttonville +on the Staunton pike. Here Colonel Sullivan's 13th Indiana, part +of Loomis' battery, and Bracken's Indiana Cavalry were camped. On +Cheat Mountain, at the middle mountain-top, about nine miles to +the southeast of Huttonville on the Staunton pike, were the 14th +Indiana, 24th and 25th Ohio, and parts of the same battery and +cavalry, Colonel Nathan Kimball of the 14th in command. At Camp +Elk Water, about one mile north of the mouth of Elk Water in the +Tygart's River Valley, and about seven miles southward from +Huttonville on the Huntersville pike, the 15th and 17th Indiana +and the 3d and 6th Ohio Infantry, and still another part of Loomis' +battery, were posted. Reynolds' entire command did not exceed 4000 +available men, and in consequence of almost incessant rains the +roads became so bad that it was difficult to supply it with food +and forage. The troops being new and unseasoned to camp life, +suffered much from sickness. The service for them was hard in +consequence of the necessarily great amount of scouting required +on the numerous paths leading though the precipitous spurs of the +ranges of both Rich and Cheat Mountains, which closely shut in the +valley of the Tygart's. + +The writer was often engaged leading scouting parties through the +mountains. + +(The accompanying map will give some idea of the location of the +troops and the physical surroundings.) + +Whole companies were sometimes posted at somewhat remote and +inaccessible places for observation and picket duty. + +Scouts and spies constantly reported large accessions to the enemy. +Reynolds, therefore, called loudly for reinforcements, but only a +few came. On August 26th five companies of the 9th Ohio (Bob +McCook's German regiment) and five companies of the 23d Ohio (Col. +E. P. Scammon) reached Camp Elk Water. These companies numbered, +present for duty, about eight hundred. + +The two regiments later became famous. Robert L. McCook and August +Willich were then of the 9th, and both afterwards achieved distinction +as soldiers. + +The 23d was originally commanded by Colonel Wm. S. Rosecrans; then +by Colonel E. P. Scammon, who became a Brigadier-General; then by +Colonel Stanley Matthews, who became a United States Senator from +Ohio, and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; then +by Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, who became a Brigadier-General and +Brevet Major-General, and distinguished himself in many battles; +he subsequently became a Representative in Congress, was thrice +Governor of Ohio, and then President of the United States. Its +last commander was Colonel James M. Comly, a brilliant soldier who, +after the war, became a distinguished journalist, and later honorably +represented his country as Minister at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. +Lieutenant Robert P. Kennedy was of this regiment, and not only +became a Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General, but was brevetted +a Brigadier-General, and since the war has been Lieutenant-Governor +of Ohio and four years in Congress. Wm. McKinley was also of this +regiment, serving as a private, Commissary Sergeant, became a Second +and First Lieutenant, then a Captain and Brevet Major, and, since +the war, has served four terms as Representative in Congress, has +been twice Governor of Ohio, and (as I write) the indications are +that he will be nominated in June, 1896, for President, with a +certainty of election the following November.( 4) + +On August 14, 1861, while Captain Henry E. Cunard, of the 3d Ohio, +with part of his company, was on advanced picket on the Brady's +Gate road, privates Vincent and Watson, under Corporal Stiner, +discovered a man stealthily passing around them through the woods, +whom they halted and proceeded to interrogate. + +"He professed to be a farm hand; said his employer had a mountain +farm not far away, where he pastured cattle; that a two-year-old +steer had strayed away, and he was looking for him. His clothes +were fearfully torn by brush and briars. His hands and face were +scratched by thorns. He had taken off his boots to relieve his +swollen feet, and was carrying them in his hands. Imitating the +language and manners of an uneducated West Virginian, he asked the +sentinel if he 'had seed anything of a red steer.' The sentinel +had not. After continuing the conversation for a time he finally +said: 'Well, I must be a-going, it is a-gettin' late and I'm durned +feared I won't get back to the farm afore night. Good-day.' 'Hold +on,' said the sentinel; 'better go and see the Captain.' 'O, no, +don't want to trouble him, it is not likely he has seed the steer, +and it's a-gettin' late.' 'Come right along,' replied the sentinel, +bringing down his gun; 'the Captain will not mind being troubled; +in fact, I am instructed to take such as you to him.'"( 5) + +The boots were discovered by the keen instinct of the inquiring +Yankee to be too neatly made and elegant for a Western Virginian +mountaineer employed at twelve dollars a month in caring for cattle +in the hackings. When asked the price paid for the boots, the +answer was fifteen dollars. The suspect was a highly educated +gentleman, wholly incapable of acting his assumed character. He +had touched the higher education and civilization of men of learning, +and his tongue could not be attuned to lie and deceive in the guise +of one to the manor born. Though at first Captain Cunard hesitated, +he told the gentleman he would take him for further examination to +camp. Finding the Captain, in his almost timid native modesty, +was nevertheless obdurate, the now prisoner, knowing hope of escape +was gone, declared himself to be Captain Julius A. De Lagnel, late +commander of the Confederates in the battle of Rich Mountain, where +he was reported killed. His tell-tale boots were made in Washington. +He was severely wounded July 11th, and had succeeded in reaching +a friendly secluded house near the battle-field, where he remained +and was cared for until his wound healed and he was able to travel. +He had been in the mountains five days and four nights, and just +as he was passing the last and most advanced Union picket he was +taken. + +His little stock of provisions, consisting of a small sack of +biscuits, was about exhausted, and what remained was spoiled. He +was taken to camp, wet, shivering, and exhausted from starvation, +cold, and exposure. It is needless to say his wants of all kinds +were supplied at once by the Union officers. After remaining a +few days in our camp, and meeting General Reynolds, who knew him +in the United States Army, he was sent to join Pegram at Fort +McHenry. Both these officers were soon exchanged, and served +through the war, neither rising to great eminence. Pegram became +a Major-General, and died, February 6, 1865, of wounds received at +Hatcher's Run. De Lagnel became a Brigadier-General, and survived +the war. He had the misfortune of being twice captured, as we have +seen,( 6) once as a Union and once as a Confederate officer; neither +capture, however, occurred through any fault of his. + +The 3d Ohio was encamped on the banks of Tygart's Valley River, +usually an innocent, pleasantly-flowing mountain stream, but, as +it proved, capable of a sudden rise to a dangerous height, as most +streams are that are located to catch the waters from many rivulets, +gulches, and ravines leading from the adjacent mountain sides and +spurs. + +Illustrating the exigencies of camp life, an incident is given of +this river suddenly rising (August 20th) so as to threaten to sweep +away in the flood the 3d Ohio hospital, located by Surgeon McMeans +for health and safety on a small island, ordinarily easy of access. +The hospital tent contained two wounded and a dozen or more sick. +The tents and inmates were at the first alarm removed to the highest +ground on the island by men who swam out thither for the purpose. +By seven in the evening, however, it became apparent that the whole +island would soon be submerged; and logs, driftwood, green trees, +etc., were sweeping down the river at a tremendous speed. To rescue +the wounded, sick, and attendants at the hospital seemed impossible. +Various suggestions were made; a raft was proposed, but this was +decided impracticable as, if made and launched, it would in such +a current be uncontrollable. + +Lieutenant-Colonel John Beatty, of the 3d Ohio, with that Scotch- +Irish will and heroic determination which characterized him in all +things, especially in fighting the enemy, met the emergency. He +got into an army wagon and compelled the teamster to drive into +the rushing stream above the island so that he could move, in part, +with the current. Thus, by swimming the horses, he, with a few +others, escaped the floating timbers and reached the imperiled +hospital. He found at once that it was impossible to carry back +the occupants or even to return with the wagon. He promptly ordered +the driver to unhitch the horses and swim them to shore, and to +return in like manner with two or three more wagons. Two more +wagons reached Beatty, but one team was carried down the stream +and drowned. He placed the three wagons on the highest ground, +though all the island was soon overflowed, chained and tied them +securely together and to stakes or trees. On the wagon boxes the +hospital tent was rolled, and the sick and wounded were placed +thereon with some of the hospital supplies. He, with those +accompanying him, decided to remain and share their fate, and he, +with some who could not get into the wagon, climbed into the trees. +The river at 10 P.M. had reached the hubs of the wagons and threatened +to submerge them, but soon after it commenced to recede slowly, +though a rain again set in, lasting through the night. Morning +found the river fast resuming its normal state, and the Colonel +and his rescuing party, with the hospital occupants, were all +brought safely to the shore. + +Two diverting incidents occurred in the night. A false alarm led +to the long roll being beaten, the noise of which, and of the men +rapidly assembling, could just be heard on the island above the +roar of the water. Francis Union, of Company A of the 3d, was shot +in the dark and killed, without challenge, by a frightened sentinel. +This caused the long roll to be beaten. + +Beatty mentions an entertainment, not on the bill, to which he and +others were treated while clinging to the trees above the flood, +and which was furnished by a soldier teamster (Jake Smith) who had +swum to the aid of the hospital people, and a hospital attendant, +both of whom were so favorably located as to enjoy unrestrained +access to the hospital "commissary." They both became intoxicated, +and then quarrelled over their relative _rank_ and social standing. +The former insisted upon the other addressing him as _Mr._ Smith, +not as "Jake." The Smith family, he asserted, was not only numerous +but highly respectable, and, as one of its honored members, no +person of rank below a major-general should take the liberty of +calling him "_Jake;_" especially would this not be tolerated from +"one who carried out pukes and slop-buckets from a field hospital" +--such a one should not even call him "_Jacob_." This disrespectful +allusion to his calling ruffled the temper of the hospital attendant, +and, growing profane, he insisted that he was as good as _Smith_, +and better, and at once challenged "the bloviating mule scrubber +to get down off his perch and stand up before him like a man." +"Jake" was unmoved by this counter-assault, and towards morning, +with a strong voice and little melody, sang:( 7) + + "Ho, gif glass uf goodt lauger du me, + Du mine fader, mine modter, mine vife; + Der day's vork vas done, undt we'll see + Vot bleasures der vos in dis life. + + "Undt ve sit us aroundt mit der table, + Undt ve speak of der oldt, oldt time, + Ven ve lif un dot house mit der gable, + Un der vine-cladt banks of der Rhine," etc. + +While at camp at Elk Water my wife and three months' old son, Joseph +Warren, Jr., Hon. William White (brother-in-law) and his wife +Rachel, and their son, Charles R. White (then twelve years old), +visited me for a brief experience in camp with the army. They +remained until the morning of September 12th. On the 11th Judge +White accompanied me to Reynolds' headquarters, at Cheat Mountain +Pass, and while there he was, by the General, invited to visit the +camp on Cheat Mountain summit. It was suggested that in doing so +I should, with the Judge, join Lieutenant Wm. E. Merrill, of the +engineers, at Camp Elk Water the following morning, go by the main +road to the summit, thence down the mountain path _via_ the Rosecrans +house to camp. This suggestion we were inclined to adopt, but on +regaining camp I ascertained that the enemy had been seen nearer +our camp than usual, and decided it was safest for the visiting party +to depart for home. They accordingly bade us good-by on the next +morning and proceeded _via_ Huttonville, Beverly, Laurel Hill, +Philippi, Webster, and Grafton, safely to their homes at Springfield, +Ohio. + +Lieutenant Merrill, with a small escort, departed as arranged, and +soon, on the main road, ran into a Confederate force (Anderson's); +he and his party were captured and carried with the retreating +Confederates to Valley Mountain camp, thence to Richmond, where +they remained for a considerable time in Libby Prison. Thus +narrowly, Judge White ( 8) and myself escaped the fate of Lieutenant +Merrill. + +Having disposed of some of the incidents of camp life and spoken +of family and friends, I return to the situation, as stated, of +the opposing forces of Reynolds and Lee. + +At this time Floyd and Wise were actively operating in the Kanawha +country, confronting Rosecrans, who was commanding there in person, +their special purpose then being to prevent reinforcements going +to Reynolds, upon whom the heavy blow was to fall; Lee in person +directing it. + +Lee was accompanied to Valley Mountain by two aides-de-camp, Colonels +John A. Washington and Walter H. Taylor. + +General Loring, who retained the immediate command on this line, +had the 1st North Carolina and 2d Tennessee, under General Donnelson; +a Tennessee brigade, under General Anderson; the 21st and 42d +Virginia and an Irish Virginia regiment, under Colonel Wm. Gilham; +a brigade under Colonel Burke; a battalion of cavalry under Major +W. H. F. Lee; three batteries of artillery, and perhaps other +troops. On the Staunton pike at Greenbriar River, about twelve +miles in front of Kimball's camp on Cheat Mountain, General Jackson +had the 1st and 2d Georgia, 23d, 31st, 37th, and 44th Virginia, +the 3d Arkansas, and two battalions of Virginia volunteers; also +two batteries of artillery and several companies of cavalry. + +Though conscious of superior strength, Lee sought still further to +insure success by grand strategy, hence he caused Loring to issue +a confidential order detailing a plan of attack, which is so +remarkable in its complex details that it is given here. + +"(_Confidential_.) + + "Headquarters, Valley Mountain, + "September 8, 1861. + "(Special Order No. 28.) +"1. General H. R. Jackson, commanding Monterey division will detach +a column of not more than two thousand men under Colonel Rust, to +turn the enemy's position at Cheat Mountain Pass ('summit') at +daylight on the 12th inst. (Thursday). General Jackson, having +left a suitable guard for his own position, with the rest of his +available force, will take post on the Eastern Ridge of Cheat +Mountain, occupy the enemy in front, and co-operate in the assault +of his attacking column, should circumstances favor. The march of +Colonel Rust will be so regulated as to attain his position during +the same night, and at the dawn of the appointed day (Thursday, +12th) he will, if possible, surprise the enemy in his trenches and +carry them. + +"2. The 'Pass' having been carried, General Jackson with his whole +fighting force will immediately move forward towards Huttonville, +prepared against an attack from the enemy, taking every precaution +against firing upon the portion of the army operating west of Cheat +Mountain, and ready to co-operate with it against the enemy in +Tygart's Valley. The supply wagons of the advancing columns will +follow, and the reserve will occupy Cheat Mountain. + +"3. General Anderson's brigade will move down Tygart's Valley, +following the west slope of Cheat Mountain range, concealing his +movements from the enemy. On reaching Wymans (or the vicinity) he +will refresh his force unobserved, send forward intelligent officers +to make sure his further course, and during the night of the 11th +(Wendesday) proceed to the Staunton turnpike, where it intersects +the west top of Cheat Mountain, so as to arrive there as soon after +daylight on the 12th (Thursday) as possible. + +"He will make disposition to hold the turnpike, prevent reinforcements +reaching Cheat Mountain Pass (summit), cut the telegraph wire, and +be prepared, if necessary, to aid in the assault of the enemy's +position on the middle-top (summit) of Cheat Mountain, by General +Jackson's division, the result of which he must await. He must +particularly keep in mind that the movement of General Jackson is +to _surprise_ the enemy in their defences. He must, therefore, +not discover his movements nor advance--before Wednesday night-- +beyond a point where he can conceal his force. Cheat Mountain Pass +being carried, he will turn down the mountain and press upon the +left and rear of the enemy in Tygart's Valley, either by the new +or old turnpike, or the Becky's Run road, according to circumstances. + +"4. General Donnelson's brigade will advance on the right of +Tygart's Valley River, seizing the paths and avenues leading from +that side of the river, and driving back the enemy that may endeavor +to retard the advance of the center, along the turnpike, or to turn +his right. + +"5. Such of the artillery as may not be used upon the flanks will +proceed along the Huntersville turnpike, supported by Major Mumford's +battalion, followed by the rest of Colonel Gilham's brigade in +reserve. + +"6. Colonel Burke's brigade will advance on the left of Tygart's +Valley River, in supporting distance of the center, and clear that +side of the valley of the forces of the enemy that might obstruct +the advance of the artillery. + +"7. The cavalry under Major Lee will follow, according to the +nature of the ground, in rear of the left of Colonel Burke's brigade. +It will watch the movements of the enemy in that quarter, give +notice of, and prevent if possible, any attempt to turn the left +of the line, and be prepared to strike when opportunity offers. + +"8. The wagons of each brigade, properly parked and guarded, under +the charge of their respective quartermasters--who will personally +superintend their movements--will pursue the main turnpike, under +the general direction of their chief quartermaster, in rear of the +army, and out of cannon-range of the enemy. + +"9. Commanders on both lines of operations will particularly see +that their corps wear the distinguishing badge, and that both +officers and men take every precaution not to fire on our own +troops. This is essentially necessary, as the forces on both sides +of Cheat Mountain may unite. They will also use every exertion to +prevent noise and straggling from the ranks, correct quietly any +confusion that may occur, and cause their commands to rapidly +execute their movement when in the presence of the enemy. + +"By order of General W. W. Loring, + + "Carter L. Stevenson, + "Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General." + +General Lee, to stimulate his army to great effort, himself, by +another special order of same date, exhorted it as follows: + +"The forward movement announced to the Army of the Northwest in +special order No. 28, from its headquarters, of this date, gives +the general commanding the opportunity of exhorting the troops to +keep steadily in view the great principles for which they contend, +and to manifest to the world their determination to maintain them. +The eyes of the country are upon you. The safety of your homes +and the lives of all you hold dear depend upon your courage and +exertions. Let each man resolve to be victorious, and that the +right of self-government, liberty, and peace shall in him find a +defender. The progress of this army must be forward."( 9) + +The column from Greenbrier under Colonel Albert Rust, of Arkansas, +was given the initiative, and on its success the plan detailed +pivoted, but the several columns were expected to act at the same +time and in concert. Colonel Rust's command, about 2000 strong, +by a blind road to the Union right reached its designated position +between the Red Bridge and Kimball's fortified position. Here it +captured an assistant commissary, and from him received such an +exaggerated account of the strength of Kimball's camp and the number +of its men that, without awaiting the columns of Donnelson and +Anderson, it retired with the one prisoner. Lee's main army moved +north from Valley Mountain camp, on the turnpike, Anderson and +Donnelson taking their designated routes to the right, the former +passing to the head of Becky's Run, thence through the mountains +to a position on the road in the rear of Cheat Summit camp, arriving +at daylight of the 12th of September. Donnelson, by another path +nearer the road which the principal column under Loring pursued, +marched to Stuart's Run, then down it to the Simmons house, where, +on the 11th, it captured Captain Bense and about sixty men of the +6th Ohio, who were in an exposed position and had not been vigilant. +Donnelson then marched to Becky's Run and to a point where, from +a nearby elevation, he could see the Union camp at Elk Water, and +he was to the eastward of it and partially in its rear. Here, with +his command, he remained for the night. General Lee followed and +joined Donnelson in the early morning of the 12th, and together +they advanced to Andrew Crouch's house, within a mile of Elk Water +camp and fairly in its rear. Lee, however, ordered Donnelson to +retire his column to Becky's Run at the Rosecrans house. Neither +Rust, Anderson, nor Donnelson, though each led a column into the +region between the Elk Water and Cheat Mountain camps (distant +apart through the mountains about six miles) seemed, at the critical +time, to know where the others were, or what they were doing. The +presence of Lee with Donnelson on the morning of the 12th did not +materially improve the conditions in this respect. Donnelson, +before Lee's arrival, contemplated an attack on a body of what he +supposed a thousand men (the detachments of the 9th and 23d Ohio) +camped in rear of the main Union camp and near Jacob Crouch's house. +Colonel Savage of the 16th Tennessee advised against the attempt, +and Lee, on his arrival, must have regarded it as too hazardous. +Lee wrote Governor Letcher five days later that "it was a tempting +sight" to see our tents on Valley River. + +Loring, with the principal command, accompanied by all the artillery, +forced the Union pickets back to the mouth of Elk Water, where he +encountered resistance from a strong grand-guard and the pickets. +Here some shots both of infantry and artillery were exchanged, but +with little result. + +It is due to the truth of history to say that none of the movements +of Lee's army were known or anticipated by Reynolds and his officers, +and whatever was done to prevent its success was without previous +plan or methods. As late as the evening of the 11th, Reynolds was +still with his headquarters at Cheat Mountain Pass, six miles +distant by the nearest route from either camp. On this day Captain +Bense was surprised and his entire company taken where posted some +three miles from Camp Elk Water, but this capture was not known +until the next day. The proximity of Donnelson's command to this +camp was also unknown until after it had withdrawn, and Rust's and +Anderson's presence on the Staunton pike in rear of Cheat Summit +camp was likewise unknown both to Reynolds and Kimball until about +the time they commenced to retreat. True, on the 12th, the presence +of some force in the mountain between the Union camps became known. +Lieutenant Merrill and his party departed from the valley to the +mountain summit on the morning of the 12th entirely ignorant of +any movement of the enemy. But both Reynolds and Kimball acted, +under the circumstances, with energy and intelligence. General +Reynolds moved his headquarters to Camp Elk Water, the better to +direct affairs. On the morning of the 12th of September Kimball +started a line of wagons from his camp to the pass, for the usual +supplies, and it was attacked by Rust's command before it had +proceeded a mile. This attack was reported to Kimball, who supposed +it was made by a small scouting party, but on going to the scene +of it with portions of the 25th Ohio, under Colonel Jones, 24th +Ohio, under Lieutenant-Colonel Gilbert, and Captains Brooks and +Williamson's companies of the 14th Indiana, a body of the enemy +supposed to number 2500 was encountered. Kimball, supposing serious +work was at hand, ordered the position held until further dispositions +could be made to meet the danger. A sharp skirmish ensued, which +ended in Rust's troops precipitately retreating from their position +on the road under cover of the timber, and becoming so demoralized +that they threw away "guns, clothing, and everything that impeded +their progress."(10) + +Rust's command continued its retreat through the mountains, and at +10 P.M. of the 13th Rust dispatched General Loring that "_The +expedition against Cheat Mountain failed_." He indulged in some +criticism on his men, denouncing some ("not Arkansians") as cowards. +At the same time General Jackson reported to Loring that he was in +possession of the first summit of Cheat Mountain in front of +Kimball's position, but only holding it until he should receive +orders, meanwhile hoping something would be done in Tygart's valley. +He, however, did nothing more, and soon withdrew to his former +camp.(11) + +Captain Coons of the 14th Indiana was sent on the evening of the +18th from Cheat Mountain summit with 60 men of the 14th Indiana, +24th and 25th Ohio, on a path leading to Elk Water camp, with +instruction to take position at the Rosecrans house on Becky's Run. +Kimball, on the 12th, sent 90 men under Captain David J. Higgins, +of the 24th Ohio, to relieve Captain Coons. In going thither, when +about two miles from where Colonel Rust was attacked, Higgins ran +unexpectedly into Colonel Anderson's column from Valley Mountain, +and engaged it with great spirit. The enemy was thrown into some +confusion by this unexpected encounter, but the loss on either side +was slight, and when Major Wm. Harrow of Indiana arrived from +Kimball's camp with two more companies, and ascertained that Anderson +had a brigade in the vicinity, he ordered the Union troops withdrawn +to within about one mile of camp. + +Captain Coons, owing to a heavy rain, darkness, and the difficulty +in following the mountain path, did not reach the Rosecrans house +until after daybreak of the 12th. He passed to the rear of Anderson's +brigade as it marched to the pike in rear of Cheat Mountain camp. +When Captain Coons reached the Rosecrans house he found evidence +of troops having been there recently, and soon discovered smoke +and heard the snapping of caps on a mountain spur towards Elk Water +camp. He concluded, however, that he was near a Union picket post +from that camp, and sent forward five men to ascertain who his +neighbors were. As these men ascended the mountain they were fired +on and three were shot down, two killed, and the others captured. +They were not challenged. This was Donnelson's command, General +Lee and his aide, Colonel Taylor, then being with it. Colonel +Savage of Tennessee commanded the troops first encountered. The +Confederates advanced, firing wildly. Captain Coons' men returned +the fire promptly, killed and wounded some, and when they had +checked the enemy retired to higher ground to the eastward and took +position behind fallen timber. As the enemy approached across the +narrow valley, Coons made a most gallant resistance and drove back +the large force attacking him, but feeling his complete isolation, +he finally retired by a trail towards the pike. He had not gone +far, however, until he ran into a bunch of the enemy consisting of +surgeons, quartermasters, and negroes, who, on being fired into, +fled to a main force nearer the pike. This was Anderson's column, +and about the time when Major Harrow and Captain Higgins' men were +firing on it from the other side. + +Thus the several bodies of the enemy, without special design, seemed +to be seriously attacked from many directions and became dismayed. +Captain Coons withdrew safely, and later found his way to camp. + +Rust had failed, and the two other columns having become entangled +in the mountains, and not knowing how soon they would again be +assailed, beat a disorderly retreat, and, like Rust's men, threw +away overcoats, knapsacks, haversacks, and guns. Lee says he +ordered a retreat because the men were short of provisions, as well +as on account of Rust's failure. Had Captain Coons reached his +destination a few hours earlier he would probably have captured +Lee and his escort of ten men, who, in the previous night, having +lost their way, had to remain unprotected near the Rosecrans house +until daybreak. But few prisoners were taken on either side. The +columns of Anderson and Donnelson, broken, disheartened, and +disorganized, reached Loring in the Valley. There was then and +since much contention among Confederate officers as to the causes +of this humiliating failure. + +On the morning of the 13th, at 3 A.M., Reynolds dispatched Sullivan +from the Pass by the main road, and Colonels Marrow and Moss with +parts of the 3d Ohio and 2d Virginia (Union) from Elk Water camp, +by the path leading past the Rosecrans house, to cut their way to +Cheat Mountain summit, but these columns encountered no enemy, and +only found the debris of the three retreating bodies. The real +glory of the fighting in the mountains belonged to the intrepid +Captain Coons, who afterwards became Colonel of his regiment and +fell in the battle of the Wilderness. + +Both Lee and Loring, deeply chagrined, were reluctant to give up +a campaign so hopefully commenced and so comprehensively planned, +but thus far so ingloriously executed. + +They decided to look for a position on Reynolds' right from which +an attack could be made on Elk Water camp in conjunction with a +front attack, and accordingly Colonel John A. Washington, escorted +by Major W. H. F. Lee (son of General Lee) with his cavalry command, +was dispatched to ascertain the character of the country in that +direction. + +Early on the 12th of September I was sent with a detachment of four +companies of the 3d Ohio, as grand-guard at an outpost and for +picket duty as well as scouting, to the point of a spur of Rich +Mountain near the mouth and to the north of Elk Water, west of the +Huntersville pike, and about one mile and a half in advance of the +camp. This position covered the Elk Water road from Brady's Gate, +the pike, the there narrow valley of the Tygart's, and afforded a +good point of observation up the valley towards the enemy. A +portion of the time I had under me a section of artillery and other +detachments. Here Reynolds determined to first stubbornly resist +the approach of the enemy, and consequently I was ordered to +construct temporary works. Another detachment was located east of +the river with like instructions. On the 12th the enemy pushed +back our skirmishers and pickets in the valley and displayed +considerable disposition to fight, but as we exchanged some shots +and showed our willingness to give battle, no real attack was made. +We noticed that each Confederate officer and soldier had a white +_patch_ on his cap or hat. This, as we knew later, was in accordance +with Loring's order, to avoid danger of being fired upon by friends. +From the badge, however, we argued that raiding parties were abroad. + +In the night of the 12th Loring, during a rain and under cover of +darkness, sent a small body to the rear of my position, and thus +having gained a position on the spur of the mountain behind and +above us, attempted by surprise to drive us out or capture us; but +the attack was feebly made and a spirited return fire and a charge +scattered the whole force. + +Colonel Washington, on the 13th, in endeavoring to get on our right +came into Elk Water Valley _via_ Brady's Gate, and descended it +with Major Lee's cavalry as escort. A report came to me of cavalry +approaching, but knowing the road ran through a narrow gorge and +much of the way in the bed of the stream, little danger was +apprehended, especially as the road led directly to my position. +A few troops of an Indiana regiment then on picket duty were, +however, sent up the Elk Water road a short distance, and a company +of the 3d Ohio was dispatched by me along the mountain range skirting +the ravine and road, with instruction to gain the rear of the +approaching cavalry if possible. + +Washington was too eager to give time for such disposition to be +carried out; he soon galloped around a curve and came close upon +the pickets, Major Lee accompanying him. Sergeant Weiler and three +or four others fired upon them as they turned their horses to fly. +Three balls passed through Washington's body near together, coming +out from his breast. He fell mortally wounded. Major Lee was +unhurt, though his horse was shot. Lee escaped on foot for a short +distance and then by mounting Washington's horse.(12) + +When reached, Colonel Washington was struggling to rise on his +elbow, and, though gasping and dying, he muttered, "_Water_," but +when it was brought to his lips from the nearby stream he was dead. +His body was carried to my outpost headquarters, thence later by +ambulance to Reynolds' headquarters at camp. Washington's name or +initials were on his gauntlet cuffs and upon a napkin in his +haversack; these served to identify him. He was richly dressed +for a soldier, and for weapons had heavy pistols and a large knife +in his belt. He also had a powder-flask, field-glass, gold-plated +spurs, and some small gold coin on his person. His sword, tied to +the pommel of his saddle, was carried off by his horse. + +On the next day Colonel W. E. Starke, of Louisiana,(13) appeared +in front of my position bearing a flag of truce, and a letter +addressed to the commanding officer of the United States troops, +reading: + +"Lt. Col. John A. Washington, my aide-de-camp, while riding yesterday +with a small escort, was fired upon by your pickets, and I fear +killed. Should such be the case, I request that you shall deliver +to me his dead body, or should he be a prisoner in your hands, that +I be informed of his condition. + + "I have the honor to be your obedient servant, + "R. E. Lee, + "General Commanding." + +Colonel Milo S. Hascall of the 17th Indiana conveyed Washington's +body, on the 14th, by ambulance, to Lee's line, and there delivered +it to Major Lee. + +One of Colonel Washington's pistols was sent by Reynolds to Secretary +of War Cameron; the Secretary directed the other one to be presented +to Sergeant John J. Weiler, the knife to Corporal Birney, and the +gauntlets to private Johnson, all soldiers of the 17th Indiana. +General Reynolds obtained the field-glass, but subsequently gave +it to Colonel Washington's son George. Hascall took possession of +the spurs and powder-flask, and Captain George L. Rose, of Reynolds' +staff, retained one or more letters (now in possession of his son, +Rev. John T. Rose), through which one or more of the fatal bullets +passed. + +Colonel Washington was buried on his plantation, "Waveland," near +Marshall, Fauquier county, Virginia. + +Thus early, on his first military campaign, fell John Augustine +Washington, born in Jefferson County, Virginia, May 3, 1821, the +great-grandson of General Washington's brother, John Augustine +Washington, and on his mothers' side a great-grandson of Richard +Henry Lee, Virginia's great Revolutionary patriot statesman. He +inherited Mount Vernon, but sold it before the war to an association +of patriotic ladies, who still own it. + +The tragic death of Colonel Washington was a fitting close of the +complex plan of campaign, which, though entered upon under most +favorable circumstances, failed fatally in execution in each and +all important parts, though Generals Lee and Loring, Colonel Savage, +and others of the Confederate officers present with the troops, +had seen much real service in the Mexican War, and many of them +were educated West Point officers. + +Neither Lee or Loring ever made an official report of the campaign, +and both for a time were under the shadow of disgrace because of +its ineffectiveness. + +General Lee was not quite candid with his own army when, on the +14th of September, he announced to it: + +"The _forced_ reconnoissance of the enemy's positions, both at +Cheat Mountain Pass and on Valley River, having been completed, +and the character of the natural approaches and the nature of the +artificial defences exposed, the Army of the Northwest will resume +its former position." + +In a private letter, however, dated Valley Mountain, September 17, +1861, addressed to Governor John Letcher, Lee speaks of the failure +of the campaign with great candor. + +"I was very sanguine of taking the enemy's works on last Thursday +morning. I had considered the subject well. With great effort, +the troops intended for the surprise had reached their destination, +having travelled twenty miles of steep rugged mountain paths; and +the last day through a terrible storm which lasted all night, and +in which they had to stand drenched to the skin in cold rain. +Still their spirits were good. When the morning broke I could see +the enemy's tents on Valley River at the point on the Huttonville +road just below me. It was a tempting sight. We waited for the +attack on Cheat Mountain, which was to be the signal, till 10 A.M. +The men were cleaning their unserviceable arms. But the signal +did not come. All chance for a surprise was gone. The provisions +of the men had been destroyed the preceding day by the storm. They +had had nothing to eat that morning, could not hold out another +day, and were obliged to be withdrawn. The attack to come off from +the east side failed from the difficulties in the way; the opportunity +was lost and our plan discovered. It was a grievous disappointment +to me, I assure you; but for the rain storm I have no doubt it +would have succeeded. This, Governor, is for your own eye. Please +do not speak of it; we must try again. + +"Our greatest loss in the death of our dear friend, Colonel +Washington. He and my son were reconnoitering the front of the +enemy. They came unawares upon a concealed party, who fired upon +them within twenty yards, and the Colonel fell pierced by three +shots. My son's horse received three shots, but he escaped on the +Colonel's horse. + +"His zeal for the cause to which he had devoted himself carried +him, I fear, too far." + +Lee, finding trouble in the Kanawha country, repaired thither, and +on September 21st assumed immediate direction of the forces there. +A violent quarrel had just then arisen between the fiery Henry A. +Wise and Floyd. + +Lee, however, soon returned to Richmond, and though still in favor +with his Governor and President Davis, his failure in Western +Virginia brought him under a cloud from which he did not emerge +until after he succeeded General Joseph E. Johnston on the latter +being wounded while in command of the Confederate Army at Seven +Pines near Richmond, May, 1862.(14) + +The principal part of Reynolds' command assembled at Cheat Mountain, +and, advancing, attacked Jackson in position at Greenbrier, October +3d, but was repulsed. Thereafter active operations ceased in the +Cheat and Rich Mountain and Tygart's Valley region. + +An unimportant and indecisive affair, hardly above a skirmish, +occurred at Scarey Creek, July 17th, between a part of General J. +D. Cox's command and forces under Henry A. Wise; the capture of +Colonels Norton, Woodruff, and De Villiers, with two or three other +officers, being the principal Union loss. No decisive advantage +was gained on either side. Carnifax Ferry, on the Gauley River, +was a more important affair. It was fought, October 10, 1861, +between troops led by Rosecrans and those under Floyd. Floyd was +found strongly posted, but was compelled to precipitately retreat +across the river and abandon his stores. + +The campaign season ended with the Union forces practically in +possession of the forty-eight counties, soon to become the State +of West Virginia.(15) + +A convention held at Wheeling, June 11, 1861, declared the State +offices of Virginia vacant by reason of the treason of those who +had been chosen to fill them, and it then proceeded to form a +regular state government for Virginia, with Francis H. Pierpont +for its Governor, maintaining that the people loyal to the Union +should speak for the whole State. The Pierpont government was +recognized by Congress. This organization, on August 20, 1861, +adopted an ordinance "for the formation of a new State out of a +portion of the territory of this State." This ordinance was approved +by a vote of the people, and, November 26, 1861, a convention +assembled in Wheeling and framed a constitution for the proposed +new State. This also was ratified, April, 1862, by the people, +18,862 voting for and 514 against it. The recognized Legislature +of Virginia, in order to comply with the Constitution of the United +States, May 13, 1862, consented to the creation of a new State out +of territory hitherto included in the State of Virginia. The people +of the forty-eight counties having thus made the necessary preparation, +Congress, December 31, 1862, passed an act for the admission of +West Virginia into the Union, annexing, however, a condition that +her people should first ratify a substitute for the Seventh Section, +Article Eleven of her Constitution, providing that children of +slaves born in her limits after July 4, 1863, should be free; that +slaves who at that time were under ten years of age should be free +at the age of twenty-one; and all slaves over ten and under twenty- +one years of age should be free at the age of twenty-five; and no +slave should be permitted to come into the State for permanent +residence. + +March 26, 1863, the slavery emancipation clause was almost unanimously +ratified by a vote of the people, and, April 20, 1863, President +Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring that West Virginia had +complied with all required conditions and was therefore a State in +the Union. + +The anomalous creation and admission of this new State was justified +only by the rebellious times and in aid of the loyal cause. It +is the only State carved out of another or other States. It remains +a singular fact that the day preceding the final Emancipation +Proclamation of Lincoln, he approved a law of Congress admitting +West Virginia as a slave State (with gradual emancipation) into +the Union. The proclamation excepted the counties, commonly then +called West Virginia, from its application. + +The fruit of the successful occupancy of Western Virginia in 1861 +by the Union Army and the consequent failures there in the same +year of the Confederate leaders, Lee, Floyd, Wise, and others, was +the formation of a new State, thenceforth loyal to the flag and +the Constitution. + +We now dismiss West Virginia, where we first learned something of +war, but in time shall return to it again. I have in this chapter +dealt more largely in detail than I intend to do in those to follow, +as the reader, if even inexperienced in war, will have by this time +learned sufficient to enable him to comprehend much belonging to +a great military campaign which is often difficult and sometimes +impossible to narrate. + +( 1) No order assigning Lee to Western Virginia seems to have been +issued, but see Davis to J. E. Johnston of August 1, 1861, _War +Records_, vol. v., p. 767. + +( 2) An abstract of a return of Loring's forces for October, 1861, +shows present for duty 11,700 of all arms.--_War Records_, vol. +v., p. 933. + +( 3) While the Third Ohio was temporarily camped in Cheat Mountain +Pass (July, 1861) word came of the Bull Run disaster, and while +brooding over it Colonel John Beatty, in the privacy of our tent, +early one morning before we had arisen, exclaimed in substance: +"That so long as the Union army fought to maintain human slavery +it deserved defeat; that only when it fought for the liberty of +all mankind would God give us victory." Such prophetic talk was +then premature, and if openly uttered would have insured censure +from General McClellan and others. + +( 4) This prediction has been fulfilled. Major Wm. McKinley was +inaugurated President of the United States March 4, 1897. + +( 5) _Citizen Soldier_ (Beatty), p. 51. + +( 6) _Ante_, pp. 161, 196. + +( 7) _Citizen Soldier_, p. 60-1. + +( 8) William White was then a common pleas Judge; in March, 1864, +he became a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, a position he held +until his death. He was appointed by President Arthur and confirmed +by the Senate (March, 1883) United States District Judge for the +Southern District of Ohio; his sudden death prevented his qualifying +and entering upon the duties of the office. He was remarkable for +his judicial learning, combined with simplicity and purity of +character. Born (January 28, 1822) in England, both parents dying +when he was a child, having no brother or sister or very near +relative, poor, and almost a homeless waif, he, when about ten +years of age, came in the hold of a ship to America. From this +humble start, through persevering energy and varying vicissitudes +he, under republican institutions, acquired an education, won +friends, became eminent as a lawyer and jurist, and earned the high +esteem of his fellow-men, dying (March 12, 1883) at Springfield, +Ohio, at sixty years of age, having served as a common pleas Judge +eight years and Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio nineteen years. + +His only son, Charles Rodgers White (born May 25, 1845), also became +a distinguished lawyer and judge, and died prematurely, July 29, +1890, on a Pullman car on the Northern Pacific Railroad, near +Thompson's Falls, Montana, while returning from Spokane Falls, +where he, while on a proposed journey to Alaska, was taken fatally +ill. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. v., p. 192. + +(10) Kimball's Report, _War Records_, vol. v., p. 186. + +(11) Rust's Report, _War Records_, vol. v., p. 291. + +(12) W. H. F. Lee served through the war; was wounded and captured +at Brandy Station, 1863; chiefly commanded cavalry; became a Major- +General and was surrendered at Appomattox. He, later, became a +farmer at White House, Virginia, on the Pamunkey, and was elected +to Congress in 1886. His older brother, George Washington Custis +Lee, a graduate of West Point, served with distinction through the +war; also became a Confederate Major-General, and was captured by +my command at the battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865. Robert +E. Lee, Jr., General Lee's other son, also served in the Confederate +army, but not with high rank. + +(13) Colonel Starke was, as a General, killed at Antietam. His +son, Major Starke, met me March 26, 1865, between the lines in +front of Petersburg, under a flag of truce, while the killed of +the previous day were being removed or buried. On Lee's surrender +I found him, and gave him his supper and a bed for the night. + +(14) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), p. 112. + +(15) West Virginia was admitted as a State in April, 1863, with +forty-eight counties, but Congress consented, by an act approved +March 10, 1866, that the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson should +be added.--_Charters and Cons._, Par II., p. 1993. + + +CHAPTER V +Union Occupancy of Kentucky--Affair at Green River--Defeat of +Humphrey Marshall--Battles of Mill Springs, Forts Henry and Donelson +--Capture of Bowling Green and Nashville, and Other Matters + +The State of Kentucky, with its disloyal Governor (Magoffin), also +other state officers, was early a source of much perplexity and +anxiety at Washington. + +The State did not secede, but her authorities assumed a position +of neutrality by which they demanded that no Union troops should +occupy the State, and for a time also pretended no Confederates +should invade the State. + +It was supposed that if Union forces went into Kentucky her people +would rise up in mass to expel them. This delusion was kept up +until it was found her Legislature was loyal to the Union and civil +war was imminent in the State, when, in September, 1861, both Union +and Confederate armed forces entered the State. + +General Robert Anderson was (August 15, 1861) assigned to the +command of the Department of the Cumberland, consisting of the +States of Kentucky and Tennessee. + +Bowling Green was occupied, September 8th, by General Simon Bolivar +Buckner, a native Kentuckian, formerly of the regular army. It +had been confidently hoped he would join the Union cause. President +Lincoln, August 17th, for reasons not given, ordered a commission +made out for him as Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and placed in +General Anderson's hands to be delivered at his discretion.( 1) + +Buckner decided to espouse the Confederate cause while still acting +as Adjutant-General of the State of Kentucky. The commission, +presumably, was never tendered to him. + +Changes of Union commanders were taking place in the West with such +frequency as to alarm the loyal people and shake their faith in +early success. + +Brigadier-General W. S. Harney, in command of the Department of +the West, with headquarters at St. Louis when the war broke out, +was relieved, and, on May 31, 1861, Nathaniel Lyon, but recently +appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, succeeded him. Lyon +lost his life, August 10th, while gallantly leading his forces at +Wilson's Creek against superior numbers under General Sterling +Price. General John C. Fremont assumed command of the Western +Department, July 25th, with headquarters at St. Louis. He was the +first to proclaim martial law. This he did for the city and county +of St. Louis, August 14, 1861.( 2) + +He followed this (August 30th) with an _emancipation proclamation_, +undertaking to free the slaves of all persons in the State of +Missouri who took up arms against the United States or who took an +active part with their enemies in the field; the other property of +all such persons also to be confiscated. The same proclamation +ordered all disloyal persons taken within his lines with arms in +their hands to be tried by court-martial, and if found guilty, +shot.( 3) + +President Lincoln disapproved this proclamation in the main. He +ordered Fremont, by letter dated September 2d, to allow no man to +be shot without his consent, and requested him to modify the clause +relating to confiscation and emancipation of slaves so as to conform +to an act of Congress limiting confiscation to "_property_ used +for insurrectionary purposes." + +Lincoln assigned as a reason for this request that such confiscation +and liberation of slaves "would alarm our Southern Union friends +and turn them against us; perhaps _ruin our rather fair prospect +for Kentucky_.": Fremont declining to modify his proclamation, +Lincoln, September 11th, ordered it done as stated.( 4) + +But as matters did not progress satisfactorily in Fremont's +Department, he was relieved by General David Hunter, October 24th, +who was in turn relieved by General H. W. Halleck, November 2, +1861.( 4) + +Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, September 1, 1861, assumed command +of the troops in the District of Southeastern Missouri, headquarters +Cairo, Illinois.( 5) + +The most notable event of 1861, in Grant's district, was the spirited +battle of Belmont, fought November 7th, a short distance below +Cairo. Grant commanded in person, and was successful until the +Confederates were largely reinforced, when he was obliged to retire, +which he did in good order. + +The Confederates were led in three columns by Generals Leonidas +Polk, Gideon J. Pillow, and Benjamin F. Cheatham. + +The event, really quite devoid of substantial results to either +side, save to prove the valor of the troops, was the subject of a +congratulatory order by Grant, in which he states he was in "all +the battles fought in Mexico by General Scott and Taylor, save +Buena Vista, and he never saw one more hotly contested or where +troops behaved with more gallantry."( 5) The Confederate Congress +voted its thanks to the Confederate commanders and their troops +for their "desperate courage," by which disaster was converted into +victory.( 5) + +General Robert Anderson was relieved, October 6, 1861, and General +W. T. Sherman was assigned to command the Department of the +Cumberland.( 6) + +Sherman personally informed Secretary of War Cameron and Adjutant- +General Lorenzo Thomas (October 16th) that the force necessary in +his Department was 200,000 men.( 6) This was regarded as so wild +an estimate that he was suspected of being _crazy_, and he was +relieved from his Department November 13th.( 7) Thereafter, for +a time, he was under a cloud in consequence of this estimate of +the number of troops required to insure success in a campaign +through Kentucky and Tennessee. We next hear of him prominently in +command of a division under Grant at Shiloh. + +As the war progressed his conception of the requirements of the +war was more than vindicated, and he became later the successful +commander of more than two hundred thousand men.( 8) + +Brigadier-General Don Carlos Buell relieved Sherman of the command +of the Department of the Cumberland, and was assigned (November +9th) to the Department of Ohio, a new one, consisting of the States +of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, that part of Kentucky east of the +Cumberland River, and Tennessee, headquarters, Louisville.( 9) + +The War Department ordered from the commands of Generals Cox and +Reynolds in Western Virginia certain of the Ohio and Indiana +regiments, and this order caused the 3d Ohio, with others, to +counter-march over November roads _via_ Huttonville, Beverly, Rich +Mountain, and Buchannon to Clarksburg, from whence they were moved +by rail to Parkersburg, thence by steamboat to Louisville. By +November 30th, the 3d was encamped five miles south of the city on +the Seventh Street plank road, and soon became part of the Seventeenth +Brigade, Colonel Ebenezer Dumont commanding, and (December 5th +(10)) of the Third Division, commanded by General O. M. Mitchel, +both highly intelligent officers, active, affable, and zealous; +the latter untried in battle. + +Mitchel's division moved _via_ Elizabethtown to Bacon Creek, where +it went into camp for the winter, December 17, 1861. + +McCook's division was advanced about six miles to Munfordville on +Green River, and General George H. Thomas' division was ordered to +Liberty, where he would be nearer the main army, and later his +headquarters were at Lebanon, and his division, consisting of four +brigades and some unattached cavalry and three batteries of artillery, +was posted there and at Somerset and London.(11) + +December 17th, four companies of the 32d Indiana (German), under +Lieutenant-Colonel Von Treba, from McCook's command, on outpost +duty at Rowlett's Station, south of Green River, were assailed by +two infantry regiments, one of cavalry--Texas Rangers--and a battery +of artillery. The gallantry and superiority of the drill of these +companies enabled them to drive back the large force and hold their +position until other companies of the regiment arrived, when the +enemy was forced to a hasty retreat, both sides suffering considerable +loss. Colonel B. F. Terry (12) of the Texas Rangers forced his +men to repeatedly charge into the ranks of the infantry. In a last +charge he was killed, and the attacking force retired in disorder. +Great credit was due to Colonel Treba and his small command for +their conduct. + +Colonel James A. Garfield was placed in command of the field forces +in the Big Sandy country, Eastern Kentucky, and General Humphrey +Marshall, of Kentucky, who made pretensions to military skill, +confronted him, each with a force, somewhat scattered, of about +five thousand men. Inexperienced as Garfield then was in war, he, +in mid-winter, in a rough country, with desperate roads and with +a poorly equipped command, with no artillery, displayed much energy +and ability in pushing his forces upon the enemy at Prestonburg +and Paintsville, Kentucky. There were skirmishes December 25, +1861, at Grider's Ferry on the Cumberland River, at Sacramento on +the 28th, at Fishing Creek January 8, 1862, and a considerable +engagement at Middle Creek, near Prestonburg, on the 10th, the +result of which was to drive Marshall practically out of Kentucky, +and to greatly demoralize his command and put him permanently in +disgrace. + +Next in importance came the more considerable fight at Logan's +Cross-Roads, on Fishing Creek, Kentucky, commonly called the battle +of Mill Springs, fought January 19, 1862, General George H. Thomas +commanding the Union forces, and General George B. Crittenden the +Confederates. The Confederate troops occupied an intrenched camp +at Beech Grove, on the north side of the Cumberland River, nearly +opposite Mill Springs. General Thomas, with a portion of the Second +and Third Brigades, Kenny's battery, and a battalion of Wolford's +cavalry, reached Logan's Cross-Roads, about nine miles north of +Beech Grove, on the 17th, and there halted to await the arrival of +other troops before moving on Crittenden's position. + +The latter, conceiving that he might strike Thomas before his +division was concentrated, and learning that Fishing Creek divided +his forces, and was so flooded by recent rains as to be impassable, +marched out of his intrenchments at Beech Grove at midnight of the +18th, and about 7 A.M. of the 19th fell upon Thomas at Logan's +Cross-Roads with eight regiments of infantry and six pieces of +artillery. The battle lasted about three hours, when the Confederate +troops gave way and beat a disorderly retreat to their intrenched +camp, closely pursued. They were driven behind their fortifications +and cannonaded by the Union batteries until dark. General Thomas +prepared to assault the works the following morning. With the aid +of a small river steamboat Crittenden succeeded during the night +in passing his troops across the Cumberland, abandoning twelve +pieces of artillery, with their caissons and ammunition, a large +number of small arms and ammunition, about 160 wagons, 1000 horses +and mules, also commissary stores. + +Brigadier-General F. K. Zollicoffer, of Tennessee, who commanded +a Confederate brigade, was killed at a critical time in the battle. +The number actually engaged on each side was about 5000. The Union +loss was 1 officer and 38 men killed, and 13 officers and 194 men +wounded, total 246.(13) The Confederate killed was 125, wounded +309, total 434. This victory was of much importance, as it was +the first of any significance in the Department of the Ohio. It +was the subject of a congratulatory order by the President.(13) + +Notwithstanding this victory, President Lincoln, long impatient of +the delays of the Union Army to advance and gain some decided +success, issued his first (and last, looking to its character, only +(14)) "_General War Order_" in these words: + + "_President's General War Order No. 1._ + "Executive Mansion, Washington + "January 27, 1862. +"_Ordered_, That the 22d of February, 1862, be the day for a general +movement of the land and naval forces of the United States against +the insurgent forces. That especially the army in and about Fortress +Monroe, the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western Virginia, and +army near Munfordville, Ky., the army and flotilla at Cairo, and +a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico, be ready to move on that day. + +"That all other forces, both land and naval, with their respective +commanders, obey existing orders for the time, and be ready to obey +additional orders when duly given. + +"That the heads of departments, and especially the Secretaries of +War and of the Navy, with all their subordinates, and the General- +in-Chief, with all other commanders and subordinates of land and +naval forces, will severally be held to their strict and full +responsibilities for prompt execution of this order. + + "Abraham Lincoln." + +Conservative commanding officers criticised this Presidential order +as an assumption on Mr. Lincoln's part of the direction of the war +in the field, and the naming of a day for the army and navy to move +was denounced an unwise and a notice to the enemy. Under other +circumstances, the President would have been open to criticism from +a strategist's standpoint, but the particular circumstances and +the state of the country and the public mind warranted his action. +Foreign interference or recognition of the Confederacy was threatened. +No decided Union victory had been won. McClellan had held the Army +of the Potomac idle for six months in sight of the White House. +Halleck at St. Louis, in command of a large and important department, +had long talked of large plans and so far had executed none. +Matters were at a standstill in Western Virginia. Buell was, so +far, giving little promise of an early forward movement. + +The Confederate forces held advanced positions in Missouri and high +up on the Mississippi. They were fortified at Forts Henry and +Donelson, on the Tennessee and the Cumberland respectively, and at +Bowling Green and other important places in Kentucky. They still +held the Upper Kanawha, the Greenbrier country, Winchester, and +other points in the Shenandoah Valley. The Confederate Army was +holding McClellan almost within the fortifications south of the +Potomac at Washington. The President was held responsible for the +inactivity of the army. Under other circumstances, with other army +commanders, the order would not have been issued. It served to +notify these commanders that the army must attack the enemy, and +it advised the country of the earnestness of the President to +vigorously prosecute the war, and thus aided enlistments, inspired +confidence, and warned meddling nations to keep hands off.(15) + +On January 28, 1862, both General Grant and Commodore A. H. Foote, +Flag Officer United States Naval Forces in the Western waters, +wired Halleck at St. Louis that, with his permission, Fort Henry +on the Tennessee could be taken by them. Authority being obtained, +they invested and attacked it by gunboats on the river side and +with the army by land. The fire of the gunboats silenced the +batteries, and all the garrison abandoned the fort, save General +Lloyd Tilghman (its commander), his staff, and one company of about +70 men, who surrendered February 6th. A hospital boat containing +60 sick and about 20 heavy guns, barracks, tents, ammunition, etc., +also fell into Union hands. The only serious casualty was on the +_Essex_, caused by a shot in her boilers, which resulted in wounding +and scalding 29 officers and men, including Commodore David D. +Porter. + +General Grant reported on the same day that he would take Fort +Donelson, and on February 12, 1862, he sent six regiments around +by water and moved the body of his command from Fort Henry across +the country, distant about twelve miles. + +Three gunboats under Lieutenant-Commander S. L. Phelps went up the +Tennessee as far as Florence, Alabama, while others proceeded to +the mouth of the Cumberland and ascended it to aid the land forces. + +Commander Phelps on his way up the river seized two steamers, caused +six others loaded with supplies to be destroyed, took at Cerro +Gordo a half-finished gunboat, and made other important captures +of military supplies. He discovered considerable Union sentiment +among the inhabitants, some of them voluntarily enlisting to fight +the Confederacy.(16) + +Grant was assigned to the District of West Tennessee February 14, +1862.(17) + +General Grant had, when he commenced the attack of Fort Donelson, +about 15,000 men, in three divisions, commanded, respectively, by +Generals C. F. Smith, John A. McClernand, and Lew Wallace. The +total force of the enemy was not less than 20,000, under the command +of General J. B. Floyd.(18) The investment of the fort commenced +on the 12th, but it was not complete until the evening of the 13th, +on the arrival of the gunboats and the troops sent by water. Flag +Officer Foote opened fire on the enemy's works at 3 P.M. on the +14th, from four gunboats, which continued for an hour and a half +with a brilliant prospect of complete success, when each of the +two leading boats received disabling shots and were carried back +by the current. The other two were soon partially disabled and +hence withdrawn from the fight. Grant then concluded to closely +invest the fort, partially fortify his lines, and allow time for +Commodore Foote to retire, repair his gunboats, and return. But +the enemy did not permit this to be done. He drew out from his +left the principal part of his effective troops under Generals +Gideon J. Pillow, B. R. Johnson, and S. B. Buckner during the night +of the 14th, and at early dawn of the 15th assailed, with the +purpose of raising the siege or of escaping, the extreme right of +Grant's army. A battle of several hours' duration ensued, and for +the most part the Confederates gained ground, driving back the +Union right upon the centre. Grant was absent in consultation with +Commodore Foote (19) when the attack began. Foote was then +contemplating a return to Cairo to repair damages, and was likewise +wounded.(19) Grant on returning to the battle-ground ordered a +counter-attack on the enemy's right by Smith's division, which met +with such success as to gain, at the close of the day, possession +of parts of the Confederate intrenchments. After Smith's charge +had commenced, McClernand and Wallace were ordered to assume the +offensive on the enemy's left flank, which resulted in driving the +Confederates back to the works from whence they had emerged in the +morning. Preparation was then made for an assault all along the +line early next morning. + +Consternation and demoralization prevailed in the Confederate camps +during the night, especially at headquarters. + +A council of war was held at midnight of the 15th between Floyd, +Pillow, and Buckner, at which the number of Grant's army was greatly +magnified, and it was decided that it was impracticable to attempt +to cut through the investment. Floyd pretended to believe that +his capture was of the first importance to the Union cause, and, +although the senior in command, he announced a determination "_not +to survive a surrender there_." Pillow, the next in command, also +assumed the same importance and individual right for himself; hence +Floyd, through Pillow, turned over the command, at the end of the +council, to Buckner, with the understanding that the latter would, +at the earliest hour possible, open negotiations for the surrender +of the forces.(20) Floyd and Pillow, with the aid of two small +steamboats, which arrived from Nashville in the night, succeeded +in ferrying across the river and in getting away with about 1000 +officers and men, principally belonging to Floyd's old brigade. +Some cavalry and small detachments and individual officers with +Colonel Forrest escaped in the night by the river road, which was +only passable, on account of back-water, for mounted men.(21) + +The action of both Floyd and Pillow in not sharing the fate of +their commands, and the conduct of Floyd especially in carrying +off the troops of his old brigade in preference to others, were +strongly condemned by President Davis and his Secretary of War. +Both Generals were, by Davis's orders, relieved,(21) and neither, +thereafter, held any command of importance. The sun of their +military glory set at Donelson. Floyd had been unfaithful to his +trust as Buchanan's Secretary of War, and early, as we have seen, +deserted his post to join the Rebellion. Pillow as a general +officer had won a name in fighting under Taylor and Scott and the +flag of the Republic in Mexico. + +At an early hour on the 16th Buckner sent a note to Grant proposing +"the appointment of commissioners to agree upon the terms of +capitulation of the forces and post" under his command, and suggesting +an armistice until 12 o'clock of that day. To this note Grant +responded thus: + +"Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment of +commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. +_No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be +accepted. I propose to move immediately on your works_." + +General Buckner denominated Grant's terms as "_ungenerous and +unchivalrous_," but accepted them, forthwith capitulating with +about 15,000 officers and men, about 40 pieces of artillery, and +a large amount of stores, horses, mules, and other public property. + +The casualties in Grant's army were 22 officers and 478 enlisted +men killed, and 87 officers and 2021 men wounded, total 2608.(22) +The loss in the navy under Foote was 10 killed and 44 wounded. +The Confederate killed and wounded probably did not exceed 1500,(23) +as they fought, in most part, behind intrenchments. The capture +of Fort Donelson was thus far the greatest achievement of the war, +and won for Grant just renown. + +The writer's regiment, as we have stated, went into camp in December, +1861, at Bacon Creek, Kentucky. The winter was rainy and severe, +the camps were much of the time muddy, and the troops underwent +many hardships. It was their first winter in tents, and many were +sick. + +Colonel Marrow, on one pretence or another, was generally absent +at Louisville, and the responsibility of the drill and discipline +of the regiment devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Beatty, who was +quite equal to it, notwithstanding Marrow said and did much to +prejudice the regiment against him. The writer also had the +Colonel's displeasure. + +On his return to the regiment, January 28th, Beatty handed him, to +be forwarded, charges relating to his disloyalty, unmilitary conduct, +and inefficiency; whereupon he decided to resign and the charges +were withdrawn. Beatty became Colonel and I Lieutenant-Colonel, +February 12, 1862. + +Buell's army commenced to move southward February 10th, Mitchel's +division in the advance. + +The high railroad bridge over Green River at Munfordville had no +railing or protection on the sides, but it was safely passed over +with the teams by moonlight. The scene of the crossing was highly +picturesque, and attracted much attention from the troops just +starting on a new campaign. + +The march of the 14th developed much of interest. There were +evident signs of loyalty at the houses of all who owned no slaves, +and where slaves appeared they exhibited the greatest delight to +see the Union soldiers. All slaves had the belief that we had come +to free them, and there was much difficulty in preventing them from +marching with us. The country through which we passed was cavernous, +and the surface had many bowl-like depressions, at the bottom of +which was, generally, considerable water. Springs and streams were +scarce. The Confederates on retiring drove their disabled, diseased +and broken-down horses, mules, etc., into these ponds and shot +them, leaving them to decay and thus render the water unfit for +use by the Union Army.(24) The troops had no choice but to use +the water from the befouled ponds. We shall hear of them again. + +On this day the division reached Barren River and exchanged a few +artillery shots with the rear of General A. S. Johnston's army, +under the immediate command of General Hardee. The next day--the +last day of fighting at Fort Donelson--the advance of Mitchel's +division crossed the river and occupied Bowling Green, which was +found strongly fortified and a naturally good position for defence. +In its hasty evacuation many stores were burned; others distributed +to the inhabitants, and some abandoned to capture. After an +unaccountable delay here of one week, during which time we heard +of the victory at Fort Donelson, Mitchel's division, still in +advance, resumed its march towards Nashville, distant about seventy +miles. The head of the division reached Edgefield (suburb of +Nashville on the north bank of the Cumberland) on the evening of +the 24th of February, and the following morning the Mayor and a +committee of citizens formally surrendered the city of Nashville +while yet Forrest's cavalry occupied it. General Nelson's division +of Buell's army arrived by boats the night of the 24th, and at once +landed in the city. + +Nashville would have been a rich prize and easily taken if troops +from either Donelson or Bowling Green had been pushed forward +without delay when Fort Donelson fell. + +General A. S. Johnston abandoned the city as early as the 16th, +and concentrated his forces at Murfreesboro, thirty or more miles +distant, leaving only Floyd with a demoralized brigade and Colonel +N. B. Forrest's small cavalry command to remove or destroy the guns +and stores, of which there was an immense quantity. + +Floyd was ordered by Johnston not to fight in the city.(25) +Pandemonium reigned everywhere in Nashville for a week before it +was taken. The mob, in which all classes participated, had possession +of it. The proper officers abandoned their stores of ordnance, +quartermaster and commissary supplies, and such as were portable +were, as far as possible, carried off by anybody who might desire +them. No kind of property was safe, private houses and property +were seized and appropriated. No other such disgraceful scene has +been enacted in modern times.(26) + +Johnston had a right to expect the arrival of the Union Army as +early as the 18th, and had wise counsel prevailed, Nashville might +have been taken on that or an earlier day. + +A diversity of views led to delays in the movement of Buell's army. +Buell early expressed himself favorably to moving directly on +Nashville _via_ Bowling Green or by embarking his divisions at +Louisville on steamboats and thence by water up the Cumberland.(27) + +Halleck pronounced the movement from Bowling Green on Nashville as +not good strategy, and this opinion he telegraphed both Buell and +McClellan. Success at Fort Donelson did not change Halleck's views, +and Grant was condemned for advancing Smith's division to Clarksville. +After Buell reached Nashville he became panic-stricken, and, though +he had 15,000 men, possessed of an idea he was about to be overwhelmed. +He assumed, therefore, to order Smith's command of Grant's army to +move by boat from Clarksville to his relief.(28) + +The first time I saw Grant was on the wharf at Nashville, February +26, 1862. He was fresh from his recent achievements, and we looked +upon him with interest. He was then only a visitor at Nashville. +His quiet, modest demeanor, characteristic of him under all +circumstances, led persons to speak of him slightingly, as only a +common-looking man who had, by luck, or through others, achieved +success. He was then forty years old,(29) below medium height and +weight, but of firm build and well proportioned. His head, for +his body, seemed large. His somewhat pronounced jaw indicated +firmness and decision. His hands and feet were small, and his +movements deliberate and unimpassioned. He then, as always, talked +readily, but never idly or solely to entertain even his friends. + +Both Halleck and Buell were apparently either jealous of Grant or +they entertained or assumed to entertain a real contempt for his +talents. Buell paid him little attention at Nashville, and Halleck +reported him to the War Department for going there, although the +city was within the limits of his district. His going to Nashville +was subsequently assigned as a reason for practically relieving +him of his command.(30) + +Reports that Grant was frequently intoxicated, and that to members +of his staff and to subordinate commanders he was indebted for his +recent victories, were at this time freely circulated. Grant, like +most great generals in war, had to develop through experience, and +even through defeats. He, however, early showed a disposition to +take responsibilities and to seize opportunities to fight the enemy. +He had the merit of obstinacy, a quality indispensable in a good +soldier. + +In contrast with him, Halleck and Buell, each pretending to more +military education and accomplishments, lacked either confidence +in their troops or in themselves, and hence were slow to act. +Complicated and difficult possible campaigns were talked of by them +but never personally executed. They were each good organizers of +armies on paper, knew much of the equipment and drilling of troops, +also of their discipline in camp, but the absence in each of an +eagerness to meet the enemy and fight him disqualified them from +inspiring soldiers with that confidence which wins victories. Mere +reputation for technical military education rather detracts from +than adds to the confidence an army has in its commander. Such a +commander will be esteemed a good military clerk or adjutant-general, +but not likely to seek and win battles. + +The 3d Ohio, with the brigade, marched through Nashville on the +27th of February, and went into camp at a creek on the Murfressboro +turnpike about four miles from the city. Quiet was restored in +Nashville, the inhabitants seeming to appreciate the good order +preserved by the Union troops, especially after the recent experience +with the mob. + +At Nashville the 3d Ohio's officers (especially Colonel Beatty) were +charged with harboring negro slaves, and Buell gave some slave- +hunters permission to search the regiment's camp for their escaped +"_property_." The Colonel ordered all the colored men to be +assembled for inspection, but it so happened that not one could be +found. One of the slave-hunters proposed to search a tent for a +certain runaway slave, and he was earnestly told by Colonel Beatty +that he might do so, but that if he were successful in his search +it would cost him his life. No further search was made. One of +the runaway slaves, "Joe," a handsome mulatto, _borrowed_ (?) from +Colonel Beatty, Assistant Surgeon Henry H. Seys, and perhaps others, +small sums of money and disappeared. Some time afterwards I saw +"Joe" in the employ of Hon. Samson Mason in Springfield, Ohio. + +On the 8th of March, John Morgan, the then famous partisan irregular +cavalry raider, dashed from a narrow road along the west side of +the Insane Asylum, located about five miles from Nashville on the +Murfreesboro pike, and captured, in daylight, a part of a wagon +train inside our lines and made off over a by-road with Captain +Braden of General Dumont's staff, who had the train in charge, the +teamsters, and about eighty horses and mules. Colonel John Kennett, +with a portion of his regiment (4th Ohio Cavalry) pursued and +overtook Morgan, killed and wounded a portion of his raiders, and +recaptured Captain Braden and the drivers; also the horses and +mules. About this time Mitchel organized a party of infantry to +be rapidly transported in wagons, and some cavalry, to move by +night upon Murfreesboro, with the expectation of surprising a small +force there. The expedition started, but had not proceeded far +when about nine o'clock at night the head of the expedition was +met by Morgan and about twenty-five of his men with a flag of truce, +he pretending to desire to make some inquiry. The flag of truce +at night was so extraordinary that he and his party were escorted +to the Asylum grounds, and there detained until Buell could be +communicated with. The expedition was, of course, abandoned, and +about midnight Morgan and his escort were dismissed. + +Columbus, Kentucky, regarded as a Gibraltar of strength, strongly +fortified and supplied with many guns, most of which were of heavy +calibre, deemed necessary to prevent the navigation of the Mississippi, +was occupied by General Leonidas Polk with a force of 22,000 men, +but on being threatened with attack by Commodore Foote and General +W. T. Sherman, was evacuated March 2, 1862.(31) The State of +Kentucky thus became practically free from Confederate occupancy, +and the Mississippi, for a considerable distance below Cairo was +again open to navigation from the North. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. iii., pp. 255, 442. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. iii., pp. 255, 442. + +( 3) _Ibid_., pp. 466, 469, 485, 553, 567. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. iii., pp. 466, 469, 485, 533, 567 + +( 5) _Ibid_., pp. 144, 274, 312. + +( 6) _Ibid_., vol. iv., pp. 296-7, 300, 314, and 333, 341. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. v., p. 570. + +( 8) Sherman was, in January, 1861, Superintendent of the Military +Academy at Alexandria, Louisiana, over the door of which, chiselled +in marble, was its motto: "_By the liberality of the General +Government of the United States. The Union--Esto perpetua_." + +As early as January 9th, an expedition of five hundred New Orleans +militia under Colonel Wheat, accompanied by General Braxton Bragg, +went by boat to Baton Rouge and captured the United States arsenal +with a large amount of arms and ammunition. The Confederates sent +two thousand muskets, three hundred Jaeger rifles and a quantity of +ammunition to Sherman at Alexandria, to be by him received and +accounted for. Finding himself required to become the custodian +of stolen military supplies from the United States, and having the +prescience to know that war was inevitable, he, January 18, 1861, +resigned his position, settled his accounts with the State, and +took his departure North. + +Later we find him in St. Louis, President of the Fifth Street +Railroad, and when, May 10th, the rebels at Camp Jackson were +surrounded and captured, he, with his young son, "Willie"--now +Father Sherman, and high in the Catholic Church--were on-lookers +and in danger of losing their lives when the troops, returning from +camp, were assailed and aggravated to fire upon the mob, killing +friend and foe alike. Sherman fled with his boy to a gulley, which +covered him until firing ceased.--Sherman's _Memoirs_, vol. i., +pp. 155, 174. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. iv., pp. 349, 358. + +(10) The Seventeenth Brigade consisted of the 3d, 10th and 13th +Ohio, and 15th Kentucky.--_War Records_., vol. vii., p. 476. + +(11) _Ibid_., p. 479. + +(12) Colonel Terry was a brother of David S. Terry, who, while +Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, killed David C. +Broderick, then a United States Senator, in a duel at Lake Merced, +Cal. + +Davis S. Terry, for alleged grievances growing out of a decision +of the U. S. Circuit Court of California against his wife (formerly +Sarah Althea Hill), setting aside an alleged declaration of marriage +between the late millionaire, Senator Wm. Sharon and herself, in +a railroad dining-room at Lathrop, Cal. (August 14, 1889), assaulted +Justice Stephen J. Field, of the Supreme Court of the United States, +and was himself twice shot and instantly killed by David Neagle, +a deputy marshal, who accompanied Justice Field to protect him from +threatened assaults of the Terrys. The Supreme Court, on _habeas +corpus_, discharged Neagle from state custody, where held for trial +charged with Terry's murder. Justice Lamar and Chief-Justice +Fuller, adhering to effete state-rights notions, denied the right +to so discharge him, holding he should answer for shooting Terry +to state authority, that the Federal Government was powerless to +protect its marshals from prosecution for necessary acts done by +them in defence of its courts, judges or justices while engaged in +the performance of duty.--_In re_ Neagle, 135 _U. S._, 1, 52, 76. + +(13) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 82, 102, 108. + +(14) Only two other orders were issued (March 8, 1862) denominated +"President's General War Orders"; one relates to the organization +of McClellan's army into corps, and the other to its movement to +the Peninsula and the security of Washington.--_Mess. and Papers +of the Presidents_, vol. vi., p. 110. + +(15) The taking by Captain Wilkes (Nov. 8, 1861) from the British +steamer _Trent_ of the Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, +came so near causing a war with England, although they were, with +an apology, surrendered (January 1, 1862) to British authority, +that great fear existed that something would produce a foreign war +and consequent intervention. + +(16) _War Records_, vol. vii., p. 155. + +(17) _Ibid_., vol. viii., p. 555. + +(18) Grant estimates his own force on the surrender of the fort +at 27,000, but not all available for attack, and the number of +Confederates on the day preceding at 21,000--_Memoirs of Grant_, +vol. i., p. 314. + +(19) _War Records_, vol. viii., pp. 160, 167. + +(20) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 269, 283, 288. + +(21) _Ibid_., pp. 274, 254. + +(22) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 167, 270. + +(23) _Ibid_., pp. 269, 283, 288. + +(24) General Beatty accuses me, justly, of depriving him, at Bell's +Tavern when very hungry, of a supper, by too freely commenting, +when we were seated at the mess-table, on the _soupy_ character +and the _color_ of the mule hairs in the coffee.--_Citizen Soldier_, +p. 106. + +(25) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 426, 433. + +(26) Forrest's Rep., _Ibid_., vol. vii., p. 429. + +(27) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 619-621, 624. + +(28) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. i., p. 320. + +(29) Grant was born April 27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont +Co., Ohio. + +(30) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. i, p. 326; _War Records_, vol. vii., +pp. 683-3. + +(31) _War Records_, vol. vii., p. 853. + + +CHAPTER VI +Battle of Shiloh--Capture of Island No. 10--Halleck's Advance on +Corinth, and Other Events + +General Albert Sidney Johnston, while at Murfreesboro (February 3, +1862) assumed full command of the Central Army, Western Department, +and commenced its reorganization for active field work, and on the +27th commenced moving it, with a view to concentrate to Corinth, +Miss.( 1) + +General P. G. T. Beauregard, March 5th, assumed command of the Army +of the Mississippi. On the 29th the Confederate armies of Kentucky +and the Mississippi were consolidated at Corinth under the latter +designation, Johnston in chief command, with Beauregard as second, +and Generals Leonidas Polk, Braxton Bragg, Wm. J. Hardee, and Geo. +B. Crittenden, respectively, commanding corps. Later, General John +C. Breckinridge was assigned to the Reserve Corps, relieving +Crittenden. The total strength of this army was 59,774, and present +for duty (April 3d) 49,444.( 2) This was, then, the most formidable +and best officered and organized army of the Confederacy for active +field operations. To confront this large force there was the Army +of the Tennessee, with an aggregate present for duty of 44,895, of +all arms.( 3) Grant had sixty-two pieces of artillery, and his +troops consisted of five divisions commanded, respectively, by +Generals John A. McClernand, W. H. L. Wallace, Lew Wallace, Stephen +A. Hurlburt, W. T. Sherman, and B. M. Prentiss. + +On April 3, 1862, the Army of the Mississippi was started for +Shiloh, about twenty miles distant, under a carefully prepared +field-order, assigning to each corps its line of march and place +of assembling and giving general and detailed instructions for the +expected battle, the purpose being to surprise the Union army at +daylight on Saturday, the 5th. Hardee's corps constituted the left +of the Confederate army, and on reaching the battle-ground his left +was to rest on Owl Creek, a tributary of Snake Creek, his right +extending toward Lick Creek. Bragg's corps constituted the +Confederate right, its right to rest on Lick Creek. Both these +corps were to be formed for the battle in two lines, 1000 yards +apart, the right wing of each corps to form the front line. Polk's +corps was to move behind the two corps mentioned, and mass in column +and halt on the Back Road, as a reserve. The Reserve Corps under +Breckinridge was ordered to concentrate at Monterey and there take +position from whence to advance, as required, on either the direct +road to Pittsburg Landing or to Hamburg. Other instructions were +given for detachments of this army. The order was to make every +effort in the approaching battle to turn the left of the Union +Army, cut it off from the Tennessee, and throw it back on Owl Creek, +and there secure its surrender.( 4) + +Johnston issued this address: + +"_Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi:_ + +"I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your +country. With the resolution and disciplined valor becoming men +fighting, as you are, for all worth living or dying for, you cannot +but march to decisive victory over agrarian mercenaries, sent to +subjugate and despoil you of your liberties, property, and honor. +Remember the precious stake involved. Remember the dependence of +your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your children on the +result. Remember the fair, broad, abounding land, the happy homes, +and ties that will be desolated by your defeat. The eyes and hopes +of 8,000,000 of people rest upon you. You are expected to show +yourselves worthy of your valor and lineage; worthy of the women +of the South, whose noble devotion in this war has never been +exceeded in any time. With such incentives to brave deeds and with +the trust that God is with us, your generals will lead you confidently +to the combat, assured of success." + +Five of Grant's divisions were encamped at or in front of Pittsburg +Landing, between Owl and Lick Creeks; Sherman's division (except +Stuart's brigade) being in front, near and to the right of Shiloh +Church, was most advanced. McClernand's division was located about +one half mile to his rear, covering his left. Prentiss' division +lay within about one half mile (a little retired) of McClernand's +left in the direction of the mouth of Lick Creek, and Stuart's +brigade was still to Prentiss' left on the Hamburg road. Hurlburt's +and Smith's divisions--the latter on the right, commanded on the +field by General W. H. L. Wallace in consequence of Smith's absence +at Savannah sick--were about a mile in rear of McClernand and +Prentiss, and about three quarters of a mile from Pittsburg Landing.( 5) + +Lew Wallace's division, numbering present for duty 7302 men, with +ten pieces of artillery, was near Crump's Landing on the west bank +of the Tennessee, five miles below Pittsburg Landing and four miles +above Savannah.( 6) + +By a straight line Savannah is seven miles below Pittsburg Landing. +Hamburg is four miles above this landing, on the same side of the +river and above the mouth of Lick Creek. Shiloh Church, a log +structure about two and a half miles from the river, gave the name +to the battle. + +We left Buell's army at Nashville. It remained there from February +25 to March 15, 1862, when his cavalry started for Savannah, where +the Army of the Tennessee was then partially assembled under General +C. F. Smith. Halleck had, March 4th, relieved Grant from any active +command in the field, and ordered him to place Smith in command of +the "expedition," and himself to remain at Fort Henry. Grant chafed +much under this treatment, and repeatedly asked to be relived of +further service under Halleck. Grant's recent success at Forts +Henry and Donelson, and his exceptional character for assuming +responsibilities and fighting, led to a public demand for his +restoration, which reached Washington and Halleck, and forced the +latter, on the 13th of March, to restore him to the command of his +army and district. Grant reached Savannah on the 17th of March, +and found Smith fatally ill, and a portion of the troops already +at Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the Tennessee. He +subsequently ordered other divisions to the Landing, and although +the question of intrenching was considered, his chief engineer +officer, Colonel (afterwards Major-General) James B. McPherson, +reported against the necessity or practicability of employing the +raw troops in constructing defensive works. It was decided the +undisciplined and undrilled soldiers (as most of them were) could +be better prepared for the impending campaign by drilling them. + +Grant made his headquarters at Savannah (east of the Tennessee), +leaving Sherman in charge of that portion of the army in front of +Pittsburg Landing. + +Besides some troops of Buell's army who were left to hold Nashville, +Mitchel's division was detached to operate on a line through +Murfreesboro south into Alabama or to Chattanooga, as might seem +best. + +McCook's division left Nashville March 16th, following the cavalry, +and other divisions of Buell's army followed at intervals. At +Columbia, Tennessee, McCook was detained, reconstructing a burned +bridge over Duck River, until the 30th. Nelson reached this river, +and by fording crossed his division on the 29th, and was then given +the advance. Buell did not hasten his march nor did Grant, it +would seem, regard his early arrival important. The purpose was +to concentrate the Army of the Ohio at Savannah, not earlier than +Sunday and Monday, the 6th and 7th of April. + +Nelson's division reached there the evening of the 5th, of which +Grant had notice. Buell arrived about the same time, but did not +report his arrival, or attempt to do so until 8 A.M. the 6th, when +Grant had gone to Pittsburg Landing to take personal command in +the battle then raging with great fury. + +It is well to remember that General Grant, on whom the responsibility +of the campaign and impending conflict rested, had been actually +present with his army but twenty days when the battle commenced; +that he did not select the position of the advance divisions of +his army, and could not, if he had chosen to do so, have changed +the place of the junction of Buell's army with his, as Halleck had +fixed upon Savannah as that place, and Buell was slowly marching +towards it before Grant's arrival there. + +The unfriendly disposition of Halleck and the lack of cordiality +of Buell towards Grant made matters extremely embarrassing. Buell +was Grant's junior, but he had commanded a department for a +considerable time while Grant only commanded a district, and this +alone may account for a natural reluctance on Buell's part to serve +under him. Had Buell's army arrived promptly on the Tennessee, +the battle of Shiloh would not have been fought, as both Johnston +and Beauregard determined the attack was only practicable before +Grant's and Buell's armies united. + +Grant was seriously injured, after dark on the 4th of April, while +returning to Pittsburg Landing in a rain storm from investigating +some unusual picket firing at the front. His horse had fallen on +him, injuring his leg and spraining an ankle so much that his boot +had to be cut off. He was unable to walk without the aid of crutches +for some days after the battle.( 7) + +In the controversy as to whether the Union Army at Shiloh was +surprised on the morning of the first day I do not care to enter. +The testimony of Sherman and his brigade commander, General Ralph +P. Buckland, as well as that of Grant, will all of whom I have +conversed on this point, should be taken as conclusive, that as +early as the 4th of April they knew of the presence of considerable +organizations of Confederate cavalry, and that on the evening of +the 5th they had encountered such numbers of the enemy as to satisfy +the Union officers on the field that the enemy contemplated making +an attack; yet it is quite certain these officers did not know on +the evening of April 5th that the splendidly officered and organized +Confederate Army was in position in front and close up to Shiloh +Church as a centre, in full array, with a definite plan, fully +understood by all its officers, for a battle on the morrow. Nothing +had gone amiss in Johnston's plan, save the loss of _one day_, +which postponed the opening of the attack from dawn of Saturday to +the same time on Sunday. The friends of the Confederacy will never +cease to deplore the loss, on the march from Corinth of this _one_ +day. Many yet pretend to think the fate of slavery and the +Confederacy turned on it. Grant was not quite so well prepared +for battle on Saturday as on Sunday, and no part of the Army of +the Ohio could or would have come to his aid sooner than Sunday. +Grant, however, says he did not despair of success without Buell's +army,( 7) + +Grant, when the battle opened, was nine miles by boat from Pittsburg +Landing, which was at least two more miles from Shiloh Church, +where the battle opened. Up to the morning of the battle he had +apprehensions that an attack might be made on Crump's Landing, Lew +Wallace's position, with a view to the destruction of the Union +stores and transports.( 7) He heard the first distant sound of +battle while at Savannah eating breakfast,( 7) and by dispatch-boat +hastened to reach his already fiercely assailed troops, pausing +only long enough to order Nelson to march to Pittsburg Landing and, +while _en route_, to direct Wallace, at Crump's Landing, to put +his division under arms ready for any orders. Certain it is that +the Union division commanders at Shiloh did not, on retiring the +night of the 5th, anticipate a general attack on the next morning. +They took, doubtless, the usual precautions against the ordinary +surprise of pickets, grand-guards, and outposts, but they made no +preparation for a general battle, the more necessary as three of +the five divisions had never been under fire, and most of them had +little, if any, drill in manoeuvres or loading and firing, and few +of the officers had hitherto heard the thunder of an angry cannon- +shot or the whistle of a dangerous bullet. But it may be said the +private soldiers of the Confederate Army were likewise inexperienced +and illy disciplined. In a large sense this was true, though many +more of the Confederate regiments had been longer subjected to +drill and discipline than of the Union regiments, and they had +great confidence in their corps and division commanders, many of +whom had gained considerable celebrity in the Mexican and Indian +Wars. + +The corps organization of the Confederate Army, in addition to the +division, gave more general officers and greater compactness in +the handling of a large army. At this time corps were unknown in +the Union Army. And of still higher importance was the fact that +one army came out prepared and expecting battle, with all its +officers thoroughly instructed in advance as to what was expected, +and the other, without such preparation, expectancy, or instruction, +found itself suddenly involved against superior numbers in what +proved to be the greatest battle thus far fought on the American +continent. The Confederate hosts in the early morning moved to +battle along their entire front with the purpose of turning either +flank of the imperfectly connected Union divisions, but their +efforts were, in no substantial sense, successful. The reckless +and impetuous assaults, however, drove back, at first precipitately, +then more slowly, the advance Union divisions, though at no time +without fearful losses to the Confederates. These heavy losses +made it necessary soon to draw on the Confederate reserves. The +Union commanders took advantage of the undulations of the ground, +and the timber, to protect their men, often posting a line in the +woods on the edge of fields to the front, thus compelling their +foes to advance over open ground exposed to a deadly fire. The +early superiority of the attacking army wore gradually away, and +while it continued to gain ground its dead and wounded were numerous +and close behind it, causing, doubtless, many to straggle or stop +to care for their comrades. It has been charged that much +disorganization arose from the pillage of the Union captured camps. +The divisions of Hurlburt and W. H. L. Wallace were soon, with the +reserve artillery, actively engaged, and, save for a brief period, +about 5 P.M., and immediately after, and in consequence of the +capture at that hour of Prentiss and about 2000 of his division, +a continuous Union line from Owl Creek to Lick Creek or the Tennessee +was maintained intact, though often retired. + +In the afternoon, so desperate had grown the Confederate situation, +and so anxious was Johnston to destroy the Union Army before night +and reinforcements came, that he led a brigade in person to induce +it to charge as ordered, during which he received a wound in the +leg, which, for want of attention, shortly proved fatal. To his +fall is attributed the ultimate Confederate defeat, though his +second, Beauregard, had written and was familiar with the order of +battle, and had then much reputation as a field general. He had, +in part at least, commanded at Bull Run. Beauregard now assumed +command, and continued the attack persistently until night came. +No reinforcements arrived for either army in time for the Sunday +battle. Through some misunderstanding of orders, and without any +indisposition on his part, General Lew Wallace did not reach the +battle-field until night, and after the exhausted condition of the +troops of both armies had ended the first day's conflict. The Army +of the Tennessee, with a principal division away, had nobly and +heroically met the hosts which sought to overwhelm it; some special +disasters had befallen two of its five divisions in the battle; +General W. H. L. Wallace was mortally wounded, and Prentiss captured, +both division commanders; the Union losses in officers and men were +otherwise great, probably reaching 7000 (first day of battle), yet +when night came the depleted Army of the Tennessee stood firmly at +bay about two miles in rear of its most advanced line of the morning. +Colonel Webster, of Grant's staff, had massed, near and above +Pittsburg Landing, about twenty pieces of artillery (pointed +generally south and southwest) on the crest of a ridge just to the +north of a deep ravine extending across the Union left and into +the Tennessee. Hurburt's division was next on the right of this +artillery, extending westward almost at right angles with the river. +A few troops were placed between the artillery and the river. The +gunboats _Tyler_ and _Lexington_, commanded, respectively, by naval +Lieutenants Grim and Shirk, were close to the mouth of the ravine, +and when the last desperate attack came their fire materially aided +in repulsing it. Next on Hurlburt's right came McClernand's +division, also extending westward; then Sherman's, making almost a +right angle by extending its right northward towards Snake Creek, +to the overflowed lands and swamp just below the mouth of Owl Creek. +Broken portions of other divisions and organizations were intermixed +in this line, the three divisions named being the only ones on the +field still intact.( 8) In this position Grant's army received at +sunset and repelled the last Confederate assault, hurling back, +for the last time on that memorable Sunday, the assailing hosts. +Dismayed, disappointed, disheartened, if not defeated, the Confederate +Army was withdrawn for bivouac for the night to the region of the +Union camps of the morning. After firing had ceased, Lew Wallace +reached the field on Sherman's right. + +It is known that many stragglers appeared during the day in the +rear of the Union Army, and soon assembled near the Tennessee in +considerable numbers. The troops were new and undisciplined, and +it was consequently hard for the officers to maintain the organizations +and keep the men in line; but it is doubtful whether the number of +stragglers, considering the character of the battle, was greater +than usual, and they were not greater than, if as great as, in the +rear of the Confederate Army. An advancing and apparently successful +army in battle usually has comparatively few stragglers in the +rear, but the plan of fighting adopted by Johnston and Beauregard, +in masses, often in close column by regiments, proved so destructive +of life as to cause brave men to shrink from the repeated attacks. + +However, the gallantry displayed by the attacking force, and the +stubborn defensive battle maintained by the Union Army, have seldom, +if ever, been excelled or equalled by veteran troops in any war by +any race or in any age. + +Union officers of high rank may perhaps be justly criticised for +not having been better prepared for the battle by intrenchments, +concentration, etc., but certainly both officers and soldiers +deserve high commendation for their heroic, bloody, and successful +resistance after the conflict began. About twenty-five per cent. +of those actually engaged fell dead or wounded, and at least a like +number of the enemy was disabled. Napoleon fought no single battle +in one day where the proportionate losses, dead and wounded, in +either contending army were so great; and no battle of modern times +shows so great a proportionate loss in the numerically weaker army, +which was forced to retire steadily during an entire day, and yet +at night was still defiantly standing and delivering battle, and +its commander giving orders to assume the offensive at dawn on the +morrow. + +Grant was not perfection as a soldier at Shiloh, but who else would +or could have done so well? If not a war genius, he was the +personification of dogged, obstinate persistency, never allowing +a word of discouragement or doubt to escape during the entire day, +not even to his personal staff, though suffering excruciating pain +from the recent injury from the fall of his horse. To him and to +the valor of his officers and soldiers the country owes much for +a timely victory, though won at great cost of life and limb. To +him and them are due praise, not blame. + +Thus far the Army of the Ohio is given no credit for participation +in the Sunday battle. Buell and Nelson's division of that army +were at Savannah on the evening of the 5th, but Buell refrained +from attempting to report his presence to Grant until the next +morning. Grant had then departed for the battle-field. Grant was +eating his breakfast at Savannah when the battle opened, and at +first determined to find Buell before going to his army; but the +sound of guns was so continuous, he felt that he should not delay +a moment, and hence left a note for Buell asking him to hasten with +his reinforcements to Pittsburg Landing, gave an order for Nelson +to march at once, and then proceeded by boat up the river. Buell, +after reiterating Grant's instructions to Nelson to march to opposite +the Landing, himself about noon proceeded by boat to that place +with his chief of staff, Colonel James B. Fry.( 9) + +Buell seems to have been much impressed by the number and temper +of the stragglers he saw on his arrival, and he made some inquiry +as to Grant's preparations for the retreat of his army. Grant, +learning that Buell was on board a steamboat at the Landing, sought +him there, hastily explained the situation and the necessity for +reinforcements, and again departed for the battle-field. He had +before that been in the thick of the fight, where his sword and +scabbard had been shot away. Not until 1 or 1.30 P.M.( 9) did +the head of Nelson's column move, Ammen's brigade leading, for +Pittsburg Landing, and then by a swampy river road over which +artillery could not be hauled. The artillery went later by boat. +At 5 or 6 P.M. the advance,--eight companies of the 36th Indiana +(Col. W. Grose)--reached a point on the river opposite the Landing. +These companies were speedily taken across the Tennessee in steamboats +and marched immediately, less than a quarter of a mile to the left +of the already massed artillery, to the support of Grant's army, +then engaged in its struggle to repel the last assault of the +Confederates for the day. Other regiments (6th Ohio, Colonel N. +L. Anderson, 24th Ohio, Colonel F. C. Jones) of Ammen's brigade +followed closely, but only the 36th Indiana participated in the +engagement then about spent. This regiment lost one man killed.(10) +The expected arrival of the Army of the Ohio and the presence of +such of it as arrived may have had a good moral effect, but its +late coming gives to it little room to claim any credit for the +result of the first day's battle. + +As always, those who only see the rear of an army during a battle +gain from the sight and statements of the demoralized stragglers +exaggerated notions of the condition and situation of those engaged. +That Grant's army was in danger, and in sore need of reinforcements, +cannot be doubted. That the Confederate Army had been fearfully +punished in the first day's fighting is certain. Beauregard reports +that he could not, on Monday, bring 20,000 men into action (11)-- +less than half the number Johnston had when the battle began. The +arrival of Nelson's and Lew Wallace's divisions six hours earlier +would have given a different aspect, probably, to the fist day's +battle. The Army of the Ohio was then composed, generally, of +better equipped, better disciplined and older troops, though unused +to battle, than the majority of those of the Army of the Tennessee. + +Though night had come, dark and rainy, when the four divisions of +Buell's army reached the west bank of the Tennessee, and Lew +Wallace's division arrived on the right, Grant directed the ground +in front to be examined and the whole army to be put in readiness +to assume the offensive at daybreak next morning. Wallace was +pushed forward on the extreme right above the mouth of Owl Creek, +and Sherman, McClernand, and Hurlbut, in the order named, on +Wallace's left, then McCook (A. McD.),(12) Crittenden (Thomas T.), +and Nelson (Wm.) were assigned positions in the order named, from +Hurlburt to the left, Nelson on the extreme left, well out towards +Lick Creek; all advanced (save McCook) during the night a considerable +distance from the position of the Army of the Tennessee at the +close of the battle.(13) + +Buell's artillery arrived and went into battery during the night. +General George H. Thomas' division and one brigade of General Thomas +J. Wood's division did not arrive in time for the battle. There +were present, commanding brigades in the Army of the Ohio, Brigadier- +Generals Lovell H. Rosseau, J. T. Boyle, Colonels Jacob Ammen, W. +Sooy Smith, W. N. Kirk (34th Illinois), and William H. Gibson (49th +Ohio). These Colonels became, later, general officers. + +Soon after 5 o'clock in the morning the entire Union Army went +forward, gaining ground steadily until 6 A.M., when the strong +lines of Beauregard's army with his artillery in position were +reached, and the battle became general and raged with more or less +fury throughout the greater part of the day, and until the Confederate +Army was beaten back at all points, with the loss of some guns and +prisoners, besides killed and wounded. The last stand of the enemy +was made about 3 P.M. in front of Sherman's camp preceding the +first day's battle. Both Grant and Buell accompanied the troops, +often personally directing the attacks, as did division and brigade +commanders. Grant, late in the day, near Shiloh Church, rode with +a couple of regiments to the edge of a clearing and ordered them +to "_Charge_." They responded with a yell and a run across the +opening, causing the enemy to break and disperse. This practically +ended the two days' memorable battle at the old log church where +it began.(14) + +The Confederate Army of the Mississippi which came, but four days +before, so full of hope and confidence, from its intrenched camp +at Corinth, was soon in precipitate retreat. Its commander was +dead; many of its best officers were killed or wounded; its columns +were broken and demoralized; much of its material was gone; hope +and confidence were dissipated, yet it maintained an orderly retreat +to its fortifications at Corinth. Beauregard claimed for it some +sort of victory.(15) + +From Monterey, on the 8th of April, Beauregard addressed Grant a +note saying that in consequence of the exhausted condition of his +forces by the extraordinary length of the battle, he had withdrawn +them from the conflict, and asking permission to send a mounted +party to the battle-field to bury the dead, to be accompanied by +certain gentlemen desiring to remove the bodies of their sons and +friends. To this Grant responded that, owing to the warmth of the +weather, he had caused the dead of both sides to be buried +immediately.(16) + +The total losses, both days, in the Army of the Tennessee, were 87 +officers and 1426 enlisted men killed, 336 officers and 6265 enlisted +men wounded, total killed and wounded 8114. The captured and +missing were 115 officers and 2318 men, total 2433, aggregate +casualties, 10,547.(16) + +The total losses in the Army of the Ohio were 17 officers and 224 +privates killed, 92 officers and 1715 privates wounded, total 2048. +The captured were 55.(16) The grand total of the two Union armies +killed, wounded, captured, or missing, 12,650. + +The first reports of casualties are usually in part estimated, and +not accurate for want of full information. The foregoing statement +of losses is given from revised lists. Grant's statement of losses +does not materially differ from the above.(17) + +The losses of the Confederate Army in the two days' battle, as +stated in Beauregard's report of April 11th, were, killed 1728, +wounded 8012; total killed and wounded, 9740, missing 959, grand +total, 10,699.(16) Grant claimed that Beauregard's report was +inaccurate, as above 1728 were buried, by actual count, in front +of Sherman's and McClernand's divisions alone. The burial parties +estimated the number killed at 4000.(17) + +Besides Johnston, the army commander, there were many Confederate +officers killed and wounded. Hon. George W. Johnson, then assuming +to act as (Confederate) Provisional Governor of Kentucky, was killed +while fighting in the ranks on the second day; General Gladden was +killed the first day, and Generals Cheatham, Clark, Hindman, B. R. +Johnson, and Bowen were wounded. + +Thenceforth during the war there was little boasting of the superior +fighting qualities of Southern over Northern soldiers. Both armies +fought with a courage creditable to their race and nationality. +Americans may always be relied upon to do this when well commanded. +I have already taken more space than I originally intended in giving +the salient features of the battle of Shiloh, and I cannot now +pursue the campaign further than to say General Halleck arrived at +Pittsburg Landing April 11th, and assumed command, for the first +and only time in the field. He soon drew to him a third army (Army +of the Mississippi), about 30,000 strong, under General John Pope. + +Island No. 10, in the bend of the Mississippi above New Madrid, +was occupied early by the Confederates with a strong force, well +fortified, with the hope that it could be held and thus close the +Mississippi River against the Union forces from the North. Early +after Fort Donelson was taken, Flag Officer Foote took his fleet +of gunboats into the Mississippi, and in conjunction with the army +under General John Pope sought the capture of the island. Pope +moved about 20,000 men to Point Pleasant, on the west bank of the +river, March 6, 1862, which compelled the Confederates, on the +14th, to evacuate New Madrid, on the same side of the river, about +ten miles above Point Pleasant and the same distance below the +island. Pope cut, or "_sawed_," a canal from a point above Island +No. 10 through a wood to Wilson's and St. John's Bayou, leading to +New Madrid.(18) The position of the Confederates was still so +strong with their batteries and redoubts on the eastern shore of +the river that Pope with his army alone could not take it. Attacks +were made with the gunboats from the north, but they failed to +dislodge the enemy. Foote, though requested by Pope, did not think +it possible for a gunboat to steam past the batteries and go to +the assistance of the army at Point Pleasant. With the assistance +of gunboats Pope could cross his army to the east side and thus +cut off all supplies for the Confederate Army on the island. +Captain Henry Walke, U.S.N., having expressed a willingness to +attempt to pass the island and batteries with the _Carondelet_, +was given orders to do so. He accordingly made ready, taking on +board Captain Hottenstein and twenty-three sharpshooters of the +42d Illinois. The sailors were all armed; hand-grenades were placed +within reach, and hoses were attached to the boilers for throwing +scalding water to drive off boarding parties. Thus prepared, the +_Carondelet_, on the night of April 4th, "in the black shadow of +a thunderstorm," safely passed the island and batteries. It was +fired on, but reached New Madrid without the loss of a man. The +_Pittsburg_, under Lieutenant-Commander Thompson, in like manner +ran the gauntlet without injury, also in a thunderstorm, April 7th. +These two gunboats the same day attacked successfully the Confederate +batteries on the east shore and covered the crossing of Pope's +army. Seeing that escape was not possible, the garrison on the +island surrendered to Flag Officer Foote on April 7th, the same +day the Confederates were driven from the field of Shiloh. Pope +pursued and captured, on the morning of the 8th, nearly all the +retreating troops. General W. W. Mackall, commanding at Island +No. 10, and two other general officers, over 5000 men, 20 pieces +of heavy artillery, 7000 stand of arms, and quantities of ammunition +and provisions were taken without the loss of a Union soldier.(19) + +Not until April 30th did Halleck's army move on Corinth. Grant, +though nominally in command of the right wing, was little more than +an observer, as orders were not even sent through him to that wing. +For thirty days Halleck moved and intrenched, averaging not to +exceed two thirds of a mile a day, until he entered Corinth, May +30th, to find it completely evacuated. He commenced at once to +build fortifications for 100,000 men. But the dispersion of this +grand army soon commenced; the Army of the Ohio (Buell's) was sent +east along the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, with +orders to repair the road as it proceeded. We shall soon meet this +army and narrate its future movements to the Ohio River--in retreat +_after_ Bragg's army. + +Grant, chafing under his treatment, on Corinth being occupied, at +his own request was relieved from any duty in Halleck's department. +Later, on Sherman's advice, he decided to remain, but to transfer +his headquarters to Memphis, to which place he started, June 21st, +on horseback with a small escort. + +Halleck was, July 11, 1862, notified of his own appointment to the +command of all the armies, with headquarters at Washington. Grant +was therefore recalled to Corinth again. He reached that place +and took command, July 15th, Halleck departing two days later, +never again to take the field in person. The latter was not under +fire during the war, nor did he ever command an army in battle. +We here leave Grant and his brilliant career in the West. We shall +speak of him soon again, and still later when in command of all +the armies of the Union (Halleck included), but with headquarters +in the field with the Army of the Potomac. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. vii., pp. 904, 911. + +( 2) _Ibid_., vol. x., Part I., p. 398 (396). + +( 3) _Ibid_., vol. x., Part I., p. 112. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp. 392-7. + +( 5) _War Records_, atlas, Plate XII. + +( 6) _Ibid_., vol. x., Part I., p. 112. + +( 7) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., p. 466. + +( 8) For maps showing positions of troops of each army both days +see _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., pp. 470, 508. + +( 9) General Ammen's diary, Nelson's and Ammen's reports, _War +Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp. 323, 328, 332. + +(10) Ammen, _Ibid_., vol. x., Part I., pp. 334,337. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 391 (398). + +(12) McCook did not arrive until early on the 7th. _War Records_, +vol. x., Part I., p. 293. + +(13) Official map, _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., p. 598. + +(14) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. i., p. 351. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. x., Part II., pp. 384-5, 424, 482 (407-8). + +(16) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp. 111, 105, 108, 391. + +(17) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., p. 485. + +(18) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., p. 460. + +(19) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. i., pp. 446, etc. + + +CHAPTER VII +Mitchel's Campaign to Northern Alabama--Andrews' Raid into Georgia, +and Capture of a Locomotive--Affair at Bridgeport--Sacking of +Athens, Alabama, and Court-Martial of Colonel Turchin--Burning of +Paint Rock by Colonel Beatty--Other Incidents and Personal Mention +--Mitchel Relieved + +General Mitchel's division (to which I belonged) of the Army of +the Ohio we left at Nashville, ready to move on an independent +line. When the other divisions had started for Savannah, Mitchel, +March 18, 1862, resumed his march southward, encamping the first +night at Lavergne, fifteen miles from Nashville. The next day we +marched on a road leading by old cotton fields, and felt we were +in the heart of the slaveholding South. The slaves were of an +apparently different type from those in Kentucky, though still of +many shades of color, varying from pure African black to oily-white. +The eye, in many instances, had to be resorted to, to decide whether +there was any black blood in them. But these negroes were shrewd, +and had the idea of liberty uppermost in their minds. They had +heard that the Northern army was coming to make them free. Their +masters had probably talked of this in their hearing. They believed +the time for their freedom had come. Untutored as they all were, +they understood somehow they were the cause of the war. As our +column advanced, regardless of sex, and in families, they abandoned +the fields and their homes, turning their backs on master and +mistress, many bearing their bedding, clothing, and other effects +on their heads and backs, and came to the roadsides, shouting and +singing a medley of songs of freedom and religion, confidently +expecting to follow the army to immediate liberty. Their number +were so great we marched for a good part of a day between almost +continuous lines of them. Their disappointment was sincere and +deep when told they must return to their homes: that the Union Army +could not take them. Of course some never returned, but the mass +of them did, and remained until the final decree of the war was +entered and their chains fell off, never to be welded in America +on their race again. They shouted "_Glory_" on seeing the _Stars +and Stripes_, as though it had been a banner of protection and +liberty, instead of the emblem of a power which hitherto had kept +them and their ancestors in bondage. The "_old flag_" has a peculiar +charm for those who have served under it. It was noticeable that +wherever we marched in the South, particularly in Kentucky, Tennessee, +and Virginia, we found men at the roadside who had fought in the +Mexican War, often with tears streaming down their cheeks, who +professed sincere loyalty to the flag and the Union. + +We reached Murfreesboro on the 20th without a fight, the small +Confederate force retiring and destroying bridges as we advanced. + +The division was kept busy in repairing the railroad, and especially +in rebuilding the recently destroyed railroad bridge near Murfreesboro +across Stone's River. I worked industriously in charge of a detail +of soldiers on this bridge. In ten days it was rebuilt, though +the heavy timbers had to be cut and hewed from green timber in the +nearby woods. The Union Army never called in vain for expert +mechanics, civil or locomotive engineers. + +I took a train of ninety wagons, starting to Nashville on the 31st, +for quartermaster, commissary, and ordnance supplies, with instructions +to repair, while on the way, broken places in the railroad. In +consequence of the destruction of bridges the train and guard had +to travel a longer route than the direct one, making the distance +above forty miles. We repaired the railroad, and reached Nashville +and loaded my wagons by the evening of the second day. The city +was a demoralizing place for soldiers. A few of my men of the 10th +Ohio became drunk, and while I was engaged in the night trying to +move the train and guard out of the city, some one threw a stone +which struck me in the back of the head, cutting the scalp and +causing it to bleed freely. I got the train under way about +midnight, and then searched for a surgeon, but at that hour could +find none. Knowing that Mrs. McMeans, the wife of the surgeon of +the 3d Ohio, was at the City Hotel, I had her called, and she +performed the necessary surgery, and stopped the flow of blood. +Long before sunrise my train was far on the road, and by 8 P.M. of +the 2d of April it was safely in our camps at Murfreesboro. It +was attacked near Lavergne by some irregular cavalry, or guerillas, +but they were easily driven off. Such troops did not, as a rule, +care to fight. The conduct of a supply-train through a country +infested by them is attended with much responsibility and danger, +and requires much energy and skill. + +Mitchel, now being supplied, marched south, April 3d, and we reached +Shelbyville the next day--a town famed for its great number of +Union people. Loyalty seemed there to be the rule, not the exception. +The Union flag was displayed on the road to and at Shelbyville by +influential people. Our bands played as we entered the town, and +there were many manifestations of joy over our coming. This is +the only place in the South where I witnessed such a reception. +I recall among those who welcomed us the names of Warren, Gurnie, +Story, Cooper, and Weasner. + +While here Colonel John Kennett, with part of his 4th Ohio Cavalry, +made a raid south and captured a train on the Nashville and +Chattanooga Railroad and some fifteen prisoners. + +A short time before we reached Shelbyville, Mitchel sent a party +of eight soldiers, in disguise, under the leadership of a citizen +of Kentucky, known as Captain J. J. Andrews, to enter the Confederate +lines and proceed _via_ Chattanooga to Atlanta, with some vague +idea of capturing a train of cars or a locomotive and escaping with +it, burning the bridges behind them. The party reached its +destination, but for want of an engineer who had promised to join +it at Atlanta, the plan was abandoned, and each of the party returned +in safety, joining their respective regiments at Shelbyville. +Andrews, still desiring to carry out the plan, organized a second +party, composed of himself and another citizen of Kentucky, Wm. +Campbell, and twenty-four soldiers, detailed from Ohio regiments, +seven from the 2d, eight from the 33d, and nine from the 21st.( 1) +This party started from Shelbyville, Monday night, April 7, 1862, +disguised as citizens, professing to be driven from their homes in +Kentucky by the Union Army and going South to join the Confederate +Army. They were to travel singly or in couples over roads not +frequented by either army, but such as were usually taken by real +Kentucky refugees to Chattanooga or some station where passage on +cars could be taken to Marietta, Georgia, where the whole party +were to assemble in four days ready to take a train northward the +following (Friday) morning. Each man was furnished by Andrews with +an abundance of Confederate money to pay bills. It was understood +that if any were suspected and in danger of capture they were to +enlist in the Southern army until an opportunity for escape presented. +Mitchel, it was known to Andrews and his party, was to start for +Huntsville, Alabama, in a day or two, and Andrews hoped to be able +to escape with his captured train through Chattanooga, thence west +over the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and join Mitchel at some +point east of Huntsville. + +The distance was too great for all the party to reach their +destination before Friday, and on the way Andrews managed to notify +most of his men that the enterprise would not be undertaken until +Saturday. About midnight of the 11th of April the members reached +Marietta, and, with two exceptions, spent the night at a small +hotel near the depot. Big Shanty (where passengers on the early +morning train were allowed to take breakfast), north of Marietta, +was the place where the party proposed to seize the locomotive and +such part of the train as might seem practicable, the engineer +(Brown) of the party to run it north, stopping at intervals only +long enough to cut telegraph wires, to prevent information being +sent ahead, tear up short portions of the track to prevent pursuit, +and to burn bridges, the latter being the principal object of the +raid. Porter and Hawkins of the party, who had lodging at a +different hotel from the others, were not awakened in time, and +consequently did not participate in the daring act for which the +party was organized. + +During the night Andrews carefully instructed those at his hotel, +each man being told what was expected of him. The party were almost +to a man strangers to him until five days before, and hardly two +of them, though of the same regiment, until then knew each other. +Never before, for so extraordinary an attempt, was so incongruous +a band assembled. I knew one of them--Sergeant-Major Marion A. +Ross, of the 2d Ohio. He had no previous training, and no special +skill for such an expedition. He was a farmer boy (Champaign Co., +Ohio) of more than ordinary retiring modesty, with no element of +reckless daring in his nature. He had almost white silky flaxen +hair, and at Antioch College, where I first met him, he rarely +associated with his schoolmates in play or amusement. He was called +a ladies' man; and this because he did not care for the active +pursuits usually enjoyed by young men. + +It is said that when Ross ascertained the number of trains, regular +and irregular, with which the exigencies of war had covered the +railroad, and considered also the distance to be passed over, he +tried at the last moment to dissuade Andrews from undertaking the +execution of the enterprise. In this he failed, but Andrews gave +any of the party who regarded the design too hazardous the right +to withdraw.( 2) Not one, however, availed himself of this liberty. +Ross saw that the scheme must fail, but was too manly to abandon +his comrades. + +Saturday morning before daylight the party was seated in one +passenger car, moving north. In this and other coaches there were +several hundred passengers.( 3) At sunrise, when eight miles from +Marietta, the train stopped, and the trainmen shouted: "_Big Shanty +--twenty minutes for breakfast_." At this, conductor, engineer, +fireman, and train-hands, with most of the passengers, left the +train. Thus the desired opportunity of Andrews and his party was +presented. They did not hesitate. Three cars back from the tender, +including only box-cars, the coupling-pin was drawn, and the +passenger cars cut off. Andrews mounted the engine, with Brown +and Knight as engineers and Wilson as fireman. Others took places +as brakemen, or as helpers and guards, and, to the amazement of +the bystanders, the locomotive moved rapidly north. The conductor, +engineer, and train-men were dazed. The capture was accomplished, +but how were the trains and the stations to be passed on the long +journey to Chattanooga; and how was that place to be passed, and +still a run of a hundred miles made over the Memphis and Charleston +Railroad before they were within the Union lines at Huntsville? +The train proceeded only a short distance when it was stopped and +the telegraph wires cut, then it moved on again, stopping now and +then long enough to enable Andrews and his men to tear up the track +behind them. They reached Kingston, thirty-two miles north, where +a stop had to be made, but by claiming their train was a powder +train hastening to Beauregard's army, they were allowed to pass +on; so the flight continued until Dalton and the tunnel north of +it were passed. The conductor, Fuller, started from Big Shanty +with a small party on foot, then procured a hand-car and at Dalton +a locomotive. His pursuit was both energetic and intelligent. At +Dalton he succeeded in getting a telegram through to Chattanooga +giving notice of the coming of the raiders. The locomotive seized, +known as _General_, proved a poor one, and fuel soon gave out, and +finally the pursuers came in sight. Cars were dropped and bridges +were fired, but the pursuers pushed the cars ahead and put out the +flames. At last, not far from Chattanooga, the _General_ was +abandoned, and the raiders scattered to the woods and, generally +singly, sought to evade capture; but as the whole country was +aroused and Confederate soldiers were at hand, most of the party +were soon captured; one or two evaded discovery by going boldly to +recruiting stations and enlisting in the Confederate Army. The +history of the suffering, trials, and fate of this daring band is +one of the most thrilling and tragic of the war. It is too long +to be here told. The captured were imprisoned at Chattanooga, and +Andrews, the leader (after making one attempt to escape), was +heavily ironed, and a scaffold was prepared at Chattanooga for his +execution, but for some reason he and his companions were transferred +to Atlanta, where, on the day of their arrival, he was taken to a +scaffold and hung, and his body buried in an unmarked and still +unknown grave.( 3) He died bravely, resigned to his fate. He was +a man of quiet demeanor, of extraordinary resolution, and more than +ordinary ability. He was tried and sentenced by a sort of drum- +head court-martial, charged with being disloyal to the Confederacy +and hanged as a spy.( 3) Other men of more fame have died on the +gallows, and others of less merit have occupied high positions. + +Seven of the band were taken to Knoxville, and in June, 1862, tried +by court-martial and condemned to be hanged as spies. Campbell, +Wilson, Ross, Shadrack, Slaven, Robinson, and Scott were hanged +June 18th, by order of General E. Kirby Smith, at Atlanta.( 3) +Their bodies were buried in a rude trench at the foot of the +scaffold. A grateful government has caused this trench to be opened +and the mortal remains of these unfortunate heroes of cruel war to +be removed to the beautiful National Cemetery near Chattanooga and +buried amidst the heroes of Chickamauga, there to rest until the +Grand Army of Soldier-dead shall be summoned to rise on the +resurrection morn. + +Eight others, Brown, Knight, Porter, Wood, Wilson, Hawkins, Wallam, +and Dorsey, after suffering more than the pangs of death in prison, +in various ways and at different times escaped; and after like +suffering, six others, Parrot, Buffem, Bensinger, Reddick, Mason, +and Pittenger were (March, 1863) exchanged. These fourteen were, +save Wood and Buffem, living in 1881, honored and upright citizens. +Pittenger was a member of the New Jersey Methodist Episcopal +Conference, and the author of _Capturing a Locomotive_, in which +is given the story of the tragic affair in all its painful details. + +Mitchel's division resumed its march southward April 9th, and +reached Fayetteville the next day; two brigades--Turchin's and +Sill's--continued the march towards Huntsville on the Memphis and +Charleston Railroad. At Fayetteville the inhabitants seemed to be +wholly disloyal, and extended no welcome. Huntsville was surprised +and captured before daylight on April 11th. A large number of cars +and fifteen locomotives were taken.( 4) One train was found at +the depot loaded with recruits for Beauregard's army at Corinth. +Many Confederates who had been wounded at Shiloh were captured and +paroled. The next day, at Stevenson, five more locomotives and a +large amount of rolling stock were taken.( 4) + +The only instance witnessed by me during the war of a body of +soldiers refusing to obey orders was of the 10th Ohio when it was +ordered at Fayetteville to prepare to march, each man carrying his +knapsack. On some occasions prior to this time the company wagons +carried the knapsacks of the men. Colonel Wm. H. Lytle (then +commanding a brigade), being greatly chagrined and enraged at the +insubordination of his regiment, ordered a section of a battery +pointed on it, took out his watch, and gave the men two minutes to +take up their knapsacks and be ready to march. The order was obeyed +complainingly, and the incident was not again repeated. This +regiment was a good one, and later it was distinguished for valor +and good soldierly conduct. + +As we proceeded south into the cotton regions, the slaves were more +numerous and still flocked to the roadsides, seeking and desiring +to follow the army. All believed the "Yankee army" had come solely +to free them. + +Colonel John Beatty was made Provost-Marshal and President of a +Board of Administration for Huntsville. + +Huntsville was a beautiful, aristocratic little Southern city. A +feature of it was a large spring near its centre which furnished +an abundant supply of water for the men and animals of a large +army. It was the home of the Alabama Clays, all disloyal; of ex- +Senator Jerry Clemens, who had early been a Union man, but later +was disposed to accept secession as an accomplished fact; then, on +the Union occupancy of Northern Alabama, he boldly advocated a +restoration of the State to the Union. Colonel Nick Davis, likewise +an original Union man, at first opposed secession; then, after Bull +run, accepted a colonelcy in an Alabama rebel regiment; then declined +it, and thereafter tried to remain loyal to the Union. The conduct +of such strong men as Clemens and Davis is not to be wondered at +when their surroundings are considered. There were many who, +feeling bound to continue their residence in the South, and believing, +after Bull Run, that the Confederacy was established, yielded their +opposition to it. + +Reverend Frederick A. Ross, a distinguished Presbyterian minister, +who preached the divinity of slavery, resided here.( 5) Reverend +Ross was arrested by General Rousseau and sent north to prison for +publicly _praying_ in his church at Huntsville (while occupied by +the Union Army) for the success of the Confederacy, the overthrow +of the Union, and the defeat of its armies. + +There were some men, among whom were Hon. George W. Lane (later +appointed a United States Judge), who adhered firmly to the Union. +That part of Alabama north of the Tennessee had opposed secession. + +Clement Comer Clay, a lawyer, who had been a soldier in the Creek +Indian War, Chief-Justice of his State, and had served in both +branches of Congress and as Governor of Alabama, was arrested and +tried at Huntsville, when seventy-three years of age, by a military +commission of which I was president. There were several charges +against him, the most serious of which was for aiding and advising +guerillas to secretly shoot down Union soldiers, cut telegraph +lines, and wreck trains. This charge he vehemently denied until +a letter in his own handwriting was produced, recently written to +a guerilla chief, advising him and his band to do the things +mentioned. He was not severely dealt with, but was sent to Camp +Chase, Ohio, for detention. He was later liberated, and died in +Huntsville in 1866. His son, Clement Claiborne Clay, had been a +judge, and subsequently a United States Senator. He withdrew from +the Senate in February, 1861, and was formally expelled in March, +1861. He became a Senator in the Confederate Congress in 1862, +and during the last two years of the war was the secret agent of +the Confederacy in Canada, where he plotted raids on the Northern +frontier. + +General O. M. Mitchel held advanced notions on the subject of the +treatment and disposition of slaves of masters in arms against the +government. The slaves of such masters, he thought, should be +confiscated. He used some slaves as spies to gain information of +the enemy, and to located secreted Confederate supplies, and to +them he promised protection, if not freedom. Secretary Stanton +approved his action and views in this matter.( 6) + +But Buell, his immediate commander, wholly disapproved of all +employment or use of slaves in any manner as instruments to put +down the rebellion. Mitchel, therefore, soon fell into disfavor +with him. Buell, on learning that Mitchel had employed some able- +bodied escaped slaves to aid the soldiers in constructing stockades +to protect railroad bridges, necessary to be maintained to enable +supplies to be brought up, ordered Mitchel to send an officer to +see that slaves thus employed were forthwith returned to their +masters. I was accordingly directed by Mitchel to take a small +guard, and, with a locomotive and car, go to the bridges west of +Huntsville and north of the Tennessee River, on the line of railroad +from Decatur through Athens towards Nashville, to execute this +order of Buell's. I executed it to the _letter--only_. While on +this unpleasant duty I came to a place where a scouting party, +commanded by a lieutenant sent out by Mitchel, had two citizen- +disguised Confederate guerillas, just taken in the act of cutting +the telegraph wires, an offence, by a proclamation of Mitchel, +punishable by death. The scouting party proceeded to hang them +with wire to telegraph poles. I did not approve the summary +punishment, but was powerless and without authority over the officer; +and was then engaged only in returning slaves to their owners. + +Prior to this order of Buell's, Congress had passed an act, as an +Article of War, prohibiting the employment of any of the United +States forces "for the purpose of returning fugitives from service +or labor who may have escaped, and any officer found guilty, by a +court-martial, of violating this article to be dismissed from the +service."( 7) The order, and my execution of it, were alike in +violation of the law, for the issuing and execution of which both +Buell and I could have been dismissed from the service. Just after +the capture of Fort Donelson Grant issued an order prohibiting the +return of the fugitive slaves with his army and of all slaves at +Fort Donelson at the time of its capture.( 8) + +Both Stevenson and Decatur, to the east and west of Huntsville, +were, by the use of captured locomotives and cars, seized by Mitchel +on the 12th of April, and his command was soon so extended as to +hold the one hundred miles of railroad between Stevenson and +Tuscumbia. The last of the same month, however, the troops were +withdrawn from Tuscumbia and south of the Tennessee. The 3d and +10th Ohio being in occupancy of Decatur, evacuated it under orders, +and, on the night of April 27th, burned the railroad bridge (one +half mile in length) over the Tennessee River. + +An expedition started the same day for Bridgeport, where the railroad +again crosses the Tennessee, and where General Danville Leadbetter +had command of a small force on the west side of the river, somewhat +intrenched. The expedition consisted of two companies of cavalry, +two pieces of artillery, and six regiments of infantry, Mitchel +commanding. Owing to the destruction by the Confederates of a +bridge over Widow's Creek, it was impossible to transport by rail +the artillery with caissons and horses nearer than four miles of +Bridgeport. By the use of cotton bales the two guns were floated +over the deep stream, and the artillery horses and caissons with +extra ammunition were left behind. The guns were dragged by two +companies of the 3d Ohio, and the whole expedition pushed on to a +ridge within about five hundred yards of Leadbetter's redoubts near +the north end of the bridge. The enemy was surprised or demoralized, +and Leadbetter did not decide either to retreat or fight until a +shot or two from our cannon emptied his redoubts and intrenched +position near the end of the bridge. + +Precipitately his guns were loaded on a platform-car, and a hasty +retreat was made across the Tennessee by the railroad bridge; but +before all the Confederate troops had succeeded in crossing Leadbetter +caused to be exploded two hundred pounds of powder, with a view of +blowing up the east span of the bridge. The explosion did not do +the work, hence the drawbridge at the east end was fired, to complete +its destruction.( 9) But few captures were made. Leadbetter also +abandoned his camp east of the river, and was forced to abandon +two guns placed in position on the east bank. One of the Andrews +raiders of the 33d Ohio, who, to save himself from capture and +punishment, had joined Captain Kain's battery, and was acting as +artillery sergeant with the two guns captured, hid under the river +bank and signalled his desire to be allowed to surrender. He was +permitted to cross over to us, and, his old regiment being present, +he at once rejoined it. + +Mitchel moved his command on Bridgeport with great rapidity and +skill, but he showed a nervous temper, which gave the impression +that in a great battle he would become too much excited for a +commanding officer. + +Just after Leadbetter's retreat a body of cavalry appeared below +Bridgeport in an open field, not knowing the place had been taken, +and would have been captured had Mitchel not ordered them fired on +before they came near enough to be cut off. + +I was sent on the morning of the 30th, in command of a detachment, +across the Tennessee to reconnoitre towards Chattanooga. We +improvised rafts from logs and timber to carry the men, and a few +horses for mounted officers were forced into the stream, and by +holding their heads to the rafts compelled to swim the east channel +of the Tennessee. We secured the two guns mentioned, some muskets +and supplies at the enemy's camps, and found evidence of a hasty +flight of the Confederates. By a detour we came into a valley +flanked to the east by Raccoon Mountain, and we visited a large +saltpetre works at Nick-a-Jack Cave. These works we destroyed by +breaking the large iron kettles and by burning all combustible +structures. A portion of the detachment was sent under cover of +the thick woods to the railroad east of Shellmound, a station near +the river, where we expected to cut off a train of cars engaged in +loading, for removal, supplies of provisions. The engineer, a few +moments before the party reached the railroad, had run his engine +to a water-station located east of the point of our intersection, +and it thus escaped capture. We, however, captured one captain +and about a dozen men; also the cars of the train and considerable +supplies, all of which we were obliged to destroy, save some choice, +much-needed hams. These we loaded on a flat car, which we pushed +about ten miles to the east abutment of the broken bridge. This +raid caused great consternation at Chattanooga for several days. +The detachment was reported as 5000 strong at Shellmound, and +Leadbetter ordered "all bridges on the railroad and country roads" +burned, and a retreat to Lookout Mountain.(10) It would have been +easy then to have taken Chattanooga. A year and a half later it +cost many lives and became about the only Union trophy of the battle +of Chickamauga. + +I learned on this raid, from prisoners, that Farragut and Butler +had, on April 29, 1862, obtained possession of New Orleans. This +was the first information of their success received at the +North.(11) + +My expedition was the first armed one of the war upon the mainland +of Georgia. + +On my return to the west side of the river I found my regiment, +with others, under orders to march at 9 o'clock at night for +Stevenson, destination Athens, Alabama. The enemy, under Colonel +J. S. Scott, attacked (May 1st) and drove out of Athens the 18th +Ohio, under Colonel T. R. Stanley. The affair was not a creditable +one to either side. The troops under Scott were said to have been +harbored in houses from which they fired on Stanley's men as the +latter fled through the streets, and it was claimed citizens aided +in shooting down Union soldiers, though this was never shown to be +true. Scott, in his report to Beauregard, dated the day of the +fight, boasted that the "boys took few prisoners, their shots +proving singularly fatal."(11) + +The affair itself was of but little consequence, as Colonel Scott +was driven out of Athens the succeeding night, and the next day +across the Tennessee, he only having captured Stanley's baggage, +four wagons, and twenty men, having suffered in killed and wounded +a greater loss than he had inflicted. + +Out of this incident arose one of the most exceptional occurrences +of the whole war. + +Colonel John Basil Turchin, of the 19th Illinois, in command of a +brigade in Mitchel's division, reached Athens, May 2d, and, it was +said, in retaliation for the alleged bad conduct of its citizens +the day preceding, he retired to his tent and gave the place up +for two hours to be sacked by his command. It was asserted that +private houses were invaded during this time, money and valuables +seized and carried off, and revolting outrages committed. Turchin +was a Russian,(12) a soldier of experience, and a military man, +educated in the best schools of Europe. He had served on the +general staff of the Czar of Russia and in the Imperial Guard, +rising to the rank of Colonel, and he had served his Czar also in +the Hungarian War, 1848-49, and in the Crimean War of 1854-56. + +It is more than possible that he had imbibed notions as to the +manner and believed in methods of treating the enemy's property, +including their slaves, and of dealing with captured towns and +cities and their inhabitants, not in harmony with modern and more +humane and civilized rules of war. + +He did not believe war could be successfully waged by an invading +army with its officers and soldiers acting as missionaries of mercy +for and protectors and preservers of the property of hostile +inhabitants. Later, and after General McCausland burned Chambersburg, +Penna., less criticism fell on Turchin for his behavior at Athens. + +His conduct and that of his command were doubtless exaggerated in +many particulars, but enough was true to excite much comment and +fierce denunciation and condemnation. The affair was especially +unfortunate as to place, Athens being justly celebrated for the +number of inhabitants who honestly adhered to the Union cause. + +General Mitchel repaired to Athens on hearing it had been sacked, +addressed the citizens, induced them to organize a committee to +hear and report on all complaints; then ordered the brigade commander +to cause every soldier under him to be searched, and every officer +to state in writing, upon honor, that he had no pillaged property. +The committee subsequently reported, but no charge was made against +any officer or soldiers by name. The bills of forty-five citizens, +however, were presented by it, aggregating $54,689.80, for alleged +depredations. The search was made without finding an article and +the reports of officers showed that they had no stolen property. + +Strict orders against pillaging and plundering were issued and +thereafter enforced in Mitchel's division. The outrages upon women, +if any occurred, were greatly magnified.(13) + +Buell caused Turchin to be placed in arrest, and he was later tried, +convicted, and sentenced to be dismissed the service of the United +States, the court having found him guilty of "neglect of duty, to +the prejudice of good order and military discipline," and of +"disobedience of orders," and of certain specifications to the +charges, among others one embodying the allegation that he did "on +or about the 2d of May, 1862, march his brigade into the town of +Athens, State of Alabama, and having had the arms of the regiments +stacked in the streets, did allow his command to disperse, and in +his presence, or with his knowledge and that of his officers, to +plunder and pillage the inhabitants of said town and of the country +adjacent thereto, without taking adequate steps to restrain them." +He pleaded guilty to one specification only, namely, that of +permitting his _wife_ to be with him in Athens, and to accompany +him while serving with troops in the field. This court-martial +was ordered by Buell, July 5, 1862, and it met first at Athens and +then at Huntsville, Alabama, July 20th.(14) General James A. +Garfield was its President, and Colonels John Beatty, Jacob Ammern, +Curran Pope, J. G. Jones, Marc Mundy, and T. D. Sedgwick were the +other members. + +During the session of the court, General Garfield and Colonel Ammen +were the guests of Colonel Beatty and myself at our camp near +Huntsville. Though I had met Garfield, I had no previous acquaintance +with either of them. They were even them remarkable men--both +accomplished and highly educated, Ammen having previously had a +military education. We were enabled to get intimately acquainted +with them at our meals and during the long evenings spent in discussing +the war and all manner of subjects. Both were fine talkers and +enjoyed controversial conversation. Ammen, though not alone from +vanity, was disposed to occupy the most of the time, and sometimes +he would occupy an entire evening telling stories, narrating an +event, or maintaining his own side of a controversy. He was the +oldest of the party, and always interesting, so he was tolerated in +this--_generally_. He was superstitious, and believed in the +supernatural to a certain extent, denying that such belief was a +weakness, else "Napoleon and Sir Walter Scott were the weakest of +men." General Beatty relates an incident of an evening's talk +(July 24th) at our camp thus: + +"We ate supper, and immediately adjourned to the adjoining tent. +Before Garfield was fairly seated on his camp stool, he began to +talk with the easy and deliberate manner of a man who had much to +say. He dwelt eloquently on the minutest details of his early +life, as if they were matters of the utmost importance. Keifer +was not only an attentive listener, but seemed wonderfully interested. +Uncle Jacob undertook to thrust in a word here and there, but +Garfield was much too absorbed to notice him, and so pushed on +steadily, warming up as he proceeded. Unfortunately for his scheme, +however, before he had gone far he made a touching reference to +his mother, when Uncle Jacob, gesticulating energetically, and with +his forefinger levelled at the speaker, cried: 'Just a word--just +one word right there,' and so persisted until Garfield was compelled +either to yield or be absolutely discourteous. The General, +therefore, got in his word; nay, he held the floor for the remainder +of the evening. The conspirators made brave efforts to put him +down and cut him off, but they were unsuccessful. At midnight, +when Keifer and I had left, he was still talking; and after we had +got into bed, he, with his suspenders dangling about his legs, +thrust his head into our tent-door, and favored us with the few +observations we had lost by reason of our hasty departure. Keifer +turned his face to the wall and groaned. Poor man, he had been +hoisted by his own petard. I think Uncle Jacob suspected that the +young men had set up a job on him."(15) + +The court having concluded the case, Buell, August 6, 1862, issued +an order approving its proceedings and sentence of dismissal from +the service, and declaring that Colonel Turchin ceased "to be in +the service of the United States."(16) + +Although the charges against him and his trial were notorious, and +well known at the War Department and to the country, President +Lincoln, the day preceding Buell's order of dismissal, appointed +Colonel Turchin a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and the Senate +promptly confirmed the appointment, and thus he came out of his +trial and condemnation with increased rank. He accepted the +promotion, served in the field afterwards, was distinguished in +many battles, and left the army October 4, 1864. + +Turchin at the time he entered the Union Army was, and still is, +a resident of Illinois. + +There were many excellent men of foreign birth and residence who +found places in the Union Army and filled them with credit.(17) + +At Paint Rock, on the railroad east of Huntsville, the train on +which the 3d Ohio was being transported from Stevenson (May 2d) +was fired upon from ambush by guerillas, and six or eight men more +or less seriously wounded. + +Colonel Beatty stopped the train, and after giving the citizens +notice that all such acts of bushwhacking would bring on them +certain destruction of property, as it was known that professed +peaceful citizens were often themselves the guilty parties or +harbored the guilty ones, himself fired the town as an earnest of +what a repetition of such deeds would bring. + +Many fruitless small expeditions were undertaken to drive out the +constant invasions made by Wheeler's, Morgan's, Adams', and Scott's +cavalry north of the Tennessee and upon our lines of communication. + +On May 18th, having become restless in camp, I volunteered as +special aide to Colonel Wm. H. Lytle on an expedition to Winchester, +Tennessee. We passed through a region thickly infested with the +most daring bands of guerillas, and at Winchester had an encounter +with some of Adams' regular cavalry, who, after making a rash charge +into the town while we occupied it and losing a few men, retreated +eastward to the mountains. + +On May 13th General James S. Negley led a force from Pulaski against +Adams' cavalry at Rogersville, north of the Tennessee opposite the +Muscle Shoals, and with slight loss drove it across the river. +Later there was a more determined effort by the Confederates to +occupy, with considerable bodies of cavalry and light artillery, +the country north of the Tennessee below Chattanooga, but June 4th, +an expedition under Negley, composed of troops selected from +Mitchel's command, surprised Adams with his principal force twelve +miles northwest of Jasper, and routed him, killing about twenty of +his men and wounding and capturing about one hundred more; also +capturing arms, ammunition, commissary wagons, and supplies.(18) +Negley pushed his command over the mountains up to the Tennessee, +threatening to cross to the south side at Shellmound, and at other +points, and finally took position opposite Chattanooga. + +The expedition caused much consternation among the rebels, though +little was actually accomplished. The attack made on Chattanooga, +June 7th and 8th, failed, and Negley's command returned.(19) +Colonel Joshua W. Sill, 33d Ohio, afterwards Brigadier-General, +and killed at the battle of Stone's River, commanded a brigade +under Mitchel and in the Chattanooga expedition. He was an +accomplished, educated officer, modest almost to a fault, yet brave +and capable of great deeds. His body is buried at Chillicothe, +Ohio. + +Mitchel's position in Northern Alabama was at all times precarious; +he covered too much country; lacked concentration, and was constantly +in danger of being assailed in detail; besides, his relations to +Buell, his immediate commander, were not cordial. He complained +frequently directly to the Secretary of War for want of support. +Shortly after Buell's arrival from Corinth, the last of June, +Mitchel tendered his resignation and asked to be granted immediate +leave of absence, but the next day (July 2d) he was, by the Secretary +of War, ordered to repair to Washington,(20) and General Lovell H. +Rousseau, a Kentuckian, who also believed in a vigorous prosecution +of the war, succeeded him. General Mitchel on reaching Washington +was selected by President Lincoln for command of an expedition on +the Mississippi, but Halleck opposed his suggestion and failed to +give the necessary orders for the contemplated movement, consequently +Mitchel remained inactive until September, when he was assigned +the command of the Department of the South, headquarters Hilton +Head. He was stricken with yellow fever and died at Beaufort, +South Carolina, October 30, 1862. He is buried at Greenwood +Cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y. + +( 1) Pittenger, _Capturing a Locomotive_, pp. 26, 40. + +( 2) _Capturing a Locomotive_, pp. 66-8. + +( 3) _Capturing a Locomotive_, pp. 204-5, 182, 224, 353. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 641; Part II., p. 104. + +( 5) _Ante_, p. 5. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. x., Part II., pp. 115, 162-5, 195. + +( 7) Quoted in Lincoln's 22d of September, 1862, proclamation. + +( 8) McPherson, _History of Reconstruction_, p. 293. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 657. + +(10) Leadbetter's report, _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 658. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 878. + +(12) Russian name--Ivan Vasilevitch Turchinoff. Turchin, _Battle +of Chickamauga_, pp. 5, 6. + +(13) _War Records_, vol. x., Part II., pp. 204, 212, 290, 294-5. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part II., pp. 99, 273. + +(15) _Citizen Soldier_, p. 159. + +(16) _War Records_, vol. xvi., p. 277. + +(17) My last letter from Gen. Robert C. Schenck speaks of meeting, +while Minister in England, a former Ohio soldier. I give his +letter, omitting unimportant parts. + + "Marshall House, York Harbor, Maine, July 10, 1889. +"My Dear General Keifer,--Your letter came to me just as I was +leaving Washington. . . . I keep fairly well and vigorous for an +old fellow so near to the octogenarian line. Accept my thanks for +your kind remembrance and good wishes. You want to know about +Colonel John DeCourcey, who commanded the [16th] regiment of Ohio +Infantry for some time during our late war. I have not much to +tell you of him, except that I made his acquaintance afterwards as +a British nobleman. He was appointed a Union officer, I believe, +by Governor Dennison, and had had, as I understand, some previous +military experience and training. + +"One night, in a party at the house of a friend in London, about +1872, I was told that Lord Kinsale desired especially to be presented +to me. I said of course it would be agreeable. On being introduced +he explained that, besides a general desire to pay his respects to +the American Minister, he took an interest in me as being from +Ohio. I was a little surprised to find an English gentleman having +any particular knowledge about Ohio. He went on to tell me he had +not been in London for some time, and had been ill, or he would +have called on me before that time, for that he had served as +commander of an Ohio regiment during our late war. This surprised +me, but he explained that he was not then Lord Kinsale, else the +fact might have attracted some attention, but only John DeCourcey, +having succeeded rather unexpectedly to the title. I think he said +on the death of a cousin, and perhaps the end of two or three other +lives intervening. He was himself then an invalid, apparently, +and has since died. I found him an agreeable gentleman. + +"The Barony of Kinsale is an old title. I believe this Lord Kinsale +was the 31st or 32d Baron. His ancestor, Earl of Ulster, for +defending King John, in single combat, with a champion provided by +Philip Augustus of France, was granted the privilege for himself +and heirs, _forever to go with covered head in the presence of +Royalty_. This, my dear general, must be about all that I told +you of John DeCourcey, or could remember when I met you on the +occasion you mention, at Springfield. Hope you are in good heart +and health, I am + + "Very sincerely yours, + "Robt. C. Schenck." + +(18) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp. 904, 919-920. + +(19) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., pp, 904, 919-920. + +(20) _Battles and Leaders_, etc., vol. ii., pp. 706-7; _War +Records_, vol. xvi., Part II., p. 92. + + +CHAPTER VIII +Confederate Invasion of Kentucky (1862)--Cincinnati Threatened, +and "Squirrel Hunters" Called Out--Battles of Iuka, Corinth, and +Hatchie Bridge--Movements of Confederate Armies of Bragg and Kirby +Smith--Retirement of Buell's Army to Louisville--Battle of Perryville, +with Personal and Other Incidents + +As we have seen, Halleck's great army at Corinth was dispersed, +the Army of the Ohio going eastward. It spent the month of June, +1862, in rebuilding bridges, including the great bridge across the +Tennessee at Decatur, but recently burned under his direction, and +soon again to be abandoned to the Confederates. + +The Confederate authorities projected an invasion on two lines and +with two armies,--one under General E. Kirby Smith and the other +under General Braxton Bragg,--the Ohio River and the cities of +Louisville and Cincinnati being the objective points; the design +being, also, to recruit the Confederate armies in Kentucky, obtain +supplies, and force the evacuation by the Union Army of Alabama +and Tennessee, and especially of Nashville. Early in August, 1862, +these two Confederate armies were assembled at Knoxville and +Chattanooga and along the Upper Tennessee, Kirby Smith's main force +at the former and Bragg's at the latter place. The objectives of +these armies were soon known, and the Army of the Ohio was therefore +ordered to concentrate from its scattered situation at Decherd and +Winchester, Tennessee. + +General Robert L. McCook, late Colonel of the 9th Ohio, commanding +a brigade under General George H. Thomas, while riding in an +ambulance at the head of his command, ill and helpless, was shot +and mortally wounded, August 5th, about three miles eastward of +New Market, Alabama, by a body of ambushed men, said to have been +guerillas in citizens' dress. He died at 12 M., August 6th. His +command, in retaliation, laid the country waste around the scene +of his death.( 1) McCook had fought in Western Virginia; at Mill +Springs (where he was wounded), at Shiloh, and elsewhere. He was +one of the ten sons of Major Daniel McCook, who was killed (July +21, 1863), at sixty-five years of age, near Buffington's Island, +during the Morgan raid in Ohio, while leading a party to cut off +Morgan's escape across the Ohio River. Two brothers of his were +killed in battle--Charles M., at Bull Run, July 21, 1861, and Daniel +at Kenesaw, July 21, 1864. Alexander McDowell McCook commanded a +corps, and all the brothers had honorable war records. Dr. John +McCook, brother of the senior Daniel McCook, likewise served and +died in the war. He had five sons, three of whom served with +distinction in the volunteer army and two in the navy. I knew +John's son, General Anson George McCook, first in Mitchel's division +as Major and Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2d Ohio, then in the Forty- +fifty, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses, and later as +Secretary of the United States Senate. + +The killing of General R. L. McCook, under the circumstances, was +regarded as murder, and excited deep indignation both in and out +of the army. Even Buell issued orders to arrest every able-bodied +man of suspicious character within a radius of ten miles of the +place where McCook was shot, to take all horses fit for service +within that circuit, and to pursue and destroy bushwhackers.( 2) +With the arrest of a few men and the taking of some horses, however, +the incident closed so far as official action was concerned. + +Memphis was taken, on June 6, 1862, by Flag Officer C. H. Davis, +who had with him a Ram Fleet under Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr., and an +Indiana brigade under Colonel G. N. Fitch.( 3) + +The plan of the Confederate invasion, as already stated, was to +operate on two lines. Kirby Smith from Knoxville was first to move +on and take Cumberland Gap, then held by General George W. Morgan. +Bragg was at Tupelo, Mississippi, July 18th, but, fired with the +idea that on Kentucky being invaded her people would flock to arms +under the Confederate standard, he commenced transferring his army +to the new field of operations and removed his headquarters, July +29th, to Chattanooga. + +Kirby Smith took the field August 13th, moving on Cumberland Gap, +but, finding it impregnable by direct attack, he left General +Stevenson with a division to threaten it and advanced on Lexington. +John Morgan with a considerable body of cavalry preceded Smith into +Middle Kentucky, and his incursion was taken as a forerunner of +the greater one to follow. Alarm over the audacious movement was +not limited to Kentucky; it spread to Ohio, and there were fears +for the safety of Cincinnati. + +General Horatio G. Wright was assigned to a new Department of the +Ohio, composed of the States of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, +Wisconsin, and Kentucky east of the Tennessee River, including +Cumberland Gap, and he assumed command of it August 23d, headquarters +at Cincinnati.( 4) On the 16th, Buell had ordered General Wm. +Nelson from the vicinity of Murfreesboro, with some artillery and +infantry, to Kentucky, to there organize troops to keep open +communications and operate against John Morgan.( 5) Wright, on +the 23d, ordered Nelson to Lexington to assume command of the troops +in that vicinity and relieve General Lew Wallace. Nelson, with +insufficient, and mainly new, undrilled, and undisciplined troops, +moved to Richmond, Ky., where (August 30th) he was assailed by +Kirby Smith's army and his forces disastrously routed with much +loss, principally in captured. He was himself wounded in the leg +by a musket ball. There were few organized Union troops now between +Smith's army and the Ohio River, and such organizations as could +be assembled were new and unable to cope with the Confederate +veterans. The news of the defeat at Richmond reached Cincinnati +the same evening, and it was at once assumed that Lexington and +Frankfort would soon be in the enemy's hands, and Kirby Smith's +army would forthwith march on Covington, Newport, and Cincinnati. +The assumption proved correct, as the defeated troops retreated +through Frankfort and Lexington. + +The Mayor (George Hatch) and City Council of Cincinnati acted with +courage and energy to meet the impending emergency, and the loyal +people earnestly responded to all requirements and submitted to +the military authorities, either to take up arms or to work on +intrenchments. Lew Wallace, assigned by Wright to the immediate +command of the three cities, proclaimed martial law to be executed +(until relieved by the military) by the police; and business +generally was suspended. + +The Mayor, with Wallace's sanction, permitted the banks to remain +open from 1 to 2 P.M.; bakers to pursue their occupation; physicians +to attend their patients; employees of newspapers to pursue their +business; funerals to be permitted, but mourners only to leave the +city; all druggists were allowed to do business, but all drinking +saloons, eating-houses, and places of amusement were to be kept +closed. Governor David Tod, September 1st, authorized the reception +of armed citizens from throughout the State, who were denominated +"_Squirrel Hunters_." The patriotism of the people of Ohio and +Indiana was heroically shown, and their rushing in large numbers +to the defence of Cincinnati and other threatened cities may have +had its influence, and was, at least, highly commendable; yet, if +a real attack had been made on these cities, it is hardly likely +that the "Squirrel Hunters" would have proved efficient as soldiers. +Kirby Smith entered Lexington, Ky., September 1st, and two days +later he dispatched General Heth with about six thousand men to +threaten Cincinnati. Heth was joined the next day by Morgan and +his raiders. By the 10th these forces were near Covington and +threatened a serious attack. There were some artillery shots fired +and some light skirmishing, but the next day it was ascertained +the Confederates had commenced a retreat, and in a few days the +"_Squirrel Hunters_" returned to their homes amid the plaudits of +a loyal people, and business was resumed in the Queen City. A +single act of disorder is reported in Cincinnati on the part of +some citizens who began tearing up a street railroad because it +was believed to be invidious to allow it to do business "when lager- +beer saloons could not."( 6) + +The Legislature of Ohio authorized the presentation by the Governor +of a lithographic discharge to each "_Squirrel Hunter_." + +Before narrating the movements of Bragg's army from the Tennessee +to the vicinity of Louisville, and of Buell's army in pursuit on +Bragg's flank and rear, an attempt by another Confederate column +to co-operative with Bragg in carrying out his general plan of +invading Kentucky should be mentioned. + +General Sterling Price, hitherto operating in Arkansas and Missouri, +immediately after Shiloh, had been transferred with his army to +Corinth to reinforce Beauregard, and when Bragg, who succeeded +Beauregard, decided upon his plan of invasion, and had concentrated +the bulk of his army at Chattanooga for that purpose, he assigned +General Earl Van Dorn to the District of Mississippi and Price to +the District of Tennessee, the latter to hold the line of the Mobile +and Ohio Railroad, and both were to confront and watch Grant and +prevent him from sending reinforcements to Buell. Price was left +at Tupelo, Mississippi, with about 15,000 men. Later, September +11th, President Davis ordered Van Dorn to assume command of both +his own and Price's army, the latter then on its march to Iuka, +Mississippi, intending to move thence into Middle Tennessee if it +should be found, as Bragg was led to believe, that Rosecrans (who, +June 11th, had succeeded Pope in command of the Army of the +Mississippi) had gone with his army to Nashville to reinforce Buell. +Two of Grant's divisions, Paine's and Jeff C. Davis', had gone +there, leaving the force for the defence of North Mississippi much +reduced. Price entered Iuka September 14th, the garrison retiring +without an engagement. Price, on learning that Rosecrans had +retired on Corinth, telegraphed Van Dorn that he would turn back +and co-operate in an attack on Corinth. Bragg telegraphed him to +hasten towards Nashville. Rosecrans wired Grant to "watch the old +wood-pecker or he would get away from them." September 17th, +Halleck telegraphed Grant to prevent Price from crossing the +Tennessee and forming a junction with Bragg. Grant telegraphed he +would "do everything in his power to prevent such a catastrophe," +and he began concentrating his troops against Price at Iuka. +General E. O. C. Ord was moved to Burnsville, where Grant established +his headquarters, and Rosecrans marched his two divisions to Jacinto, +with orders to move on Iuka, flank Price, and cut off his retreat. +General Stephen A. Hurlburt was ordered to make a strong demonstration +from Bolivar, Tennessee, against Van Dorn, then near Grand Junction +with about 10,000 effective men, and lead him to believe he was in +immediate danger of an attack, and thus prevent him from making a +diversion in aid of Price by marching on Corinth. This ruse was +successful. Orders were given by Grant and preparation was made +by Ord to attack Price at Iuka as soon as Rosecrans' guns on the +Jacinto road were heard. About 4 P.M., September 19th, C. S. +Hamilton's division, under Rosecrans, attacked Little's division +of Price's army on the Jacinto road, and a severe combat ensued +until night, with varying success, both sides at dark claiming a +victory. Neither Grant nor Ord heard the sound of the battle in +consequence of the intervening dense woods and an unfavorable wind. +Rosecrans did not or could not advise Grant of the state of affairs, +and the latter did not learn of the battle until 8.30 A.M. of the +20th. Price retreated in the night with his forces towards Baldwyn, +on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, whither Grant ordered Ord with +Hamilton's and Stanley's divisions and the cavalry to pursue. The +pursuit was ineffectual. The battle of Iuka was fought after 4 +P.M., principally by two opposing brigades, each about 4000 strong. +The Union loss was, killed 141, wounded 613, missing 36, total 790. + +The Confederate loss, as reported, was, killed 85, wounded 410, +missing 40, total 535.( 7) + +After Iuka Rosecrans was placed in command at Corinth, Grant having +established his headquarters at Jackson, Tennessee. Hurlburt was +at Bolivar, Tennessee, with his division. Though Halleck had partly +constructed defensive works around Corinth on occupying it in May, +1862, they were too remote from the town and too elaborate for a +small army. + +Grant had, more recently, partly constructed some open batteries +with connecting breastworks on College Hill. These Rosecrans +further completed, and also constructed some redoubts to cover the +north of the town. + +From Ripley, Mississippi, September 29th, Van Dorn, with his own +and Price's army, his force numbering about 25,000, by a rapid +march advanced on Corinth, where Rosecrans could assemble not +exceeding 18,500 men, consisting of the divisions of Generals David +S. Stanley and C. S. Hamilton and the cavalry division of Colonel +John K. Mizner, of the Army of the Mississippi, and the divisions +of Generals Thomas A. Davies and Thomas J. McKean, of the Army of +the Tennessee. It was not known certainly until the 3d of October +whether Van Dorn designed to attack Bolivar, Jackson, or Corinth. +The advance of Van Dorn and Price was met on the Chewalla road by +Oliver's brigade of McKean's division, which was steadily driven +back, together with reinforcements until, at 10 A.M., all the Union +troops were inside the old Halleck intrenched line, and by 1.30 +P.M. the Confederates had taken it and were pushing vigorously +towards the more recently established inner line of intrenchments. +Price's army formed on the Confederate left and Van Dorn's on the +right. The brunt of the afternoon battle fell on McKean's and +Davies' divisions. General Hackleman of Davies' division was +killed, and General Richard J. Oglesby of the same division was +severely wounded. The Union troops engaged lost heavily. One +brigade of Stanley's division and Sullivan's brigade of Hamilton's +division late in the day came to the relief of the heavily pressed +Union troops. The coming of night put an end to the battle, but +with the Confederate Army within six hundred yards of Corinth and +the Union troops mainly behind their inner and last line of defence. +The situation was critical. The morning of the 4th found Rosecrans' +army formed, McKean on the left, Stanley and Davies to his right +in the order named, one brigade of Hamilton on the extreme right +and the rest of Hamilton's division in reserve behind the right.( 8) + +Van Dorn opened fire at 4.30 A.M. with artillery, but he did not +advance to the real attack until about 8 A.M. It came from north +of town and fell heaviest on Davies' division. His front line gave +way, and later his command was broken, and some of the Confederates +penetrated the town and to where the reserve artillery was massed. +Stanley's reserves, however, speedily fell on them and drove them +out with great loss. Then the attack came on Battery-Robinett, to +the westward near the Union centre. Three successive charges were +made in column on this battery and on the centre with the greatest +determination, and much close fighting occurred until the last +assault was repulsed about 11 A.M. (October 4, 1862), when the +enemy fell back under cover beyond cannon-shot. Van Dorn had hoped +to take Corinth on the 3d, and now, being repulsed at every point, +he beat a retreat, knowing Grant would not be inactive. It was +not until about 2 P.M. that Rosecrans ascertained the enemy had +commenced a retreat.( 9) General James B. McPherson arrived, +October 4th, from Jackson with five regiments, but too late for +the battle. The engagement was a severe one; both armies fought +with desperation and skill; the Union troops, being outnumbered, +made up the disparity by fighting, in part, behind breastworks. + +The losses were heavy, especially in officers of rank. The Union +loss was, killed 27 officers and 328 men, wounded 115 officers and +1726 men, captured or missing 5 officers and 319 men; grand total, +2520.(10) The Confederate loss (as stated in Van Dorn's report +(11)), including casualties at Hatchie Bridge (October 5th), was, +killed 594, wounded 2162, prisoners or missing 2102; grand total, +4858. + +Grant, besides sending McPherson to Rosecrans' support, had directed +Hurlburt at Bolivar to march with his division on the enemy's rear. +Hurlburt started on the 4th by way of Middletown and Pocahontas. +At the former place he encountered the enemy's cavalry and forced +them by night to and across the Big Muddy, where the division +encamped, one brigade having taken and crossed the bridge to the +east side. Hurlburt's orders from Grant were to reach Rosecrans +at all hazards.(12) The situation for Hurlburt was critical. He +had in front of his single division both Van Dorn and Price. But +the situation was in a high degree desperate for the retreating +army. If its retreat were arrested long enough for Rosecrans' +column to assail it in the rear it must be lost or dispersed. It +was this that Grant confidently calculated on. On the morning of +the 5th Hurlburt pushed vigorously forward to Davis' Bridge over +the Hatchie. General Ord arrived about 8 A.M. and took command of +Hurlburt's forces. The movement had hardly commenced when strong +resistance was met with. Ord pushed the enemy back for about three +miles with General Veatch's brigade, taking a ridge--Metamora--about +one mile from the Hatchie. Here a severe battle ensued, the enemy +was driven from the field across the bridge, and a portion of Ord's +command gained a position just east of the river, though not without +much loss. Ord was himself wounded at the bridge, and the command +again devolved on Hurlburt. The latter soon thereafter secured a +permanent lodgement on the east of the Hatchie, thus effectively +stopping the retreat of Van Dorn by that route and forcing him to +fall back and find another less desirable one. Under cover of +night Van Dorn retreated upon another road to the southward, and +crossed the Hatchie at Crum's Mill, six miles farther up the +river.(13) + +The success of Ord and Hurlburt was so complete that Grant believed +Van Dorn's army should have been destroyed.(14) + +Rosecrans did not move from Corinth until the morning of the 5th +of October, and then not fast or far enough to overtake Van Dorn +in the throes of battle with Ord and Hurlburt or in time to cut +off his retreat by another route. Rosecrans gave as an excuse the +exhausted condition of his troops after the battle of the 4th. At +2 P.M., the last day of the battle, he was certain the enemy had +decided to retreat, yet he directed the victorious troops to proceed +to their camps, provide five days' rations, take food and rest, +and be ready to move early the next morning.(15) McPherson, having +arrived with a fresh brigade, could have been at once pushed upon +the rear of Van Dorn's exhausted troops. Rosecrans' army went into +camp again in the afternoon of the 5th, while Ord and Hurlburt were +fighting their battle. Although the pursuit was resumed by Rosecrans +on the 6th, and thereafter continued to Ripley, it was after the +flying enemy had passed beyond reach. But while it is possible +that Rosecrans could have done better, it is certain that he and +his troops did well; Van Dorn's diversion in favor of Bragg's grand, +central invasion, at any rate, failed amid disaster. + +But we must return to Bragg and Buell, the principal actors in the +march to Kentucky. + +Bragg's army commenced to cross the Tennessee at Chattanooga August +26, 1862, and immediately set out to the northward, his cavalry, +under Wheeler, keeping well towards the foot of the mountains to +the westward, covering and masking the real movement. Buell's +army, as we have stated, was concentrated in the neighborhood of +Dechard, Tennessee, with detachments of it still holding Huntsville, +Battle Creek, and Murfreesboro. + +Numerous and generally unimportant skirmishes took place at Battle +Creek and other places. Murfreesboro was surprised and disgracefully +surrendered to Forrest's cavalry July 13th, and Morgan's forces +captured Gallatin, Tennessee, August 12th; but these places were +not held. + +Bragg continued his march through Pikeville and Sparta, Tennessee, +crossing the Cumberland at Carthage and Gainesborough. Uniting +his army at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, he proceeded through Glasgow +to Munfordville, on Green River, where there was a considerable +fortification, occupied by Colonel J. T. Wilder with about 4000 men. + +Buell, after having sent some of his divisions as far east into +the mountains as Jasper, Altamont, and McMinnville, with no results, +moved his army to Nashville, thence with the reinforcements from +Grant (two divisions), leaving two divisions and some detachments +under Thomas to hold that city, through Tyree Springs and Franklin +to Bowling Green, Kentucky, the advance arriving there September +11th.(16) Bragg was then at Glasgow. General James R. Chalmers +and Colonel Scott, each with a brigade, the former of infantry, +the other of cavalry, attacked, and Chalmers' brigade assaulted +Wilder's position September 14th. The assault was repelled with +much slaughter, Chalmers' loss being 3 officers and 32 men killed +and 28 officers and 225 men wounded.(17) Chalmers then retired to +Cave City, but returned with Bragg's main army on the 16th. Bragg +having his army up, and Polk's corps north of Munfordville and +Hardee's south of the river, opened negotiations for the surrender +of the place. Being completely surrounded, with heavy batteries +on all sides, Wilder capitulated, including 4133 officers and men. +Chalmers was designated to take possession of the surrendered works +on the morning of the 17th. Had Buell marched promptly on Munfordville +from Bowling Green he would have found Bragg with one half of his +army south of Green River and Polk with the other half north of +it, and Wilder still holding a position on the river between the +two. + +Bragg, after the surrender, concentrated his army south of Green +River opposite Munfordville along a low crest of hills. He had +not yet formed a junction with Kirby Smith, and his force then in +position probably did not much exceed 20,000.(18) + +The position had no special advantages, was well known to many of +Buell's officers, and should have been to Buell himself. In case +of defeat, Bragg's army must have been lost and Kirby Smith's left +to the same fate. Green River, passable in few places in Bragg's +rear and to the north, would have rendered retreat impossible for +a defeated army, and, besides, Bragg had no base north to retreat +to. The situation was well understood in our army, except by Buell, +who seemed to fear a junction with Kirby Smith had been formed, +though Wilder (just paroled) and others of his officers on the day +of the surrender informed Buell that no junction had been made. +Wilder, however, had an exaggerated opinion of Bragg's strength at +Munfordville. The junction of the two Confederate armies did not +take place until October 9th, at Harrodsburg, the day succeeding +the battle of Perryville.(19) + +Buell had, south of Bragg, not less than 50,000 effective men. He +since admits he had 35,000 men present before he ordered Thomas' +division and other troops up from Nashville.(19) Thomas arrived +on the 19th and 20th. There was some skirmishing on the 20th, and +Bragg was then permitted to withdraw without further molestation +across the river, whence he marched northward. The slowness of +the movement of Buell's army from Nashville to Bowling Green and, +after delaying there five days, thence towards Munfordville, was +freely commented on by his army at the time. It was composed of +seasoned and experienced troops, eager to find the enemy and give +him battle.(20) In the history of no war was a more favorable +opportunity presented to fight and reap a victor's fruits than at +Green River, but the time and men for great and controlling success +were not yet come. + +The water supply northward of Bowling Green, already spoken of, +was at best poor and deficient, especially in the hot September +weather. The pools or ponds, befouled by the shooting in the +February preceding of diseased and broken-down animals of Hardee's +army on its retirement from Bowling Green, contained the most +noxious and revolting water, yet it was at one time, for a large +part of the army, all that was to be had for man or beast. I +remember Colonel John Beatty and I, on one occasion near Cave City, +stood in a hard rain storm holding the corners of a rubber blanket +so as to catch a supply of water to slake our thirst. The army, +however, as was generally the case when moving, suffered little +from sickness. + +The wagon train of Buell's army was dispatched with a cavalry guard +from Bowling Green on a road to the westward of Munfordville through +Brownsville, Litchifield, and Big Spring to West Point at the mouth +of Salt River on the Ohio, thence to Louisville.(21) + +Bragg continued his march unmolested and unresisted north from +Green River along the railroad to near Nolin, thence northwestward +by Hodgensville to Bardstown, then through Perryville to Harrodsburg, +some part of his army going as far as Lawrenceburg, Lexington, and +Frankfort.(21) + +Buell marched _after_ Bragg to near Nolin, thence keeping to the +west through Elizabethtown and West Point to Louisville, the advance, +General Thomas' division, arrived there September 25th, and the +last division the 29th. Both train and army reaching the city in +safety had the effect, at least, of relieving the place from further +danger of capture, and for this Buell had due credit, though the +country and the authorities at Washington were highly displeased +with the result of his campaign. + +Cumberland Gap, for want of supplies, was, on the night of the 17th +of September, evacuated by General George W. Morgan, and though +pursued by General Stevenson and John Morgan's cavalry, he made +his way through Manchester, Booneville, West Liberty, and Grayson +to Greenup, on the Ohio, arriving there the 2d of October. Stevenson +then rejoined Kirby Smith at Frankfort. + +It is true Nashville was still held of the Union forces, but Northern +Alabama and nearly all else in Middle Tennessee occupied during +the campaigns of the previous spring were lost or abandoned. Grant +alone held his ground in Northern Mississippi and Western Tennessee, +and his army had been dangerously depleted to reinforce Buell. + +Clarksville, on the Cumberland below Nashville, in Grant's department, +was captured, August 18th, 1862, and some steamboats and some +supplies were there taken and destroyed. Colonel Rodney Mason +(71st Ohio) was in command, and had under him at the time only +about 225 men. His position was not a good one for defence; he +had no fortifications, and was without cavalry to give him information +of the approach or strength of the enemy. It was variously claimed +that Mason surrendered to only a few irregular cavalry with no +artillery, and without firing a gun, on being deceived into the +belief that he was surrounded by a superior force with six pieces +of artillery.(22) The War Department, somewhat hastily, August +22d, by order, without trial, dismissed Colonel Mason from the +service. This order was revoked March 22, 1866.(22) Twelve officers +of the regiment signed a statement to the effect that they had +advised the surrender. For this the War Department mustered them +out August 29, 1862. The President directed the order revoked as +to Captain Sol. J. Houck, because he signed the statement under a +misapprehension of its contents.(23) The order dismissing the +others was revoked after the war, except as to Lieutenant Ira L. +Morris, who enlisted in 1864 as a private soldier, and was thereupon +honorably discharged as a Lieutenant. + +The Confederate Army was now in occupancy of Frankfort, Lexington, +Cumberland Gap, and most of middle Kentucky. Buell's army, largely +reinforced by fresh troops and numbering, present for duty, +65,886,(24) was apparently besieged at Louisville. Nelson had +retired there from his disaster at Richmond (August 30th), and had +collected a very considerable army and thrown up some breastworks. + +At West Point I obtained permission to proceed with the advance of +the army to Louisville, having previously been notified of my +appointment as Colonel of a newly-organized regiment. + +On reaching Louisville I first saw President Lincoln's 22d of +September Proclamation, announcing that on January 1, 1863, he +would proclaim all slaves within States or designated parts of a +State, the people whereof should be in rebellion, "thenceforward +and forever free." The idea of prosecuting the war for the liberation +of slaves in rebellious States had, to say the least, had not been +fostered in Buell's army, hence there was much criticism of this +proclamation by officers, and some foolish threats of resigning +rather than "fight for the freedom of the negro." Even the army, +fighting patriotically to suppress the rebellion, did not then +fully appreciate that it was not in God's divine plan that peace +should ever come to our stricken country until our banner of liberty +waved over none but freemen. + +On the 24th of September the President issued an order creating +the Department of the Tennessee and assigned to its command Major- +General George H. Thomas; and the same day Buell was ordered to +turn his command over to him and to retire to Indianapolis.(25) +These orders were forwarded by Colonel McKibben, but not delivered +until the 29th.(26) Buell immediately turned over his command to +Thomas, but the latter, with his natural modesty, protested against +accepting it in the emergency. Halleck suspended the order, and +Buell again resumed command, announcing Thomas as second in +command.(26) + +More than a year elapsed before General Thomas was again given so +important a command as the one he thus declined, and then he relieved +Rosecrans and took command of the Army of the Cumberland when it +was besieged by Bragg at Chattanooga. Thomas, though diffident to +a degree, was one of our greatest soldiers. He served uninterruptedly +from the opening to the close of the war, distinguishing himself +in many battles, especially at Stone's River, at Chickamauga, on +the Atlanta campaign (1864), and at Nashville, December 15 and 16, +1864. He was admired, almost adored, by the soldiers of the Army +of the Cumberland, and he deserved their affection. His principal +characteristics differed from those of Grant, Sherman, Meade, or +Sheridan, who, though great soldiers, each differed in disposition, +temper, and quality from the others. General Thomas, being a +Virginian by birth, was at first expected and coaxed to go into +the rebellion, then later he was abused and slandered by statements +coming from the South to the effect that he had contemplated going +with his State. There is no evidence that he ever wavered in his +loyalty to the Union. + +I had Grant's opinion of General Thomas as a commanding officer +when I was making an official call on him at City Point, December +5, 1864, just at the time Hood was besieging Nashville. Grant had +been urging Thomas to fight Hood and raise the siege, fearing, as +Grant then said, Hood would cross the Cumberland and make a winter +raid into Kentucky. Thomas refused to fight until fully ready. +Grant, after inquiring of me about the roads and hills around the +south of Nashville, of which I had acquired some knowledge in the +spring and fall of 1862, said, somewhat impatiently: + +"Thomas is a great soldier, and though able, at any time, with his +present force to whip Hood, he lacks confidence in himself and the +disposition to assume the offensive until he has seventy-five per +centum of the chances of battle, in his own opinion, in favor of +success." + +Thomas was born July 31, 1816, and died in San Francisco, March +28, 1870. His body is buried at Troy, N. Y. Sherman, in command +of the army, in announcing his death, said: + +"The very impersonation of honesty, integrity and honor, he will +stand to posterity as the _beau-ideal_ of the soldier and gentleman. +Though he leaves no child to bear his name, the old Army of the +Cumberland, numbered by tens of thousands, called him father, and +will weep for him in tears of manly grief." + +I witnessed, in principal part, a great tragedy resulting from a +quarrel between high officers of the Union Army. This occurred +September 29, 1862, at the Galt House, Louisville, whither I had +repaired to tender my resignation to Buell as Lieutenant-Colonel +of the 3d Ohio Infantry, to enable me to accept promotion. + +General Jeff C. Davis had been in command of a division under +General William Nelson at Louisville, and had in some way incurred +Nelson's censure. Nelson relieved him of command and ordered him +to report to Wright, the department commander, at Cincinnati. +Wright ordered Davis to return to Louisville and report to Buell +for duty. Davis, being from Indiana, returned _via_ Indianapolis, +and from there was accompanied to Louisville by Governor Oliver P. +Morton, who, with another friend, was with Davis in the vestibule +of the Galt House about 9 A.M. when Davis accosted Nelson, demanding +satisfaction for the injustice he claimed had been done him, and, +it was said, at the same time flipped a paper wad in Nelson's +face.(27) Nelson retorted by slapping Davis in the face with the +back of his hand, and then, after denouncing Morton as Davis' +"abettor of the deliberate insult," at once passed from the vestibule +to adjoining hallway and started up the steps of a stairway, +apparently going towards his room. He soon, however, returned to +the hall and walked quietly in the direction of Davis. The latter +meantime had obtained a pistol from his friend, and as Nelson +approached fired on him, the bullet striking Nelson in the left +breast, just over the heart, producing what proved, in half an +hour, to be a mortal wound.(27) The incident was a deplorable one. +Nelson was an able, valuable officer, and had proved himself such +on many fields. He was known to be hasty, and sometimes unwarrantably +rough in his treatment of others, yet he promptly repented of any +act of injustice and made amends as far as possible. Davis was +placed in military arrest by Buell, but later was released, by +orders from Washington, to be allowed to become amenable to civil +authority. Still later he was restored to the command of a division, +then given a corps, and, by his gallantry, soldierly bearing, and +general good conduct to the end of the war, atoned in some degree +for the bloody deed. + +My resignation was accepted on this memorable 29th of September, +1862, and thenceforth my official connection with my first regiment, +its gallant officers and soldiers, and with the noble Army of the +Ohio and the other great armies of the West, ceased, and forever, +and not without the deepest regret, especially in parting from +Colonel John Beatty, with whom I had, as more than a friend and +companion, eaten and slept, marched and bivouacked, on the closest +terms of confidence, without receiving from him an unkind or +ungenerous word, for seventeen months, although he was my immediate +superior officer, and we had both gone through many hardships and +vexatious trials together. This was the more remarkable as we were +each of sanguine temperament and obstinate by nature. + +Beatty was appointed by President Lincoln a Brigadier-General of +Volunteers, November 29, 1862, and he thereafter, as before at +Perryville, especially distinguished himself at Stone's River and +Chickamauga. He has since served three terms in Congress with +distinction. + +It was my good fortune to meet and shake hands, one year and about +eight months later, with some of the survivors of this Western army +at Greensborough, North Carolina, after Lee's surrender, and on +the occasion of the surrender of Joe Johnston's army to Sherman. + +Although my humble connection with Buell's army ceased at Louisville, +I will summarize its history, covering a few days longer. + +Polk's and Hardee's corps constituting Bragg's army we left in the +vicinity of Bardstown and Harrodsburg, with some portions at +Frankfort and Lexington. Kirby Smith was at Salvisa, about twenty +miles northeast of Perryville, with the main body of his army, and, +believing he would be the first attacked, called loudly for +reinforcement, and Bragg sent him, on the eve of Perryville, Withers +and Cheatham's divisions from Polk and Hardee's corps. Bragg placed +Polk in command of his army in the vicinity of Perryville, and +repaired to Frankfort to witness the inauguration (October 4th) of +a new Secession Provisional Governor of Kentucky--Richard Hawes +(28)--her former one, George W. Johnson, having been killed at +Shiloh while fighting as a private soldier. + +Buell, being further reinforced with new troops, mostly from Ohio +and Indiana, commenced, October 2d, a general movement against both +Bragg and Smith. General Joshua W. Sill's division of General +Alexander McD. McCook's corps, followed by General Ebenezer Dumont +with a raw division, moved through Shelbyville towards Frankfort. +McCook, with the two remaining divisions of the First Corps, +commanded, respectively, by Generals L. H. Rousseau and James S. +Jackson, moved from Bloomfield to Taylorsville, where he halted +the second night. Crittenden's corps marched _via_ Bardstown on +the Lebanon and Danville road, which passed about four miles to +the south of Perryville, with a branch to it. Gilbert's corps +moved on the more direct road to Perryville. Thomas, second in +command, accompanied Crittenden on the right, and Buell kept his +headquarters with Gilbert's corps, the centre one in the movements. +As the Union columns advanced, the armies of Bragg and Kirby Smith +found it necessary to commence concentrating. For some reason, +not warranted by good strategy, two points of concentration were +designated by Bragg, Perryville and Salvisa, twenty miles apart. +Smith persisted in the belief he would be the first to be struck +by the advancing army. + +General Sill, on the road to Frankfort, encountered some opposition +on the 3d, but on the 4th pressed the enemy back so close that the +booming of his cannon interrupted Richard Hawes in the reading of +his inaugural address. Bragg, while witnessing the ceremony, +received dispatches announcing the near approach of the Union +columns.(29) This led to a general stampede of the assembly, most +of which was Confederate military, and the inaugural was never +finished. Hawes fled from the capital, half inaugurated, accompanying +the army, and this was about the last heard of a secession Governor +of Kentucky. + +Bragg personally hurried to Harrodsburg and there met Polk, who +gave him news of the movements of his army and of the approach of +the Union columns. Bragg reached the conclusion that the wide +front covered by the Union forces (about fifteen miles) afforded +an opportunity to beat a part of them in an early engagement, and +he therefore, at 5.40 P.M. of the 7th, ordered Polk to recall +Cheatham's division, hitherto ordered to reinforce Smith, and to +form a junction with Hardee's corps near Perryville, and there give +battle immediately, and then move to Versailles, whither Smith was +ordered with his army.(30) McCook was turned directly on Perryville +and Sill was ordered in the same direction. Buell, at 7 P.M. of +the 7th, seemed to be aware that stubborn resistance would be met +with the next day at Perryville. He so advised General Thomas.(31) +Polk, with Cheatham's division, reached Perryville about midnight +of the 7th, and the troops were placed in position on a line +previously established with the expectation that a battle would be +opened early the following morning. The Confederate troops thus +in position numbered about 18,000, while immediately opposed to +them were no divisions yet in position, and, in fact, no real +preparation for battle had been made on the Union side. There was +some skirmishing on the Confederate extreme left in the night, +between Colonel Dan McCook's brigade of Sheridan's division, for +the possession of the water in Doctor's Fork, but nothing more. + +Bragg, at Harrodsburg, not hearing the battle open at dawn, hastened +to Perryville, and there learned at 10 A.M. that a council of +Confederate generals had been held, on Polk's suggestion, at which +it was determined to act only on the defensive. He, however, after +some reconnoissances and adjustment of the lines, ordered Polk to +bring on an engagement.(32) + +McCook with his two divisions came within about three miles of +Perryville about 10.30 A.M. of the 8th, and there encountered some +resistance, and later his troops were advanced and formed with the +right of Rousseau's division, resting near a barn south of the +Perryville and Mackville road, its left extending on a ridge through +a corn field to a wood occupied by the 2d and 33d Ohio. The right +of General William R. Terrill's brigade of Jackson's division rested +on woods to the left of Rousseau, his left forming a crotchet to +the rear. Starkweather and Webster's brigades of Rousseau and +Jackson's divisions, respectively, were posted by McCook in support +of the line named. Sheridan and R. B. Mitchell's divisions of the +Third Corps were posted, not in preparation for battle, several +hundred yards to McCook's right, but supposed to be near enough to +protect it.(33) + +Save some clashes of the skirmish lines and bodies seeking positions, +no fierce engagement took place until 2 P.M., when a determined +attack in force fell on Terrill's brigade, causing it to soon give +way, General James S. Jackson, division commander, being killed at +the first fire, and Terrill fell soon after. McCook had previously +(about 12.30 P.M.) ridden to Buell's headquarters, about two and +a half miles distant, and informed him of the situation, but this +did not awaken him to the apprehension that a battle was about to +be fought. McCook's entire command present on the field was soon +engaged against great odds. Of this Captain Fisher of McCook's +staff informed Buell in his tent at 3.30 or 4 P.M., and Buell +claimed it was his first news that a battle had been raging on his +front. + +Polk, with three divisions of infantry and a complement of artillery, +and with cavalry on each flank, had fallen on the two unsupported +divisions of McCook, choosing his place and manner of attack +skilfully. Rousseau's right was struck soon after Terrill's brigade +was driven back, and the whole of his division was soon in action. +The Confederates advanced under cover of their artillery fire, +outflanking Rousseau's right. His troops stood to their work +against odds and made a most gallant resistance. Their right was +turned, when Gilbert's idle corps was near enough to have come at +once into action and afforded it protection. McCook's command, +though suffering much, was not driven from the field. My old +regiment occupied the crest of a hill, its right behind a hay-barn. +In this position, under Colonel John Beatty, it fought, exposed to +a heavy fire from the enemy's batteries and to a front and flank +fire from his infantry. The barn at last took fire, and its flames +were so hot the right of the regiment was forced to temporarily +give way. Its loss was 190 of its then 500 men in line, including +Captains Cunard and McDougal and Lieutenants St. John and Starr +among the killed. Colonel W. H. Lytle, commanding the brigade, +was wounded and captured. + +The Confederates gained possession temporarily of only portions of +the battle-ground, and night found McCook's corps still confronting +them. + +Sheridan and R. B. Mitchell's divisions of the Third Corps in the +evening made some diversion, driving back and threatening Polk's +left. Buell late in the day ordered reinforcements sent to McCook, +but they reached him too late for the battle. Polk claimed a +victory, but while he had some temporary success, both armies slept +on the field. + +The failure of Buell to know or hear of the battle until too late +to put his numerous troops near the field into it was the subject +of much comment. Had Crittenden and Gilbert been pushed forward +while Bragg's forces were engaged with McCook, his army should have +been cut off, captured, or dispersed; Kirby Smith's lying farther +to the north, would also have been imperilled. + +Such an opportunity never occurred again in the war. It is said +Buell was in his tent and the winds were unfavorable. But where +were his staff officers, who should furnish eyes and ears for their +General? + +The Union loss was 39 officers and 806 men killed, 94 officers and +2757 men wounded, total 3696; and captured or missing 13 officers +and 502 men, grand total 4211. Of these Rousseau's division lost +18 officers and 466 men killed, and 52 officers and 1468 men wounded, +total 2004; and Jackson's division lost 6 officers and 81 men +killed, and 8 officers and 338 men wounded, total 433; grand total, +two divisions, 2437. The few others killed and wounded were of +the three divisions of the Third Corps.(34) + +The Confederate loss, as reported by General Polk, was 510 killed +and 2635 wounded, total 3145; captured 251, grand total 3396.(34) + +Bragg withdrew from the field of Perryville during the night after +the battle and united his army with Smith's at Harrodsburg. +Commencing October 13th, he retreated through Southeastern Kentucky +_via_ Cumberland Gap to the Tennessee, thence transferred his army +to Murfreesboro, to which place Breckinridge, also Forrest's cavalry, +had been previously sent. + +Thus the great invasion ended. It bore none of the anticipated +fruits. Both Bragg and Kirby Smith felt keenly the disappointment +that Kentucky's sons did not rally under their standards. Bragg +frequently remarked while in Kentucky: "The people here have too +many fat cattle and are too well off to fight." + +From Bryantsville he wrote the Adjutant-General at Richmond: + +"The campaign here was predicated on the belief and the most positive +assurances that the people of this country would rise in mass to +assert their independence. No people ever had so favorable an +opportunity, but I am distressed to add there is little or no +disposition to avail of it."(35) + +The conception of the invasion was admirable, and the execution of +the campaign was vigorous, and, under all the circumstances, skilful, +but if the Army of the Ohio had been rapidly moved and boldly +fought, together with its numerous auxiliaries, both Bragg and +Kirby Smith's armies would have been separately beaten and +destroyed. + +Buell's army pursued the enemy from Kentucky, and finally concentrated +in front of Nashville. By direction of the President, October 24, +1862, the State of Tennessee east of the Tennessee River and Northern +Alabama and Georgia became the Department of the Cumberland, and +General W. S. Rosecrans was assigned to its command, his troops to +constitute the Fourteenth Army Corps.(36) Buell was, at the same +date, ordered to turn over his command to Rosecrans. The latter +relived Buell at Louisville October 30th. Buell retired to +Indianapolis to await orders. He was never again assigned to active +duty, though he held his Major-General's commission until May 23, +1864. He was not without talent, and possessed much technical +military learning; was a good organizer and disciplinarian, but +was better qualified for an adjutant's office than a command in +the field. Many things said of him were untrue or unjust, yet the +fact remains that he failed as an independent commander of an army +during field operations. With great opportunities, he did not +achieve _success_--the only test of greatness in war--possibly in +any situation in life. He was not, however, the least of a class +developed and brought to the front by the exigencies of war, who +were not equal to the work assigned them, or who could not or did +not avail themselves of the opportunities presented. + +Rosecrans, while in command of the Army of the Cumberland, won the +battle of Stone's River (December 31, 1862); then pushed Bragg across +the Tennessee and fought the great battle of Chickamauga, September +19 and 20, 1863. He was relieved at Chattanooga by Thomas, October +19, 1863, and was assigned to the Department of Missouri, January +28, 1864. In this new field Rosecrans displayed much activity and +performed good service, but he was relieved again, December 9, +1864, and thereafter was on waiting orders at Cincinnati. +Notwithstanding some mistakes, his character as a great soldier +and commanding general will stand the severe scrutiny of military +critics. He was a man of many attainments, a fine conversationalist, +and a genial gentleman who drew to him many devoted friends. + +This chapter, already of greater length than was originally designed, +must here end, as I must turn to other campaigns, armies, and fields +of battle more nearly connected with my further career in the War +of the Rebellion. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 838-841. + +( 2) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 290. + +( 3) _War Records_, vol. x., Part I., p. 910. + +( 4) _Ibid_., vol. xvi., Part II., p. 404. + +( 5) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., p. 39, and see _War Records_, +vol. xvi., Part II., pp. 394, 395. + +( 6) _Ohio in the War_, vol. i., p. 93. + +( 7) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. ii., p. 736. + +( 8) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. ii., p. 744, map. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. xvii., Part I., pp. 158, 170; _Battles +and Leaders_, vol. ii., p. 752. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xvii., Part I., p. 176. + +(11) _Ibid_., p. 381 (382-4). + +(12) _Ibid_., p. 158, 308. + +(13) _War Records_, vol. xvii., Part I., pp. 205-8, 302, 322. + +(14) _Ibid_., p. 158; Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. i., p. 417. + +(15) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. ii., p. 753; _War Records_ +(Rosecrans' Report), vol. xvii., Part I., p. 170. + +(16) Atlas, _War Records_, Part V., plate 24. + +(17) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., p. 978. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 966, 970. + +(19) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., pp. 603-42. + +(20) While the army was massed at Dripping Springs, a beef-ox +escaped from a herd about midnight, and in wild frenzy rushed back +and forth through the army, jumping on and running over the bivouacked +sleeping soldiers, seriously injuring many, until a large part of +the army was alarmed and called up. He was finally surrounded and +bayoneted to death. + +(21) Atlas, _War Records_, Part V., plate 24. + +(22) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 862-8. + +(23) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., p. 862-8. + +(24) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 564. + +(25) _Ibid_., pp. 539, 554-5, 560. + +(26) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part II., pp. 554-5, 560. + +(27) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., pp. 43, 61. + +(28) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., pp. 47, 602. + +(29) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., pp. 602, 47. + +(30) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 1092-6. + +(31) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 580. + +(32) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 1092-3. + +(33) _Ibid_., p. 1040. + +(34) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., pp. 1033, 1112. + +(35) _War Records_, vol. xvi., Part I., p. 1088. + +(36) _Ibid_., Part II., pp. 641, 654. + + +CHAPTER IX +Commissioned Colonel of 110th Ohio Volunteers--Campaigns in West +Virginia under General Milroy, 1862-3--Emancipation of Slaves in +the Shenandoah Valley, and Incidents + +On September 30, 1862, I arrived at Columbus, Ohio, from Louisville, +and was at once commissioned Colonel of the 110th Ohio Volunteer +Infantry. My regiment was at Camp Piqua, Ohio, not yet organized +and without arms or clothing. I found the camp in command of a +militia colonel, appointed for the purpose. + +The men of the 110th Ohio were for the most part recruited from +the country, and were being fed in camp, in large part, by home- +food voluntarily furnished by their friends. They were a fine body +of young men, but none of the officers had seen military service. + +I declined to assume command of the camp or regiment until clothing +and arms could be procured. Three or four days sufficed to obtain +these supplies, but only percussion-cap smooth-bore .69 calibre +muskets could be obtained. These guns were heavy, long, and +unwieldy, and much inferior to the Springfield .58 calibre rifle, +but I accepted them temporarily rather than be delayed in the drill +and discipline of the regiment, which was impossible without them. + +On assuming command, I called the officers of the regiment together +and explained to them their duties as well as my own, and especially +informed each company commander that he would be required to qualify +himself to command his company, and that all times he would be held +responsible for its soldierly conduct. A school of officers was +established, and the whole camp soon wore a military aspect. The +work thus commenced in time transformed these raw volunteers into +officers and soldiers as good as ever fought in any war or country.( 1) + +The environments of Camp Piqua were not favorable to discipline, +but on October 19, 1862, the regiment took cars and proceeded _via_ +Columbus to Zanesville, thence by water to Marietta, and from the +latter place on foot to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where it first +occupied and camped in what was called the enemy's country. An +early but severe snow-storm came during the first night of our +encampment, and suggested the hardship and suffering which were +not to cease until the final victory at Appomattox. Drill and +discipline went on satisfactorily. New troops will bravely stand +to their work in battle if they can be manoeuvred successfully, +and also know how to use their arms. General J. D. Cox, in command +of the District of West Virginia, with his uniform courtesy welcomed +me by telegraph to my new field of operations. In a few days I +was ordered to Clarksburg and to a section familiar to me when +serving under McClellan. + +At Parkersburg I first me the 122d Ohio Infantry, commanded by Col. +Wm. H. Ball. He was my junior in date of muster eight days and, +consequently, in more than two years our regiments served together, +I generally commanded him. He was not an educated soldier, and +did not aspire to become one, nor did he take pains to appear well +on drill or on parade, yet he was a most valuable officer, loyal +and intelligently brave, possessing enough mental capacity to +successfully fill any position. He did not aspire to high command, +but at all times faithfully performed his duty in camp and on the +battle-field. His loyalty to me, while my senior in years, still +claims my gratitude. + +His regiment, like the volunteer regiments generally, had in it +many men who became prominent in the war, and, still later, in +peace. Lieutenant-Colonel Moses M. Granger was a most accomplished +officer, and deserved a higher rank. In addition to the distinction +won by him as a soldier he has attained a high reputation as a +citizen, lawyer, and jurist. + +The first surgeon (Thaddeus A. Reamy) of the 122d, though not long +in the field, has taken a first place in his profession, as has +also its next surgeon, Wm. M. Houston, and its assistant surgeon, +Wilson G. Bryant. Its chaplain, Charles C. McCabe, was one of the +best and most efficient in the war. His zeal in the performance, +under all circumstances, of the high duties of his office, and his +cheerful disposition, aided in trying times to keep up the spirits +and courage of the soldiers. He ministered to the wounded and the +dying on the battlefield, and to the sick and disabled in hospital. +He was famed throughout the armies he served with for singing at +appropriate times, with a strong, melodious voice, patriotic and +religious songs, in which, often even on the march, a large part +of the army would join. + +He has since achieved success in the Methodist Episcopal Church, +in which he is now a bishop. William T. Meloy, D. D., of the United +Presbyterian Church--now in Chicago--was a lieutenant in this +regiment. He has become eminent for his learning and high character. +Those named of these companion regiments are examples only of others +who voluntarily and heroically endured the trying ordeal of war. + +A false report that Stonewall Jackson was threatening a raid on +the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at New Creek (now Keyser), West +Virginia, caused a precipitate transfer by rail of my command to +that place. There I came first under the direct command of Major- +General Robert H. Milroy, then distinguished for his zeal for the +Union and for personal bravery. He was tall and of commanding +presence. His head of white, shocky, stiff hair led his soldiers +to dub him the "Gray Eagle." He had much military learning, and +had fought in many of the bloodiest battles of the war, notably at +the second Bull Run under Pope. He had seen service also in the +Mexican War. Notwithstanding his excessive impetuosity, he was a +just, generous, kind-hearted man, and possessed the confidence of +his troops to a high degree. He incurred the ill-will of Secretary +of War Stanton, and, regarding himself as unjustly treated, more +than reciprocated the Secretary's dislike. He ardently admired +President Lincoln, and only criticised him for delay in emancipating +the slaves. He believed the slaves of those in rebellion should +have been given their freedom from the beginning of the war. He +was so bitterly hostile to slavery and to individual Secessionists, +and so radical in his methods, that Jefferson Davis, by proclamation, +excepted him and his officers from being treated, if captured, as +prisoners of war. He was charged with making assessments on +inhabitants and of requiring them to take an oath to support the +Constitution and the Union. He also had the distinction of being +mentioned by Davis in a Message to the Confederate Congress, January +12, 1863. There was much correspondence between the opposing +authorities on the subject of his mode of conducting the war,( 2) +and it seems General Halleck disavowed and condemned Milroy's +alleged acts. Much charged against Milroy was false, though it +was true he believed in prosecuting the war with an iron hand. He +regarded the Confederate soldier in the field with more favor than +the Confederate stay-at-home who acted as a spy, or who, as a +guerilla, engaged in shooting from ambush passing soldiers or +teamsters and cutting telegraph wires. He did require certain +influential persons who resided within his lines to take an oath +of allegiance to the United States and to West Virginia or to +forfeit all right to the protection of his division. Further than +this he did not go. + +At New Creek I first met G. P. Cluseret, a French soldier of fortune, +but recently appointed a Brigadier-General. He held a command +under Milroy in the Cheat Mountain Division. He assumed much +military and other learning, was imperious and overbearing by +nature, spoke English imperfectly, and did not seem to desire to +get in touch with volunteers. With him I had my only personal +difficulty of a serious nature during the war. + +At New Creek a constant drill was kept up. To avoid surprises by +sudden dashes, the companies as well as the battalion were taught +to form squares quickly and to guard against cavalry. Early in +December Milroy marched to Little Petersburg, on the South Branch +of the Potomac, and I was assigned to command a post at Moorefield +to include Hardy County, West Virginia, Milroy's headquarters being +ten miles distant. General Lee ordered General W. E. Jones, then +temporarily in command in the Shenandoah Valley, to retake the +county we occupied. A feeble effort to do this failed. We were +kept constantly on the alert, however, by annoying attacks of +Captain McNeil's irregular cavalry or guerillas. Late in December, +1862, it was decided to make a raid into the lower Shenandoah +Valley, and, if found practicable, occupy it permanently. I was +designated to lead the raid with about two thousand infantry, +cavalry, and artillery. This made it necessary for me to be relieved +of the command of the post. Cluseret was therefore ordered from +Petersburg to relieve me. He arrived late in the evening with his +staff and escort, showed his orders, and I suggested that he assume +the command at once. This he declined to do until he ascertained +the position of the troops, roads, etc. I provided him comfortable +quarters, and everything would have gone along pleasantly but for +an unexpected incident. + +Before Cluseret's arrival, a lieutenant-colonel of a West Virginia +regiment applied for leave to go to Petersburg to visit a lady +friend. This I refused, and he undertook to go without leave. +After he had proceeded along the river road by moonlight about +three miles, he was halted by a man who, from behind a tree, pointed +a musket at him and demanded his surrender and that he deliver up +his sword, pistols, overcoat, horse, and trappings, all of which +he did promptly, and accepted a parole. The man who made the +capture claimed to be a regular Confederate soldier returning from +a furlough to his command. With the colonel's property and on the +horse he proceeded by a mountain path on his journey. The colonel +walked back to Moorefield and related his adventure. I at once +ordered Captain Rowan with a small number of his West Virginia +cavalry to pursue the Confederate. As there was snow on the ground, +his pursuit was easy, and before midnight the Captain had captured +him and all the colonel's property was returned to Moorefield. +When the man was brought before me, I made some examination of him +and then ordered him taken to the guard-house. At this time Cluseret +appeared on the scene, and in an excited way demanded that I should +order the prisoner to be shot forthwith. This being declined, he +again produced his order to supersede me, and declared he would at +once take command and himself order the man shot that night. I +could not deny his right to assume command notwithstanding what +had taken place, but I strongly denied his authority to shoot the +captive, and insisted that there was no cause for shooting him +summarily; that only through a court-martial or military commission +could he be condemned, and a sentence to death would, to carry it +out, require the approval of the President. (It was not until +later in the war that department, district, or army commanders +could approve a capital sentence.) Cluseret vehemently denounced +the authorities, including the President, for their mild way of +carrying on the war, and talked himself into a frenzy. As he was +preparing an order to require the Provost-Marshal to shoot the man +without trial, I repaired to the telegraph office and made Milroy +acquainted with the situation, whereupon he ordered me to retain +command of the post until further orders. Milroy, on coming to +Moorefield the next day, sustained me, and the soldier was treated +as an ordinary prisoner of war. Cluseret pretended to be satisfied, +and later succeeded in getting himself assigned to command the +expedition to the Shenandoah Valley--not a very desirable one in +mid-winter. He reached Strasburg, and moved through the Valley +northward to Winchester, but was pursued by a small force under +Jones. This made it necessary to reinforce him, and I started +under orders for that place _via_ Romney and Blue's Gap, and was +joined on the way by Milroy with the body of his division. On +leaving Moorefield, on the 30th of December, I with two orderlies +rode ahead about a mile to the South Branch of the Potomac to +examine the ford, as we had no pontoons, and, having crossed the +river, awaited the approach of the wagon train and its guard, which +was to take the advance, as no enemy was known to be in that +direction. As the head of the train reached the ford Captain J. +H. McNeil (whose home was near by), with about fifty of his guerilla +band, attacked it by emerging from ambush on the Moorefield side +of the river. A short fight ensued, during which I recrossed the +river and joined in it. McNeil was driven off with little loss, +but for a brief time I was in much danger of capture, at least. + +On this day a colored boy, an escaped slave, whom we named Andrew +Jackson, joined me. He became my servant to the end of the war. +He was always faithful, honest, good-natured, and brave. He was +a full-blood African, and during a battle would voluntarily take +a soldier's arms and fight with the advance lines. He became widely +known throughout the Army of the Potomac and other armies in which +I served, and was kindly treated and welcomed wherever he went. +He resided after the war in Springfield, Ohio, and died there (1895) +of an injury resulting from the kick of a horse. + +On the night of December 31, 1862, the command bivouacked on the +western slope of the Alleghany Mountains in a fierce snow-storm, +and early the next morning my troops led the way in the continuing +storm over the summit. Shortly after the head of the column +commenced the eastern descent, and when the chilling winter blasts +had caused the lowest ebb of human enthusiasm to be reached, shouts +were heard by me, at first indistinctly, then nearer and louder. +This was so unusual and unexpected under the depressing circumstances +that I ordered the column to halt until I could go back and ascertain +the cause. My first impression was that a sudden attack had been +made on the rear of the troops, but as the shouts came nearer I +took them to be for a great victory, news of which had just arrived. +When I reached the crest of the mountain I descried, through the +flying snow, General Milroy riding along the line of troops and +halting at intervals as though to briefly address the men. I +awaited his approach, and on his arrival accosted him with the +inquiry, "What is the matter, General?" He had his hat and sword +in his right hand, and with the other guided his horse at a reckless +gallop through the snow, his tall form, shocky white hair fluttering +in the storm, and evident agitation making a figure most picturesque +and striking. He pulled up his horse abruptly to answer my question. +A natural impediment in his speech, affecting him most when excited, +caused some delay in his first vehement utterance. He said: + +"_Colonel, don't you know that this is Emancipation Day, when all +slaves will be made free?_" + +He then turned to the halted troops and again broke forth: + +"_This day President Lincoln will proclaim the freedom of four +millions of human slaves, the most important event in the history +of the world since Christ was born. Our boast that this is a land +of liberty has been a flaunting lie. Henceforth it will be a +veritable reality. The defeats of our armies in the past we have +deserved, because we waged a war to protect and perpetuate and to +rivet firmer the chains of slavery. Hereafter we shall prosecute +the war to establish and perpetuate liberty for all mankind beneath +the flag; and the Lord God Almighty will fight on our side, and he +is a host, and the Union armies will triumph_." + +This is the character of speech that aroused the soldiers to voiceful +demonstrations on the summit of the Appalachian chain on this cold +and stormy mid-winter morning. The sequel shows how Milroy's +prophecy was fulfilled; but not always did victory come to the +Union arms. As in the days of the Crusades, when the Lord was +supposed to battle on the side of the Crusaders, victory was not +uniformly with them. Charles Martel, believing in prayer for divine +aid on going into battle, yet testified that the "Lord always fights +on the side of the heaviest battalions"; which was only another +way of saying, "The Lord helps those who help themselves." + +Milroy's command debouched into the Valley of the Shenandoah, +already memorable for its many bloody conflicts, and destined to +become yet more memorable by reason of still other and far bloodier +battles. + +This war-stricken valley, from Staunton to the Potomac, was beautiful +and rich, and its inhabitants were, prior to the war, proud and +boastful; they possessed many slaves to till the soil and for +personal servants. It was also a breeding-ground for slaves which, +in a more southern market, brought great profit to their owners. +Winchester was the home of the Masons and others, distinguished as +statesmen and soldiers through all the history of Virginia. + +But not all the inhabitants of the Shenandoah valley were disloyal. +A majority of its voting population was, before the war actually +commenced, in favor of the Union, and its Representatives voted +against an Ordinance of Secession. I have seen an address of Philip +Williams, Esq., an old, respected, and distinguished lawyer of +Winchester, made when the question of Secession was pending, in +which he attempted to depict the horrors of the war that would +follow an attempt to set up an independent government. He prophesied +that the valley would be a battle-ground for the contending hosts; +that the fields would be overrun, the crops destroyed, grain and +stock confiscated; and the slaves carried off and set free. His +address brought him for a time into ridicule. He lived to see his +word-picture appear as only a vain, faint representation of the +reality. When the war came, and his sons and friends joined the +Confederate Army, his sympathies were with the South. He often +recurred, however, to his more than fulfilled prophecy. He lived +to see the valley for ninety or more miles of its length reek with +blood; the houses, whether in city or village, turned into hospitals, +and the war-lit fires of burning mills, barns, and grain stacks +illuminate the valley and the mountain slopes to the summits of +the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies on its east and west. Pen cannot +adequately describe the hell of agony, desolation, and despair +witnessed in this fertile region in the four years of war; and long +before the conflict ended not a human slave was held therein. It, +however, has long since, under a new civilization, recovered its +wonted prosperity, and no inhabitant thereof, though many are the +sons and daughters of slaveholders, desires to again hold slaves. +Not all the affluent ante-bellum inhabitants of this valley owned +slaves or believed in slavery. Many were Quakers, others Dunkards +(or Tunkers), all of whom were, by religious training and conviction, +opposed to human slavery, hence opposed to Secession and a slave +power. Some of the younger men of Quaker or Dunkard families +through compulsion joined the Confederate Army, but the number was +small. Though opposed to war, no more loyal Union people could be +found anywhere. Their Secession neighbors called them "_Tories_," +and the Quakers descendants of Tories of the Revolution. It was +common to hear related the story of the imprisonment at Winchester, +under General Washington's order, of certain Quakers of Philadelphia, +claimed to have been Tories, who were given a twenty-mile prison- +bound limit, and who, when peace came, coveting the rich lands of +the valley, and being humiliated over their imprisonment, sent for +their families and settled there permanently. Whether or not this +story gives the true reason for the early settlement of the Quakers +in Virginia, certain it is that they were loyal to the Union that +Washington helped to found and opposed to human bondage. + +Milroy's enthusiasm over Emancipation was put in practice when he +entered Winchester. Without seeing the Proclamation of the President, +and without knowing certainly it was issued and made applicable to +the Shenandoah Valley district, Milroy issued a proclamation headed, +"Freedom to Slaves." This had the effect of causing those within +the lines of his command at once to leave their masters. Though +the slaves could not read, not one failed during the succeeding +night to hear that liberty had been proclaimed, and all, even to +the most trusted and faithful personal or house servant, regardless +of age, sex, or previous kind treatment, so far as known, asserted +their freedom. In some way it had been inculcated into the minds +of these people that if they, by word or act, however simple or +unimportant it might be, after the Proclamation acquiesced in their +previous condition they would again for life become slaves. They +probably derived this notion from the Bible story of Hebrew slavery, +wherein it is said that after six years' service the slave should +become free, save when, preferring slavery, he voluntarily permitted +his former master to bore his ears with an awl at the door-post +and thus consecrate himself to slavery forever.( 3) + +So it turned out that many aristocratic matrons and maidens, reared +in luxury and accustomed to the personal service of servants, had +to cook their own breakfasts or go hungry, as no amount of persuasion, +kind treatment, or promises would induce the former slave to do +the least act that by possibility could be construed to be an +acquiescence in a previous condition of servitude. Even the +assurance of a Union officer could not shake their position. The +"Year of Jubilee," of which they had sung in their hearts, had been +long coming for them, and there was no use for awls and door-posts +for their ears, nor were they going to take chances. Many of them, +though offered food for their own use by their masters, would not +cook it, lest it might be construed as a recognition of a master's +continuing authority over them. Most of them gathered up their +little property with marvellous dispatch and presented themselves +ready to emigrate. General Milroy used the otherwise empty trains +going north for supplies to carry these freed people from the land +of their birth to where a slave condition could not overtake them. +Most of the knew the story of John Brown, and many of them had, in +some way, been supplied with cheap wood-cut pictures of this early +champion of their liberty. In some way they had learned also to +sing songs of John Brown, and other songs of liberty. When the +trains proceeded towards the Potomac freighted with these people +they commingled songs of freedom and the religious hymns peculiar +to their race with the universal but more cheerful music of the +fiddle and banjo. + +They were light-hearted and free from care, though abandoning all +of home they had ever known, and going whither, for home and +protection, they knew not,--all was compensated for with them, if +only they were forever free. The prompt emancipation of slaves +was exceptional in the Shenandoah Valley, especially at Winchester. +Most of these freed people soon found homes and employment, some +of the younger men with the army, later as soldiers, and others on +farms, or as house servants North, where the war had called away +the able-bodied men. It was not until after the war that the great +trials of the freedmen came. + +It must not be assumed that the slave owners in the Valley were, +in war times at least, cruel to their slaves; on the contrary, +kindness and indulgence were the rule. This was probably true in +ante-war days, save when members of families were sold and separated +to be transported to distant parts. I recall no word of censure +to the blacks for accepting freedom. Pity was in some cases +expressed. Tokens of remembrance were offered and accepted with +emotion. Those who had been house or personal servants often +evinced feelings of compassion for the pitiable and helpless +condition of those whom they had so long served. It must be +remembered that, regardless of estates once owned, the war had +impoverished the people of this Valley, and but few of them could, +even with money, secure enough food, clothing, and help to enable +them to live in anything approaching comfort. And the future then +had no promise of relief. + +The plight of some of the affluent people might well excite sympathy. +I remember an excellent Winchester family of four ladies, a mother +and three grown daughters, who were educated and accomplished, +unused to work, and thus far wholly dependent on their slaves. +White or black servants could not, after the Proclamation, be +procured for money. These ladies therefore held a consultation to +determine what could be done. The mother would not attempt to do +what she deemed menial service. The daughters at length decided +to work "week about," and in this way each could be a _lady_ two +weeks out of three. This plan seemed to operate well, and they +soon became quite cheerful over it, and boastful of domestic +accomplishments. + +Cluseret while on his raid into the Valley brooded over the incident +which resulted in his being prevented from taking command of the +post at Moorefield, and pretended to believe that I had wronged +him. He went so far as to talk freely to officers about the +incident, and to declare that if he should meet me again he would +shoot me unless I made amends. These threats came to me on my +arrival at Winchester, and my friends seemed to apprehend serious +consequences. As I always deprecated personal conflicts, and was +careful to avoid them, I was somewhat annoyed. I knew little of +Cluseret or his character, except that he was an adventurer or +soldier of fortune. I announced nothing as to what I should do if +he attempted to assault me, but I took pains to carry a revolver +with which I purposed, if attacked, to kill him if possible before +I received any serious injury. I soon met, saluted, and passed +him without receiving and recognition in return except a fierce, +vicious stare. After this, on several occasions, I passed him +about the camps or on the roads without noticing him, and although +his threats were repeated I was not molested by him. Soon the +incident and his subsequent conduct led to some trouble between +him and Milroy. Milroy placed him in arrest, and he was later +ordered from the command. On March 2, 1863, he was permitted to +resign, having served as a Brigadier-General of Volunteers from +October 11, 1862, and having previously, from March 10, 1862, been +a Colonel and acting aide-de-camp. He repaired to New York, and +there did some newspaper work in which he assailed President Lincoln +and the conduct of the war, and subsequently disappeared. Afterwards +he became the Secretary of War of the Commune in Paris, near the +close of the Franco-Prussian War. He escaped from Paris at its +close, and years later, being pardoned, he returned to France, and +is now, I am informed, a Socialist member of the Chamber of +Deputies. + +There were many such adventurers as Cluseret from foreign countries +who received commissions in our volunteer army on account of their +supposed military knowledge or experience, who almost without +exception proved failures or worse. They were generally domineering, +and of a temperament not suited to command the American volunteer +soldier. They had, in fact, no affinity with him, and did not gain +his confidence. This was not true, however, of General John B. +Turchin, the Russian, and perhaps a very few others. + +Milroy's command during the winter was chiefly engaged in holding +the Valley and in protecting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from +the raids of small bodies of Confederates. In this it was successful. +We were now in the Middle Department, commanded by General Robert +C. Schenck, whose headquarters were at Baltimore. Schenck was +appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers May 17, 1861, and a +Major-General August 30, 1862. Prior to his assignment to this +department he served with distinction in the Eastern army, and was +elected to Congress in 1862, but retained his commission until +Congress met, December 5, 1863. Schenck, though without military +education or experience, was a man of military instincts and +possessed many of the high qualities of a soldier. He was a trained +statesman, lawyer, and thinker, and an earnest, energetic, forceful, +successful man. + +For the most part, while at Winchester I commanded a brigade composed +of infantry and artillery, located on the heights, but I was for +a time under Brigadier-General Washington L. Elliott, a regular +officer, who was amiable and capable in all that pertained to +military discipline, but timid and unenterprising. He performed +all duty faithfully to orders, but little further. Milroy, on the +other hand, was restless and constantly on the alert, eager to +achieve all it was possible for his command to accomplish, hence +we were frequently sent on raids up the Valley to Staunton, Front +Royal, and through the mountains. Colonel Mosby's guerillas infested +the country east of the Valley, and frequently dashed into it +through the gaps of the Blue Ridge and attacked our supply trains +and small scouting parties and pickets, accomplishing little save +to keep us on the alert. + +Imboden and Jenkins' cavalry held the upper valley in the neighborhood +of Mount Jackson and New Market, but generally retired without +fighting when an expedition moved against them. As we were in the +enemy's country, our movements were generally made known promptly +to the Confederates, and our expeditions usually proved fruitless +of substantial results. I led a force of about one thousand men +in January, 1863, to Front Royal, then held by a small cavalry +force which I hoped to surprise and capture, but I succeeded in +doing nothing more than take a few prisoners and drive the enemy +from the place, with little fighting. We took Front Royal late in +the evening of a very cold night, and decided to hold it until the +next day. Not being sure of our strength, and to avoid a surprise, +I was obliged to keep my men on duty throughout the night. A feeble +attack only was made on us at daybreak. + +Illustrating the way Union officers were regarded and treated by +the Secession inhabitants, I recall an incident which occurred at +Front Royal. A member of my staff arranged for supper at the house +of Colonel Bacon, an old man and Secessionist. The Colonel treated +us politely, but while we were eating a number of ladies of the +town assembled in an adjoining parlor in which there was a piano, +threw the communicating door open, and proceeded to sing such +Confederate war-songs as _Stonewall Jackson's Away_ and _My Maryland_. +We of course accepted good humoredly this concert for our benefit, +but when we had finished supper, uninvited, Chaplain McCabe--now +Bishop McCabe--and I stepped into the parlor. We were not even +offered a seat, and in a short time the music ceased and the lady +at the piano left it. Chaplain McCabe at once seated himself at +the piano, and, to the amazement of the ladies, commenced singing, +with his extraordinarily strong, sonorous voice, "We are coming, +Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more." The ladies stood +their ground courageously for a time, but while the Chaplain, +playing his own accompaniment, was singing _My Maryland_, with +words descriptive of Lee's invasion and retreat from Maryland, +including the words, "And they left Antietam in their track, in +their track," the ladies threw open the front door and rushed +precipitately to the street and thence to their homes. It was +afterwards said that we were ungallant to these ladies. + +While at Winchester, besides the usual camp duty and participation +in an occasional raid, I was President of a Military Commission +composed of three officers, with an officer for recorder. It was +modelled on the military commission first established, I believe, +by General Scott in Mexico for the trial of citizens for offences +not punishable under the Articles of War. There was a necessity +for some authority to take jurisdiction of common law crimes, as +all courts in the valley were suspended. Besides citizens charged +with such crimes, there were referred to the commission for trial +citizens charged with offences against the Union Army, such as +shooting soldiers from ambush, etc. The constitutionality of the +commission was questioned, yet it tried on only formal charges +citizens charged with murder, larceny, burglary, arson, and breaches +of the peace. Generally its findings and sentences were approved +by the War Department or the President, even when the accused was +sentenced to imprisonment in a Northern penitentiary. There were +one or two cases where the accused were sentenced to be shot, but +in no case did the President allow such a sentence to be carried +out. During the trial for murder of an old man by the name of +Buffenbarger, I learned that he had, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, been +a friend of my father when both were young men.( 4) It turned out +that Buffenbarger had killed a young and powerful man who had +assaulted him violently without good cause. A majority of the +commission found him guilty of manslaughter, and the commission +gave him the lightest sentence--one year in a penitentiary. His +early friendship for my father perhaps caused me to find grounds +on which to favor his acquittal. Counsel were allowed in all cases; +generally Philip Williams, Esq., an old and distinguished lawyer +of Winchester, represented the accused, and Captain Zebulon Baird, +Judge-Advocate on Milroy's staff (an able Indiana lawyer), appeared +for the prosecution. + +( 1) For special mention of the officers of this regiment, see +Appendix B. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxi., p. 1054. + +( 3) Ex. xxi., 6; Deut. xv., 17. + +( 4) My father, Joseph Keifer, was born at Sharpsburg, February +28, 1784. + + +SLAVERY AND +FOUR YEARS OF WAR + +A POLITICAL HISTORY OF SLAVERY +IN THE UNITED STATES + +TOGETHER WITH A NARRATIVE OF THE CAMPAIGNS +AND BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR IN WHICH +THE AUTHOR TOOK PART: 1861-1865 + +BY +JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER +BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS; EX-SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF +REPRESENTATIVES, U. S. A.; AND MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS, +SPANISH WAR. + +ILLUSTRATED + +VOLUME II. +1863-1865 + +G. P. Putnam's Sons +New York and London +The Knickerbocker Press +1900 + + +Copyright, 1900 + +BY +JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER + +The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I +General Observations on Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville +--Battles at Winchester under General Milroy--His Defeat and Retreat +to Harper's Ferry--With Incidents + +CHAPTER II +Invasion of Pennsylvania--Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg--Lee's +Retreat Across the Potomac, and Losses on Both Sides + +CHAPTER III +New York Riots, 1863--Pursuit of Lee's Army to the Rappahannock--Action +of Wapping Heights, and Skirmishes--Western Troops Sent to New York +to Enforce the Draft--Their Return--Incidents, etc. + +CHAPTER IV +Advance of Lee's Army, October, 1863, and Retreat of the Army of +the Potomac to Centreville--Battle of Bristoe Station--Advance of +the Union Army, November, 1863--Assault and Capture of Rappahannock +Station, and Forcing the Fords--Affair Near Brandy Station, and +Retreat of Confederate Army Behind the Rapidan--Incidents, etc. + +CHAPTER V +Mine Run Campaign and Battle of Orange Grove, November, 1863--Winter +Cantonment (1863-4) of Army of the Potomac at Culpeper Court-House, +and its Reorganization--Grant Assigned to Command the Union Armies, +and Preparation for Aggressive War + +CHAPTER VI +Plans of Campaigns, Union and Confederate--Campaign and Battle of +the Wilderness, May, 1864--Author Wounded, and Personal Matters-- +Movements of the Army to the James River, with Mention of Battles +of Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Other Engagements, and Statement +of Losses and Captures + +CHAPTER VII +Campaign South of James River and Petersburg--Hunter's Raid--Battle +of Monocacy--Early's Advance on Washington (1864)--Sheridan's +Movements in Shenandoah Valley, and Other Events + +CHAPTER VIII +Personal Mention of Generals Sheridan, Wright, and Ricketts, and +Mrs. Ricketts; also Generals Crook and Hayes--Battle of Opequon, +under Sheridan, September 1864, and Incidents + +CHAPTER IX +Battle of Fisher's Hill--Pursuit of Early--Devastation of the +Shenandoah Valley (1864)--Cavalry Battle at Tom's Brook, and Minor +Events + +CHAPTER X +Battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, with Comments thereon-- +also Personal Mention and Incidents + +CHAPTER XI +Peace Negotiations--Lee's Suggestion to Jefferson Davis, 1862-- +Fernando Wood's Correspondence with Mr. Lincoln, 1862--Mr. Stephens +at Fortress Monroe, 1863--Horace Greeley, Niagara Falls Conference, +1864--Jacquess-Gilmore's Visits to Richmond, 1863-4--F. P. Blair, +Sen., Conferences with Mr. Davis, 1865--Hampton Roads Conference, +Mr. Lincoln and Seward and Stephens and Others, 1865--Ord-Longstreet, +Lee and Grant, Correspondence, 1865; and Lew Wallace and General +Slaughter, Point Isabel Conference, 1865 + +CHAPTER XII +Siege of Richmond and Petersburg--Capture and Recapture of Fort +Stedman, and Capture of Part of Enemy's First Line in Front of +Petersburg by Keifer's Brigade, March 25, 1865--Battle of Five +Forks, April 1st--Assault and Taking of Confederate Works on the +Union Left, April 2d--Surrender of Richmond and Petersburg, April +3d--President Lincoln's Visit to Petersburg and Richmond, and His +Death + +CHAPTER XIII +Battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6th--Capitulation of General Robert +E. Lee's Army at Appomattox Court-House, April 9, 1865--Surrender +of Other Confederate Armies, and End of the War of The Rebellion + +APPENDICES + +_A_ +General Keifer + Ancestry and Life before the Civil War + Public Services in Civil Life + Service in Spanish War + +_B_ +Mention of Officers of the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry + +_C_ +Farewell Order of General Keifer in Civil War +Casualties in Keifer's Brigade + +_D_ +Correspondence between Generals Wright and Keifer Relating to Battle +of Sailor's Creek + +_E_ +Letter of General Keifer to General Corbin on Cuba + +_F_ +List of Officers who Served on General Keifer's Staff in Spanish War + +_G_ +Farewell Order of General Keifer in Spanish War + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Major-General George Gordon Meade, U.S.A., August 18, 1864 + +Brigadier-General Wesley Merritt [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Major-General Robert C. Schenck [From a photograph taken 1863.] + +Major-General Frank Wheaton [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Brevet Brigadier-General J. Warren Keifer [From a photograph taken +1865.] + +Major-General William H. French [From a photograph taken 1863.] + +Map of Orange Grove Battle-Field, Mine Run, Va. [November 27, 1863.] + +Brevet Brigadier-General John W. Horn, Sixth Maryland Volunteers +[From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Brevet Brigadier-General M. R. McClennan, 138th Pennsylvania +Volunteers [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Brigadier-General Joseph B. Carr [From a photograph taken since +the war.] + +Colonel James W. Snyder, Ninth New York Heavy Artillery [From a +photograph taken 1865.] + +Major Wm. S. McElwain, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1863.] + +Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Aaron Spangler, 110th Ohio Volunteers +[From a photograph taken 1863.] + +Major-General Horatio G. Wright [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Major-General James B. Ricketts [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Fanny Ricketts [From a photograph taken 1865.] + +Captain Wm. A. Hathaway, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1863.] + +Brevet Major Jonathan T. Rorer, 138th Pennsylvania Volunteers [From +a photograph taken 1865.] + +General Philip H. Sheridan, U.S.A. [From a photograph taken 1885.] + +Battle-Field of Opequon, Va. [September 19, 1864. From the official +map, 1873.] + +Brevet Major-General Rutherford B. Hayes [From a photograph taken +from a painting.] + +Brevet Colonel Moses M. Granger, 122d Ohio Volunteers [From a +photograph taken 1864.] + +Lieutenant-Colonel Aarom W. Ebright, 126th Ohio Volunteers [From +a photograph taken 1864.] + +Battle-Field of Fisher's Hill, Va. [September, 1864. From the +official map.] + +Major-General George Crook, U.S.A. [From a photograph taken 1888.] + +Major-General Geo. W. Getty [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Brigadier-General Wm. H. Seward [From a photograph taken 1864.] + +Map of Cedar Creek Battle-Field, Va. [October 19, 1864.] + +Captain J. C. Ullery, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1865.] + +Brevet Colonel Otho H. Binkley, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a +photograph taken 1865.] + +Petersburg, Va., Fortifications, 1865 + +Brevet Colonel Clifton K. Prentiss, Sixth Maryland Volunteers [From +a photograph taken 1865.] + +Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. N. Foster, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a +photograph taken 1863.] + +John W. Warrington, Private, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1899.] + +John B. Elam, Private, 110th Ohio Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1899.] + +Brevet Major-General J. Warren Keifer and Staff, 1865, Third +Division, Sixth Army Corps + +J. Warren Keifer, Major-General of Volunteers [From a photograph +taken 1898.] + +President McKinley and Major-Generals Keifer, Shafter, Lawton, and +Wheeler [From a photograph taken on ship-deck at Savannah, Ga., +December 17, 1898.] + + +SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS +OF WAR + +CHAPTER I +General Observations on Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville +--Battles at Winchester under General Milroy--His Defeat and Retreat +to Harper's Ferry--With Incidents + +The Confederate Army, under Lee, invaded Maryland in 1862, and +after the drawn battle of Antietam, September 17th, it retired +through the Shenandoah Valley and the mountain gaps behind the +Rappahannock. + +McClellan had failed to take Richmond, and although his army had +fought hard battles on the Chickahominy and at Malvern Hill, it +won no victories that bore fruits save in lists of dead and wounded, +and his army, on being withdrawn from the James in August, 1862, +did not effectively sustain General John Pope at the Second Bull +Run. On being given command of the combined Union forces at and +about Washington, McClellan again had a large and splendidly equipped +army under him. He at first exhibited some energy in moving it +into Maryland after Lee, but by his extreme caution and delays +suffered Harper's Ferry to be taken (September 15, 1862), with +10,000 men and an immense supply of arms and stores, and finally, +when fortune smiled on his army at Antietam, he allowed it to lay +quietly on its arms a whole day and long enough to enable Lee to +retreat across the Potomac, where he was permitted to leisurely +withdraw, practically unmolested, southward. The critical student +of the battle of Antietam will learn of much desperate fighting on +both sides, with no clearly defined general plan of conducting the +battle on either side. As Lee fought on the defensive, he could +content himself with conforming the movements of his forces to +those of the Union Army. Stonewall Jackson, after maintaining a +short, spirited battle against Hooker's corps, withdrew his corps +from the engagement at seven o'clock in the morning and did not +return to the field until 4 P.M.( 1) + +Generally the Union Army was fought by divisions, and seldom more +than two were engaged at the same time, often only one. In this +way some of the divisions, for want of proper supports, were cut +to pieces, and others were not engaged at all. Acting on interior +lines, Lee was enabled to concentrate against the Union attacks +and finally to repulse them. Notwithstanding this mode of conducting +the battle, the Confederate Army was roughly handled and lost +heavily. + +General Ambrose E. Burnside late in the day succeeded in crossing +Antietam Creek at the Stone Bridge and planting himself well on +the Confederate right flank. McClellan also had, at night, many +fresh troops ready and eager for the next day's battle. Considerable +parts of his army had not been engaged, and reinforcements came. +The two armies confronted each other all day on the 18th, being +partly engaged in burying the dead, as though a truce existed, and +at night Lee withdrew his army into Virginia.( 2) + +Indecisive as this battle was, it is ever to be memorable as, on +its issue, President Lincoln kept a promise to "himself and his +Maker."( 3) On September 22, 1862, five days later, he issued a +preliminary proclamation announcing his purpose to promulgate, +January 1, 1863, a war measure, declaring free the slaves in all +States or parts of States remaining at that time in rebellion. He +had long before the battle of Antietam contemplated taking this +action, and hence had prepared this proclamation, and promised +himself to issue it on the Union Army winning a victory. The +driving of Lee's army out of Maryland, and thus relieving Washington +from further menace, was accepted by him as a fulfilment of the +self-imposed condition. + +McClellan was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac +while at Orleans, Virginia, November 7, 1862, and Burnside became +his successor. McClellan never again held any command. + +Burnside moved the army to Falmouth, Virginia, opposite Fredericksburg, +on the Rappahannock. Though only urged to prepare for the offensive, +he precipitated an attack on the Confederate Army, then strongly +intrenched on the heights of Fredericksburg. He suffered a disastrous +repulse (December 14, 1862) and next day withdrew his army across +the Rappahannock to his camps. + +Burnside was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac +January 25, 1863, and Major-General Joseph Hooker succeeded him. + +The battle of Chancellorsville was fought, May 1 to 5, 1863, in +the Wilderness country, south of the Rapidan, and resulted in the +defeat of the Union Army and its falling back to its former position +at Falmouth. + +The defeats at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville led to a general +belief that another invasion of the North would be made by Lee's +army. Such an invasion involved Milroy's command at Winchester, +then in the Middle Department, commanded by Major-General Robert +C. Schenck, whose headquarters were at Baltimore. + +This much in retrospect seems necessary to give a better understanding +of the events soon to be mentioned. + +Soon after Chancellorsville, the Confederate forces in the upper +Shenandoah Valley became more active, and frequent indecisive +conflicts between them and our scouting parties took place. Our +regular scouts, who generally travelled by night in Confederate +dress, brought in rumors almost every day of an intended attack on +Winchester by troops from Lee's army. In May I was given special +charge of these scouts. So uniform were their reports as to the +proposed attacks that I gave credence to them, and advised Milroy +that unless he was soon to be largely reinforced it would be well +to retire from his exposed position. He refused to believe that +anything more than a cavalry raid into the Valley or against him +would be made, and he felt strong enough to defeat it. He argued +that Lee would not dare to detach any part of his infantry force +from the front of the Army of the Potomac. But in addition to the +reports referred to, I learned as early as the 1st of June, through +correspondence secretly brought within our lines from an officer +of Lee's army to which I gained access, that Lee contemplated a +grand movement North, and that his army would reach Winchester on +June 10, 1863. The Secessionists of Winchester generally believed +we would be attacked on that day. I gave this information to +Milroy, but he still persisted in believing the whole story was +gotten up to cause him to disgracefully abandon the Valley.( 4) + +The 10th of June came, and the Confederate Army failed to appear. +This confirmed Milroy in his disbelief in a contemplated attack +with a strong force, and my credulity was ridiculed. As early, +however, as June 8th, Milroy wired Schenck at Baltimore that he +had information that Lee had mounted an infantry division to join +Stuart's cavalry at Culpeper; that the cavalry force there was +"probably more than twice 12,000," and that there was "doubtless +a mighty raid on foot."( 5) Colonel Don Piatt, Schenck's chief of +staff, visited and inspected the post at Winchester on the 10th +and 11th, and when he reached Martinsburg, Va., on his return on +the 11th, he dispatched Milroy to immediately take steps to remove +his command to Harper's Ferry, leaving at Winchester only a lookout +which could readily fall back to Harper's Ferry.( 6) This order +was sent in the light of what Piatt deemed the proper construction +of a dispatch of that date from Halleck to Schenck, and from the +latter to him. Milroy at once wired Schenck of the receipt of the +Piatt dispatch, saying: + +"I have sufficient force to hold the place safely, but if any force +is withdrawn the balance will be captured in twenty-four hours. +All should go, or none." + +This brought, June 12th, a dispatch from Schenck to Milroy in this +language: + +"Lt.-Col. Piatt has . . . misunderstood me, and somewhat exceeded +his instructions. You will make all the required preparations for +withdrawing, but will hold your position in the meantime." + +On the 12th Milroy reported skirmishes with Confederate cavalry on +the Front Royal and Strasburg roads, adding: + +"I am perfectly certain of my ability to hold this place. Nothing +but cavalry appears yet. Let them come." + +As late as the 13th, Halleck telegraphed Schenck, in answer to an +inquiry, that he had no reliable information as to rebel infantry +being in the Valley, and the same day Schenck wired his chief of +staff at Harper's Ferry to "Instruct General Milroy to use great +caution, risking nothing unnecessarily, and be prepared for falling +back in good order if overmatched." + +Milroy advised Schenck of fighting at Winchester on the 13th, and +from General Kelley, on the same day, Schenck learned for the first +time that General Lee was on his way to drive Milroy out of +Winchester. Schenck at once _attempted_ to telegraph Milroy to +"fall back, fighting, if necessary, and to keep the road to Harper's +Ferry." + +Halleck wired Schenck on the 14th: "It is reported that Longstreet +and Ewell's corps have passed through Culpeper to Sperryville, +towards the Valley."( 7) + +This was the first intimation that came from Halleck or Hooker that +Lee's army contemplated moving in the direction of the Valley, or +that there was any apprehension that it might escape the vigilance +of the Army of the Potomac, supposed to be confronting it or at +least watching its movements. Another dispatch came on the 14th +to General Schenck as follows: + +"Get Milroy from Winchester to Harper's Ferry if possible. He will +be 'gobbled up' if he remains, if he is not already past salvation. + + "A. Lincoln, + "President United States." + +It remains to narrate what did take place at Winchester, and then, +in the full light of the facts, to decided upon whom censure or +credit should fall. + +When, on the 14th, Halleck announced that Longstreet and Ewell's +corps "have passed through Culpeper to Sperryville towards the +Valley," we had been fighting Ewell's corps, or parts of it, for +two days at Winchester, three days' march from Culpeper, and other +portions of Lee's army had reached the Valley and Martinsburg. +The report that Winchester was to have been attacked on June 10th +was true, but the advance of the Union cavalry south of the +Rappahannock, and its battle on the 9th at Brandy Station, north +of Culpeper Court House (Lee's then headquarters), so disorganized +the Confederate cavalry as to cause a delay in the movement of +Ewell's corps into the Valley, then proceeding _via_ Front Royal. + +On the night of the 12th of June my scouts found it impossible to +advance more than four or five miles on the Front Royal, Strasburg, +and Cedar Creek roads before encountering Confederate cavalry +pickets. This indicated, as was the fact, that close behind them +were heavy bodies of infantry which it was desired to closely mask. +At midnight I had an interview at my own solicitation with Milroy +at his headquarters, when the whole subject of our situation was +discussed. I was not advised of the orders or dispatches he had +received, nor of his dispatches to Schenck expressing confidence +in his ability to hold Winchester. Milroy persisted in the notion +that only cavalry were before him, and he was anxious to fight them +and especially averse to retreating under circumstances that might +subject him to the charge of cowardice. He also sincerely desired +to hold the Valley and protect the Union residents. He reminded +me fiercely that I had believed in the attack coming on the 10th, +and it had turned out that I was mistaken. I could make no answer +to this save to suggest that the cavalry battle at Brandy Station +had operated to postpone the attack. + +During my acquaintance with Milroy he had evinced confidence in +and friendship for me; now he manifested much annoyance over my +persistence in urging him to order a retreat at once, and finally +he dismissed me rather summarily.( 8) + +Early the next morning I received an order to report with my regiment +near Union Mills on the Strasburg pike, and to move upon the Cedar +Creek road, located west of and extending, in general, parallel +with the Strasburg pike. It was soon ascertained that the enemy +had massed a heavy force upon that road about three miles south of +Winchester. A section of Carlin's battery under Lieutenant Theaker +reported to me, and with it my regiment moved about a mile southward, +keeping well on the ridge between the pike and the Cedar Creek +road. The enemy kept under cover, and not having orders to bring +on an engagement I retired the troops to the junction of the two +roads. About 2 P.M. I was informed that Milroy desired me to make +a strong reconnoissance and develop the strength and position of +the enemy. To strengthen my forces, the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, +Lieutenant-Colonel Moss, and a squadron of the 13th Pennsylvania +Cavalry, were assigned to me. I moved forward promptly with the +12th on the left on the plain, the infantry and artillery in the +centre covering the Strasburg pike, and the squadron on the ridge +to my right, which extended parallel with the pike. We proceeded +in this order about a mile, when my skirmishers became closely +engaged with those of the enemy. It was soon apparent to me that +the enemy extended along a wide front, has advance being only a +thin cover. But as my orders were to develop the enemy, I brought +my whole command into action, drove in his advance line and with +the artillery shelled the woods behind this line. We suffered some +loss, but pressed forward until the enemy fell back to the woods +on the left of Kearnstown. My artillery opened with canister, and +for a few moments our front seemed to be cleared. But my flankers +now reported the enemy turning my right with at least a brigade of +infantry. I therefore withdrew slowly and in good order, embracing +every possible opportunity to halt and open fire. Reinforcements +were reported on the way. I directed that they should, on their +arrival, be posted on the high ground to the right of the pike in +front of the bridge at Union (or Barton's) Mills to cover our +retreat, which must be made with the artillery and infantry over +this bridge. + +Colonel Moss, not believing he could cross the tail-race with its +embankments and the stream below the Mills, commenced moving his +cavalry towards the bridge. I turned him back with imperative +orders to cover the left flank as long as necessary or possible, +then find a crossing below the Mills. Unfortunately, when the +artillery reached the bridge in readiness to cross, it was found +occupied by the 123d Ohio, Colonel T. W. Wilson commanding, marching +by the flank to my relief under the guidance of Captain W. L. Shaw, +a staff officer of General Elliott. This regiment was directed, +as soon as it cleared the bridge, to deploy to the right, advance +upon the high ground, and engage the enemy then pressing forward +in great numbers. Before Colonel Wilson could get his regiment +into battle-line it was under a destructive fire and lost heavily. +Nevertheless, though the regiment was a comparatively new one, it +soon successfully engaged the enemy, and drove back his advance. +A more gallant fight, under all the circumstances, was never made. +It enabled me to take the artillery over the bridge, and to withdraw +to a new position from which we could cover the bridge with our +artillery and easily repulse the enemy. Colonels Wilson and Moss +were each withdrawn in good order, the former above and the latter +below the bridge. Gordon's brigade of Early's division, in an +attempt to cross the bridge, was driven back with considerable loss, +and night came to end this opening battle of Winchester. A +Confederate prisoner was taken to General Milroy (who, with General +Elliott, joined me at nightfall), who frankly said he was of Hays' +Louisiana brigade, Early's division, Ewell's corps; that Ewell was +on the field commanding in person. Milroy until then was unwilling +to believe that troops other than cavalry were in his front. + +Besides Early's division of Ewell's corps, we fought Maryland troops +which had long been operating in the upper Valley, consisting of +a battalion of infantry (Colonel Herbert), a battalion of cavalry +(Major W. W. Goldsborough), and a battery of artillery.( 9) I was +not forced to order a retreat until the object of the advance had +been fully attained, and then only when Hays' Louisiana brigade +appeared on my right flank, and the cavalry there were broken and +driven back. General John B. Gordon (10) (since Senator from +Georgia), who confronted me with five infantry regiments, reports +of this battle: + +"About 4 o'clock in the afternoon I deployed a line of skirmishers, +and moved forward to the attack, holding two regiments in reserve. +After advancing several hundred yards, I found it necessary to +bring into line these two regiments on the right and on the left. +The enemy's skirmishers retreated on his battle-line, a portion of +which occupied a strong position behind a stone wall, but from +which he was driven. A battery which I had hoped to capture was +rapidly withdrawn. In this charge my brigade lost seventy-five +men, including some efficient officers."(11) + +The total loss of the enemy in this engagement must have been at +least as many more. The Union loss, of all arms, was not more than +one hundred. It was now obvious Milroy's command could not hold +Winchester. I assumed a retreat would be undertaken in the night, +but in a brief interview with Milroy at the close of the battle he +said nothing on the subject, and the reproof of the night before +warned me to make no further suggestions to him with respect to +his duty in this emergency. + +General Elliott, my immediate superior, informed me, as I rode late +at night through Winchester to my camp on the heights northwest of +the city, that he thought it was too late to retreat on Harper's +Ferry. I suggested that the Romney, Pughtown, and Apple-Pie Ridge, +or Back Creek roads were open, and that we could safely retire over +one or more of them. He said he would call Milroy's attention to +my suggestion and recommend these lines of retreat, but if he did +the suggestion was not favorably considered. At daybreak on the +14th of June I received a written order to take the 110th Ohio +Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel W. N. Foster, one company +of the 116th Ohio Infantry, commanded by Captain Arkenoe, and L +Company of the 5th Regular Battery, six guns, commanded by Lieutenant +Wallace F. Randolph, and occupy an open, isolated earthwork located +three fourths of a mile west of the fortifications on the heights +between the Romney and Pughtown roads, but in sight of the main +works. The earthwork was barely sufficient for one regiment. The +troops assigned me were soon in position, and quiet reigned in my +front. The enemy appeared to be inactive. Milroy advised me that +the Pughtown and Romney roads were picketed and patrolled by cavalry, +and I was not, therefore, charged with the duty of watching them. +About 3 P.M. I rode to the main fort, and directed my horse to be +unsaddled and fed while I sought an interview with Milroy. I found +him in high spirits. He complimented me on the strong fight I put +up the previous day, and declared his belief that the enemy were +only trying to scare him out of the Valley. He referred to the +quiet of the day as evidence that they had no purpose to assail +him in his works. He said the cavalry had just reported no enemy +in my front on any of the roads. + +About 4 P.M. I started leisurely to get my horse to return to the +earthwork, when, from the face of Round Mountain, about one mile +to the southwest of my command, not less than twenty guns opened +fire on it. I dismounted a passing wagon-master, and on his horse +in less than five minutes reached the foot of the hill on which +the earthwork was situated, and then, hastening on foot through a +storm of shot and exploding shell, I was soon in it. Lieutenant +Randolph with his six rifle guns replied to the enemy as long as +possible, but his battery was soon largely disabled, the horses +mostly killed, and most of the ammunition chests exploded. Two of +his guns only could be kept in position for the anticipated assault. +About 6 P.M., under cover of the cannonade, and protected by some +timber and the nature of the ground, Hays' Louisiana brigade of +five regiments, supported by Smith and Hoke's brigades, advanced +to the assault. My men stood well to their work, and the two guns +fired canister into the enemy. Many Confederate officers and men +were seen to fall, and the head of the column wavered, but there +were no trenches or abattis to obstruct the enemy's advance. There +was stubborn fighting over the low breastworks, and some fighting +inside of them, but not until our exposed flanks were attacked did +I order a retreat. The battery was lost, but most of the command +reached the main fortification safely, though exposed to the fire +of the enemy for most of the distance. Captain Arkenoe was killed, +and Lieutenant Paris Horney of the 110th Ohio was captured. Our +loss in killed, wounded, and captured was small. General Milroy, +from an observation-stand on a flag-staff at the main fort, witnessed +this affair. In his report of it he says: + +"The enemy opened upon me with at least four full batteries, some +of his guns being of his longest range, under cover of which fire +he precipitated a column at least _ten thousand_ strong upon the +outer work held by Colonel Keifer, which, after a stubborn resistance, +he carried."(12) + +General Early, in his report, says twenty guns under Colonel Jones +opened fire on this position. General Hays reports his loss, 14 +killed, 78 wounded, 13 missing. + +Part of the guns left in the earthworks we had abandoned, and the +artillery of Colonel Jones now opened on our fortifications. An +artillery duel ensued which was maintained until after dark. No +other hard fighting occurred on this day, only some slight skirmishing +took place with Gordon's brigade south and with portions of Johnson's +division east of Winchester. + +The most notable event of the day was the opening fire of a score +of artillery pieces in broad daylight from a quarter where no enemy +was known to be. Captain Morgan (13th Pennsylvania Cavalry), who +was charged with the duty of patrolling the Romney and Pughtown +roads, was censured for failing to discover and report the presence +of the enemy. In a large sense this censure was unjust. His +report, made about 2 P.M., that no enemy was found on these roads +or near them, was doubtless then true, yet an hour later Early with +three of his brigades reached them about one mile in front of the +earthwork occupied by me. At that time Captain Morgan had finished +his reconnoissance and returned to camp. There was, however, a +lack of vigilance on the part of somebody; possibly General Milroy +was not altogether blameless. + +As has already been stated, I was not charged with the duty of +ascertaining the movements of the enemy; on the contrary, I had +been informed that pickets and scouts covered my front. It is the +only instance, perhaps, in the war of such a surprise. + +The situation of Milroy's command was now critical. He had about +7000 men able for duty, more troops than could be used in the forts +or protected by them. Colonel A. T. McReynolds, of the 1st New +York Cavalry, who commanded Milroy's Third Brigade at Berryville, +some ten miles eastward of us, was attacked on the 13th, and, +pursuant to orders, retired, reaching Winchester at 9 P.M. It was +certainly known on the 14th that Ewell had at least 20,000 men of +all arms, and it was clear that while we might stand an assault, +our artillery ammunition would soon be exhausted, and the surrender +of the entire command, if it remained, become inevitable. About 11 +A.M. I was present in the principal fort at what was called a +council of war, but my opinion was not asked or expressed as to +the propriety of undertaking to escape. I ventured, however, to +suggest that if a surrender were contemplated, I could take my +infantry command out that night, with perhaps others, by the Back +Creek or Apple-Pie Ridge road without encountering the enemy, and +could safely reach Pennsylvania by keeping well to the west of +Martinsburg. It was decided about midnight, however, to spike the +guns, abandon all wagons, and all sick and wounded and stores of +all kinds, and evacuate Winchester. The teamsters, artillerists, +and camp followers were to ride and lead the horses and mules, +following closely the armed troops, who were to move at 1 A.M. on +the Martinsburg road. If the enemy were encountered, we were to +attack him, and, if possible, cut through. The movement did not +commence until 2 A.M., and the night was dark. The great body of +horses and mules, being ridden by undisciplined men and unused to +riders, fell into great confusion as they crowded on the pike close +on the heels of the infantry. The mules brayed a chorus seldom +heard, and as if prompted by a malicious desire to notify the enemy +of our departure. My regiment was in the advance on the turnpike. +Milroy did not accompany the head of the column. Elliott was, +however, with it a portion of the time. When we had proceeded +about three miles the familiar _chuck_ of the hubs of artillery +wheels was heard to the eastward, and it soon became apparent the +enemy was moving towards the pike, intending to strike it on our +front. Some of our troops were then moving on a line parallel with +the pike, eastward of it. When the head of the column had proceeded +about four miles, and as it approached Stephenson's Depot (located +a short distance east of the Martinsburg pike), firing in a desultory +way commenced on my right and soon extended along a line obliquely +towards one front. The column was moved by the flank to the left, +at right angles with the road, my regiment being followed by the +122d Ohio Regiment. A line of battle was formed with these regiments +in the darkness, and skirmishers thrown forward. The line advanced +northward, feeling for the enemy, but it was soon halted, and the +troops were again moved by the flank. My regiment, being on the +left, again took the advance, keeping about one hundred yards +westward of the pike. I had been informed that the whole army was +to follow and share our fate. When about five miles from Winchester, +and when the head of the column was about west of the Depot named, +some straggling shots notified us that the enemy were on the pike +near us. I halted and faced the men in line of battle towards the +pike, and, though still dark, a personal investigation revealed +the fact that the Confederates were in confusion, and the commands +they were giving indicated also that they were greatly excited. +I found Elliott some distance in the rear, and obtained his consent +to charge them. Colonel Wm. H. Ball, with the 122d Ohio, was +requested to support me on the right. My command charged rapidly +across the road without firing. It fortunately struck the enemy's +flank. We took a few prisoners and drove the enemy's right through +the woods for about two hundred yards and upon his approaching +artillery. Our line then halted and opened fire into the enemy's +ranks, causing great confusion and killing and wounding large +numbers. A battery now opened upon us, but this we soon silenced +by killing or driving away its gunners. The enemy retreated for +protection to a railroad cut,(13) and the woods were cleared in +my front, but my right was unprotected, and at this juncture a +considerable force of infantry and two pieces of artillery threatened +that flank. I withdrew a short distance, changed direction to the +right, and again advanced. Colonel Ball came up gallantly with +his regiment on my right, and in twenty minutes our front was +cleared, the enemy's guns silenced, the gunners shot down or driven +away, and the artillery horses killed. We were only prevented from +taking possession of the guns by the appearance of another and +larger body of the enemy on our right. Daylight was now approaching. +Without waiting the enemy's fire, I ordered both my regiments +withdrawn, which was effected in good order, to the west of the +pike. The enemy at once reoccupied the woods in our front in +superior force, but obviously without a good battle-line. Again +I ordered the two regiments to a charge, which was splendidly +responded to, although a promised attack in our support was not +made. Elliott I did not see or receive any order from after the +battle began. Milroy was trying to maintain the fight nearer +Winchester, to the east of the pike, and he gave no order that +reached me. + +After a conflict in which the two lines were engaged in places not +twenty feet apart, the enemy gave way, and our line advanced to +his artillery, shooting and driving the gunners from their pieces +and completely silencing them, the Confederates again taking refuge +in the railroad cut. I could learn nothing of the progress of the +fight at other points, and could hear no firing, save occasional +shots in the direction of Winchester. I concluded the object of +the attack was accomplished so far as possible, and that the non- +combatants had had time to escape. It was now day-dawn, and we +could not hope to further surprise the enemy or long operate on +his flank. About 5 A.M., therefore, I ordered the whole line +withdrawn from the woods, and resumed the march northward along +the Martinsburg road. I was soon joined by Generals Milroy and +Elliott and by members of their staffs, but with few men. Milroy +had personally led a charge with the 87th Pennsylvania and had a +horse shot under him, but there was no concert of action in the +conduct of the battle. Colonel Wm. G. Ely and a part of the brigade +he commanded were captured between Stephenson's Depot and Winchester, +having done little fighting, and a portion of McReynolds' brigade +shared the same fate. + +The cavalry became panic-stricken and, commingling with the mules +and horses on which teamsters and others were mounted, all in great +disorder took wildly to the hills and mountains to the northwest, +followed by infantry in somewhat better order; the mules brayed, +the horses neighed, the teamsters and riders indulged in much +vigorous profanity, but the most of the retreating mass reached +Bloody Run, Pennsylvania, marching _via_ Sir John's Run, Hancock, +and Bath. Citizens on Apple-Pie Ridge who witnessed the wild scene +describe it as a veritable bedlam.(14) + +Captain Z. Baird, of Milroy's staff, who joined me while engaged +in the night fight in the woods, but who was under the erroneous +impression Elliott had ordered the attack, in his testimony before +the Milroy Court of Inquiry, gives this account of the engagement: + +"General Elliott ordered Colonel Keifer with the 110th Ohio to +proceed into the woods. The order was promptly obeyed. As soon +as the regiment reached the woods, a severe firing of musketry +occurred. General Elliott remarked to me that the enemy must be +there in force, and that the 110th should be immediately supported +by the 122d Ohio. I volunteered to deliver the order to Colonel +Ball of the 122d Ohio, and to guide him to the woods, so as to +place him on the right flank of the 110th Ohio, and to avoid shooting +our own men by mistake. The 122d Ohio arrived on the right flank +of the 110th in tolerably good order, and immediately commenced +firing. Both regiments then advanced, and drove the enemy out of +the woods. There were indications of a surprise to the enemy by +the suddenness of their attack. They took one of their caissons +or passed it. We could look into their camp and see that their +artillery horses were ungovernable. We were so close that we could +hear the orders given by their officers in endeavoring to restore +order. The fire of the enemy, though rapid, went over us, both of +small arms and artillery. As we progressed, we saw evidences from +the wounded and slain of the enemy that our fire had been efficient. +After this contest had lasted perhaps an hour Colonel Keifer +requested me to return to the rear and learn what dispositions were +going on on the right to sustain Colonel Ball and himself. I +complied with his order. When I arrived at the rear, I noticed +the 87th Pennsylvania, the 18th Connecticut, and the 123d Ohio +advancing on the right in line of battle, under the immediate +command of Colonel Ely of the 18th Connecticut. General Milroy +was also present, but dismounted, his horse being, as I supposed, +disabled. He was engaged in changing horses. Without reporting +to General Milroy, as I now recollect, I returned with all possible +expedition to Colonel Keifer, to notify him of the support which +he was about to have on the right. I supposed at the time that +from the effect of the fire of the 110th and 122d Ohio, that when +Colonel Ely with his force attacked on the right we would rout +them. I met, however, the 110th and 122d Ohio falling back. The +officers were so busy in preserving order that I could not communicate +with them. After we had fallen back to the Martinsburg road, I +saw Generals Milroy and Elliott. I was informed by the former that +the retreat was again in progress."(15) + +Colonel Wm. H. Ball (122d Ohio), in his official report speaks of +the fight thus: + +"I was ordered to follow the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which +had been moved off the field some time before, and was out of sight. +The regiments being so separated, I did not engage the enemy as +soon as the 110th. I formed on the right of the 110th Ohio Volunteer +Infantry, and the two regiments advanced within the skirt of the +woods and engaged the enemy, who occupied the woods with infantry +and artillery. After a sharp action, the line was advanced at +least 100 yards and to within twenty paces of the enemy's artillery, +where a terrible fire was maintained for fifteen or twenty minutes +by both parties. The artillery was driven back over 100 yards, +and for a time silenced by the fire of our rifles. By order of +Colonel Keifer the two regiments then retreated beyond the range +of the enemy's infantry, reformed, and again advanced within the +woods, and, after a sharp engagement, retreated, by order of Colonel +Keifer, the enemy then moving on our flank." + +The contemplated attack by Colonel Ely and others was not made. + +We marched _via_ Smithfield (Wizzard's Clip), Charlestown, and +Halltown, and reached Harper's Ferry about 3 P.M., having marched +thirty-five miles and fought two hours on the way. + +Berryville, held by McReynolds' brigade of Milroy's command, was +taken by Rodes' division of five brigades on the 13th of June; +Bunker Hill, on the direct road to Martinsburg from Winchester, +was occupied by the enemy early the morning of the 14th; and +Martinsburg was taken (all by the same division) the evening of +that day. General Daniel Tyler and Colonel B. F. Smith (126th +Ohio), with a small command of infantry and cavalry and one battery, +made a gallant stand for a few hours, to enable their baggage and +supply trains, escorted by a small number of cavalry, to escape +_via_ Williamsport. A portion of the battery was captured, but +Tyler and Smith's troops retreated on Shepherdstown, thence to +Harper's Ferry. + +We pursued, in the retreat from Stephenson's Depot, the only possible +route then open to us to Harper's Ferry. About 2000 men of all +arms reached Harper's Ferry with us, and others straggled in later. +But much the larger part of Milroy's command escaped with the +animals to Pennsylvania; 2700 soldiers assembled at Bloody Run +alone. The losses in captured, including the sick and wounded left +in hospital, and the wounded left on the field, were about 3000. +The losses in my command, considering the desperate nature of the +fighting, were small, and but few of my officers and soldiers, fit +for duty and not wounded in battle, were captured. Lieutenants T. +J. Weakley and C. M. Gross, through neglect of the officer of the +day, were left on picket near Winchester, with 60 men of the 110th +Ohio, and, consequently captured. The surgeons, with their +assistants, were left at the hospital and on the field in charge +of the sick and wounded. Chaplain McCabe remained to assist in +the care of the wounded left on the battle-field. The enemy's loss +in killed and wounded much exceeded the Union loss on each of the +three days' fighting. I was bruised by a spent ball on the 13th, +and slightly wounded by a musket fired by a soldier not ten feet +from me near the close of the fight at the earthwork on the 14th, +and my horse was shot under me in the night engagement at Stephenson's +Depot. We fought the best of the troops of Lee's army. General +Edward Johnson's division of Ewell's corps, in the night engagement, +consisted of Stewart, Nicholl, and Walker's (Stonewall) brigades. +Johnson was censured for not having reached and covered the +Martinsburg road earlier in the night of the 14th of June. He +reported his command in a critical situation for a time after our +attack upon it; that "two sets of cannoniers (13 out of 16) were +killed or disabled."(16) + +The war furnishes no parallel to the fighting at Winchester, and +there is no instance of the war where a comparatively small force, +after being practically surrounded by a greatly superior one, cut +its way out. + +Johnson's division was so roughly handled on the morning of the +15th that it did not pursue us, nor was it ordered to march again +until some time the next day. The plan of Lee was for Ewell's +corps to push forward rapidly into Pennsylvania. His delay at +Winchester postponed Lee's giving the order to Ewell "to take +Harrisburg" until June 21st.(17) The loss of three or more days +at Winchester most likely saved Pennsylvania's capital from capture. + +The disaster to the Union arms at Winchester was, by General Halleck, +charged upon General Milroy, and General Schneck was ordered by +Halleck to place Milroy in arrest. In August, 1863, a Court of +Inquiry convened at Washington to investigate and report upon +Milroy's conduct and the evacuation of Winchester. Schenck's action +in relation to the matter was also drawn in question. The court +was in session twenty-seven days, heard many witnesses, including +Generals Schenck and Milroy, and had before it a mass of orders +and dispatches. I was a known friend of Milroy, hence was not +called against him, and he did not have me summoned because I had +differed so radically with him as to the necessity of evacuating +Winchester. The testimony, while doing me ample justice, did not +disclose much of the information communicated by me to Milroy, nor +my views with respect to the judgment displayed by him in a great +emergency. Milroy and his friends maintained, with much force, +that his holding Winchester for about three days delayed, for that +time or longer, Lee's advance into Pennsylvania, and thus saved +Harrisburg from capture, and gave the Army of the Potomac time to +reach Gettysburg, and there force Lee to concentrate his army and +fight an unsuccessful battle. The Court of Inquiry made no formal +report, but Judge-Advocate-General Holt reviewed the testimony, +and reached conclusions generally exonerating Milroy from the charge +of disobedience of orders and misconduct during the evacuation, +but reflecting somewhat on Schenck for not positively ordering the +place evacuated. President Lincoln made a characteristic indorsement +on this record, not unfavorable to either Schenck or Milroy, +concluding with this paragraph: + +"Serious blame is not necessarily due to any serious disaster, and +I cannot say that in this case any of the officers are deserving +of serious blame. No court-martial is deemed necessary or proper +in this case."(18) + +Halleck did not, however, cease in his hostility to Milroy, and +not until in the last months of the war did the "Gray Eagle" have +another command in the field. He was a rashly-brave and patriotic +man, and his whole heart was in the Union cause. In battle he +risked his own person unnecessarily and without exercising a proper +supervision over his entire command. He died at Olympia, Washington, +March 29, 1890, when seventy-five years of age. The colored people +of America should erect a monument to his memory. He was their +friend when to be so drew upon him much adverse criticism. + +( 1) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), pp. 242, 257, 401. + +( 2) _Ibid_., 263. + +( 3) _Abraham Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. vi., p. 159. + +( 4) In letters, dated in May, 1863, to Col. Wm. S. Furay (then +a correspondent (Y. S.) of the Cincinnati _Gazette_ with Rosecrans' +army in Tennessee, I detailed the general plan of Lee's advance +northward, and gave the date when the movement would commence. + +( 5) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part III., p. 36. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 125. Piatt, June +11th, wired Schenck from Winchester, after inspecting the place, +that Milroy "can whip anything the rebels can fetch here."--_Ibid_., +p. 161. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 130-7, 159-81. + +( 8) A few days before this event I peremptorily ordered all +officers' wives and citizens visiting in my command to go North, +but the ladies held an indignation meeting and waited on General +Milroy, with the request that he countermand my order, which he +did, at the same time saying something about my being too apprehensive +of danger. I had the pleasure of meeting and greeting these same +ladies in Washington, July 5th, on their arrival from Winchester +_via_ Staunton, Richmond, _Castle-Thunder_, the James and Potomac +Rivers. + +( 9) _War Records_, Early's Rep., vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 460. + +(10) His son, Major Hugh H. Gordon, served efficiently on my staff +in Florida, Georgia, and Cuba (Spanish War), as did Captain J. E. +B. Stuart, son of the great Confederate cavalry General; also +Major John Gary Evans (ex-Governor South Carolina), and others +closely related to distinguished Confederate officers. See Appendix F. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 491. + +(12) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 46. + +(13) General Johnson's Report (Confederate), _War Records_, vol. +xxvii., Part II., p. 501. + +(14) An orderly who attempted to carry on horseback a valise +containing papers, etc., of mine, threw it way in a field as he +rode into the mountains. A Quakeress, Miss Mary Lupton, witnessed +the act from her home, and found the valise and returned it to me +with all its contents, after the battle of Opequon, Sept. 19, 1864. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 136. + +(16) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 501-2. + +(17) _Ibid_., p. 443. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 88-197. + + +CHAPTER II +Invasion of Pennsylvania--Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg--Lee's +Retreat Across the Potomac, and Losses in Both Armies + +At Harper's Ferry, June 16th, I was assigned to command a brigade +under General W. H. French, a regular officer. General Joseph +Hooker, in command of the Army of the Potomac, June 25th, ordered +French to be ready to march at a moment's notice. French took +position on Maryland Heights, where, June 27th, Hooker visited him +and gave him orders to prepare to evacuate both the Heights and +Harper's Ferry. French had under him there about 10,000 effective +men. Halleck, on being notified of Hooker's purpose to evacuate +these places and to unite French's command with the Army of the +Potomac for the impending battle, countermanded Hooker's order; +thereupon the latter, by telegram from Sandy Hook, requested to be +relieved from the command of that army. His request being persisted +in, he was, on June 28th, relieved, and Major-General George G. +Meade was, by the President, assigned to succeed him. Meade, also +feeling in need of reinforcements, on the same day asked permission +to order French, with his forces, to join him. Halleck, though +placing French under Meade's command, did not consent to this. +French, however, with all his troops (save my brigade), under orders +from Washington, abandoned Harper's Ferry and Maryland Heights, +and became a corps of observation to operate in the vicinity of +Frederick, Maryland, in the rear of the Army of the Potomac. And +though no enemy was threatening, nor likely to do so soon, I was +ordered to dismantle the fortified heights, load the guns and stores +on Chesapeake and Ohio Canal boats, and escort them to Washington, +repairing the canal and locks on the way. This work was done +thoroughly, and we arrived with a fleet of twenty-six boats in +Washington shortly after midnight, July 4, 1863. It was my first +visit to that city. + +Under orders from Halleck, I started on the 6th, by rail, to reoccupy +Harper's Ferry, but was stopped by Meade at Frederick, and there +again reported to French. French had been assigned to command the +Third Army Corps (to succeed General Daniel E. Sickles, wounded at +Gettysburg), and his late command became the Third Division of that +corps, under Elliott; my brigade, consisting of the 110th and 122d +Ohio, 6th Maryland, and 138th Pennsylvania Infantry regiments, +became the Second Brigade of this division. This brigade (with, +later, three regiments added) was not broken up during the war, +and was generally known as "_Keifer's Brigade_." + +It is not my purpose to attempt to write the full story of the +battle of Gettysburg, the greatest, measured by the results, of +the many great battles of the war. Gettysburg marks the high tide +of the Rebellion. From it dates the certain downfall of the +Confederacy, though nearly two years of war followed, and more +blood was spilled after Lee sullenly commenced his retreat from +the heights of Gettysburg than before. + +About this stage of the war, President Lincoln took an active +interest in the movements of the armies, although he generally +refrained from absolutely directing them in the field. It was not +unusual for army commanders to appeal to him for opinions as to +military movements, and he was free in making suggestions, volunteering +to take the responsibility if they were adopted and his plans +miscarried. Hooker, in an elaborate dispatch (June 15th) relating +to the anticipated movements of Lee's army from the Rappahannock +to the northward, said: + +"I am of opinion that it is my duty to pitch into his rear, although +in so doing the head of his column may reach Warrenton before I +can return." + +The President, answering, said: + +"I have but one idea which I think worth suggesting to you, and +that is, in case you find Lee coming to the north of the Rappahannock, +I would by no means cross to the south of it. If he should leave +a rear force at Fredericksburg, tempting you to fall upon it, it +would fight in intrenchments and have you at disadvantage, and so, +man for man, worst you at that point, while his main force would +in some way be getting the advantage of you northward. In one +word, I would not take any risk of being entangled upon the river, +_like an ox jumped half over the fence and liable to be torn by +dogs front and rear, without a fair chance to gore one way or kick +the other_."( 1) + +The President, answering another dispatch from Hooker, June 10th, +said: + +"I think Lee's army, and not Richmond, is your objective point. +If he comes towards the upper Potomac, follow him on his flank and +on his inside track, shortening your lines while he lengthens him. +Fight him, too, when opportunity offers. If he stays where he is, +_fret him and fret him_."( 2) + +When deeply concerned about the fate of Winchester (June 14th), +this dispatch was sent: + +"Major General Hooker: + +"So far as we can make out here, the enemy have Milroy surrounded +at Winchester and Tyler at Martinsburg. If they could hold out a +few days, could you help them? _If the head of Lee's army is at +Martinsburg, and the tail of it on the plank road between Fredericksburg +and Chancellorsville, the animal must be very slim somewhere. +Could you not break him?_" + + "A. Lincoln."( 2) + +Hooker did not cross the river and attack the rear of Lee's army, +nor did he "_fret_" Lee's army, nor "_break_" it, however "_slim_" +"_the animal_" must have been, and hence Milroy was sacrificed, +and the rich towns, cities, and districts of Maryland and Pennsylvania +were overrun by a hungry and devastating foe; but Gettysburg came; +the Union hosts there being successfully led by another commander +--Meade! + +George Gordon Meade came to the command of the Army of the Potomac +under the most trying circumstances. The situation of that army +and the country was critical. He had been distinguished as a +brigade, division, and corps commander under McClellan, Burnside, +and Hooker; in brief, he had won laurels on many fields, especially +at Fredericksburg, where he broke through the enemy's right and +reached his reserves, yet he never had held an independent command. +He was of Revolutionary stock (Pennsylvania), though born in Cadiz, +Spain, December 31, 1815, where his parents then resided, his father +being a merchant and shipowner there. He was graduated at West +Point; was a modest, truthful, industrious, studious man, with the +instincts of a soldier. He was wounded at New Market, or Glendale, +in the Peninsula campaign (1862). He was commanding in person, +and ambitious to succeed, prudent, yet obstinate, and when aroused +showed a fierce temper; yet he was, in general, just. On the third +day after he assumed command of the army its advance corps opened +the battle of Gettysburg. What great soldier ever before took an +army and moved it into battle against a formidable adversary in so +short a time? It must also be remembered that the troops composing +his army were not used to material success. They had never been +led to a decisive victory. Some of them had been defeated at Bull +Run; some of them on the Peninsula; some of them at the Second Bull +Run; some of them were in the drawn battle of Antietam; some of +them had suffered repulse at Fredericksburg, and defeat at +Chancellorsville, and the army in general had experienced more of +defeat than success, although composed of officers and soldiers +equal to the best ever called to battle. When Meade assumed command, +Lee's army was, in the main, far up the Cumberland Valley, and +pressing on; Ewell had orders to take Harrisburg, and was then, +with most of his corps, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. York and +Wrightsville, Pa., were taken on the 28th by Gordon of Early's +division. On the 29th Ewell ordered his engineer, with Jenkins' +cavalry, to reconnoitre the defences of Harrisburg, and he was +starting for that place himself on the same day when Lee recalled +him and his corps to join the main army at Cashtown, or Gettysburg.( 3) + +Longstreet's corps marched from Fredericksburg, June 3d, _via_ +Culpeper Court-House, thence up the Rappahannock and along the +eastern slope of the Blue Ridge; on the 19th occupied Ashby's and +Snicker's Gaps, leading to the Valley; on the 23d marched _via_ +Martinsburg and Williamsport into Maryland, reaching Chambersburg +on the 27th; thence marched on the 30th to Greenwood, and the next +day to Marsh Creek, four miles from Gettysburg, Pickett's division +and Hood's brigade being left, respectively, at Chambersburg and +New Guilford.( 4) + +A. P. Hill's corps did not leave Fredericksburg until the 14th of +June, just after Hooker put the Army of the Potomac in motion to +the northward. Hill marched into the Valley and joined Longstreet +at Berryville, and from there preceded him to Chambersburg, and by +one day to Cashtown and Gettysburg.( 5) + +General J. E. B. Stuart, in command of the Confederate cavalry, +crossed the upper Rappahannock, June 16th, and moved east of the +Blue Ridge on Longstreet's right flank, leaving only a small body +of cavalry on the Rappahannock, in observation, with instructions +to follow on the right flank of Hill's corps. Severe cavalry +engagements took place at Aldie, the 17th, and at Middleburg, +Uppeville, and Snicker's Gap, without decisive results, both sides +claiming victories. On the 24th Stuart, with the main body of his +cavalry, succeeded in eluding the Union cavalry and Hooker's army +(then feeling its way north), and passed east of Centreville, thence +_via_ Fairfax Court-House and Dranesville, and crossed, July 27th, +the Potomac at Rowser's Ford, and captured a large supply train +between Washington and Rockville. Stuart's cavalry caused some +damage in the rear and east of the Army of the Potomac, but, on +the whole, this bold movement contributed little, if any, towards +success in Lee's campaign. Stuart's advance reached the Confederate +left _via_ Dover and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, late on the afternoon +of the second day of the battle, his troopers and horses in a +somewhat exhausted condition. The consensus of opinion among +military critics was then, and since is, that Lee committed a great +strategic error in authorizing his main cavalry force to be separated +from close contact with the right of his moving army. General Lee +seems to have come to this conclusion himself, as frequently, in +his official reports of the campaign, he deplores the absence of +his cavalry and his consequent inability to obtain reliable +information of the movements of the Army of the Potomac.( 6) +Longstreet severely criticises Stuart's raid, and attributes to +the absence of the cavalry, in large part, the failure of the +Gettysburg campaign.( 7) Cavalry, under an energetic commander, +are the _eyes and ears_ of a large army, especially when it is on +an active campaign against a vigilant enemy. + +Having with some particularity traced the main bodies composing +Lee's army, as to time and routes, to the vicinity of Gettysburg, +it remains to briefly follow the Army of the Potomac to the same +place. While some of its corps moved earlier, the headquarters of +that army did not leave Falmouth until the 14th of June, when it +was established at Dumfries; on the next day at Fairfax Station, +on the 18th at Fairfax Court-House, on the 26th at Poolesville, +Maryland, and the next day at Frederick, Maryland, where Meade +succeeded Hooker. Before the Army of the Potomac left Falmouth a +division of the Sixth Corps had been thrown across the river to +observe the enemy, but it did not attack him, and was withdrawn on +the 13th. + +Meade found his army, mainly, in the vicinity of Frederick, though +some of his corps had passed northward and others were moving up +by converging lines, the Sixth Corps having just arrived at +Poolesville from Virginia. June 29th, Meade moved his headquarters +from Frederick to Middleburg, the next day to Taneytown, Maryland, +about fifteen miles south of Gettysburg. + +The movements of the Army of the Potomac were such as to cover +Washington and Baltimore, and at the same time bring, as soon as +possible, the invading army to battle. + +The First, Eleventh, and Third Corps, under Major-General John F. +Reynolds, were in the advance on Gettysburg on July 1st, the First +Corps leading, and preceded only by General John Buford's division +of cavalry. Lee was then rapidly concentrating his army at +Gettysburg. Reynolds found Buford fiercely engaging infantry of +Hill's corps as they were debouching through the mountains on the +Cashtown road. He promptly moved the First Corps to Buford's +support, and it soon became hotly engaged. The Eleventh Corps, +commanded by General Oliver O. Howard, was ordered to hasten to +join in the battle. Howard arrived about 11.30 A.M., just as +Reynolds fell mortally wounded, and the command of the field devolved +on Howard. He pushed forward two divisions of the Eleventh to the +support of the First Corps, then engaged on Seminary Hill, northeast +of Gettysburg, and posted a third division on Cemetery Ridge, south +of the town. The battle continued with great fierceness on the +Cashtown road. For a time the Union success was considerable, and +the Confederates were forced back, and numerous prisoners, including +General Archer, were captured; but reinforcements from Cashtown +and the unexpected arrival, at 1.30 P.M., over the York and Harrisburg +roads, of Ewell's corps on Howard's right left him outnumbered and +outflanked. He maintained the unequal contest until about 4 P.M., +then ordered a withdrawal to Cemetery Ridge, which was accomplished +with considerable loss, chiefly in prisoners taken in the streets +of Gettysburg. Meade, learning of Reynolds' death, dispatched +General W. S. Hancock to represent him on the field. Hancock +arrived in time to aid Howard in posting the troops advantageously +on the Ridge, where they handsomely repulsed an attack on the right +flank. Slocum and Sickles' corps arrived about 7 P.M., and were +posted on the right and left, respectively, of those in position. +Hancock reported to Meade the position held was a strong one, and +advised that the army be concentrated there for battle. At 10 P.M. +Meade left Taneytown and reached the battle-field at 1 A.M. of the +2d of July, having, on the reports received, decided to stand and +give general battle there.( 8) The Second and Fifth Corps and the +rest of the Third arrived early on the 2nd. The Second and Third +Corps went into position on the Union left on a continuation of +the ridge towards Little Round Top Mountain. The Fifth was held +in reserve until the arrival of the Sixth at 2 P.M., when it was +moved to the extreme left, the Sixth taking its place in reserve +owing to the exhaustion of its troops, they having just accomplished +a thirty-two mile march from 9 P.M. of the day previous. The Third, +under Sickles, was moved by him to a peach orchard about one half +mile in advance, and out of line with the corps on its right and +left. Here it received the shock of battle, precipitated about 3 +P.M. by Longstreet's corps from the Confederate right. The Second +and Fifth Corps were hastened to cover the flanks of the Third. +The battle raged furiously for some hours and until night put an +end to it. The Third was forced, after a desperate conflict, to +retire on its proper line. Sickles was severely wounded, losing +a leg. The Fifth, after a most heroic conflict, succeeded in +gaining and holding Round Top (big) Mountain, the key to the position +on the Union left, as were Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill, on its +right. Longstreet, at nightfall, after suffering great loss, was +forced to retire, having gained no substantial advantage. The +Sixth and part of the First Corps, having been ordered to the left, +participated in this battle and aided in Longstreet's repulse. +Geary's division of the Twelfth, moving from the extreme right, +had also reinforced the left. It was this withdrawal from the +right which enabled Ewell's corps to capture and occupy a part of +the Union line in the vicinity of Culp's Hill. An assault was made +about 8 P.M. on the Eleventh Corps at Cemetery Hill, where the +enemy penetrated to a battery, over which a _melee_ took place, +the Confederates, after a hand-to-hand fight, being driven from +the hill and forced to retreat. Thus the second day's fighting at +Gettysburg ended, neither side having gained any decisive advantage. +Most of the Union Army had been, however, more or less engaged, +while Longstreet's corps (save Pickett's division), and only portions +of Ewell's corps of the Confederate Army, had been seriously in +battle. There had been some spirited artillery duels, but these +rarely contribute materially to important results. + +The third day opened, at early dawn, by Geary's division (returned +from the left) attacking, and after a lively battle retaking its +former position on the right. A spirited contest also raged on +the right at Culp's Hill and along Rock Creek all the morning, in +which Wheaton's brigade of the Sixth Corps participated. With this +exception, quiet reigned along the lines of the two great armies +during the forenoon of the 3d. + +Lee, flushed with some appearance of success on the first and second +days, and over-confident of the fighting qualities of his splendid +army, born of its defeats of the Army of the Potomac on the +Rappahannock, decided to deliver offensive battle, though far from +his natural base. Orders were accordingly given to Longstreet to +mass a column of not less than 15,000 men for an assault, under +cover of artillery, on the Union left centre, to be supported by +simultaneous real or pretended attacks by other portions of the +Confederate Army. + +Longstreet did not believe in the success of the attack, and hence +offered many objections to it, and predicted its failure. He +advised swinging the Confederate Army by its right around the Union +left, and thus compel Meade to withdraw from his naturally strong +position.( 9) Lee would not listen to his great Lieutenant. +Pickett's division of three brigades was assigned to the right of +the column, and it became the division of direction. Kemper's +division of four brigades from Hill's corps was formed on the left +of Pickett, and Wilcox's brigade of Hill's corps was placed in +echelon in support on Pickett's right, and the brigades of Scales +and Lane of Hill's corps, under Trimble, were to move in support +of Kemper's left. The whole column of ten brigades, composed of +forty-six regiments, numbered about 20,000 men. + +Generals Pendleton and Alexander, chiefs of artillery of the Army +of Northern Virginia and of Longstreet's corps, respectively, massed +150 guns on a ridge extending generally parallel to the left of +the Union Army and about one mile therefrom, and so as to be able +to pour a converging fire on its left centre.(10) While this +preparation for decisive battle went on in the Confederate lines, +the Union Army stood at bay, in readiness for the battle-storm +foreboded by the long lull and the active preparations observed in +its front. At 1 P.M. Longstreet's batteries opened, and the superior +guns of the Union Army, though not in position in such great number, +promptly responded. This terrific duel lasted about two hours. +Meade, recognizing the futility of his artillery fire, and in +anticipation of the assault soon to come, ordered a large portion +of his artillery withdrawn under cover, to give the guns time to +cool and to be resupplied with ammunition. This led the enemy to +believe he had silenced them effectively, and the assaulting column +went forward.(11) The Union artillery, with fresh batteries added, +was again quickly put in position for its real work. The close +massed column of assault, well led, gallantly moved to the charge +down the slope and across the open ground, directed against a +portion of the Union line partially on Cemetery Ridge. The supporting +Confederate batteries now almost ceased firing. As the assaulting +column went forward the Union guns turned on it, cutting gaps in +it at each discharge. These were generally closed from the support, +but when the head of the column got well up to, and in one place +into, the Union breastworks, the fire of the Union infantry became +irresistible. Longstreet ordered the divisions of McLaws and Hood, +holding his line on the right of the assaulting column, to advance +to battle. Union forces moved out and attacked Pickett's supporting +brigade on the right. Under the fierce fire of infantry and +artillery the head of the great Confederate column fast melted +away. Generals Garnett, Pender, Semmes, Armistead, and Barksdale +were killed, Generals Kemper, Trimble, Pettigrew, and many other +officers fell wounded, and many Confederate colors were shot down. +The Confederates who penetrated the Union line were killed or +captured. When success was demonstrated to be impossible, Pickett +ordered a retreat, and such of his men as were not cut off by the +fire that continued to sweep the field escaped to cover behind the +batteries, leaving the broad track of the assaulting column strewn +with dead, dying, and wounded. The great battle was now substantially +ended. Meade did not draw out his army and pursue the broken +Confederates, as their leaders expected him to do. Lee, while +personally aiding in restoring the lines of his shattered troops, +recognized the fearful consequences of Pickett's assault, and +magnanimously said to an officer, "_It is all my fault_." + +Generals Hancock and Gibbon and many important Union officers were +wounded. This, together with other causes, prevented Meade from +assuming the offensive. Two-thirds of the Confederate Army had +not been engaged actively in the last struggle, and the day was +too far spent for Meade to make the combinations indispensable to +the success of an immediate attack. + +Longstreet withdrew McLaws and Hood from their advance position. +Kilpatrick moved his cavalry division to attack the Confederate +right, and Farnsworth's cavalry brigade made a gallant charge on +the rear of Longstreet's infantry, riding over detachments until +the dashing leader lost his life and his command was cut to pieces +by the terrific fire of the enemy's artillery and infantry. A +great fight also ensued on the Union right near Rock Creek, between +the Confederate cavalry under Stuart and the main body of the Union +cavalry under General Alfred Pleasanton, in which our cavalry held +the field and drove back Stuart from an attempt to penetrate behind +the Union right. The infantry corps of the two armies were not +again engaged at Gettysburg. Lee drew in his left to compact his +army, holding his cavalry still on his left. + +At nightfall, July 4th, Lee, having previously sent in advance his +trains and ambulances filled with sick and wounded, commenced a +retreat by the Fairfield and Emmittsburg roads through Hagerstown +to the Potomac at Williamsport and Falling Waters, his cavalry +covering his rear. The Sixth Corps and our cavalry followed in +close pursuit on the morning of the 5th, but the main body of the +Army of the Potomac marched on the Confederate flank, directed on +Middletown, Maryland. French (left at Frederick) had pushed a +column to Williamsport and Falling Waters, and destroyed a pontoon +bridge and captured its guard and a wagon train. Buford's cavalry +was sent by Meade to Williamsport, where it encountered Lee's +advance, destroyed trains, and made many captures of guns and +prisoners. Recent heavy rains had swollen the Potomac so that it +could not be forded. Most of the Confederate sick and wounded +were, with great effort, ferried over the swollen river in improvised +boats, but not without several days' delay. Lee's army reached +the Potomac on the 11th, having suffered considerable loss during +its retreat in prisoners, arms, and trains. It took up a strong +position, covering Williamsport and Falling Waters, and intrenched. + +The Union Army, after reaching Middletown and being reinforced by +French's command and somewhat reorganized, deployed on the 11th +for battle, and on the 12th moved close up to the front of the +Confederate Army. Orders were issued looking to an attack on the +morning of the 13th, but the day was spent in reconnoissances and +further preparations. On the following morning the enemy had +succeeded in crossing the river, and only a rear-guard was taken. + +Great disappointment was felt that Meade did not again force Lee +to battle north of the Potomac. Certain it is that Lee's army was +deficient in ammunition for all arms, and rations were scarce. +Lee, in dispatches to Jefferson Davis, dated July 7th, 8th, and +10th, showed great apprehension as to the result of a battle if +attacked in his then situation.(12) + +Meade's army was also greatly impeded by circumstances beyond human +control. When, on the 13th of July, a general attack was contemplated, +rain fell in torrents, and the cultivated fields were so soft as +to render the movement of artillery and troops almost impossible. +The wheels of the gun-carriages sunk so deep in the soft earth as +to forbid the guns being fired safely. Meade was urged, by dispatches +from Halleck, and by one from President Lincoln, to attack Lee +before he crossed the Potomac.(13) Meade was fully alive to the +importance of doing this, but he displayed some timidity peculiar +to his nature, and sought to have all the conditions in his favor +before risking another battle. His combinations were made with +too much precision for the time he had to do it in. + +A less cautious commander might, during the first few days, have +assailed Lee precipitately on his front or flank, or both +simultaneously, relying on his not being able to concentrate his +army to resist it. But after Lee had concentrated his forces and +intrenched in a well selected position, covering Williamsport and +Falling Waters, the result of an attack would have been doubtful, +yet, in the light of what was later known, one should have been +made. Meade, however, had done well under the circumstances at +Gettysburg, and a two-weeks'-old independent commander, not yet +accustomed to fighting a large army in aggressive battle, is entitled +to considerate judgment. + +The revised lists of losses in the battle and campaign of Gettysburg +in the Army of the Potomac show 246 officers and 2909 enlisted men +killed, 1145 officers and 13,384 enlisted men wounded, total 17,684; +also 183 officers and 5182 enlisted men captured, grand total +23,049. The First and Eleventh Corps lost, chiefly on the first +day, in captured, 3527.(14) + +The imperfect lists of losses in the Army of Northern Virginia do +not show the number of killed and wounded officers separately from +enlisted men, and from some of the commands no reports are found, +yet, so far as made, they show 2592 killed and 12,709 wounded, +total 15,301, and 5150 captured, grand total 20,541.(15) The +records of prisoners of war in the Adjutant-General's Office, +U.S.A., give the names of 12,227 wounded and unwounded Confederates +captured at Gettysburg, July 1st to 5th, inclusive.(15) + +When the Gettysburg campaign ended I was fairly in the Army of the +Potomac, destined to be with it and of it and to share its fortunes +for two years and to the end of the war. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part I., pp. 30-1. + +( 2) _Ibid_., pp. 35, 39. + +( 3) Ewell's Report, _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., p. 443. + +( 4) Longstreet's Report, _Ibid_., 358. + +( 5) Lee's Report, _Ibid_., 317. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 316, 321-2. + +( 7) _Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 342-3, 351-9, 362. + +( 8) Meade's Report, _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part I., p. 115. + +( 9) _Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 386-7. + +(10) Pendleton's Report, _War Records_., vol. xxvii., Part II., +p. 352. + +(11) _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 392. + +(12) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., pp. 299-302. + +(13) _Ibid_., p. 82-3. + +(14) _Ibid_., p. 187. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part II., 346. + + +CHAPTER III +New York Riots, 1863--Pursuit of Lee's Army to the Rappahannock-- +Action of Wapping Heights, and Skirmishes--Western Troops Sent to +New York to Enforce the Draft--Their Return--Incidents, etc. + +During the Gettysburg campaign the organized militia of New York +City and the volunteer and regular troops stationed there were sent +to Pennsylvania to aid in repelling the invading army, thus leaving +that city without its usual protection. + +Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of New York in 1863, was +not, at all times, in harmony with President Lincoln and the War +Department with respect to the conduct of the war, the necessity +for raising troops, and the means by which they were obtained. +His opposition to the draft was well understood, and gave encouragement +to a turbulent population in New York City who were opposed to the +war, and, consequently, to all radical measures to fill the city's +quota. The poor believed they had a just ground of complaint. A +clause in the Enrollment Act of Congress allowed a drafted man to +be discharged upon the payment of three hundred dollars commutation. +This gave the wealthier people a right the poor were not able to +avail themselves of. + +The city of New York had responded loyally with men and money in +support of the Union at the breaking out of the war, but as the +struggle progressed and the burdens of the city increased and many +calls for men came, there occurred some reaction in public sentiment, +especially among the masses, who imagined they were the greatest +sufferers. Her Mayor, Fernando Wood, prior to the war (January 6, +1861), in a Message to her Common Council, denominated the Union +as only a "confederacy" of which New York was the "Empire City"; +and said further that dissolution of the Union was inevitable; that +it was absolutely impossible to keep the States "together longer +than they deemed themselves fairly treated"; that the Union could +"not be preserved by coercion or held together by force"; that with +the "aggrieved brethren of the slave States" the city had preserved +"friendly relations and a common sympathy," and had not "participated +in a warfare upon their constitutional rights or their domestic +institutions," and, "therefore, New York has a right to expect, +and should endeavor to preserve, a continuance of uninterrupted +intercourse with every section." He denounced other parts of New +York state as a "foreign power" seeking to legislate for the city's +government; claimed that "much, no doubt," could "be said in favor +of the justice and policy of a separation," and that the Pacific +States and Western States as well as the Southern States would each +soon set up an independent Republic. But Mayor Wood, not content +with all this disunion nonsense, said further: + +"Why should not New York City, instead of supporting by her +contributions in revenue two thirds of the expenses of the United +States, become also equally independent? As a _free city_, with +but nominal duty on imports, her local government could be supported +without taxation upon her people. Thus we could live free from +taxes, and have cheap goods nearly duty free. In this she would +have the whole and united support of the Southern states, as well +as all the other States to whose interests and rights under the +Constitution she has always been true; and when disunion has become +a fixed and certain fact, why may not New York disrupt the bonds +which bind her to a venal and corrupt master--to a people and party +that have plundered her revenues, taken away the power of self- +government and destroyed the Confederacy of which she was the proud +Empire City? Amid the gloom which the present and prospective +condition of things must cast over the country, New York, as a Free +City, may shed the only light and hope of a future reconstruction +of our once blessed Confederacy."( 1) + +This most audacious communication ante-dated all Ordinances of +Secession save that of South Carolina, and preceded President +Lincoln's inauguration by about two months. The proposed secession +of New York City involved disrupting the bonds which bound her to +the State as well as the nation, and could not therefore possess +even the shadow of excuse of separate sovereignty, such as was +claimed for a State. + +The dangerous doctrine of this Message and the suggestions for +making New York a _free city_, and other like political teaching, +bore fruit, and had much to do with building up a public sentiment +which culminated in resistance to the draft and the monstrous, +bloody, and destructive riots that ensued in New York City. + +The significance of the defeat of the Confederate Army at Gettysburg +and the capture of Vicksburg on the 4th of July, 1863, were not +well understood in New York when, on Saturday, July 11, 1863, +pursuant to instructions, Provost-Marshal Jenkins commenced the +initial work on the corner of 46th Street and Third Avenue, by +drawing from the wheel the names of those who must respond to the +call of the Government or pay the commutation money. + +The first day passed without any open violence, and with even some +good-humored pleasantry on the part of the great crowd assembled. +The draft was conducted openly and fairly, and the names of the +conscripts were publicly announced and published by the press of +Sunday morning. It appeared that the names of many men, too poor +to pay the commutation, had been drawn from the wheel, and these +would therefore have to go to the army in person regardless of +inclination or ability to provide for their families in their +absence. Others not drawn were apprehensive that their fate would +be the same. On Sunday, therefore, in secret places, inhabitants +of the district where the draft had commenced, met, and resolved +to resist it even to bloodshed. The absence of the organized +militia and other regular and volunteer soldiers was, by the leaders +of the movement, widely proclaimed, to encourage the belief that +resistance would be successful. The police, though efficient, were +not much feared, as they would have to be widely scattered over +the city to protect persons and property. In the promotion of the +scheme of resistance to Federal authority, organized parties went +early Monday morning to yard, factory, and shop, and compelled men +to abandon their labor and join the procession wending its way to +the corner of Third Avenue and 46th Street. + +Captain Jenkins and his assistants, not apprehending any danger, +recommenced the draft in the presence of a great multitude, many +of whom had crowded into his office, and a few names had been called +and registered when a paving-stone was hurled through a window, +shivering the glass into a thousand pieces, knocking over some +quiet observers in the room and startling the officials. This was +the initial act of the celebrated New York riots. A second and a +third stone now crashed through the broken window at the fated +officers and reporters, and with frantic yells the crowd developed +into a mob, and, breaking down the doors, rushed into the room, +smashed the desks, tables, furniture, and destroyed whatever could +be found. The wheel alone was carried upstairs and eventually +saved. The Marshal escaped alive, but his deputy, Lieutenant +Vanderpoel, was horribly beaten and taken home for dead. The +building wherein the office was located was fired, and the hydrants +were taken possession of by the mob to prevent the Fire Department +from extinguishing the flames, and in two hours an entire block +was burned down. Police Superintendent Kennedy was assailed by +the rioters and left for dead. The most exaggerated rumors of the +success of the mob spread through the city, and other anti-conscript +bands were rapidly formed, especially in its southern parts. + +While General Sanford of the State Militia, Mayor Opdyke of the +city, and General John E. Wool were hastily consulting, and, in +the absence of any military force adequate to suppress the already +formidable riot, were trying to devise means for its suppression, +the mob, joined by numerous gangs of thieves and thugs, grew to +the size of a great army, and feeling possessed of an irresistible +power, moved rapidly about the apparently doomed city, engaging in +murder, pillage, and arson. Neither person nor property was +regarded. Peaceful citizens were openly seized, maltreated, and +robbed wherever found. Those who tried to resist were often dragged +mercilessly about the streets, stamped upon, and left for dead. +A brown-stone block on Lexington Avenue was destroyed. An armed +detachment of marines, some fifty strong, was sent to quell the +riot. At the corner of 43d Street these marines attempted to +disperse the mob by firing on it with blank cartridges, but they +were rushed upon with such fierce fury that they were broken and +overpowered, their guns were taken from then, several of them +killed, and all terribly beaten. A squad of the police attempted +to arrest some of the leaders at this point, but it was defeated, +badly beaten, and one of its number killed. Elated with these +triumphs, and excited by the blood already spilled, the passion of +the mob knew no bounds, and it proposed an immediate onslaught upon +the principal streets, hotels, and public buildings. The city was +filled with consternation; all business ceased, public conveyances +stopped running, and terror seized the public authorities as well +as the peaceful citizens. + +The negroes seemed to be the first object of the mob's animosity; +public places where they were employed were seized, and the colored +servants there employed were maltreated, and in some instances +killed. The Colored Half-Orphan Asylum, on Fifth Avenue, near 43d +Street, the home for about 800 colored children, was visited, its +attendants and inmates maltreated, the interior of the building +sacked, and in spite of the personal efforts of Chief Decker, it +was fired and burned. Robbery was freely indulged in, and many +women who were of the rioters carried off booty. + +The armory on Second Avenue, in which some arms and munitions were +stored, although guarded by a squad of men, was soon taken possession +of, its contents seized, and the building burned. This was not +accomplished until at least five of the mob were killed and many +more wounded by the police. In the lower part of the city the +assaults of the rioters were mainly upon unoffending colored men. + +At least one dozen were brutally murdered, while many more were +beaten, and others driven into hiding or from the city. One colored +man was caught, kicked, and mauled until life seemed extinct, and +then his body was suspended from a tree and a fire kindled beneath +it, the heat of which restored him to consciousness. + +A demonstration was made against the _Tribune_ newspaper office. +The great mob from the vicinity of 46th Street reached the park +near this office about five o'clock in the evening, and some of +its leaders, breaking down the doors, rushed into the building and +commenced destroying its contents, and preparing to burn it. A +determined charge of the police, however, drove them out, and the +building was saved. + +The police, though heroic in their efforts to protect the city, +were only partially successful. The draft was suspended. The +building on Broadway near 28th Street, in part occupied as an office +by Provost-Marshal Marriere, was fired, and the entire block burned. +The Bull's Head Hotel on 44th Street was likewise burned to the +ground because its proprietor declined to furnish liquor to the +mob. The residences of Provost-Marshal Jenkins and Postmaster +Wakeman and two brown-stone dwellings on Lexington Avenue were also +destroyed by fire, and several members of the police and marines +were stoned to death, and others fatally injured. + +The Board of Aldermen met and adopted a resolution instructing a +committee to report a plan whereby an appropriation could be made +to pay the commutation ($300) of such of the poorest citizens as +might be conscripted. General Wool, who commanded the Department, +issued a call to the discharged returned soldiers to tender their +services to the Mayor for the defence of the city. This call met +with some response on the following morning, and General Harvey +Brown assumed command of the troops in the city. The second day +(14th) the riot was even more malignant than on the first. The +mob had complete control of the city and spread terror wherever it +moved. + +Governor Horatio Seymour now reached the city, and promptly issued +a proclamation, commanding the rioters to disperse to their homes +under penalty of his using all power necessary to restore peace +and order. The riot continuing, he, on the same day, issued another +proclamation, declaring the city in a state of insurrection, and +giving notice that all persons resisting any force called out to +quell the insurrection would be liable to the penalties prescribed +by law. These proclamations, however, had little effect. The +second day was attended with still further atrocities upon negroes. +The mob in its brutality regarded neither age, infirmity, nor sex. +Whenever and wherever a colored population was found, death was +their inexorable fate. Whole neighborhoods inhabited by them were +burned out. + +On several occasions the small military force collected on the +second day met and turned back the rioters by firing ball cartridges. +Lieutenant Wood, in command of 150 regular troops from Fort Lafayette, +in dispersing about 2000 men assembled in the vicinity of Grand +and Pitt Streets, was obliged to fire bullets into them, killing +about a score, and wounding many, two children among the number. +This mob was dispersed. Citizens organized to defend themselves +and the city. + +Governor Seymour spoke to an immense gathering from the City Hall +steps, and counselled obedience to the law and the constituted +authorities. He read a letter to show that he was trying to have +the draft suspended, and announced that he had information that it +was postponed in the city of New York. This announcement did +something to allay the excitement and to prevent a spread of the +riot. + +Colonel O'Brien, with a detachment of troops, was ordered to disperse +a mob in Third Avenue. He was successful in turning it back, but +sprained his ankle during the excitement, and stopped in a drug +store on 32d Street, while his command passed on. A body of rioters +discovering him, surrounded the store and threatened its destruction. +He stepped out, and was at once struck senseless, and the crowd +fell upon his prostrate form, beating, stamping, and mutilating +it. For hours his body was dragged up and down the pavement in +the most inhuman manner, after which it was carried to the front +of his residence, where, with shouts and jeers, the same treatment +was repeated. + +The absent militia were hurried home from Pennsylvania, and by the +15th the riot had so far spent itself that many of its leaders had +fallen or were taken prisoners, and the mob was broken into fragments +and more easily coped with. Mayor Opdyke, in announcing that the +riot was substantially at an end, advised voluntary associations +to be maintained to assure good order, and thereafter business was +cautiously resumed. + +Archbishop John Hughes caused to be posted about the city, on the +16th, a card inviting men "called in many of the papers rioters" +to assemble the next day to hear a speech from him. At the appointed +hour about 5000 persons met in front of his residence, when the +Archbishop, clad in his purple robes and other insignia of his high +sacerdotal function, spoke to them from his balcony. He appealed +to their patriotism, and counselled obedience to the law as a tenet +of their Catholic faith. He told them "no government can stand or +protect itself unless it protects its citizens." He appealed to +them to go to their homes and thereafter do no unlawful act of +violence. This assembly dispersed peaceably, and the great riot +was ended. + +But the draft had been suspended for the time, and Governor Seymour +had given some assurance it would not again be resumed in the city. +The municipal authorities had passed a bill to pay the $300 +commutation, or substitute money, to drafted men of the poorer +classes. + +The total killed and wounded during the riots is unknown. Governor +Seymour, in a Message, said the "number of killed and wounded is +estimated by the police to be at least one thousand." The rioters, +as usual, suffered the most. Claims against the city for damages +to property destroyed were presented, aggregating $2,500,000, and +the city paid claimants about $1,500,000. + +This brief summary of the great New York riot is given to explain +movements of troops soon to be mentioned. But in order to afford +the reader a fuller conception of the opposition encountered by +Federal officers in the enforcement of the conscript laws, it should +be said in this connection that draft riots, on a small scale, took +place in Boston, Mass.; Troy, N. Y.; Portsmouth, N. H., and in +Holmes County, Ohio, and at other places. + +We left the Army of the Potomac in Maryland, at the close of the +arduous Gettysburg campaign, watching the Army of the Northern +Virginia, just escaped across the Potomac. + +Harper's Ferry had been reoccupied by Union troops as early as July +6, 1863. Meade moved his army to that place, and promptly crossing +the Potomac and the Shenandoah River near its mouth, took possession +of the gaps of the Blue Ridge, and marched southward along its +eastern slope. Passing through Upperville and Piedmont towards +Manassas Gap and Front Royal, he threatened Lee's line of retreat +to his old position behind the Rapidan, and thus compelled the +Confederate Army to evacuate the Shenandoah Valley somewhat +precipitately. + +At Wapping Heights, near Manassas Gap, on the 23d of July, a somewhat +lively action took place between portions of the two armies in +which my troops were engaged and suffered a small loss. The enemy +were driven back, and one corps of Lee's army was forced to retreat +_via_ routes higher up the valley. There were lively skirmishes +between the 14th of July and August 1st, at Halltown, Shepherdstown, +Snicker's Gap, Berry's Ferry, Ashby's Gap, Chester Gap, Battle +Mountain, Kelly's Ford, and Brandy Station, but each and all of +these were without material results. By the 26th of July the Army +of the Potomac arrived in the vicinity of Warrenton, Virginia, and +occupied the north bank of the Rappahannock, while the Army of +Northern Virginia took position behind the Rapidan, covering its +fords. Both of these great armies were now allowed by their +commanders to remain quiet to recuperate. Occasional collisions +occurred between picket posts and scouting detachments, but none +worthy of special notice. + +It having been determined by the War Department to enforce the +draft in New York and Brooklyn, and a recurrence of the riots being +again imminent, orders were issued to send veteran troops to New +York harbor for such disposition and service as the exigencies +might require. Western troops were mainly selected, and, with a +view to sending me upon this service, I was ordered on the 14th of +August to Alexandria with the 110th and 122d Ohio, the former in +command of Lieutenant-Colonel Foster and the latter in that of +Colonel Wm. H. Ball. On the 16th I embarked these regiments and +the 3d Michigan on a transport ship at Alexandria, with instructions +from Halleck to report on my arrival in New York Harbor to General +E. R. S. Canby.( 2) On reaching our destination, my troops, with +others from the Army of the Potomac, were distributed throughout +both cities. My own headquarters were for a short time on Governor's +Island, then more permanently at Carroll Park, Brooklyn. + +The threatened riots and the incipient movements to again prevent +the draft were easily averted, as it was evident that no unlawful +assemblage of persons would be tolerated by the authorities when +backed by veteran soldiers. This service proved to be a great +picnic for the men. Officers and soldiers were received warmly +everywhere in the cities, and socially feasted and flattered. It +was evident, however, that the good people had not yet recovered +from the terrors of the recent riots, and they manifested a painful +apprehension that a recurrence of these would take place. The +draft, however, went on peacefully, and when all danger seemed past +the troops were ordered to return to their proper corps in the Army +of the Potomac. + +At a public breakfast given to the soldiers of the 110th Ohio in +Carroll Park, Brooklyn, a very aged man appeared with a morning +paper, and asked and was granted permission to read President +Lincoln's memorable and characteristic letter of August 26, 1863, +addressed to Hon. James C. Conkling, of Illinois, in response to +an invitation to attend a mass-meeting at Springfield, "of +unconditional Union men." The letter answered many objections +urged against the President on account of the conduct of the war, +his Emancipation Proclamation, and his purpose to enlist colored +men as soldiers. For perspicuity, terseness, plainness, and +conclusiveness of argument this letter stands among the best of +all President Lincoln's writings. It came at an opportune time, +and it did much to silence the caviler, to satisfy the doubter, +and to reconcile honest people who sincerely desired the complete +restoration of the Union. Its effect was especially salutary and +satisfying to the soldiers in the field, who, somehow, felt that +the burden of maintaining the Union rested unequally upon them. + +Addressing those who were dissatisfied with him, and desired _peace_, +he said: + +"You desire peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But +how can we attain it? There are but three conceivable ways. First, +to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to +do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you +are not for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against +this, Are you for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If +you are not for force, nor yet for _dissolution_, there only remains +some imaginable _compromise_. I do not believe that any compromise +embracing a maintenance of the Union is now possible." + +To those who opposed the Emancipation Proclamation, and desired +its revocation, he said: + +"You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I think +the Constitution invests its Commander-in-Chief with the law of +war in the time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, +is, that slaves are property. Is there, has there ever been, any +question that by the laws of war, property, both of enemies and +friends, may be taken when needed?" + +And further: + +"But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. +If it is not valid it needs no retraction. If it is valid it cannot +be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life." + +And still further: + +"You say that you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them +seem willing to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then, +exclusively to save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on purpose +to aid you in saving the Union. . . . I thought that whatever +negroes can be got to do as soldiers leaves just so much less for +white soldiers to do in saving the Union. + +"The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed +to the sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor yet wholly +to them. Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, +Keystone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny +South, too, in more colors than one, also lent a helping hand. On +the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in black and +white. The job was a great national one, and let none be slighted +who bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared +the great river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is +hard to say that anything has been more bravely and well done than +at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on fields of less note. +Nor must Uncle Sam's web feet be forgotten. At all the watery +margins they have been present, not only on the deep sea, the broad +bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and +wherever the ground was a little damp they have been and made their +tracks. Thanks to all." + +During my stay in New York my wife visited me, and accompanied me +with the troops to Alexandria. + +On the 6th of September the Ohio troops of my command took ship, +and when landed at Alexandria, Virginia, marched to Fox's Ford on +the Rappahannock, and on the 14th rejoined the Third Corps, having +been absent one month. + +The next day the whole army moved across the river and encamped +around Culpeper Court-House. + +( 1) _Hist. of Rebellion_ (McPherson), p. 42. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part II., pp. 46, 54. + + +CHAPTER IV +Advance of Lee's Army, October, 1863 and Retreat of the Army of +the Potomac to Centreville--Battle of Bristoe Station--Advance of +the Union Army, November, 1863--Assault and Capture of Rappahannock +Station, and Forcing the Fords--Affair near Brandy Station and +Retreat of Confederate Army Behind the Rapidan--Incidents, etc. + +Events occurred elsewhere that affected the aspect of affairs in +Virginia. + +General Rosecrans, early in September, commenced to move the Army +of the Cumberland across the Tennessee River into Georgia, his +objective being Chattanooga. Burnside at about the same time began +a movement towards Knoxville, and on the way recaptured Cumberland +Gap. The Confederate authorities, fearing Bragg was in danger, +decided to send large reinforcements to his army, and, on September +9, 1863, Longstreet, with two divisions of his corps and a complement +of artillery, was dispatched by rail from Lee to reinforce Bragg. +The sanguinary battle of Chickamauga was fought on the 19th and +20th of September. It resulted in Rosecrans and his army gaining +possession of Chattanooga, and Bragg and his army being left in +possession of the battlefield. Rosecrans held Chattanooga in little +less than a state of siege; his communications were in danger of +being effectively cut off, and to aid his imperilled forces the +Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of the Army of the Potomac were, on +September 24th, ordered west, in command of General Joseph Hooker. + +The loss of these corps reduced the relative strength of Meade's +army to Lee's materially below what it was before Longstreet's two +divisions were detached from the latter's army. + +Elliott was relieved of the command of the Third Division, Third +Corps of the Army of the Potomac, October 3, 1863, and ordered to +report to Rosecrans. General Joseph B. Carr (Troy, N. Y.) succeeded +him. Carr was a charming man socially, of fine appearance, amiable +and lovable, but not strong as a soldier. He was understood to be +a favorite of the President, who appointed him Brigadier-General +September 7, 1862; the Senate, however, failing to confirm him, +the President reappointed him in March, 1863, with rank from date +of first appointment, thus giving him high rank in spite of the +Senate. He was finally confirmed, on a third appointment in 1864, +through some compromise, after a sharp controversy between the +President and the Senate, but with junior rank, and then ordered +to Butler's army.( 1) + +For a time active operations were not contemplated by Meade. But +Lee, about the 9th of October, crossed the Rapidan and commenced +a movement around Meade's right, threatening his rear. This +compelled Meade to retire across the Rappahannock, and by the 14th +to Centreville and Union Mills, near the first Bull Run battle- +field. + +On the 13th, while my brigade, with a New York battery temporarily +attached to it, was holding "Three Mile Station," near Warrenton, +and skirmishing with the enemy, ballot-boxes were opened, and a +_regular_ election was held for the Ohio troops, both the boxes +and ballots being carried to the voters along the battle-line so +they might vote without breaking it.( 2) + +The Third Corps was encamped that night at Greenwich. The next +morning I was ordered with my brigade and Captain McKnight's battery +(N. Y.) to cover, as a rear-guard, the retreat of the Third Corps +to Manassas Heights _via_ Bristoe Station. My orders were to avoid +anything like a general engagement, but to beat back the advancing +enemy whenever possible, prevent captures, and baffle him in his +endeavors to delay or reach the main column. The successful conduct +of a rear-guard of a retreating army, when pursued by an energetic +foe, requires not only bravery but skill and tact. After the main +body of my corps had left camp on its march towards Bristoe, and +soon after daylight, the head of Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill's +corps appeared from the direction of Warrenton. I displayed my +troops with as much show of strength as possible, and with a few +shots from the battery forced the enemy to halt his head of column +and form line of battle. I thereupon retired by column quickly, +and resumed the march until the enemy again pushed forward by the +flank too near for my safety, when, in a chosen position, my troops +were again speedily brought into line and a fire opened, which +necessarily compelled him to halt and again make disposition for +battle. This movement was frequently repeated. At each such halt +the enemy necessarily consumed much time, thus giving the main body +of the corps ample opportunity to proceed leisurely towards its +destination. The weak or broken-down men of the rear-guard were +not required to halt and fight, but were allowed to make such speed +as they could. The day was almost spent when a courier reached me +from French with the information that the corps had passed Bristoe +Station, and was on the north side of Broad Run. Having now no +further responsibility than for the safety of my own command, I +moved more rapidly, and by 4 P.M. I had safely passed Bristoe +Station to the high ground north of Broad Run, from whence I could, +from a distance of less than a mile, see Bristoe, and, for a +considerable distance, the line of railroad running, in general +direction, north and south. The Third Corps had moved on out of +sight towards the heights at Manassas. My command was much wearied, +and I halted it for a short rest, but I soon ordered it forward +where it took position in obedience to an order of General Meade +to cover a blind road over which he feared the enemy might march +to seize the heights. + +General A. P. Hill, in his report of the day, says: + +"From this point (Greenwich) to Bristoe we followed close upon the +rear of the Third Corps, picking up about 150 [?] stragglers. Upon +reaching the hills this side of Broad Run, and overlooking the +plain on the north side, the Third Corps was discovered resting, +a portion of it just commencing the march toward Manassas. I +determined that no time must be lost, and hurried up Heth's division, +forming it in line of battle along the crest of the hills and +parallel to Broad Run. Poague's battalion was brought to the front +and directed to open on the enemy. They were evidently taken by +surprise, and retired in the utmost confusion [?]. Seeing this, +General Heth was directed to advance his line until he reached the +run, and then to move by the left flank, cross at the ford, and +press the enemy. This order was being promptly obeyed, when I +perceived the enemy's skirmishers making their appearance on this +side of Broad Run, and on the right and rear of Heth's division. +Word was sent to General Cooke, commanding the right brigade of +Heth's division, to look out for his right flank, and he promptly +changed front of one of his regiments and drove the enemy back. . . . +In the meantime I sent back General Anderson to send McIntosh's +battalion to the front, and to take two brigades to the position +threatened and protect the right flank of Heth. . . . The three +brigades advanced in beautiful order and quite steadily, Cooke's +brigade, upon reaching the crest of the hill in their front, came +within full view of the enemy's line of battle behind the railroad +embankment (the Second Corps), and of whose presence I was unaware."( 3) + +Hill was unexpectedly caught in a fatal trap. He was mistaken +about seeing any considerable portion of the Third Corps north of +Broad Run, or as to any of it being taken by surprise and retiring +in confusion. But for my halting my command to rest he would have +seen little of it. We had baffled the head of his column all day, +and had passed beyond danger for the time, and, according to his +report, we had killed and wounded many more than we had lost. The +stragglers he reported captured could not have been of my command, +as it left no men behind. + +The fortuitous circumstance of Warren arriving at Bristoe with the +head of the Second Corps moving on a road paralleling the railroad, +just at the moment Hill was deploying his forces for an attack on +the Third Corps, led to a serious and bloody battle. When the rear- +guard of the Third Corps passed Bristoe Station, no part of the +Second was in sight. I saw no part of it until after Hill commenced +arraying his troops on the crest of the hills south of Broad Run. +Seeing a battle was on, and my own command too far on its way and +too much exhausted to be recalled in time to participate in it, I +dismounted from a tired horse and, with a single staff officer, +ate a lunch from my orderly's haversack ( 4) and watched the progress +of the engagement. It is a rare occurrence that any person has an +opportunity to quietly witness the whole of a considerable battle. +From my position I could see between the lines of the opposing +forces; I could note the manoeuvres of each separate organization; +and I could almost anticipate to a certainty the result of the +attacks and counter attacks. It was at first plainly evident that +each commander knew little of what he had to meet. Lieutenant- +General Hill's formation, as described by him in his report, was +arranged with reference to a supposed force north of Broad Run, +and was consequently very faulty. Warren had no notice of the +presence of an enemy until Hill ran unexpectedly into his line of +march. Hill seemed to be eager for a fight with the Third Corps, +then far beyond his reach, and found one with the Second Corps, +which was quietly marching to a concentration near Centreville. +General Warren's command was strung out upon the road, and he had +no order of battle. Hill, with two divisions, and others soon to +arrive, was better prepared, though his formation was bad, to meet +the Second Corps. Warren wisely used the slightly raised railroad +bed for a breastwork, and promptly opened the battle without giving +the enemy time for a change of position or for new formations. +The battle was at first with musketry, but artillery soon arrived +on both sides and opened fire at short range. Warren, in his +report, after describing the preliminary movements of his command +for position, says: + +"A more inspiring scene could not be imagined. The enemy's line +of battle boldly moving forward, one part of our own steadily +awaiting it, and another moving against it at double-quick, while +the artillery was taking up a position at a gallop and going into +action. . . . Under our fire the repulse of the enemy soon became +assured, and Arnold's battery arrived in time to help increase the +demoralization and reach the fugitives. + +"The enemy was gallantly led, as the wounding of three of his +general officers in this attack shows, and even in retiring many +retired but sullenly. An advance of a thin line along our front +secured 450 prisoners, two stand of colors, and five field pieces."( 5) + +The battle was of short duration, but owing to the exposed position +of the Confederates their losses were great, and out of proportion +to short engagements generally. General Warren and his officers +justly won honors for meeting the emergency so handsomely. + +Hill's command was so signally defeated that the Second Corps +remained in possession of the field until 9 P.M., when it pursued +its march unmolested to a junction with the main army. Hill reported +his loss, killed, wounded, and missing, at 1378,( 6) but it was +claimed on good authority to have been much larger. The loss in +the Second Corps at Bristoe is not given separately, but its total +losses in two engagements of the day, including Bristoe, were 546.( 6) + +Hill's conduct was criticised, and his report bears, of dates in +November, 1863, the following indorsements: + +"General Hill explains how, in his haste to attack the Third Army +Corps of the enemy, he overlooked the presence of the Second, which +was the cause of the disaster that ensued. + + "R. E. Lee, General." + +"The disaster at Bristoe Station seems due to a gallant but over- +hasty pressing on of the enemy. + + "J. A. Seddon, Secretary of War." + +"There was a want of vigilance, by reason of which it appears the +Third Army Corps of the enemy got a position, giving great advantage +to them. + + "J. D." (Davis) ( 7) + +The last two indorsements do not show that Seddon and Davis clearly +comprehended the real situation. + +Lee by continued flank movements indicated a purpose to force the +Union Army back into its intrenchments at Alexandria, but this plan +was abandoned after the disaster at Bristoe. Soon the Confederates +commenced falling back towards the Rappahannock, destroying the +railroad track and bridges, and Lee finally put his army into camp +on the Botts plantation, near Brandy Station. He built winter +quarters there, keeping possession of the fords of the Rappahannock, +and strongly fortifying north of the river at Rappahannock Station. + +The Union Army commenced a cautious forward movement on the 19th +of October, keeping close to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. +On the 21st I encamped on the battlefield of Bristoe, and we finished +the burial of the dead. On the 26th, about 9 P.M., an order came +advising me that General John Buford's cavalry division was threatened +and in peril near Catlett's Station, and directing me to go to his +relief. My brigade, with a battery attached, reached him about +midnight, and under his direction formed line of battle, my left +resting on the railroad, the cavalry on the flanks. He had been +attacked at dark by what seemed to be an overwhelming force of +infantry and cavalry, but he had stubbornly held his ground. Buford +was an accomplished soldier and a hard fighter. He it was who +opened the battle of Gettysburg on Seminary Hill. + +When the best possible dispositions had been made for the expected +attack of the morning, he invited me to an excuse for a headquarters, +consisting of a tattered tent-fly. The night was dark and rainy, +and everybody was wet and uncomfortable. The bronzed old soldier, +from some hidden recess, had an orderly produce a bottle of whisky, +the corkage of which was perfect, and, in the absence of a corkscrew, +presented a problem. He said, "All right, you hold the candle." +He then held the bottle in his left hand, and with his sword in +the right struck the neck of it so skillfully as to cut it off +smoothly. The problem was solved. Further details are unnecessary. +I understood the art of making drinking-cups by cutting a bottle +in two with a strong string, but this feat of Buford's was new to +me.( 8) + +John Buford died of disease, December 16, 1863, a Major-General of +Volunteers. He had won great renown as an able, fighting soldier. + +Lee was not to be allowed to rest in his chosen winter quarters. +On the 7th of November the Army of the Potomac moved to the fords +on the Rappahannock, and preparation was made to pass then, although +they were strongly defended by the enemy. The Third Corps massed +at Kelly's Ford, some five miles below Rappahannock Station. This +corps forced a crossing about 5 P.M., and massed in battle order +on the bluffs near the river. My command did no fighting this day. +The Third Brigade, with some assistance from the Second Brigade of +the First Division of the Sixth Corps, at dusk, under the leadership +of the accomplished General David A. Russell, gallantly assaulted +and carried the strongly fortified _tete-de-pont_ on the north of +the river at Rappahannock Station. The principal parts of Hoke's +and Hays' brigades of Early's division of Ewell's corps were +captured, numbering, including killed and wounded, 1630. Russell's +loss in this affair, all told, was 327. He captured seven battle +flags and Green's battery of four rifled guns.( 9) Lee had intended +to hold this position as a centre, and then fall, alternately, on +the divided portions of the Army of the Potomac after they crossed +the river above and below it.(10) Its loss forced him to retire +from the river and take position in front of Culpeper Court-House, +with his right resting on Mount Pony. + +The next day the principal part of Meade's army, having succeeded +in crossing the river, was moved forward to tender battle. Late +in the afternoon I was ordered to dislodge the enemy from a hill +(Miller's) about two miles in front of Brandy Station. The place +was held by artillery and infantry, flanked by cavalry. This was +Lee's most advanced position, and it was held firmly as a point of +observation. My command was disposed for the attack in the following +order: The 138th Pennsylvania (Colonel McClennan) was moved on +the left of the railroad to threaten the enemy on his right; the +122d Ohio (Colonel W. H. Ball) followed in support. The 110th Ohio +(Lieutenant-Colonel Foster) was put on the right of the railroad, +with orders to move directly on the height occupied by the enemy; +the 6th Maryland (Colonel John W. Horn) in support, but some distance +to the right. There was no artillery at hand, and the attack was +ordered at once. The distance to the hill was about one half mile. +The 138th drew the enemy's artillery fire, but continued its advance. +The 6th pushed forward into a wood on the right to make a demonstration, +and in person I led the 110th to the real work. Not a gun was +fired by my men as they advanced to the charge. I made every +exertion possible to hasten the troops, but when they reached the +foot of the hill the enemy's artillery was withdrawn, and his +infantry made a precipitate retreat. I was the first to gain the +crest, being mounted, and with pistol fired on the retiring troops +not two hundred feet away. A Confederate was reported wounded with +a pistol ball at this place. This is the nearest I can come to +having personally injured, in any way, any person in battle. We +pushed on to Brandy Station without further orders, driving the +enemy until we met a more formidable force, with several batteries +of artillery, which compelled us to halt. Night came on, and the +day's work ended by our going into bivouac at the Station. Captain +Andress of the 138th was the only officer of my command killed, +and my loss was otherwise light. We made the charge with the +commanding General--Meade--and much of his army looking on. It +was Meade's belief that behind the heights assaulted would be found +Lee's army arrayed for battle. + +Though Lee had selected a strong position (as already stated) in +front of Culpeper Court-House, and fortified it somewhat, he decided +it was not a good one, and therefore declined battle north of the +Rapidan,(11) and, by the morning of the 9th of November, his army +was south of this historic stream. + +The Army of Northern Virginia never again crossed the Rapidan or +Rappahannock. Henceforth it was to be confined to a narrower +theatre of operations, and a closer defence of the capital of the +Confederate States, but this defence was still to be most memorable +and bloody, even in comparison with what had gone before. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part II., p. 34. + +( 2) This was in the famous Brough-Vallandigham Ohio election for +Governor. + +( 3) _War Records_, vol. xxi., Part I., p. 426. + +( 4) This lunch consisted of a box of sardines and "hardtack." + +( 5) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 242. + +( 6) _Ibid_., pp. 250, 428. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 428. + +( 8) A string tightly drawn around a bottle where the cut is +desired to be made, and then rapidly drawn back and forth until +the friction heats the glass, renders it easy to be separated by +a sharp jar against the hand or some hard substance. + +( 9) Three of these had belonged to Randolph's battery, lost at +Winchester.--_War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 626. + +(10) _Ibid_., pp. 613-616. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., pp. 611, 616 (Lee's +Report). + + +CHAPTER V +Mine Run Campaign and Battle of Orange Grove, November, 1863--Winter +Cantonment (1863-64) of Army of the Potomac at Culpeper Court- +House, and its Reorganization--Grant Assigned to Command the Union +Armies, and Preparation for Aggressive War + +Though the roads were bad from frequent rains and much use, and +November winds warned that winter was at hand to stop further field +campaigning on an extended scale, and though all attempts to cross +the Rapidan in the fine weather of the spring and summer had failed, +yet, when the Army of the Potomac was again bivouacked at Culpeper, +the public cry was heard--"On to Richmond!" + +Lee's last campaign was looked upon in high quarters as a big bluff +that should have been "called" by Meade while the Army of Northern +Virginia was north of the Rappahannock. Meade, however, acted +persistently and conscientiously on his own judgment, formed in +the light of the best knowledge he could obtain. He would not +stand driving, and was something of a bulldozer himself, and +sometimes--said to have been caused by fits of dyspepsia--was +unreasonably irascible, and displayed a most violent temper towards +superiors and inferiors. Notwithstanding this, he never lost his +equipoise or acted upon impulse alone, and he never permitted mere +appearances to move him. Nor could his superiors induce him to +act against his judgment as to a particular military situation. +It will be remembered that he was urged to fight Lee north of the +Potomac after Gettysburg. He was urged to bring on a battle before +the departure of the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps for the West, and +when Lee moved north on his flank his opportunity seemed to have +come to fight a battle, but his fear of the same strategy displayed +by the Confederate Army in the second Bull Run campaign against +Pope induced him to be over-cautious, and to so concentrate his +army as to avoid the possibility of its being beaten in detachments. + +The next day (October 16th), after Meade reached Centreville, the +President, in his anxiety that Lee should not again escape without +a general battle, addressed this characteristic note to Halleck: + +"If General Meade can now attack him (Lee) on a field no more than +equal for us, and do so with all the skill and courage which he, +his officers, and men possess, the honor will be his if he succeeds, +and the blame may be mine if he fails. + + "Yours truly, + "A. Lincoln." + +This note was forwarded to Meade. + +To this he answered that it had been his intention to attack the +enemy when his exact whereabouts was discovered; that lack of +information as to Lee's position and intentions and the fear of +jeopardizing his communications with Washington had prevented his +doing so sooner. But the pressure continued. Halleck, the 18th, +wired Meade: + +"Lee is unquestionably bullying you. If you cannot ascertain his +movements, I certainly cannot. If you pursue and fight him, I +think you will find out where he is. I know of no other way." + +This was too much for Meade's temper. He responded: + +" . . . If you have any orders to give me I am prepared to receive +and obey them, but I must insist on being spared the infliction of +such truisms in the guise of opinion as you have recently honored +me with, particularly as they have not been asked for. I take this +occasion to repeat what I have before stated, that if my course, +based on my own judgment, does not meet with approval, I ought to +be, and I desire to be, relieved from command." + +Although Halleck apologized "if he had unintentionally given +offence," and Meade thanked him for the "explanation," these and +other like occurrences had their influence on Meade's conduct. + +As he had failed to bring Lee to bay at Culpeper, the only +opportunity to do so must be sought south of the Rapidan. Meade +was not averse to battle. + +On November 26, 1863, Meade's army was put in motion with a view +to a general concentration south of the Rapidan, at Robertson's +Tavern on the turnpike road, by evening of that day. Lee's army +of about 50,000 men was mainly massed and in winter quarters in +front of Orange Court-House, with an intrenched line in its front +across the plank road and turnpike, extending to the river. + +Meade's design was, by a rapid movement, to carry this line before +Lee had time to concentrate behind it. + +The Fifth Corps (Sykes) was directed to cross the Rapidan at +Culpeper Mine Ford, and thence move by the plank road to Parker's +Store and the junction of the road to Robertson's Tavern; the First +Corps (Newton), with two divisions, to follow the Fifth. The Second +Corps (Warren) was to force a crossing at Germanna Ford, thence +march directly to Robertson's Tavern, and there await the arrival +of other corps. + +The Third Corps (General William H. French), followed closely by +the Sixth (Sedgwick), was directed to cross at Jacob's Ford (Mill), +and continue the march, bearing to the left, to Robertson's Tavern. +Jacob's Ford, with its steep banks, proved so difficult to pass +that some delay occurred, and the artillery had to be sent around +by Germanna Ford, and did not rejoin the corps until the morning +of the 27th. Jacob's Ford was the highest up the river, and +consequently brought French, on passing it, in close proximity to +the enemy. Lee, by the evening of the 26th, had thrown forward +cavalry and some infantry of Hill's corps to the vicinity of +Robertson's Tavern, though not in sufficient force to prevent Warren +taking his designated position. Nor was Sykes seriously interfered +with. The cavalry crossed at Ely's and other fords. French, with +the aid of pontoons, safely passed the river, but he did not advance +on the 26th more than three miles beyond the crossing, time having +been lost in hunting blind country roads, waiting for artillery to +arrive, and reconnoitering. A force of the enemy showed itself on +intersecting roads to his right, where were a number of such roads +leading from Sisson, Witchell, Tobaccostick and Morton's Fords, +and one which led from Raccoon Ford--still higher up the river--to +an intersection at Jones' house, with the most direct road to the +Tavern. The enemy's intrenchments covered a considerable part of +this last road, from which he could easily debouch and attack the +flank and rear or the trains of the marching columns.( 1) These +conditions rendered French's situation perilous, and caused him to +move with extreme caution, as the Sixth Corps could not arrive +until he was out of the way. Notwithstanding French had some miles +farther to march than Warren, and unusual difficulties to overcome +or guard against, Meade dispatched him, as early as 1 P.M. of the +26th, that his delay was retarding the operations of Warren, and +again at 3 P.M. he dispatched French: + +"I would not move forward farther from the river than to clear the +way for General Sedgwick, until he comes up and crosses." + +The Second Division, General Henry Prince, with some cavalry, was +in the advance; the Third, Carr's, and the First, General David B. +Birney's, following in the order named. At the Widow Morris', a +somewhat obscure road bore off abruptly to the left, but which, +somewhat circuitously, led to Robertson's Tavern. The head of +Prince's column, however, was on the more direct road to Tom Morris' +house, with flankers and cavalry well to the right. These were +soon attacked and driven in or recalled. + +It seems Prince was led to believe he was in communication with +Warren's left.( 2) + +It soon became evident that the head of French's column was near +the Raccoon Ford road, and the intrenchments held by at least two +divisions of Ewell's corps of Lee's army, and there seemed to be +no possible chance to extricate it without a battle. + +At 11.45 A.M., on the 27th, Meade dispatched French: + +"If you cannot unite with Warren by the route you are on, you must +move through to him by the left." + +At 1.45 P.M. Meade again dispatched French: + +"Attack the enemy in your front immediately, throwing your left +forward to connect with General Warren at Robertson's Tavern. The +object of an attack is to form junction with General Warren, which +must be effected immediately." + +Prince had, by this time, formed line of battle and engaged the +enemy. Carr's division was ordered forward to take position on +Prince's left, and at 3 P.M. Birney's division was ordered to form +in support of Carr. + +Prince covered the road leading to a junction with the Raccoon Ford +road. The First Brigade of Carr's division (General W. H. Morris) +moved to the left of Prince, my brigade--the Second--was ordered +to pass behind Morris, and take position on his left, and Colonel +B. F. Smith's brigade--the Third--was sent to my left. + +Morris became somewhat entangled in a ravine and in thick timber, +and was slow in forming good line. In this position he was fired +upon from a ridge not two hundred yards from his front, the bullets +falling among my men as they passed his rear. I appealed to Morris +to face to the front, charge, and take the ridge, but he declined +to do so for want of orders. + +As soon as I could get my two leading regiments, 110th and 122d +Ohio, on Morris' left, I led them to the crest of the ridge, captured +some prisoners, and posted the regiments in good position behind +a fence on the summit. My other regiments, 6th Maryland and 138th +Pennsylvania, successively, on their arrival, took position on the +left of the Ohio troops. The ridge which extended to my right +along Morris' front was still held by the enemy in strong force, +and both my flanks were threatened. Through a misunderstanding of +orders the Ohio regiments fell back a short distance, but soon +retook the crest and were again fiercely engaged, though under an +enfilading fire of artillery and a galling fire of musketry. The +ground being somewhat open to the front, I could see the enemy +massing for an attack. I again, but vainly, appealed to Morris to +advance and close the gap, as otherwise his position in the ravine +and thick woods could not be held. The assault came, and Morris +was forced, in some confusion, to retire. By refusing my right +somewhat, I maintained my isolated position and threatened the +enemy's right. The First Brigade, though composed in part of +regiments not before in strong battle, was quickly re-formed, and, +under Carr's order, soon obtained full possession of the ridge by +a splendid charge, and thus the gap was closed. The battle by this +time raged furiously all along the front. Colonel Smith, passing +too far to the rear, lost his way in the thickets, and failed to +come up on my left. He did not rejoin the division until the battle +was over. This misfortune was hard to account for, as Colonel +Smith was an intelligent, brave, and skilled officer--a graduate +of West Point. He met some scouting parties of the enemy, and, as +directed, sought to find a connection with troops of Warren's corps. +His failure caused my left to remain uncovered. + +Two assaults were made upon my line by the enemy in columns not +less than three lines deep. The first came in front of Horn's +regiment, but was anticipated, and McClennan's regiment, moving +into the open ground, struck the right flank of the enemy and +(firing buck and ball from .69 calibre muskets) did great execution. +McClennan was severely wounded, and in consequence was obliged to +leave the field. + +The battle raged with unabated fury until dark, and as late as 8 +P.M. enfilading shells from heavy guns on our right screamed and +crashed through the timber over our heads, bursting with loud noise, +producing a most hideous and weird appearance, but really doing +little damage. + +As night approached, the ammunition of my regiments gave out, and +all my command, save one regiment, was relieved by regiments of +Birney's division.( 3) + +The bravery and fighting skill of Colonels Ball, Horn, and McClennan, +also of Lieutenant-Colonels M. M. Granger and W. N. Foster, and +Major Otho H. Binkley, and others, was most conspicuous. Lieutenant +James A. Fox of the 110th here lost his life. He had risen from +the ranks, but was a proud-spirited and promising officer. We +buried him at midnight, in full uniform, wrapped in his blanket, +behind a near-by garden fence. + +I wish to bear testimony also, at this late day, to the quiet +gallantry and high soldierly qualities of the long-since-dead +General David B. Birney.( 4) He did not obey orders to the letter +only. His division being in reserve and support, he took position +where he could watch the progress of the battle, and note in time +when and where he was needed. He made no display on the field. +When he noticed, by the slackening fire of my men, that their +ammunition was about exhausted, he rode to my side and quietly +suggested that he be allowed to order regiments from his own command +to take their places. That there might not be, even momentarily, +a break in the line, his regiments were moved up, and my men lay +down while his stepped over them and opened fire. The relieved +troops were then withdrawn and resupplied with ammunition. + +While the battle was in progress, the Sixth Corps, still some +distance to the rear, was directed by another road on Robertson's +Tavern, and during the night the Third Corps was ordered to withdraw +and follow the Sixth. + +The enemy retired at the close of the battle, leaving in our +possession his dead, unburied, and his wounded on the field and in +hospitals. We fought a great part, if not all, of Ewell's corps. + +Casualties were reported in thirteen Confederate brigades, in forty- +four regiments, and in the artillery of Early, Johnson, and Rodes' +divisions, total 601.( 5) + +The losses in the Third Corps were 10 officers and 115 enlisted +men killed, 28 officers and 719 enlisted men wounded, total 872. + +The brigades of Morris and Keifer suffered the most severely, +although Prince's division was first engaged. My own killed and +wounded numbered 172, those of Prince's division 163. There were +no captured or missing men of my command. + +This engagement has been called by the Confederates the battle of +Payne's Farm;( 5) but by the Union side it is generally known as +the battle of Orange Grove; the place, however, is sometimes referred +to as Locust Grove, and by both sides it is often mentioned as Mine +Run, though in no proper sense did the contest occur on that stream. + +The battle, fought by French under the circumstances narrated, gave +rise to much crimination and recrimination between Generals Meade +and French, and probably led to a reorganization of the Army of +the Potomac four months later. + +Meade attributed the miscarriage of the campaign to French's failure +on the 26th, and his further failure on the 27th, to connect with +Warren's left at Robertson's Tavern. He claimed that if such +junction had been made he could have fallen on the portion of Lee's +army on the turnpike and destroyed it, and that he would then have +been able to seize the line behind Mine Run before Lee could occupy +it with his united forces. Meade further contended that, on the +27th, French got on the wrong road, and, consequently, had to fight +a fruitless battle alone, while the other corps of the army were +standing idle, waiting for him. French stoutly insisted that his +march, being on the extreme right and exposed flank, on the longest +line, and _via_ a difficult ford, without a good guide and over +blind roads, with a doubt as to which one should be taken, warranted +him in acting with caution, and in fighting where he did when he +found his command attacked; and he further claimed that when he +brought Ewell's corps to battle, Meade should have fallen on the +enemy in Warren's front and overwhelmed it; that by fighting when +and where he did, he was doing more than he otherwise could have +done to prevent a concentration of the Confederate Army, especially +in preventing it from massing in front of Robertson's Tavern. A +considerable part of the Union Army sympathized with French, yet +the fact remained that Meade's plan of concentration and of battle +at the appointed time and place failed. + +On the 28th the armies were brought face to face, the Confederate +army in fortifications behind and along the high west bank of Mine +Run, both armies extending from a short distance south of the plank +road to the north of the turnpike, in the direction of the battle- +field of the 27th.( 6) The Third Corps held the Union centre. +Warren's corps, with a division of the Third Corps, was sent to +reconnoitre for a point of attack on the Confederate right. Warren +reported an attack there feasible. Other reconnoissances were made +on the 29th, and Meade decided to assault from both flanks the next +morning, the Sixth and Fifth Corps under Sedgwick on the enemy's +left and the Second Corps and two divisions of the Third on his +right. Carr's division of the Third marched at 4 A.M. two miles +to the left and joined Warren's column. The night was cold and +there was much suffering. + +Warren had about 20,000 men in readiness, and was to attack at 8 +A.M. at a signal from the batteries of the centre. Sedgwick was +to attack an hour later. The signal batteries opened, and we stood, +in grand array, soberly withing for the order to charge. The +enemy's strong works, with guns bristling in the morning sun, were +in our immediate front. Minutes of delay were as hours to the +waiting troops. Many sent up silent prayers for safety, and not +unfrequently through the column there could be seen on a soldier's +breast a paper giving his name, company, regiment, and home address, +so, if killed, his body could be identified. Warren hesitated, +and just before 9 A.M. dispatched Meade, then four miles distant: + +"The full light of sun shows me that I cannot succeed." + +Meade suspended Sedgwick's attack, then in progress, and hastened +to Warren. I saw the two men at a small, green, pine wood fire, +earnestly discussing the critical situation. Meade seemed to be +censuring Warren, yet the latter adhered to his view that the +assault could not be successfully made, and Meade yielded. Somehow +the troops of the great column, before the final decision was +announced, came to believe the charge would not be made, and they +cautiously commenced badgering each other, soldier like, over wasted +prayers. The different commands were later ordered to their former +positions. + +French opposed an assault on the centre. The enemy's position, +naturally a strong one, had been greatly strengthened by labor. +The wisdom of not making any assault, in the light of all the facts, +was, I think, generally recognized. The season was unfavorable; +Meade was a long distance from his base; success could only have +been temporary and could not have been followed up, and defeat +under the circumstances would have been a fatal catastrophe. Even +Grant, in 1864, was "all summer" in trying to gather fruits of what +were called successes. + +The 1st of December was spent by both armies in watching each other, +and behaving as if they dared each other to attack. + +"One was afraid and the other dare not"--but which? + +The campaign had been delayed beyond all expectation; all hope of +gaining an advantage by a surprise or otherwise was passed, food +was becoming scarce, and hence Meade decided to retire his army to +its base of supplies. At dusk of the 1st, therefore, the Union +Army moved by different roads to various fords of the Rapidan, the +Third Corps to Culpeper Mine Ford, the farthest down the river of +any used, and by 8 A.M. of the coming morning all had recrossed, +and on the 3d they were in their former camps at Brandy Station. +The Army of the Potomac lost in this campaign, killed and wounded, +1272.( 7) + +Thus ended the Mine Run campaign; not bloodless, yet disappointing, +as were many others. In it Meade demonstrated his willingness to +fight, and that his army was loyal to him. Another opportunity to +fight a great battle in independent command on the field never came +to him. His chief glory for all time must rest on Gettysburg. + +Lee, the night of December 1st, feeling certain Meade would not +assault him in his strong position, and knowing the latter was far +from his base, in an unfamiliar country, encumbered with trains, +determined to assume the offensive by throwing two of his divisions +against Meade's left on the following morning. But Meade was safely +away when morning came, and pursuit impossible. + +Lee, it is said, was greatly chagrined over his lost opportunity, +and exclaimed to his generals: + +"I am too old to command this army; we should never have permitted +these people to get away."( 8) + +Before starting on this campaign Meade expressed a purpose to take +position in front of Fredericksburg, but Halleck disapproved the +plan.( 9) + +The Army of the Potomac, having ended its historic work of the +memorable year 1863, went into winter quarters around Culpeper +Court-House, with Brandy Station for its base of supplies. My +brigade occupied log huts on John Minor Botts' (10) farm, partly +constructed by the Confederates prior to November 8th. + +The caring, in winter, for a large army calls for great vigilance, +skill, and energy. The season not permitting much opportunity for +drill, discipline is hard to maintain. Sickness becomes prevalent, +and there is much unrest, both of officers and soldiers. + +Camp guards, however, had to be maintained; also grand-guards and +pickets around the front and flanks of the whole army. The freezing +and thawing and the constant moving of supply trains caused deep +mud in the roads and camps. The brigade commanders of the Third +Corps, and of other corps as well, were, alternately, detailed as +corps officer-of-the-day, the duties of which lasted twenty-four +hours, and required the officer to be with the advance-guard and +on the corps' picket lines to see that vigilance was preserved; +that orders were understood and obeyed, and to report any unusual +occurrences. He was required to visit all guards and pickets, +personally, at least once by day and once by night. The Third +Corps' advance line was from Mt. Pony, its left, around the front +of Culpeper Court-House, covering the Madison Court-House road; +in length about five miles. This service was arduous, trying, and, +by night, attended with danger. + +During my service as corps officer-of-the-day, in March, 1864, +Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Townsend (106th N. Y.), in charge of +the grand-guard on the Sperryville road, in violation of orders, +admitted some refugee ladies, who presented a pass from an officer +of an outer cavalry picket. The orders were to recognize no pass +for a citizen not emanating from army headquarters. The Colonel +reported the occurrence to me, and I disapproved his action, but +made no report of it. The ladies, on some errand, reached +headquarters, and told of their admittance on this road. Meade +ordered me to report the delinquent officer, which I did, giving +all excuses I could for him, but they were unavailing. I was +ordered to prefer charges against Colonel Townsend, "for disobedience +of orders." A general court-martial was called for his trial, of +which General D. B. Birney was President, and, notwithstanding I +had preferred the charges, I was made a member of it. + +On the trial I protested my interest and asked the court to excuse +me from sitting, but my request was refused. The court found +Townsend guilty and sentenced him: "To be suspended from rank and +pay for two months." This sentence was approved by General Meade, +April 1st, but Townsend's suspension from rank was remitted, and +he was ordered to duty. He was a gallant and accomplished officer, +and, feeling keenly the disgrace, rushed to his death at Cold Harbor +just after the sixty days' suspension of pay elapsed. The incident +illustrates the severity of discipline and the fate of war. + +The soldiers of the army, as far as possible, were kept active, +but the cold winter, with frequent rains, caused much discomfort, +and many were in hospital; few were furloughed. Many rude log +chapels were erected and used, often alternately, for religious +worship, lectures, concerts, readings, and dances. Civilian visitors +were, at times, numerous. One most notable army ball was given at +the headquarters of General Joseph B. Carr. This event took place +January 25, 1864, and was attended generally by officers of the +army, by some military officials from Washington and elsewhere, by +officers' wives and their friends visiting the army, and by invited +ladies and gentlemen from Washington, New York, Philadelphia, +Boston, and Baltimore. Over four thousand attended. The ball was +held in large communicating tents, erected for the purpose. Ample +floors were laid for promenades and dancing. Dinner was provided, +where everything obtainable from land or sea was served, with +liquors and wines without stint. The night was entirely devoted +to it. It was brilliant beyond descriptions. To hundreds it was +their last ball, or appearance in social life. + +Notwithstanding the necessarily promiscuous character of the +participants, and though no scandal attended it, and all decorum +usual on such occasions was observed, it was at the time the subject +of much severe criticism through the press, from the pulpit, and +by people generally. General Carr and his good wife were adepts +in social affairs, and are entitled to the distinction of having +assembled and directed the most numerously attended ball of its +kind ever held in the United States. + +Horse racing and other sports were indulged in, especially by the +cavalry. But all these were mere diversions, and did not indicate +that the army was not preparing for the bloody work yet ahead of it. + +Grant, with the armies under General George H. Thomas, W. T. Sherman, +and Joseph Hooker, November 25, 1863, drove Bragg from his perch +on Missionary Ridge and to a precipitate retreat, and the Army of +the Tennessee under Sherman subsequently relieved Burnside, besieged +at Knoxville by Longstreet, thus closing the campaigns of 1863 in +the West about the time they closed in the East. Soon thereafter +rumors were current that Grant was to be promoted to chief command +of all the Union armies. A law passed Congress February 29, 1864, +reviving the grade of Lieutenant-General, and President Lincoln, +the next day, appointed Ulysses S. Grant to the office, and the +Senate, the succeeding day, confirmed the appointment. March 10, +1864, Halleck was relieved from duty as General-in-Chief, and became +thereafter Chief of Staff of the Army. Grant was, the same day, +assigned by the President, "pursuant to the act of Congress, to +command the Armies of the United States," headquarters of the Army +to be in Washington, and "with General Grant in the field." Grant +established his field-headquarters at Culpeper Court-House, March +26, 1864, and remained with the Army of the Potomac until Appomattox +came. Just prior to his joining the Army of the Potomac, March +23, 1864, it was reorganized, the First and Third Corps being broken +up as separate organizations, and the troops composing them +distributed to the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps, they retaining +their former corps badges. Hancock resumed command of the Second +Corps. Warren was assigned to command the Fifth. Carr was +transferred to the Second. The Third Division, Third Corps, became +the Third Division of the Sixth (Sedgwick's) Corps, the old Third +Division of the Sixth being consolidated with its other divisions. + +General H. Prince was assigned to command the Third Division of +the Sixth. The Second Brigade (Keifer's) of this division, with +the 126th Ohio (Colonel Smith) and the 67th Pennsylvania (Colonel +Staunton) added, was placed under the command of General David A. +Russell,(11) but he was soon transferred to another command, and +Colonel B. F. Smith for a time succeeded him. Major-General James +B. Ricketts, before April 30, 1864, relieved General Prince, and +thereafter the Third Division of the Sixth Corps was known as +"Ricketts' Division." + +Much bad feeling existed on the part of Generals French, Sykes, +Newton, and others over the breaking up of their commands and their +being relieved from field duty. The consolidation of divisions +and brigades in the corps retained, also caused much discontent, +and excited jealousies towards the organizations from the disbanded +corps which took their old designations. This was the second time +troops I commanded had this experience. While in camp or on marches +an officer may become disliked by his men, but a great battle in +which he does his duty will always restore him to popularity. The +Third Corps badge was a diamond; the Sixth a Greek cross. The +Third Division for a time adhered to the _diamond_, but later, wore +both proudly, and finally rejoiced alone under the _Greek cross_. + +The Army of the Potomac was for the first time reduced to three +corps. There was, however, belonging to this army, a large artillery +reserve, not attached to any corps, but under a chief, General +Henry J. Hunt; also a cavalry corps, consisting of three divisions +and a reserve brigade, which Major-General Philip H. Sheridan was +assigned (April 5, 1864) to command.(12) To each corps was attached +an artillery brigade. This army, like any other well-appointed +one, also had (each with a chief officer) its Commissary, Quartermaster, +Ordnance, and Medical Departments; also a Provost-Guard, consisting +of a brigade of infantry and a regiment of cavalry under a Provost +Marshal-General;(13) also Signal and Engineer Corps, and other +minor and somewhat independent organizations, such as body-guards +to commanding generals, pioneers, pontoniers, etc. + +The Army of the Potomac, thus organized, commanded, and appointed, +with the new commander of all the armies of the Union with it, now +awaited good weather to enter upon the bloodiest campaign civilized +man has ever witnessed. + +( 1) See sketch attached to Meade's report, _War Records_, vol. +xxix, Part I., p. 19. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 738. + +( 3) Birney's Report, _War Records_, vol. xxvii., Part I., p. 750. + +( 4) He died of disease October 18, 1864. + +( 5) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., pp. 836-8. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 19. (Sketch). + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 686. + +( 8) _Battles and Leaders_, vol. iii., p. 241 (Col. Venable). + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. xxix., Part I., p. 18. + +(10) Botts was then on his farm--a Union man. He had been an old +line Whig, and was personally hostile to Jeff. Davis. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. xxxiii., pp. 717, 722, 732, 745. + +(12) _Ibid_., 798, 806. + +(13) A badge for each fighting corps of the Union Army was adopted +(January, 1863), its color indicating the number of the division +in a corps. Three divisions of three brigades each usually +constituted a corps. Each officer and soldier wore on his hat or +cap his proper corps badge; the first division being red, second +white, and third blue. The badge appeared prominently in the centre +of all headquarters flags. Division flags were square, brigade, +tri-cornered, all of white ground save those of a second division +which were blue; the flag of a second brigade had a red border next +to the pole, and of a third brigade a red border on all sides. + + +CHAPTER VI +Plans of Campaigns, Union and Confederate--Campaign and Battle of +the Wilderness, May, 1864--Author Wounded, and Personal Matters-- +Movements of the Army to the James River, with Mention of Battles +of Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Other Engagements, and Statement +of Losses and Captures + +A full detailed history of the great campaign of the Wilderness +and of the many battles fought in the spring and summer of 1864 in +Southeast Virginia and around Richmond and Petersburg will not here +be attempted. I shall confine myself to a general story of the +campaign, with dates, results of engagements and losses, and some +details of the fighting participated in by troops I was immediately +connected with or interested in. + +General Grant (April 9, 1864), in a confidential communication to +General Meade,( 1) outlined his plan for the early movements of +all the principal Union armies. Texas was to be abandoned, save +on the Rio Grande, and General Banks, then on Red River, was to +concentrate a force, not less than 25,000 strong, at New Orleans +to move on Mobile. Sherman was to leave Chattanooga at the same +time Meade moved, "Joe Johnston's army being his objective point +and the heart of Georgia his ultimate aim"; if successful, Sherman +was to "secure the line from Chattanooga to Mobile, with the aid +of Banks." General Franz Sigel (then in command of the Department +of West Virginia ( 2)), was to start two columns, one from Beverly +under General Ord, to endeavor to reach the Tennessee and Virginia +Railroad west of Lynchburg, and the other from Charleston, West +Virginia, under General George Crook, to strike at Saltville and +go thence eastward to join Ord. General Quincy A. Gilmore was to +be transferred, with 10,000 men, from South Carolina to General B. +F. Butler at Fortress Monroe, and the latter General was to organize +a force of about 23,000 men, under the immediate command of General +W. F. Smith, with which, and Gilmore's command, he should "seize +City Point and operate against Richmond from the south side of the +river," moving simultaneously with Meade's army. To Meade he said: +"_Lee's army will be your objective point. Wherever Lee goes there +you will go also_." General Burnside, then at Annapolis organizing +the Ninth Army Corps, was to reinforce Meade with probably 25,000 +men. There was to be naval co-operation on the James. Grant had +not then determined on which flank to attack Lee, or whether he +would cross the Rapidan above or below the Confederate Army. + +All baggage was reduced to the lowest standard possible. "Two +wagons to a regiment of 500 men . . . for all baggage, exclusive +of subsistence stores and ordnance stores. One wagon to a brigade +and one to a division headquarters, . . . and about two to corps +headquarters." + +Meade subsequently made a further reduction, and allowed only one +wagon to a regiment. + +When it was finally determined to move by Lee's right flank, Meade +was ordered to have supplies forwarded to White House, on the +Pamunkey.( 3) + +Sigel was directed to advance a column in co-operation from +Martinsburg up the Shenandoah Valley. + +Grant, in a confidential dispatch,( 4) April 29th, to Halleck, +fixed May 4th as the date for putting the Army of the Potomac in +motion, saying: + +"My own notions about our line of march are entirely made up, but +as circumstances beyond my control may change them, I will only +state that my effort will be to bring Butler's and Meade's forces +together." + +The next day, on the authority of a rebel officer arrested in +Baltimore, who left Lee's army on April 17th, Halleck wired Grant +that Lee was about to move Longstreet by the mountain road westward +over the Blue Ridge with 20,000 men; that Hill, 50,000 strong, was +to force Grant's right at Culpeper, and with three divisions form +a junction at Warrenton with Ewell; that all Confederate troops +from East Tennessee were to strengthen Lee; that Breckinridge, with +25,000 men in West Virginia, accompanied by Morgan's cavalry, was +to force his way down the Kanawha into Ohio, near Gallipolis; that +if Lee reached Pennsylvania, Breckinridge was to join him, Morgan's +cavalry destroying all railroads to east and west; that Lee's +general direction was to be towards Wheeling and Pittsburg; that +Richmond's defence was to be left to Beauregard, with Pickett's +division of 15,000 men, the Maryland Line, details from hospitals, +conscripts, militia of Governor Smith's call (fifty to fifty-five +years of age), and a foreign legion of forced aliens.( 5) + +This plan, if ever formed, comprehensive as it may have been in +conception, was never to be even partially put in execution. It +probably originated in the fertile imagination of the rebel officer +from whom Halleck obtained it. + +In March, 1864, an equally comprehensive plan was conceived by +Longstreet, then at Greenville, Tennessee, by which Beauregard was +to lead an advance column from the borders of North Carolina through +the mountain passes, Longstreet to follow through East Tennessee, +uniting with Beauregard in Kentucky, and, together, move against +the line of railway from Louisville, and thus force Sherman to +retire from Johnston's front, allowing him to advance northward, +avoiding general battle until all the Confederate columns could +form a grand junction on or near the Ohio River. This plan was +approved by Lee, and by both Lee and Longstreet laid before President +Davis and the War Department at Richmond. Davis disapproved it. + +Another plan, submitted by Bragg (then "Commander-in-Chief near +the President"), received the approval of Davis. By this Johnston +was to march to the headwaters of the Little Tennessee River, +Longstreet to the east of Knoxville and join Johnston, and, united, +they were to march west into Middle Tennessee and break the Union +line of supplies about Nashville. Though some orders were issued +looking to the execution of this plan, it was not seriously attempted, +as Joe Johnston regarded it as impracticable.( 6) Longstreet, with +the part of his command that had served in Virginia, was, early in +April, transferred to the Rapidan. Grant alone moved his armies +to the execution of his campaigns as planned. + +_Wilderness_ + +Not until May 2d did Meade send orders to his corps for the movement +on the 4th across the Rapidan. On the day of starting he issued +a stirring and patriotic address to his soldiers.( 7) Grant had +determined to attack and turn Lee's right flank.( 8) + +As soon in the early morning as engineers could lay pontoons the +cavalry crossed the river at Ely and Germanna Fords, and cleared +the way for the infantry. Hancock's (Second) corps crossed at +Ely's Ford and marched to the vicinity of Chancellorsville. Warren's +(Fifth) corps, with Sedgwick's (Sixth) following, crossed at Germanna +Ford. Warren proceeded to the Old Wilderness Tavern. Sedgwick +bivouacked on the heights south of the river. The reserve artillery +crossed at Ely's Ford, and subsistence and other trains at this +and Culpeper Mine Ford. All these movements took place as ordered.( 9) + +No serious resistance was met with the first day. On the night of +the 4th I encamped immediately south of the Rapidan on the height +just above the ford. I was ordered to cover the ford and protect +the pontoon bridge until the head of Burnside's column should reach +it. The whole army slept without tents. On rising in the early +morning, and while standing on a bluff overlooking the river, Major +Wm. S. McElwain of my regiment, in a quiet but somewhat troubled +way, ventured to suggest that unless I was more prudent than usual +I would never recross it. I told him the chances of war were hardly +lessened by prudence where duty was involved, and that my chances +of going North alive were probably as good as his. He seemed to +have no concern about himself. + +General Grant, his staff, and escort, rode by while we waited. He +was on a fine, though small, black horse, which he set well; was +plainly dressed, looked the picture of health, and bore no evidence +of anxiety about him. His plain hat and clothes were in marked +contrast with a somewhat gaily dressed and equipped staff. He +saluted and spoke pleasantly, but did not check his horse from a +rather rapid gait. + +About 10 A.M. Burnside, at the head of his command, reached the +ford. His corps, the Ninth, had been recently organized by him at +Annapolis, Maryland, and officers and soldiers were, in general, +newly equipped and clothed, and all regiments and headquarters had +new flags. The long line, as displayed for miles, moving slowly +over the lowlands to the crossing, was most imposing, and gave rise +to varied reflections. But the time for strong battle had come. +The head of the Fifth Corps was pushed forward on the Orange and +Fredericksburg plank road, the purpose being to avoid the intrenchments +of Mine Run, but the enemy appearing on the turnpike running, in +general, parallel with the plank road and to the north of it, the +Sixth Corps (except the Second Brigade, Third Division) moved to +position on the right of the Fifth, save Getty's division, which +was sent to the intersection of the Brock and Orange plank roads +with instructions to hold it, at all hazards, until the arrival of +Hancock's corps from Todd's Tavern. About noon two divisions of +Warren's corps had a sharp combat with the head of Ewell's corps +on the pike, driving it back some distance when, being outflanked, +they were in turn forced back, losing two guns. Wadsworth's division +of this corps having been sent to the plank road was withdrawn to +a junction with Warren's other divisions. Warren suffered some +loss in prisoners taken from Crawford's division. Getty, on his +arrival on the plank road, found our cavalry being pressed back by +Hill's corps, but he deployed on each side of the road, and opening +fire on the enemy checked him. Getty was able to hold his position +until Hancock arrived about 2 P.M. Hancock, with his corps and +Getty's division, assailed the enemy furiously, and for a time +successfully, though meeting with stubborn resistance. General +Alexander Hays was killed in this action while repairing a break +in our line. The enemy moved troops from the turnpike to Hill's +relief, and Meade, seeing this, sent Wadsworth's division and +Baxter's brigade of the Fifth Corps to Hancock. Night came, and +the battle ceased on this part of the field before the reinforcements +arrived, both armies holding their positions. + +The Sixth Corps (Getty's division absent with Hancock) with much +difficulty made its way through the dense low pine thicket, and +about 2 P.M. was in position, principally deployed, on the right +of the Fifth, Ricketts' division (Second Brigade absent) on the +left, and Wright on the right. Soon after the head of Burnside's +column reached Germanna Ford, my brigade moved to the battle-ground. +As we advanced, firing along the extended front soon told us where +serious work had begun. General Truman Seymour (of Olustee fame) +was assigned this day to command the brigade, but he did not promptly +join it. As we approached the battle, I was ordered by a staff +officer of Sedgwick to conduct the brigade to the right of that +part of the Sixth Corps already in line and partly engaged. This +order being executed, we became the extreme right of the army. +The other brigades of the Third Division being in position on the +left of the corps, I was not in touch with them, and reported to +General H. G. Wright, commanding the First Division. + +Heavy firing already extended along the line of the Sixth Corps to +the left of us. The brigade, about 2 P.M., was put by me in position +in two lines, the 6th Maryland and 110th Ohio, from left to right, +in the front, and the 122d and 126th Ohio and the 138th Pennsylvania +on the rear line and in reserve. Skirmishers were advanced, who +pressed the enemy's skirmishers back a short distance to his main +line, and a sharp engagement ensued, lasting until about 5 P.M., +when, proper support being promised, an aggressive attack was made. + +I quote from my official report, dated November 1, 1864: + +"I received orders to assume general charge of the first line, to +press the enemy, and, if possible, outflank him upon his left. +The troops charged forward in gallant style, pressing the enemy +back by 6 P.M. about one half mile, when we came upon him upon the +slope of a hill, intrenched behind logs which had been hurriedly +thrown together. During the advance the troops were twice halted +and the fire opened, killing and wounding a considerable number of +the enemy. + +"The front line being upon the extreme right of the army, and the +troops upon its left failing to move forward in conjunction with +it, I deemed it prudent to halt without making an attack upon the +enemy's line. After a short consultation with Col. John W. Horn, +I sent word that the advance line of the brigade was unsupported +upon either flank, and that the enemy overlapped the right and left +of the line, and was apparently in heavy force, rendering it +impossible for the troops to attain success in a further attack. + +"I soon after received an order to attack at once. + +"Feeling sure that the word I sent had not been received, I delayed +until a second order came to attack. I accordingly made the attack +without further delay. + +"The attack was made about 7 P.M. The troops were in a thick and +dense wilderness. The line was advanced to within 150 yards of +the enemy's works, under a most terrible fire from the front and +flanks. It was impossible to succeed; but the two regiments, +notwithstanding, maintained their ground and kept up a rapid fire +for nearly three hours, and then retired under orders, for a short +distance only. + +"I was wounded about 8.30 P.M. by a rifle ball passing through both +bones of the left forearm, but did not relinquish command until 9 P.M. + +"The troops were required to maintain this unequal contest under +the belief that other troops were to attack the enemy upon his +flank. + +"In this attack the 6th Maryland lost in killed, two officers and +sixteen men, and eight officers and 132 men wounded; and the 110th +Ohio lost one officer and thirteen men killed, and six (6) officers +and ninety-three (93) men wounded, making an aggregate in the two +regiments of 271. + +"Major William S. McElwain, 110th Ohio, who had won the commendations +of all who knew him, for his skill, judgment, and gallantry, was +among the killed. + +"Lieutenant Joseph McKnight, 110th Ohio, and Captain Adam B. Martin, +6th Maryland, were mortally wounded, and have since died. + +"Captain J. B. Van Eaton and Lieutenants H. H. Stevens and G. O. +McMillen, 110th Ohio, Major J. C. Hill, Captains A. Billingslea, +J. T. Goldsborough, J. J. Bradshaw and J. R. Rouser, and Lieutenants +J. A. Swarts, C. Damuth and D. J. Smith, 6th Maryland, were more +or less severely wounded. + +"All displayed the greatest bravery, and deserve the thanks of the +country. + +"Colonel John W. Horn, 6th Maryland, and Lieutenant-Colonel O. H. +Binkley, 110th Ohio, deserve to be specially mentioned for their +courage, skill, and ability. + +"Captains Brown, 110th Ohio, and Prentiss, 6th Maryland, distinguished +themselves in their successful management of skirmishers. + +"From reports of this night attack published in the Richmond papers +it is known that the rebel Brigadier-General J. M. Jones, (commanding +the Stonewall Brigade) and many others were killed in the attack." + +In consequence of my wound I was absent from the brigade after the +battle of the Wilderness until August 26, 1864, and I am therefore +unable to give its movements and operations from personal knowledge. +Colonel Ball succeeded me on the field in command of the brigade, +and Colonel Horn in charge of the advance line in the night attack. +Seymour was not present with the attacking troops. He was captured +the next day, and the command of the brigade devolved on Colonel +B. F. Smith. + +To enable the reader to follow it through the battle I quote further +from my report of November 1, 1864. + +"Early on the morning of the 6th of May, the brigade formed in two +lines of battle and assaulted the enemy's works in its front, the +122d and 126th Ohio and 138th Pennsylvania in the front line, and +the 110th Ohio and 6th Maryland in the rear line. The brigade was +still the extreme right of the army. The assault was most vigorously +made, but the enemy was found to be in too great numbers and too +strongly fortified to be driven from his position. After suffering +very heavy loss, the troops were withdrawn to their original +position, where slight fortifications were thrown up. In the charge +the troops behaved most gallantly. The 122d and 126th Ohio and +138th Pennsylvania lost very heavily. + +"About 2 P.M. Brigadier-General Shaler's brigade, of the First +Division, Sixth Army Corps, took position upon the right of this +brigade, and became the extreme right of the army. + +"Skirmishing continued until about sunset, when the enemy turned +the right of the army and made an attack upon its flank and rear, +causing the troops to give way rapidly, and compelling them to fall +back for some distance before they were reformed. So rapid was +the enemy's advance upon the flank and rear, that time was not +given to change front to meet him, and some confusion occurred in +the retreat. Few prisoners were lost in the brigade. The lines +were soon re-established and the progress of the enemy stopped. +An attack was made by the enemy upon the re-established line about +8 P.M., but was handsomely repulsed. + +"Unfounded reports were circulated that the troops of this brigade +were the first to give way, when the first attack of the enemy was +made. + +"It is not improper to state here that no charges of bad conduct +are made against the troops upon its right, but that this brigade +remained at its post and successfully resisted a simultaneous attack +from the front, until the troops upon its right were doubled back +and were retreating in disorder through and along its lines." + +The presence of a general officer in authority, or an intelligent +staff officer representing him, would have averted the useless +slaughter of the evening of the 5th, and the disaster of the evening +of the 6th, which, for a time, threatened the safety of the whole +army. A brigade or more of troops thrown on the enemy's left by +a little _detour_ on either evening would have doubled it back and +given us, with little loss, that part of the field and a free swing +for the next day. + +The success in gaining ground on the 5th left our right in the air, +bent to the front, with the enemy on its flank, thus inviting the +attack made the next day by General J. B. Gordon, which drove back +the main part of the Sixth Corps on the Union centre. Gordon's +attack was a repetition of Stonewall Jackson's flank movement at +Chancellorsville, and it should have been so far anticipated as to +cause its disastrous failure. + +In field-hospital, on seeing a staff officer of mine (Captain Thomas +J. Black, who was having a wounded hand dressed), I discussed the +situation, and predicted the enemy would seize the favorable +opportunity of attacking. Anticipating the attack, my servant +(Andy Jackson), in his eager solicitude for my safety, kept by +horse near the tent, saddled, so I might, when it came, be assisted +on him, and escape. Gordon's men advanced far enough for their +bullets to pass through the hospital tents, but the hospital was +not taken. + +General Shaler's brigade of the First Division, Sixth Corps, having +been placed on the extreme right of the Sixth, was the first to +give way; then, the enemy being well on the rear of the Second +Brigade as well as on its flank, and it being at the same time +attacked from the front, it also gave way in some confusion, but, +under its brave officers, Colonels Ball, Horn, and McClennan, +Lieutenant-Colonels Granger, Ebright, Binkley, and others, it was +soon assembled in good line in front of Gordon's advancing column, +where it did much to arrest it. Generals Seymour and Shaler being +separated from their brigades, while searching for them were both +captured.(10) + +But somebody needed, and sought, a "_scapegoat_." There were only +three regiments in the Second Brigade--6th Maryland, 110th and 122d +Ohio, which had served under Milroy in the Shenandoah Valley in +1863. Somebody reported to the press, and probably to Grant, that +on the evening of the 6th of May troops that had fought there under +Milroy were on the extreme right of the army, and were the first +to give way. This was necessarily false, as these troops were not +then on the extreme right at all, and did not retire until the +force to their right had been broken and routed. General Grant to +Halleck, in an excusatory and exculpatory letter (May 7th), as to +the disaster on his right, said: "Milroy's old brigade was attacked +and gave way in great confusion, almost without resistance, carrying +good troops with them."(10) This statement may have been made to +tickle Halleck's ear, as he was known to hate Milroy and his friends, +but it was, nevertheless, untrue and grossly unjust. Of the three +regiments from the Shenandoah Valley, 494 (one third their number) +fell dead or wounded on that field, through inefficiency and blunders +of high officers who were never near enough to it to hear the fatal +thud or passing whiz of a rifle ball. Many others of these regiments +had fallen (nearby) on the heights of Orange Grove, the November +before. Grant, long after, acknowledged the injustice of his +statement. + +After I had been wounded, though yet in command of the attacking +force, a Major rode up from the left, and reported to me that his +officers and men were falling fast, and expressed the fear that +they could not be long held to their work. He was directed to +cheer them with the hope that the expected support would soon +arrive. As he swung his horse around to return, it was shot, fell, +and the Major, lighting on his feet, without a word quickly +disappeared (as seen by the light of flashing rifles) among the +dense scrub pines. He never was seen again, nor his body found. +He must have been killed, and his body consumed late by the great +conflagration which, feeding on the dry timber and _debris_, swept +the battle-field, licking up the precious blood and cremating the +bodies of the martyr dead. This was the gallant McElwain, who, in +the early morning, expressed so much anxiety for my safety. + +Colonel William H. Ball, on hearing, late at night, of my wound, +inquired particularly as to its nature, and being assured it was +serious, characteristically exclaimed: "Good! he will get home +now and survive the war; his fighting days are over." Not so, nor +yet with him. As I was borne to the left along the rear of the +line on a stretcher towards the field-hospital, about midnight, a +quickened ear caught the sound of a voice, giving loud command, +familiar to me years before at my home city. I summoned the officer, +and found him to be my fellow-townsman, Colonel Edwin C. Mason, +then commanding the 7th Maine. A day or two more and he, too, was +severely wounded. + +I had seen something of war, but, for the first time, my lot was +now cast with the dead, dying, and wounded in the rear. A soldier +on the line of battle sees his comrades fall, indifferently generally, +and continues to discharge his duty. The wounded get to the rear +themselves or with assistance and are seen no more by those in +battle line. Some of the medical staff in a well organized army, +with hospital stewards and attendants, go on the field to temporarily +bind up wounds, staunch the flow of blood, and direct the stretcher- +bearers and ambulance corps in the work of taking the wounded to +the operating surgeons at field-hospital. The dead need and generally +receive no attention until the battle is ended. + +On my arrival at hospital, about 2 P.M., I was carried through an +entrance to a large tent, on each side of which lay human legs and +arms, resembling piles of stove wood, the blood only excepted. +All around were dead and wounded men, many of the latter dying. +The surgeons, with gleaming, sometimes bloody, knives and instruments, +were busy at their work. I soon was laid on the rough board +operating table and chloroformed, and skilful surgeons--Charles E. +Cady (138th Pennsylvania) and Theodore A. Helwig (87th Pennsylvania) +--cut to the injured parts, exposed the fractured ends of the +shattered bones, dressed them off with saw and knife, and put them +again in place, splinted and bandaged. I was then borne to a pallet +on the ground to make room for--"_Next_." The sensation produced +by the anaesthetic, in passing to and from unconsciousness, was +exhilarating and delightful. For some hours, exhausted from loss +of blood as I was, I fell into short dozes, accompanied with fanciful +dreams. Not all have the same experience. + +From this hospital, on the 7th, I was taken by ambulance, in the +immense train of wounded, towards Spotsylvania Court House, but on +nearing that place, the train diverging from the track of the army, +moved, with the roar of the battle in our ears, slowly to +Fredericksburg. At its frequent halts, great kettles of beef tea +were made and brought to us. I drank gallons of it, as did others. +It was grateful to a thirsty, fevered palate, but afforded little +nourishment. For about ten days I was confined to a bed in a +private house--Mrs. Alsop's--taken for an officers' hospital. The +wounded from Spotsylvania also soon arrived at Fredericksburg, and +surgeons and nurses were overtaxed. Contract surgeons appeared +from the North; also nurses and attendants from each of the Sanitary +and Christian Commissions. I was visited by Miss Dorothea L. Dix +(then seventy years of age), who was in charge of a corps of hospital +nurses. Horace Mann had, long before, apotheosized her for her +philanthropic work for the insane.(11) A highly inflamed condition +of my arm threatened my life while here, but finally reaching Acquia +Creek, I went by hospital boat to Washington, thence home. +Everywhere, hotels, hospitals, boats, and cars were crowded with +the wounded, fresh from the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. Philanthropic +people of principal cities kept, day and night, surgeons with +skilled assistants at depots to care for the travelling wounded. + +But to return to the Wilderness. The Sixth Corps, with little +fighting, recovered its lost position on the morning of the 7th. +The Fifth had a fierce engagement on the 6th, to the left of the +Sixth Corps, but without material success. Hancock's corps, with +Wadsworth's division of the Fifth and Getty's of the Sixth, opened +a brilliant battle on the plank road at early dawn of the 6th, and +drove the enemy more than a mile along the road in some confusion, +when Longstreet's corps arrived on Hancock's left and turned the +tide of battle, and in turn our troops were forced back to their +former position on the Brock road. General James S. Wadsworth was +mortally wounded while rallying his men, and the heroic Getty was +severely wounded. The losses in this engagement on both sides were +great. General Jenkins of the Confederate Army was killed, and +Longstreet severely wounded. They were shot by mistake, by their +own men,(12) as was "Stonewall" Jackson at Chancellorsville. Lee, +in person, was on the plank road giving direction to the battle. +He exposed himself to danger, and despaired of the result. At a +critical moment he sent his "Adjutant-General, Colonel W. H. Taylor, +back to Parker's Store to get the trains ready for a movement to +the rear."(13) Grant, early on the 6th, put Burnside's corps in +between the turnpike and plank roads, and it sustained the battle +in the centre throughout the day, both armies holding well their +ground. The morning of the 7th found Lee's army retired and strongly +intrenched on a new line, with right near Parker's Store, and left +extending northward across the turnpike. + +On the 5th and 6th, Sheridan with his cavalry held the left flank +and covered the rear of the army, fighting and repulsing Stuart's +cavalry in attempts to penetrate to our rear. At Todd's Tavern, +on the 7th, a severe cavalry engagement took place in which Sheridan +was victorious. But the two great armies principally rested in +position on that day, and the great battle of the Wilderness, with +its alternate successes and repulses and its long lists of dead +and wounded, was ended. + +Grant, having decided not to fight further in the Wilderness country, +on the night of the 7th put his army in motion for Spotsylvania +Court-House, the cavalry preceding the Fifth Corps over the Brock +road, followed by the Second and Sixth Corps on the plank and +turnpike roads, with the army trains in the advance, the Ninth +Corps in the rear. Lee, having either anticipated or discovered +the movement, threw Longstreet's corps in Warren's front on the +Brock road, and heavy fighting ensued on the 8th, most of the corps +of both armies being, at different times, engaged. Wilson's cavalry +division gained possession of the Court-House, but, being unsupported, +withdrew. May 9th, the enemy was pressed and his position developed. +Two divisions of the Ninth Corps, finding the enemy on the +Fredericksburg road, drove him back and across the Ny River with +some loss. This day, Major-General John Sedgwick, commanding the +Sixth Corps, while on the advance line looking for the enemy's +position, was killed by a sharp-shooter. He had the confidence +and love of his corps. + +Sheridan, with the cavalry, cut loose from the main army on the +9th, with orders from Meade to move southerly, engage, whenever +possible, the enemy's cavalry, cut railroads, threaten Richmond, +and eventually communicate with or join the Union forces on James +River. He passed around the enemy's right and destroyed the depot +at Beaver Dam, two locomotives, three trains of cars, one hundred +other cars, and large quantities of stores and rations for Lee's +army; also the telegraph line and railroad track for ten miles, +and recaptured some prisoners. On the 10th of May he crossed the +South Anna at Ground Squirrel Bridge, captured Ashland Station, a +locomotive and a train of cars, and destroyed stores and railroad +track, and next day marched towards Richmond. At Yellow Tavern he +met the Confederate cavalry, defeated it, killing its commander, +General J. E. B. Stuart, and taking two pieces of artillery and +some prisoners, and forcing it to retreat across the Chickahominy. +On the 12th Sheridan reached the second line of works around +Richmond, then recrossed the Chickahominy, and after much hard +fighting arrived at Bottom's Bridge the morning of the 13th. On +the next day he was at Haxall's Landing on the James River, where +he sent off his wounded and recruited his men and horses. On the +24th he rejoined the Army of the Potomac at Chesterfield, returning +_via_ White House on the Pamunkey.(14) + +Fighting at and around Spotsylvania Court-House continued during +the 10th and 11th, and on the 12th Hancock's corps assaulted the +enemy's centre, capturing Major-General Edward Johnson, with General +George C. Steuart and about three thousand men of his division. +On advancing to the enemy's second line of breastworks, Hancock +met with desperate resistance at what is known as the salient, or +"_dead angle_." This was the key to Lee's position, and concentrating +there his batteries and best troops, he mercilessly sacrificed the +latter to hold it. The Second Corps was reinforced by the Sixth, +under Major-General Horatio G. Wright, the successor of Sedgwick. +The most deadly fighting occurred, and the dead and wounded of both +sides were greater, for the space covered, than anywhere in the +war, if not in all history. Wheaton's brigade of the Sixth Corps +fought in the "dead angle"; and the 126th Ohio of the Second Brigade, +Third Division, was detached and ordered to assault it. In making +the assault it lost every fourth man.(15) The whole of the Second +Brigade fought with conspicuous gallantry at Spotsylvania. + +The enemy retired to a shorter line during the night. From the +13th to the 17th, both armies being intrenched, nothing decisive +transpired, through there were frequent fierce conflicts. The +Union sick and wounded were sent to the rear _via_ Fredericksburg +and Acquia Creek, and supplies were brought forward.(16) + +General Grant, the morning of the 11th, wrote Halleck: + +"We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result +to this time is much in our favor. But our losses have been heavy, +as well as those of the enemy. We have lost to this time, eleven +general officers, killed, wounded, and missing, and probably 20,000 +men. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater. We have taken +over 4000 prisoners in battle, while he has taken but few except +stragglers. I am now sending back to Belle Plain all my wagons +for a fresh supply of provisions and ammunition, _and propose to +fight it out on this line if it takes all summer_."(17) + +The italics are mine, to emphasize the origin of the most frequently +quoted phrase of General Grant. + +The Union Army was moving by its left flank on the 19th, when Ewell +attempted to turn its right flank and get possession of the +Fredericksburg road, but he met a new division under General R. O. +Tyler, later, two divisions of the Second Corps, and Ferrero's +division of colored troops (twelve companies, 2000 strong, recently +from the defences of Washington), and was handsomely beaten back. + +The 9th New York Heavy Artillery, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel +William H. Seward, son of Secretary Seward, joined the Second +Brigade at North Anna River, the 26th of May.(18) + +The army, by the 26th, had crossed the North Anna at various fords, +and by the 28th it was across the Pamunkey at Hanoverton and Hundley +Fords, sharp engagements ensuing constantly. The 29th the enemy +was driven into his works behind the Totopotomy, the Sixth Corps +occupying Hanover Court-House. Warren was attacked, but repulsed +the enemy at Bethesda Church, and Barlow of the Sixth carried a +line of rifle-pits south of the river. The cavalry was engaged +during these movements in many affairs, and Sheridan with two +divisions occupied Cold Harbor the 31st, but was hard pressed until +Wright with the Sixth and General W. F. Smith (recently arrived +with the Eighteenth Corps from Butler on the James) relieved him. +These corps, June 1st, attacked and took part of the enemy's +intrenched line. + +At 6 P.M., in a general assault upon the enemy's works, Ricketts' +division (Third of Sixth) captured many prisoners and the works in +its front, and handsomely repulsed repeated efforts to retaken +them. In this assault the Second Brigade moved in the following +order: 6th Maryland and 138th Pennsylvania in the first line, 9th +New York in the second and third lines, and the 122d and 126th Ohio +in the fourth line, all preceded by the 110th Ohio on the skirmish +line. + +General Meade addressed this note to General Wright: + +"Please give my thanks to Brigadier-General Ricketts and his gallant +command for the very handsome manner in which they have conducted +themselves to-day. The success attained by them is of the greatest +importance, and if followed up will materially advance our +operations." + +The morning of the 3d, the division charged forward about two +hundred yards under a heavy fire and intrenched, using bayonets, +tin cups, and plates for the purpose.(19) At 4 A.M., June 3d, by +Grant's order, the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps and Barlow's division +of the Second assaulted the strongly fortified works of the enemy, +but suffered a most disastrous repulse--the bloodiest of the war. +Approximately 10,000 Union men fell. The number and strength of +the enemy's position was not well understood. He did not suffer +correspondingly. There were found to be deep ravines and a morass +in front of his fortifications. + +The assault was suspended about 7 A.M. and not renewed. Grant says +in his _Memoirs:_(20) + +"I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was +ever made." + +Other indecisive fighting occurred at Cold Harbor to the 12th, when +Lee's army having retired in consequence of further flank movements, +the last of the Union Army was withdrawn, and by June 13th, its +several corps crossing the Chickahominy at Long and Jones' Bridges, +reached the James River at Charles City Court-House. Sheridan, +meantime, with two cavalry divisions, was ordered to Gordonsville +to destroy the Central Railroad, and to communicate, if practicable, +with Hunter's expedition, then in progress in the Shenandoah Valley. +Sheridan fought a successful battle at Trevilian Station, June +11th, overthrowing Hampton and Fitz Lee's cavalry divisions. + +The Union Army soon crossed the James. + +Excluding captured and missing, the casualties in the Union Army +during the operations mentioned, shown by revised lists, are given +in the summary table following:(21) + + Killed. Wounded. Aggregate. + Officers. Men. Officers. Men. +Wilderness, May 5-7 143 2013 569 11,468 14,193 +Spotsylvania Court-House, May 8-21 + 174 2551 672 12,744 16,141 +North Anna, Pamunkey, and Totopotomoy, May 21-June 1 + 41 550 159 2,575 3,325 +Cold Harbor, Bethesda Church, etc., June 2-15 + 143 1702 433 8,644 10,922 +Todd's Tavern to James River (Cavalry, Sheridan), May 9-24 + 7 57 16 321 401 +Trevilian raid (Cavalry, Sheridan), June 7-24 + 14 136 43 695 888 + ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ + Totals 522 7009 1892 36,447 45,870.(22) + +There do not seem to exist any lists, at all complete, by which a +summary of casualties of killed and wounded in the Confederate Army +during the Wilderness campaign can be made up, but, barring Cold +Harbor, they were, doubtless, approximately as great as in the +Union Army. During the campaign the Union Army captured 22 field +guns and lost 3. It captured at least 67 colors. And reports show +the Army of the Potomac, from May 1 to 12, 1864, took 7078 prisoners, +and from May 12 to July 31, 1864, 6506; total, 13,584. + +The Union reports show the "captured and missing [Union], May 4th +to June 24th," to be 8966.(23) + +The killed and wounded in the Sixth Army Corps, May 5 to June 15, +1864, were 10,614; in the Third Division thereof, 1993, and in the +Second Brigade of this division, 1246. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xxxiii., p. 827. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxxiii., p. 664. + +( 3) _Ibid_., p. 827-9. + +( 4) _Ibid_., p. 1017. + +( 5) _War Records_., vol. xxxiii., p. 1022. + +( 6) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), p. 544-5. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part II., p. 370. + +( 8) _Ibid_., Part I., p. 189 (Meade's Report). + +( 9) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 331. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part II., pp. 729, 742, 745, 748. + +(11) _Twelve Sermons_, p. 302. + +(12) _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 564. + +(13) _Memoirs of Lee_, A. L. Long, p. 330. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., pp. 193, 776-792. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., p. 749. + +(16) _Ibid_., pp. 188-195 (Meade's Report). + +(17) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., p. 627. + +(18) _Ibid_., pp. 734, 740. + +(19) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., p. 734-5 (Keifer's +Report). + +(20) Vol. ii., p. 276. + +(21) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., p. 188 (119-198). + +(22) It is interesting to note that the ratio of killed to wounded, +shown by this table is almost exactly 1 to 5, that is 16.6 per +cent. of the whole number were killed; that of the killed, 1 out +of every 14.6 was an officer; of the wounded, 1 out of 20 was an +officer; of the whole number killed and wounded, 1 officer was +killed out of every 88, 1 officer was wounded out of every 24.3, +and 1 enlisted man was killed out of every 6.5, and one officer +was killed or wounded out of every 19. + +(23) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part I., pp. 188, 196. + + +CHAPTER VII +Campaign South of James River and Petersburg--Hunter's Raid--Battle +of Monocacy--Early's Advance on Washington (1864)--Sheridan's +Movements in Shenandoah Valley, and Other Events + +In pursuance of the general plan, as we have seen, General B. F. +Butler had organized at Fortress Monroe the Army of the James, +composed of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps, commanded, respectively, +by Generals Quincy A. Gilmore and W. F. Smith. It moved by transports +up the James River on May 4, 1864, and effected a landing without +serious resistance at Bermuda Hundred the night of the 5th. At +the same time General Kautz, with 3000 cavalry, made a raid from +Suffolk and destroyed a portion of the Petersburg and Weldon +Railroad. These movements caused a hasty concentration against +Butler of all the available troops from the Carolinas. Beauregard +was put in command of them. There was some indecisive fighting +between parts of Butler's army at Stony Creek, Jarratt's Station, +and White Bridge, and there were somewhat general engagements at +Port Walthall Junction, Chester Station, Swift Creek, Proctor's +Creek, and Drewry's Bluff, and some minor affairs along the James. +Kautz, making a second successful raid, cut the Richmond and Danville +Railroad at Caulfield, destroying bridges, tracks, and depots. +The result of all was to leave Butler's command strongly intrenched +at Bermuda Hundred, but unable to advance and seriously threaten +Richmond. + +The term "Bottled up," an expression used to describe Butler's +position, was derived from a dispatch of Grant to the War Department +in which he referred to Butler's situation between the James and +the Appomattox with the enemy intrenched across his front, as being +"like a bottle."( 1) + +Grant ordered Smith's corps to reinforce the Army of the Potomac. +Butler attacked Petersburg on the 9th of June, chiefly with Gilmore's +corps, but, for want of co-operation by the several attacking +bodies, the place was not taken. General Butler attributed the +defeat to Gilmore's failure to obey orders and act with energy.( 2) + +After Smith's withdrawal, Butler did little more than hold his +position. The Army of the Potomac crossed to the south of the +James on June 14th. An attack was made by Meade on Petersburg on +the 16th, principally with troops under Hancock and Burnside, by +which a part only of the enemy's works with one battery and some +prisoners were taken. Fighting continued on the 17th, and a general +assault was ordered at daylight on the 18th, but on advancing it +was found that the enemy had retired to an inner and stronger line. +Later in the day unsuccessful assaults were made on this new line +by portions of the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Corps. It was then +ascertained that Lee's main army had reached Petersburg, and further +efforts to take it by assault were abandoned.( 3) There was much +fighting, extending through June, by detachments of infantry, for +possession of roads, all of which, however, was indecisive. Wilson +and Kautz's cavalry divisions, on the 22d, in a raid took Reams +Station and destroyed some miles of the Weldon Railroad, and the +next day, after defeating W. H. F. Lee's cavalry near Nottoway +Station, reached Burkeville junction and destroyed the depot and +about twenty miles of railroad track. The succeeding day they +destroyed the railroad from Meherim Station to Roanoke Bridge, a +distance of twenty-five miles, but on returning they encountered +at Reams Station, on the 28th, the enemy's cavalry and a strong +force of infantry, and were defeated, with the loss of trains and +artillery. The Sixth Corps was sent to their relief, but arrived +at the Station after the affair was over and the enemy had withdrawn.( 4) + +I shall not undertake to give the important movements and operations +( 5) of the troops under Grant in front of Petersburg and Richmond, +during the remainder fo the summer and the fall of 1864, as the +troops in which I was immediately interested were, early in July, +transferred to Maryland and Washington. A summary of the occurrences +in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia is, however, necessary +to enable the reader the better to understand important events soon +to be narrated. + +General Franz Sigel, in command of the Department of West Virginia, +moved up the Valley, and was defeated at New Market on the 15th of +May. He retired to the north bank of Cedar Creek. His loss was +about 1000 killed, wounded, and captured, and seven pieces of +artillery. General George Crook, proceeding _via_ Fayetteville, +Raleigh, and Princeton, fought the battle of Cloyd's Mountain on +the 9th of May and gained a brilliant victory. He did much damage +to the enemy, and returned to Meadow Bluff, on the Kanawha. General +David Hunter relieved Sigel in command of the department on the +21st, and joined the troops at Cedar Creek in the Valley, on the +26th. Sigel was assigned to command a Reserve Division along the +line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. + +Hunter and Crook, from their respective positions, moved towards +Staunton on the 30th. Hunter met the enemy under General W. E. +Jones at Piedmont, on June 5th, and after a severe engagement +defeated him, killing Jones and capturing about 1500 prisoners. +Hunter reached Staunton on the 6th, and was joined by Crook on the +8th. They here destroyed railroads, Confederate supplies, mills, +and factories, and, together, advanced towards Lexington on the +10th. They were now opposed by McCausland, whose command was +chiefly cavalry. Lexington was taken on the 11th, after some +fighting, and with it large quantities of military supplies. A +portion of the James River Canal and a number of extensive iron- +works were destroyed. Hunter burned the Virginia Military Institute +and all buildings connected therewith on the 12th. He also burned +the residence of ex-Governor John Letcher. Doubts have been +entertained as to whether the burning of the Institute or Letcher's +home could be justified under the rules of modern warfare. The +Institute, however, was a preparatory school for Confederate +officers, and its Principal, Colonel Smith, with 250 cadets, united +with McCausland's troops in the defence of Lexington. Letcher had +issued a violent and inflammatory proclamation inciting the population +to rise and wage a guerilla warfare on the Union troops.( 6) + +Hunter proceeded _via_ Buchanan and by the Peaks of Otter road +across the Blue Ridge, and arrived at Liberty, twenty-four miles +from Lynchburg, on the 15th. Here he heard rumors through Confederate +channels of disasters to Grant and Sherman's armies, and of Sheridan's +fighting at Trevilian Station. Hunter was also told Breckinridge +was in Lynchburg with all the rebel forces in West Virginia, and +that Ewell's corps, 20,000 strong, was arriving to reinforce him. +Notwithstanding these reports, Hunter commenced an advance on the +16th on Lynchburg. His several columns met stubborn resistance on +this and the succeeding day, but at night, after a spirited affair +at Diamond Hill, he encamped his forces near the town. It became +known to Hunter on the 18th that Lieutenant-General Jubal A. Early, +with Ewell's corps from Lee's army, was at Lynchburg. Early and +Breckinridge's combined commands far outnumbered Hunter's forces. +The situation was critical for Hunter. He maintained a bold front, +however, until nightfall, and then withdrew _via_ Liberty and +Buford's Gap to New Castle and Sweet Springs. General Wm. A. +Averell with the cavalry covered the rear. The enemy pursued rather +tardily to Salem, where Early concentrated his army. Hunter chose, +in his retreat, the Lewisburg route to Charleston on the Kanawha, +rather than retire down the Shenandoah Valley or by Warm Springs +and the South Branch of the Potomac. The latter route would have +had the advantage of bringing him out at Cumberland or New Creek +on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, much nearer to his proper base +at Martinsburg or Harper's Ferry. His retreat, on the line chosen, +left the Valley, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Baltimore +and Washington practically without defence. Hunter arrived at +Charleston on the 30th, having marched through White Sulphur Springs, +Lewisburg, and Meadow Bluff. From near Liberty, on the 16th, he +sent his supply train of 200 wagons, 141 prisoners, and his sick +and wounded in charge of Captain T. K. McCann, A.Q.M. of Volunteers, +with orders to reach the Kanawha at Charleston. The train was +guarded by parts of the 152d and 161st Ohio Volunteers--one hundred +day men, commanded by Colonel David Putnam of the former regiment. +At Greenbrier River, on the 22d, the train was attacked by the +Thurmond brothers, and forced to return to White Sulphur Springs. +From thence it proceeded through Hillsborough to Beverly, where it +arrived on the 27th.( 7) Hunter's raid, so brilliantly begun, thus +unfortunately ended. + +Early reached Lynchburg on the 17th of June and assumed command of +all the forces there, including those under Breckinridge. Early +pursued Hunter to the mountains, and then, on the 23d, marched +rapidly through Staunton and down the Shenandoah Valley, with the +purpose of invading Maryland, in pursuance of instructions given +him by Lee before being detached from the latter's main army.( 8) + +Sigel was now holding Maryland Heights. Early, therefore, on the +8th of July crossed the Potomac higher up the river, and reached +Frederick City, Maryland, the morning of the 9th.( 9) + +Hunter's command was obliged to descend the Kanawha by boats, then +ascend the Ohio to Parkersburg, and from there move by rail to +Cumberland and points on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Hunter +did not leave Charleston until July 3d, nor Parkersburg until the +8th, and did not reach Cumberland with any part of his army until +the 9th. He was then too remote to be available in an effort to +resist Early's invasion.(10) + +Early's movements in the Valley caused loud calls for troops, and +Grant ordered Ricketts' division (Sixth Corps) to Maryland. The +division left its camp in front of the Williams house on the 6th +of July, and the same day embarked at City Point for Baltimore. +It disembarked at Locust Point, near Baltimore, on the morning of +the 8th, and took cars for Monocacy Junction, where, on the same +day, parts of two brigades of the division joined General Lew +Wallace, then in command of the department. + +Prior to Ricketts' arrival Wallace had only been able to gather +together, under General E. B. Tyler, two regiments of the Potomac +Home Brigade, the 11th Maryland Infantry, two Ohio one hundred day +regiments (144th and 149th), the 8th Illinois Cavalry, and a +detachment of the 159th Ohio (one hundred day regiment), serving +as mounted infantry, all new or inexperienced troops.(11) He had +only one battery of artillery. Sigel, still at Maryland Heights, +was therefore unavailable as against Early. Only the First Brigade, +numbering 1750 men, under Colonel Truax, and a part of the Second +Brigade (138th Pennsylvania, 9th New York Heavy Artillery, 110th +and 126th Ohio), 1600 strong, Colonel McClennan commanding, of +Ricketts' veteran troops reached the battle-field. Tyler went into +position on the right, covering the stone bridge, and Ricketts on +the left. The position chosen by Wallace was good, strategically, +and also strong to resist a front attack by a superior force. It +was behind the Monocacy River, covering the railroad bridge and +the public highway and another bridge, and also had for lines of +retreat the turnpikes to Baltimore and Washington. If the position +were held, communication could be kept up with these cities, also +with Sigel at the Heights. It was Early's purpose to destroy +Wallace or brush him aside and move on Washington. Early moved +from Frederick at 8 A.M., the 9th of July, and after demonstrating +on Wallace's front, marched Gordon's troops around by a ford to +fall on Ricketts' left. The latter changed front to the left to +meet Gordon. The battle opened in earnest at 10.30 A.M. The +enemy's superiority in artillery gave him a great advantage, and +most of the day Ricketts' troops held their position under an +enfilading fire from Early's batteries. The enemy's front was so +great that Ricketts, to meet it, had to put his entire command into +one line. Gordon's first and second lines were beaten back, and +his third and fourth lines were, later, brought into action on the +Union left. Early put in his reserves there, and still Ricketts' +troops were unbroken and undismayed. It was, however, evident the +unequal contest must result in defeat, hence Wallace ordered a +retreat on the Baltimore pike. Ricketts did not commence to retire +until 4 P.M., and then in good order. Tyler's troops fought well, +and held the stone bridge until Ricketts had passed off the field. +Early was so seriously hurt that he did not or could not make a +vigorous or immediate pursuit. Save some detachments of cavalry, +he halted his army at the stone bridge. The Union loss was 10 +officers and 113 men killed and 36 officers and 567 men wounded, +total, 726, besides captured or missing.(12) Colonel Wm. H. Seward +(9th N. Y. H. A.) was slightly wounded and had an ankle broken by +the fall of his horse on its being shot. + +The veteran Third Division lost 656 of the killed and wounded, and +the troops under Tyler 70. My former assistant adjutant-general, +Captain Wm. A. Hathaway, was killed in this action. The total +killed and wounded in the Second Brigade, from May 5th to July 9th, +inclusive, was 2033,(13) more than half the number lost under Scott +and Taylor in the Mexican War. + +No report of the Confederate loss has been found, but from the +strong Union position, the character of the Confederate attacks, +and the number of wounded (400) left in hospital, it must have +largely exceeded that of the loyal army. Early says in his report, +written immediately after the battle, that his loss "was between +600 and 700."(14) + +On the morning of the 10th, Early marched _via_ Rockville towards +Washington, and arrived in front of the fortifications on the +Seventh Street pike late the next day. He met no resistance on +the way. Wallace, with Ricketts, had retired towards Baltimore. +Great consternation reigned at the Capital, and the volunteer +militia of the District of Columbia were called out. + +The defences were, however, feebly manned. The First and Second +Divisions of the Sixth Corps embarked at City Point on the 10th, +and a portion of the Second reached Fort Stevens on the 11th, about +the time Early reached its front, and the First Division, with the +remainder of the Second, arrived next morning. Some skirmishing +took place in front of the fort, witnessed by President Lincoln. +Many government employees and citizens were put in the trenches. +Early retreated across the Potomac to Leesburg, somewhat precipitately, +commencing after nightfall on the 12th. He again reached the Valley +on the 15th. The Sixth Corps under Wright pursued Early on the +13th, but did not come up with him. Ricketts' division rejoined +its corps on the 17th. Portions of Hunter and Crook's commands also +joined Wright, who moved _via_ Snicker's Gap into the Valley at +Berryville. Wright alternately retired and advanced his army, +crossing and recrossing the Potomac, until August 5th, when he was +at Monocacy Junction, Maryland. + +It should be stated in this connection that Early sent General +Bradley Johnson with his brigade of cavalry to cut the Northern +Central and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads; he succeeded in doing +this, and also in destroying some bridges and two passenger trains. +One bridge on the railroad between Washington and Baltimore was +destroyed by Johnson while on his way to Point Lookout, Maryland, +to release Confederate prisoners. One of the principal objects +Lee had in ordering Early into Maryland was to release these +prisoners.(15) When Early retired from Washington he recalled +Johnson. + +The most remarkable thing connected with the campaign just described +was the utter dispersion of the thousands of troops in West Virginia +and the Valley under Hunter, Sigel, Crook, Averell, and B. F. Kelley, +so that none of them participated in the battle of Monocacy or the +defence of Washington. + +Wright had been assigned, July 13th,(16) to command all the troops +engaged in the pursuit of Early, including a portion of the Nineteenth +Corps under General W. H. Emory, just arriving by transport from +the Army of the James. Hunter still remained in command of the +Department of West Virginia. The recent failure of Hunter caused +him to be distrusted for field work, and another commander was +sought. General Sheridan was, by Grant, ordered from the Army of +the Potomac, August 2d, to report to Halleck at Washington. In a +dispatch to Halleck of August 1st, Grant said he wanted Sheridan +put in command of all the troops in the field. On this being shown +to President Lincoln (August 3d), he impatiently wired Grant:(17) + +"I have seen your dispatch in which you say 'I want Sheridan put +in command of all the troops in the field with instructions to put +himself south of the enemy and follow him to the death. Wherever +the enemy goes let our troops go also.' This, I think, is exactly +right as to how our forces should move; but please look over the +dispatches you may have received from here ever since you made that +order, and discover, if you can, that there is any idea in the head +of any one here of 'putting our army south of the enemy,' or of +'following him to the death' in any direction. I repeat to you it +will neither be done nor attempted, unless you watch it every day +and hour and force it." + +Sheridan reached Harper's Ferry, August 7th, and assumed command +of the newly constituted Middle Military Division, including the +Middle Department, and the Departments of Washington, Susquehanna, +and West Virginia.(18) The First Division of the cavalry, commanded +by General Alfred T. A. Torbert, reached Sheridan from before +Petersburg, August 9th. Sheridan moved on the 10th, and reached +Cedar Creek twelve miles south of Winchester on the Strasburg pike +on the 12th, encountering some opposition at Opequon Creek, +Winchester, and Newtown. Early was reinforced by Kershaw's division +of Longstreet's corps, and by other detachments from Lee's army. +The enemy manoeuvred on Sheridan's flanks, and by August 22d the +Union Army had retired to Halltown and Harper's Ferry. + +Thus far Lincoln's predictions were fulfilled. But great events +were soon to follow. + +( 1) _Memoirs of Grant_, vol. ii., p. 151. + +( 2) _War Records_, vol. xxxvi., Part II., p. 273, 291. _Butler's +Book_, p. 677. + +( 3) _Ibid_., vol. xl., p. 168. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. xl., Part II., p. 169. + +( 5) The memorable "Mine explosion," under the immediate direction +of Burnside, occurred July 30, 1864. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., p. 97. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., p. 99, 101, 618-19, 683. + +( 8) _Ibid_., 346, 347. + +( 9) _Ibid_., 302. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii. Part I., p. 102. + +(11) _Ibid_., 200. + +(12) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., p. 201-2. + +(13) _Ibid_., pp. 206-7. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., pp. 348-9. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xxxvii., Part I., pp. 349, 767, 769. + +(16) _Ibid_., Part II., pp. 261, 284. + +(17) _Ibid_., Part I., p. 582. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 709, 719, 721. + + +CHAPTER VIII +Personal Mention of Generals Sheridan, Wright, and Ricketts, and +Mrs. Ricketts--Also Generals Crook and Hayes--Battle of Opequon, +Under Sheridan, September, 1864, and Incidents + +I had so far recovered from the wound received in the Wilderness +as to enable me to reach Baltimore, August 25th, on the way to the +army, though my arm was yet in splints and a sling. In response +to a telegram, the War Department directed me to report to General +Sheridan. I reached Harper's Ferry the next day. When I reported +to Sheridan, he looked at me fiercely, and observed: "I want +fighting men, not cripples. What can I do with you?" I asked +him to order me to General Wright for assignment to my old brigade. +He seemed to hesitate. I informed him of my familiarity with the +Shenandoah Valley, and told him I thought I was able for duty. He +gave the desired order reluctantly. + +Sheridan did not impress me favorably then. He seemed restless, +nervous, and petulant. I now think I somewhat misjudged him. He +was thirty-three years of age,( 1) in full vigor of manly strength. +He had, both in infantry and cavalry commands, won renown as a +soldier, though his highest fame was yet to be achieved. He was +short of stature, especially broad across the shoulders, with legs +rather short even for his height. His head was quite large, nose +prominent, eyes full; he had a strong face, and was of a cheerful, +social disposition, rather than retiring and taciturn. Irish +characteristics predominated in him, and when not on duty he was +disposed to be rollicking and free and easy. He was not hard to +approach by his inferiors, but he was not always discriminating in +the language he used to them. He did not seem to be a deliberate +thinker or reasoner, and often gave the impression that his decisions +or opinions were off-hand and not the result of reflection. In +the quiet of camp he seemed to be less able to combine or plan +great movements than in emergencies in the field. In a battle he +often showed the excitement of his impetuous nature, but he never +lost his head or showed any disposition save to push the enemy. +These are some opinions formed after seeing him in several great +battles, and knowing him personally through all the later years of +his life. It remains to say that he was an honest man, and devotedly +loyal to his friends. His fame as a soldier of a high class will +endure. + +Generals Wright and Ricketts each received me warmly, and, as +always, showed me the utmost kindness. + +Horatio G. Wright was a skilled and educated soldier, of the engineer +class. He, like the great Thomas, was of a most lovable disposition +and temperament. He had held many important commands during the +war; had failed in none, and yet uncomplainingly suffered himself +to be assigned from the command of a department to that of a division +of troops. He was unfortunate once, as we shall see, and the glory +of his chief shone so brightly as to dim the subordinate's well +earned fame. But I must not anticipate. Wright was especially +fitted to command infantry--a corps or more in battle. His +intercourse with his officers was kindly and assuring under all +circumstances. His characteristics as a soldier were of the +unassuming, sturdy, solid kind--never pyrotechnic. He was modest, +and not specially ambitious. In brief, he was a great soldier. + +James B. Ricketts was also a highly educated soldier, and when I +met him in the Valley he had been in many battles. He was a man +of great modesty, of quiet demeanor, and of the most generous +impulses. He never spoke unkindly of any person, and was always +just to superiors and inferiors. He was wounded at Bull Run (1861), +and captured and confined for many months in prison at Richmond. +His heroic wife, Fanny Ricketts, on learning of his being wounded, +joined him on the battle-field, and shared his six months' captivity +to nurse him.( 2) The special mention of Wright and Ricketts and +his wife must be pardoned by the reader, as they were of my best +friends, not only during, but since the war. Mrs. Ricketts was +often in camp with her husband, and though a most refined lady, +was, by disposition, education, and spirit quite capable of commanding +an army corps. She possessed great executive ability. + +Two other officers whose acquaintance I formed in the Valley in +1864, and who were in after life my friends, I venture to mention +also. + +George Crook was an ideal soldier. He was born near Dayton, Ohio, +September 8, 1828, and was a West Point graduate. He was of medium +stature, possessed of a gentle but heroic spirit, and justly won +renown in the War of the Rebellion, and subsequently in Indian +wars. He died suddenly in Chicago, March 21, 1890. His body is +buried at Arlington in the midst of his fallen war-comrades. He +left no children. His fame as a patriot and soldier belongs to +history. + +Rutherford B. Hayes, a brigade commander in the opening of Sheridan's +Valley campaign, was born at Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822. He +was not educated for a soldier. He was a man of medium height, +strong body, sandy hair, sanguine temperament, and was always self- +possessed, and gentle in his intercourse with others. He was a +most efficient officer and had the power to inspire his men to +heroic deeds. He was twice wounded, and retired at the end of the +war distinguished as a volunteer soldier. Subsequently he served +a term in Congress, three terms as Governor of Ohio, and was +President of the United States 1877 to 1881. + +I assumed command of my old brigade on the 26th of August, near +Halltown. Its ranks had been much depleted, yet it numbered about +2000 effective men, including recruits. It was then composed of +the 6th Maryland, 110th, 122d, and 126th Ohio, 67th and 138th +Pennsylvania, and 9th New York Heavy Artillery serving as infantry. +I found still with it, in command of regiments, Colonels John W. +Horn and Wm. H. Ball, Lieutenant-Colonels Otho H. Binkley and Aaron +W. Ebright, who had each passed safely through the recent bloody +campaigns. + +Sheridan's cavalry made daily reconnoissances, and frequently +engaged the enemy in advance of Charlestown. A cavalry reconnoissance +was made on the 29th which brought on an attack, near Smithfield, +by Fitz Lee's cavalry supported by infantry. The report came that +our cavalry under General Wesley Merritt were being driven back, +and Ricketts was ordered to go to its relief. As I was familiar +with the roads and country, he sent me forward with my brigade and +some attached troops. We met our cavalry about two miles from +Smithfield retiring in a somewhat broken condition. I deployed my +command on its left and pushed the enemy back to a ridge about a +mile north of that place. Here he made a stand, displaying +considerable force. I decided to attack at once. While preparing +for an advance, I discovered what appeared to be a considerable +body of cavalry forming for a charge on my left flank. My line +was single, and I was without support in that direction. At this +juncture a small number of mounted officers and men appeared on a +knoll to my rear. I supposed them to be a body of cavalry sent +forward to participate in the engagement. I rode to advise the +officer in command of the threatened danger. I found there Sheridan +and his staff and escort; also Merritt and some of his staff. +Sheridan had ridden to the front to see the situation. He seemed +surprised to see me, and asked sharply, "What are _you_ doing here?" +There was no time then for parley, as my command had already begun +to advance. I told him of the danger, and pointed out to him the +enemy's cavalry on our left, and asked for a force to meet it. He +responded that he had no force on hand. I suggested that the +cavalry with him, if immediately thrown well out to the left in a +threatening position, would answer the purpose. He replied: "---- + ----, that is my escort." I rejoined that it was needed badly, +and might save disaster. With a somewhat amused expression on his +face he ordered it to move as I indicated.( 3) + +About the time of this incident a puff of smoke from a rifle, fired +on the heights held by the enemy about a mile distant, was seen. +Almost instantly a familiar _thud_ was heard, and all looked around +to see who of the assembled officers had been hit. Major (Surgeon) +W. H. Rulison (9th New York Cavalry), serving as Medical Director +of the Cavalry, was killed by the shot.( 4) + +The enemy was driven from the ridge and we were soon in possession +of Smithfield.( 5) Merritt's cavalry took post at the bridge, and +the infantry were withdrawn to camp near Charlestown. + +Sheridan threw his whole army forward on September 3d, the infantry +stretching from Clifton farm on the right to Berryville on the +left. On this day there was short but fierce fighting between +Averell and McCausland's cavalry at Bunker Hill, in which the latter +was defeated with loss in prisoners, wagons, and supplies, and also +between Crook's command and Kershaw's division. The latter seems +to have run, at nightfall, unexpectedly, into Crook, near Berryville, +and was severely punished. Kershaw was of Longstreet's corps and +was then under orders to return to Lee's army at Petersburg. No +other event of greater importance than a reconnoissance occurred +until the 19th. + +Sheridan's army was then composed of the Sixth Corps, under Wright +--three divisions, commanded, respectively, by Generals David A. +Russell, George W. Getty, and James B. Ricketts, and an artillery +brigade of six batteries; the Nineteenth Corps under Emory--two +divisions and four batteries; Eighth Corps (Army of West Virginia) +under Crook--two divisions, and an artillery brigade of three +batteries. Besides the troops mentioned, there were three divisions +of cavalry and eight light or horse artillery batteries, commanded +by General Alfred A. T. Torbert. The cavalry divisions were +commanded, respectively, by Generals Wesley Merritt, Wm. W. Averell, +and James H. Wilson.( 6) Although there were in Sheridan's command +about 50,000 men present for duty, they were so scattered, guarding +railroads and various positions, that he was not able to take into +battle more then 25,000 men of all arms.( 7) Early had in the +Valley District Ewell's corps, Breckinridge's command, and at least +one division of Longstreet's corps, Fitz Lee's and McCausland's +cavalry divisions and other cavalry organizations, and it is probable +that he was not able to bring into battle more then 25,000 effective +men. These estimates will hold good through the months of September +and October, though some additions and changes took place in each +army. Grant met Sheridan at Charlestown the 16th, to arrange a +plan for the latter to attack Early. Sheridan drew from his pocket +a plat showing the location of the opposing armies, roads, streams, +etc., and detailed to Grant a plan of battle of his own, saying he +could whip Early. Grant approved the plan, and did not even exhibit +one of his own, previously prepared. This meeting was on Friday. +Sheridan was to move the next Monday.( 8) + +Sheridan gives much credit to Miss Rebecca M. Wright of Winchester +for sending him information by a messenger that Kershaw's division +and Cutshaw's artillery, under General Anderson, had started to +rejoin General Lee.( 9) + +The enemy was in camp about five miles north of Winchester at +Stephenson's Depot, his cavalry extending eastward to the crossing +of the Opequon by the Berryville pike. Our camps were, in general, +about six miles to the northward of Opequon Creek. Sheridan's plan +submitted to Grant was to avoid Early's army, pass to the east of +Winchester, and strike the Valley pike at Newtown, seven miles +south of Winchester, and there, being in Early's rear, force him +to give battle.(10) Early moved two divisions to Martinsburg on +the 18th, which caused Sheridan suddenly to change his plan and +determine to attack the remaining divisions at Stephenson's Depot. +Early, however, did not tarry at Martinsburg, but learning there +of Grant's visit to Sheridan, and fearing some aggressive movement, +returned the same night, leaving Gordon's division at Bunker's Hill +with orders to start at daylight the next morning for the Depot. +Gordon reached the Depot about the time the battle opened.(11) + +Sheridan's final plan for the expected battle was set forth in +orders issued on the 18th. It was for Wilson's cavalry and Wright's +corps to force a crossing of Opequon Creek on the Berryville pike. +Emory was to report to Wright and follow him. As soon as the open +country, south of the Opequon, was reached, Wright was to put both +corps in line of battle fronting Stephenson's Depot. Crook's +command was to move to the same crossing of the Opequon and be held +there as a reserve. Merritt and Averell's cavalry divisions under +Torbert were to move to the right in the direction of Bunker +Hill.(12) + +The army moved at 2 A.M. of the 19th as ordered. Wilson's cavalry +succeeded in crossing the creek and driving the enemy's cavalry +through a deep defile some two miles towards Winchester. Wright +followed, Getty's division leading, Ricketts and Russell following. +When the defile was passed, Getty went into position on the left +of the pike, Ricketts on the right, both in two lines, and Russell's +division was held in reserve. My brigade was the right of the +corps as formed for battle. The only battery up was put in position +on the right. The Nineteenth Corps was ordered to form on the +right of the Sixth and to connect with it. Up to this time no +severe fighting had taken place. Early was forced to move the main +part of his army to his right to cover the Berryville and Winchester +pike. Upon our side much delay occurred in getting up the artillery +and the Nineteenth Corps, during which time we were exposed to an +incessant fire from the enemy's guns. The Nineteenth did not make +a close connection on the right of the Sixth. Not until 11.40 A.M. +was the order given for a general attack. Ricketts' division was +to keep its left on the pike. As soon as the advance commenced +the Sixth Corps was exposed to a heavy artillery fire from the +enemy's batteries, but it went forward gallantly for about one +mile, driving or capturing all before it. General Ricketts, in +his report of September 27th, described what took place: + +"The Nineteenth Corps did not move and keep connection with my +right, and the turnpike upon which the division was dressing bore +to the left, causing a wide interval between the Sixth and Nineteenth +Corps. As the lines advanced the interval became greater. The +enemy, discovering this fact, hurled a large body of men towards +the interval and threatened to take my right in flank. Colonel +Keifer at once caused the 138th and 67th Pennsylvania and 110th +Ohio to break their connection with the right of the remainder of +his brigade and move towards the advancing columns of the enemy. +These three regiments most gallantly met the overwhelming masses +of the enemy and held them in check. As soon as the Nineteenth +Corps engaged the enemy the force in my front commenced slowly +retiring. The three regiments named were pushed forward until they +came upon two batteries (eight guns), silencing them and compelling +the enemy to abandon them. The three regiments had arrived within +less than two hundred yards of the two batteries when the Nineteenth +Corps, after a most gallant resistance, gave way. These guns would +have been taken by our troops had our flanks been properly protected. +The enemy at once came upon my right flank in large force; successful +resistance was no longer possible; the order was given for our men +to fall back on our second line, but the enemy advancing at the +time in force threw us temporarily in confusion." + +The repulse of the Nineteenth, and consequently of my three regiments, +left Breckinridge's corps full on our right flank, threatening +disaster to the army. Wright promptly put in Russell's division, +until then in reserve, and the progress of the enemy was arrested. +Here the brave David A. Russell lost his life. My report, written +September 27, 1864, described, in general, a further part taken by +my brigade: + +"The broken troops of my brigade were halted and reformed in a +woods behind troops from the reserve, which had come forward to +fill up the interval. As soon as reformed, they were moved forward +again over the same ground they had traversed the first time. +While moving this portion of my brigade forward, I received an +order from Brigadier-General Ricketts, commanding division, to +again unite my brigade near the centre of the corps, and to the +right of the turnpike, near a house. This order was obeyed at +once, and my whole brigade was placed on one line, immediately +confronting the enemy. The four regiments of my brigade, that were +upon the left, kept connection with the First Brigade, Third +Division, and fought desperately, in the main driving the enemy. +They also captured a considerable number of prisoners in their +first advance. + +"Heavy firing was kept up along the whole line until about 4 P.M., +when a general advance took place. The enemy gave way before the +impetuosity of our troops, and were soon completely routed. This +brigade pressed forward with the advance line to, and into, the +streets of Winchester. The rout of the enemy was everywhere +complete. Night came on, and the pursuit was stopped. The troops +of my brigade encamped with the corps on the Strasburg and Front +Royal roads, south of Winchester." + +It was Sheridan's design, if Wright's attack had been completely +successful, to push Crook rapidly past Winchester and seize the +Strasburg pike, and thus cut off Early's retreat; but the repulse +of the Nineteenth Corps made it necessary to move Crook to our +right. This caused some delay, during which the Sixth Corps bore +the brunt of the battle. General Hayes, in his report, dated +October 13, 1864, described the part taken by a division of Crook's +command: + +"I have to honor to report that at the battle of Opequon, September +19, 1864, the Second Infantry Division, Army of West Virginia, was +commanded by Colonel Isaac H. Duval until late in the afternoon of +that day, when he was disabled by a severe wound, and the command +of the division devolved upon me. Colonel Duval did not quit the +field until the defeat of the enemy was accomplished and the serious +fighting ended. The division took no part in the action during the +forenoon, but remained in reserve at the Opequon bridge, on the +Berryville and Winchester pike. The fighting of other portions of +the army had been severe, but indecisive. There were some indications +as we approached the battle-field soon after noon that the forces +engaged in the forenoon had been overmatched. About 1 P.M. this +division was formed on the extreme right of the infantry line of +our army, the First Brigade, under my command, in advance, and the +Second Brigade, Colonel D. D. Johnson commanding, about sixty yards +in the rear, forming a supporting line; the right of the Second +Brigade being, however, extended about one hundred yards farther +to the right than the First Brigade. The division was swung around +some distance to the right, so as to strike the rebel line on the +left flank. The rebel left was protected by field-works and a +battery on the south side of Red Bud Creek. This creek was easily +crossed in some places, but in others was a deep, miry pool from +twenty to thirty yards wide and almost impassable. The creek was +not visible from any part of our line when we began to move forward, +and no one probably knew of it until its banks were reached. The +division moved forward at the same time with the First Division, +Colonel Thoburn, on our left, in good order and without much +opposition until they unexpectedly came upon Red Bud Creek. This +creek and the rough ground and tangled thicket on its banks was in +easy range of grape, canister, and musketry from the rebel line. +A very destructive fire was opened upon us, in the midst of which +our men rushed into and over the creek. Owing to the difficulty +in crossing, the rear and front lines and different regiments of +the same line mingled together and reached the rebel side of the +creek with lines and organizations broken; but all seemed inspired +by the right spirit, and charged the rebel works pell-mell in the +most determined manner. In this charge our loss was heavy, but +our success was rapid and complete. The rebel left in our front +was turned and broken, and one or more pieces of artillery captured. +No attempt was made after this to form lines or regiments. Officers +and men went forward, pushing the rebels from one position to +another until the defeated enemy were routed and driven through +Winchester." + +About 5 P.M. Sheridan galloped along the front line of the Sixth +Corps with hat and sword in hand and assured the men, in more +expressive than elegant language, of victory in the final attack, +and he, about the same time, ordered Wilson with his cavalry to +push out from the left and gain the Valley pike south of Winchester. +Torbert, with Merritt and Averell's cavalry, was ordered to sweep +down along the Martinsburg pike on Crook's right to strike Early's +left. The enemy had been pushed back upon the open plains northeast +of Winchester and was trying hard to hold his left against the foot- +hills of Apple-Pie Ridge, and to cover the Martinsburg pike. + +Most of the enemy's cavalry and much of his artillery were on his +left. Getty (Sixth Corps), who from the first held the left of +our infantry, steadily advanced, holding whatever ground he gained. +The Nineteenth did not participate largely in the battle after its +repulse. The cavalry bore a conspicuous part in the battle. The +last stand was made by Early one mile from Winchester. About 5 +P.M. Wright and Crook's corps, though then in single line, impetuously +dashed forward, while Merritt and Averell's cavalry divisions under +Torbert, somewhat closely massed, overthrew the Confederate cavalry +and swept mercilessly along the Martinsburg pike and the foot of +the precipitous ridge. The enemy's artillery was ridden over or +forced to fly from the field. Torbert reached the left flank of +the Confederate infantry at the moment it was hard pressed by the +advancing troops of Wright and Crook. Our cavalry, in deep column, +with sabres drawn, charged over the Confederate left, and the battle +was won. This charge was the most stirring and picturesque of the +war. The sun was setting, but could be seen through the church +spires of the city. Its rays glistening upon the drawn sabres of +the thousands of mounted warriors made a picture in real war, rarely +witnessed. In this charge, besides the division leaders mentioned, +were Generals Custer and Devin, and Colonels Lowell, Schoonmaker, +and Capehart, leading brigades, all specially distinguished as +cavalry soldiers. The fighting continued into and through the +streets of Winchester. The pursuit was arrested by the coming of +night and the weariness of the soldiers, many of whom had been +without food or rest for about eighteen hours. The significance +of the victory was great, but it was particularly gratifying to +the old soldiers in my command who had fought at Winchester under +Milroy. The night battle at Stephenson's Depot, fifteen months +before--June, 1863--was within the limits of the field of Opequon. +Ewell's corps had driven Milroy from Winchester, but now, in turn, +under another commander, it was flying as precipitately from our +forces. The war-doomed city of Winchester was never again to see +a Confederate Army. Wilson's cavalry division did good service on +the Union left, often fiercely attacking the Confederate right +flank. Late in the day he pushed past Winchester on the east, and +encountered and dispersed Bradley Johnson's cavalry. Wilson, +however, was too weak to cut off Early's retreat, but he continued +in pursuit until 10 P.M. + +This was my first considerable battle after being severely wounded, +and candor compels me to say that I do not think being wounded one +or more times has a tendency to promote bravery or to steady nerves +for future battles. The common experience, however, is that when +a soldier is once engaged in the conflict, his nerves, if before +affected, become steady, and danger is forgotten. + +My horse was shot while leading the three regiments on the right +of the corps; later I was severely bruised on the left hip by a +portion of an exploded shell, and a second horse was struck by a +fragment of one which burst beneath him while I was trying to +capture a battery posted on a hill at the south end of the main +street of Winchester. + +I quote again from my report: + +"My brigade lost, in the battle of Opequon, some valiant and superior +officers. Lieutenant-Colonel A. W. Ebright, commanding the 126th +Ohio, was killed instantly early in the action. He was uniformly +brave and skilful. He had fought in the many battles of the Sixth +Corps during the past summer's campaign. Captain Thomas J. Hyatt +and Lieutenant Rufus Ricksecker, 126th Ohio, and Lieutenant Wm. H. +Burns, 6th Maryland, also fell in this action. Each was conspicuous +for gallantry on this and other fields upon which he had fought. +Colonel John W. Horn, 6th Maryland, whom none excelled for +distinguished bravery, was severely if not mortally wounded.(13) +Colonel William H. Ball, 122d Ohio, received a wound from a shell, +but did not quit the field. He maintained his usual reputation +for cool courage and excellent judgment and skill. Captain John +S. Stucky, 138th Pennsylvania, lost a leg. Major Chas. M. Cornyn, +122d Ohio; Captain Feight and Walter, 138th Pennsylvania; Captain +Williams, Lieutenants Patterson, Wells, and Crooks, 126th Ohio; +Captains Hawkins and Rouzer and Lieutenant Smith, 6th Maryland; +Lieutenants Fish and Calvin, 9th New York Heavy Artillery; Captains +Van Eaton and Trimble and Lieutenants Deeter and Simes, 110th Ohio, +are among the many officers more or less severely wounded. +(Lieutenant Deeter, 110th Ohio, has since died.) + +"Captain J. P. Dudrow, 122d Ohio, and Lieutenant R. W. Wiley, 110th +Ohio, were each slightly wounded while acting as A. D. C.'s upon +my staff." + +Colonel Ebright had a premonition of his death. A few moments +before 12 M. he sought me, and coolly told me he would be killed +before the battle ended. He insisted upon telling me that he wanted +his remains and effects sent to this home in Lancaster, Ohio, and +I was asked to write his wife as to some property in the West which +he feared she did not know about. He was impatient when I tried +to remove the thought of imminent death from his mind. A few +moments later the time for another advance came, and the interview +with Colonel Ebright closed. In less than ten minutes, while he +was riding near me he fell dead from his horse, pierced in the +breast by a rifle ball. His apprehension of death was not prompted +by fear. He had been through the slaughters of the Wilderness and +Cold Harbor; had fought his regiment in the _dead angle_ of +Spotsylvania, and led it at Monocacy. It is needless to say I +complied with his request. + +Incidents like this were not uncommon. + +The battle was a bloody one. + +The Union killed and wounded were:(14) + + Killed. Wounded. Aggregate. + Officers. Officers. + | Men. | Men. +Sixth Army Corps (Wright) 18 193 111 1331 1653 +Nineteenth Army Corps (Emory) 22 292 104 1450 1868 +Army of W. Va. 6 98 34 649 787 +Cavalry 7 61 29 275 372 + ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- + Totals 53 644 278 3705 4680 + +The casualties in my brigade were 4 officers and 46 men killed, 24 +officers and 261 men wounded; aggregate, 335.(15) This was little +less than the total loss in the three cavalry divisions. + +There is no complete list of the Confederate losses so far as I +can discover. Early reported his killed and wounded in this battle +at 2141, and missing 1818, total, 3959.(16) Doubtless many of the +missing were killed or wounded. General R. E. Rodes was killed in +a charge with his division.(16) General Godwin and Colonel Patton +were also killed; Generals Fitzhugh Lee and York were severely +wounded. + +This battle was inspiriting to the country. Lincoln, Stanton, and +Grant each wired congratulations and thanks.(17) + +Sheridan was now appointed a Brigadier-General in the regular army +and assigned to the permanent command of the Middle Military +District. + +The Valley was soon to further reek with blood, and the torch of +war was soon to consume it. + +( 1) Sheridan was born March 6, 1831, and died August 5, 1888. + +( 2) Mrs. Ricketts drove from Washington to Bull Run in her own +carriage and besought Gen. J. E. Johnston to parole her husband, +and allow her to take him to his home in Washington. This was +refused, and her carriage was confiscated. In after years, when +the Johnstons were in Washington, he holding high political positions, +she refused to recognize them. + +( 3) Members of his staff reported Sheridan as saying that the +request for his personal body-guard was impudent, but could not be +refused. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., 145. + +( 5) _Ibid_., 45. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 107-112. + +( 7) _Ibid_., p. 61. + +( 8) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. ii., p. 328. + +( 9) Sheridan's _Memoirs_, vol. ii., pp. 4-7. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 46. + +(11) _Ibid_., p. 555. + +(12) _Ibid_., Part II., pp. 102-3. + +(13) Colonel Horn survived the war, and died near Mitchellville, +Md., October 4, 1897. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., 118. + +(15) _Ibid_., p. 113. + +(16) _Ibid_., p. 555. + +(17) _Ibid_., pp. 61-2. + + +CHAPTER IX +Battle of Fisher's Hill--Pursuit of Early--Devastation of the +Shenandoah Valley (1864)--Cavalry Battle at Tom's Brook, and Minor +Events + +We left Sheridan's victorious army south of Winchester, five miles +from the battle-field. It had only such opportunity for rest as +can be obtained on the night succeeding a long day's battle. Some +of the officers and soldiers returned to the scene of the conflict +through the gloom of night, to minister to the wounded and to find +and identify the bodies of dead friends. It was, however, the duty +of the surgeons, hospital attendants, ambulance corps, and stretcher- +bearers to care for the wounded; and the dead of both armies could +be buried later. The bodies of some of the dead of the successful +army are always sent home for interment. Chaplains are often +instrumental in doing the latter. Rations, forage, and ammunition +had now to be brought up and distributed. No matter how well +soldiers have been supplied, they generally come out of a great +battle with little. + +Early's army bivouacked at Newtown, and at 3 A.M. of the 20th of +September continued its retreat to Fisher's Hill, about two miles +south of Strasburg. Early placed his army in a strong defensive +position on this hill, which is an abrupt bluff with a precipitous +rocky face, and immediately south of Tumbling Run. His right rested +on the Shenandoah River, and his left extended to the narrow Cedar +Creek Valley at the foot of Little North Mountain. This naturally +strong position was well fortified and impregnable against front +attack. + +Sheridan's army moved at day-dawn of the 20th in pursuit, Emory in +the advance. Wright and Emory occupied the heights around Strasburg +on the evening of that day, and Crook's corps was moved to their +right and rear, north of Cedar Creek, where it was concealed in +the dense timber. Sheridan determined to use Crook to turn the +enemy's left, if possible. The Nineteenth and Sixth Corps during +the night of the 20th took position in the order named, from left +to right, in front of Fisher's Hill. This was not accomplished +without some fierce conflicts, brought on in dislodging the enemy +from strongly fortified heights which he held in advance of his +main line. A portion of my brigade was engaged in these preliminary +movements all the night.( 1) The Third--Ricketts' division--was +again on the right of the Sixth Corps and of the army as formed on +the 21st. Near the close of the day I was informed by a staff +officer of General Ricketts that my command was to be held in +reserve behind the right, and that I was not likely to be engaged +in the coming battle if the plan of the commanding general was +carried out. I was directed to get my regiments into as comfortable +a situation as possible for rest, and hence selected a good place +to bivouac, and was employed in riding through the troops and +telling the officers of the prospect of freedom from severe work +the coming day when a brisk engagement broke out in my immediate +front. A portion of the Second Division of the Sixth Corps was +repulsed in an attempt, just at nightfall, to carry a fortified +hill in front of our right, which Sheridan and Wright had suddenly +decided must be taken for the security of our army.( 2) Wright, +seeing my command near at hand, ordered Ricketts to send to me for +a regiment to reinforce the repulsed troops. I sent the 126th Ohio +under Captain George W. Hoge, and it soon became seriously imperilled +in a renewed attack. Discovering this, I followed it with the 6th +Maryland under Major C. K. Prentiss, and, uniting the two with +other troops, charged the heights just at dark and carried them. +My two regiments occupied them for the night.( 3) + +Sheridan, on the 21st, ordered Torbert with Merritt and Wilson's +cavalry divisions (save Devin's brigade) to the Luray Valley, with +instructions to drive out any force of the enemy he might encounter, +and, if possible, cross over from that Valley to New Market, and +intercept Early's retreat, should the latter be defeated in the +impending battle. Averell's cavalry division was on the Back or +Cedar Creek road, well advanced. + +The Sixth and Nineteenth Corps held their positions of the previous +evening, and threatened the enemy in front. Part of my brigade +was continued on the advance line during the forenoon of the 22d, +the remainder in reserve. The real attack was to be made by Crook, +but this rendered it desirable to conceal his movements and deceive +the vigilant enemy. While Crook remained in hiding in the timber, +Sheridan decided to demonstrate against Early's left centre in such +way as to lead him to expect a formidable assault there. Accordingly +the whole of Ricketts' division with Averell's cavalry was, about +12 M., rather defiantly displayed and moved conspicuously to our +right, and close upon the enemy's front. My position in partial +reserve made my command the most available for this movement. I +was therefore ordered to take the advance, followed by Colonel +Emerson with the First Brigade. The movement was made in full +sight of the enemy and under the fire of his guns. We gained, +after some fighting, a ridge that extended near to Tumbling Run on +the north of the enemy's fortifications. The enemy fought hard to +hold possession of this ridge as a protection to his left and as +a good lookout. Under Ricketts' orders I continued by repeated +charges to push the enemy along this ridge for about three quarters +of a mile until he was forced to abandon it, cross the Run, and +take refuge within his works. Under such cover as we could get my +men were now held within easy musket shot of the enemy. During +this movement our guns in the rear tried to aid us, but it was hard +to tell which we suffered from the most--our own shells or the +enemy's fire. Averell's cavalry pushed back the enemy's skirmishers +still farther to our right. + +The enemy, from his signal station of Three-Top Mountain, took the +movements of Ricketts and Averell to be a preparation for a real +attack, designed to fall upon the front of Ramseur's division, and +he prepared to meet it. While these operations were taking place, +Crook moved his infantry under cover of the thick timber along the +face of Little North Mountain, and by 4 P.M. reached a position +with his two divisions full on Early's left flank. Crook at once +crossed the narrow Valley and bore down on the enemy's extreme +left, which at once gave way. Ramseur, in my front, had been +attentively watching Ricketts, and now seeing the danger from Crook, +commenced drawing his troops out of his breastworks and changing +front to his left. I was near enough to discover this movement, +and, to prevent its consummation, I ordered an immediate charge, +which was executed on a run. Ramseur, discovering the new and +seemingly more imminent danger, tried to reoccupy his works, but, +simultaneously, Crook charged, and Ramseur's troops, caught in the +mist of his movement, fell into confusion, became panic-stricken, +and fled through the timber or were captured. This spread a panic +to Early's entire army. The troops of my command did not halt to +fire in the charge, but crossed the Run and struggled up the +precipitous banks and over the breastworks, suffering little loss, +and were soon in possession of eight of the enemy's guns and some +prisoners. They met inside of the enemy's fortifications and +commingled with Crook's men. When the charge was well under way, +Colonel George A. (Sandy) Forsyth ( 4) of Sheridan's staff reached +me on the gallop. He was the bearer of orders, but did not deliver +them. He only exclaimed: "You are all right; you need no orders." +He, later, explained that Sheridan had sent him to direct me to +assault, if opportunity presented, in co-operation with Crook. + +In passing on horseback around the right of the enemy's works to +gain an entrance, and while going up a steep hill in the timber, +I fell in with a mounted officer wearing a plain blouse and a slouch +hat, but with no insignia of rank. We continued together for a +short time, he inquiring of the progress of the battle as I had +observed it. I asked him if he knew what General Crook was doing. +He modestly laughed, and said Crook was just then engaged with me +in gaining an entrance to the enemy's fortifications, and that he +supposed his command was pursuing Early. Here began an acquaintance +with the hero of this battle, that ripened into a friendship which +ended only with his death. + +Early could not rally his troops to a stand, and all his guns in +position behind his works fell into our hands. Night only saved +him and his demoralized army from capture. The other divisions of +the Sixth and the Nineteenth Corps came up promptly, but the battle +was over with the assault. + +Captain Jed. Hotchkiss, of the Topographical Engineers serving in +Early's army, describes the operations in his journal of the 22d, +thus: + +"The enemy at 1 P.M. advanced several lines of battle in front of +Ramseur, but did not come far, and only drove in our skirmish line. +At 4.30 P.M. they drove in the skirmishers in front of Gordon and +opened a lively artillery duel. At the same time a flanking force +that had come on our left, near the North Mountain, advanced and +drove away the cavalry and moved on the left flank of our infantry +--rather beyond it. The brigade there (Battle's) was ordered to +move to the left, and the whole line was ordered to extend that +way, moving along the line of the breastworks. But the enemy +attacking just then (5.30 P.M.) the second brigade from the left, +instead of marching by the line of works, was marched across an +angle by its commander. The enemy seeing this movement rushed over +the works, and the brigade fled in confusion, thus letting the +enemy into the rear of Early's division, as well as of Gordon's +and the rest of Rodes'; our whole line gave way towards the right, +offering little or no resistance, and the enemy came on and occupied +our line. General Early and staff were near by, and I with others +went after Wharton (to the right), but it was too late." + +At 4 A.M. next morning Early dispatched Lee: + +"Late yesterday the enemy attacked my position at Fisher's Hill +and succeeded in driving back the left of my line, which was defended +by the cavalry, and throwing a force in the rear of the left of my +infantry, when the whole of the troops gave way in a panic and +could not be rallied. This resulted in the loss of twelve pieces +of artillery, though my loss in men is not large."( 5) + +He, later, reported his killed and wounded at Fisher's Hill at +240, missing 995; total, 1235.( 6) Many of his missing were +doubtless killed or wounded. + +The Union killed and wounded were:( 7) + + Killed. Wounded. Aggregate. +Sixth Army Corps 27 208 235 +Nineteenth Army Corps 15 86 101 +Army of W. Va. (Crook) 8 152 160 +Cavalry 2 11 13 + --- --- --- + Totals 52 457 509 + +The killed and wounded in my brigade were 80, exactly one half the +casualties in Crook's command, and above one third in the Sixth +Corps. + +The victory of Fisher's Hill, though comparatively bloodless, was +one of the most complete of the war. But from the inability of +Torbert to drive Fitz Lee's cavalry (then under Wickham in consequence +of Fitz Lee being wounded at Opequon) from the Luray Valley and to +gain a position in Early's rear, the latter's army would have been +destroyed. Torbert encountered Wickham in a narrow gorge and was +unable to dislodge him in time. Sheridan's infantry assembled on +the Valley pike south of Fisher's Hill after dark, and continuing +the pursuit all night, capturing many stragglers and two more guns, +reached Woodstock twelve miles farther south at daybreak. Averell +was ordered to push forward up the Cedar Creek road and debouch at +Woodstock in rear of the retreating foe. This, for some reason, +he did not do, but soon after dark went into camp and awaited +daylight. He reached Woodstock after the infantry corps, too late +to cut off or assail the enemy. For this and some other alleged +delinquencies Sheridan relieved him from command of his division, +and assigned Colonel William H. Powell to succeed him. + +Early collected his broken forces and essayed to make a stand at +Rude's Hill, east of the Shenandoah and south of Mount Jackson. +As our troops advanced to attack him, however, he withdrew rapidly +in the direction of Staunton. After passing New Market he took a +road leading to Brown's Gap, where he was joined by his cavalry +from the Luray Valley and Kershaw's division and Cutshaw's artillery, +which had left him at Stephenson's Depot on the 15th. + +Not until the 25th did Torbert with his cavalry reach Sheridan at +New Market. Some of Sheridan's infantry advanced as far as Mount +Crawford and Lacey Springs, while the main body of the cavalry +pushed to Staunton and Waynesboro. + +An incident occurred on the evening of the 3d of October that had +something to do with the severity of the orders relating to the +destruction of property in the Shenandoah valley. Lieutenant John +R. Meigs, Sheridan's engineer officer, while returning from a +topographical survey of the country near Dayton, accompanied by +two assistants, fell in with three men in our uniform, and rode +with them towards Sheridan's headquarters. Suddenly these men +turned on Lieutenant Meigs and, though demanding his surrender, +shot and killed him. One of his assistants was captured and one +escaped and reported the event. Sheridan was much enraged, as the +killing of the Lieutenant was little less than murder, occurring, +as it did, within our lines. The three men were probably disguised +Confederates operating near their homes. Sheridan ordered Custer, +who had succeeded to the command of Wilson's cavalry division, to +burn all houses within an area of five miles within the spot where +Meigs was killed. The next morning Custer proceeded to execute +this order. The designated area included the village of Dayton. +When a few houses had been burned the order was suspended, and +Custer was required instead to bring in all able-bodied men as +prisoners.( 8) + +General T. W. Rosser, with a cavalry brigade from Richmond, joined +Early on the 5th of October, and the latter's army, being otherwise +much strengthened, soon began again to show signs of activity. + +As the Sixth Corps was expected to rejoin the Army of the Potomac +in front of Petersburg, Sheridan decided to withdraw at least as +far as Strasburg, and he determined also to lay waste the Valley, +as it was a great magazine of supplies for the Confederate armies. +He commenced to move on the 6th, the infantry taking the advance. +The cavalry had begun the work of destruction at Waynesboro and +Staunton. It usually remained quiet during the day, then at night, +while moving, set fire to all grain stacks, barns, and mills, thus +leaving behind it nothing but a waste. The fires lit up the Valley +and the mountain sides, producing a picture of resplendent grandeur +seldom witnessed. The flames lighted up the fertile Valley, casting +a hideous glare, commingled with clouds of smoke, over the foot- +hills and to the summits of the great mountain ranges on each side +of the doomed Valley. The occasional discharge of artillery helped +to make the panorama sublime. Fire and sword here literally combined +in the real work of war. Of the necessity or wisdom of this +destruction of property there may be doubts, yet the war had then +progressed to an acute stage. All possible means to hasten its +termination seemed justifiable. Chambersburg, Pa., had been wantonly +burned July 30, 1864. It has been charged that Sheridan declared +that he would so completely destroy everything in the Valley that +a "crow would have to carry a haversack when he flew over it." +The Confederates, with Rosser, their new cavalry leader, pursued +and daily assaulted Sheridan's rear-guard. This continued until +the evening of the 8th. Rosser's apparent success was heralded in +an exaggerated way at Richmond. He was bulletined there as the +"Savior of the Valley." He had recently before his advent in the +Valley won reputation in a raid on which he had captured and driven +off some cattle belonging to Grant's army. Torbert was ordered by +Sheridan, on the night of the 8th, to whip Rosser the next morning +or get whipped. + +The infantry of the army was halted to await the issue of the +cavalry battle. Sheridan informed Torbert that he would witness +the fight from Round Top Mountain. Merritt's division was encamped +on the Valley pike at the foot of this mountain, just north of +Tom's Brook, and Custer's division about five miles farther north +and west near Tumbling Run. Custer during the night moved southward +by the Back road, which lay about three miles to the westward of +the pike. At early daylight, Rosser, believing our army was still +falling back, unexpectedly met and assailed Custer with three +cavalry brigades, and almost simultaneously Merritt, in turn, +assailed Lomax and Johnson's cavalry divisions on the valley pike. +Merritt extended his right and Custer his left until the two +divisions united, when, under Torbert, they charged upon and broke +Rosser's lines all along Tom's Brook. The battle lasted about two +hours, when Rosser's entire force fell into the wildest disorder, +and in falling back degenerated into a rout. Torbert ( 9) pursued +for twenty-five miles, capturing about three hundred prisoners, +eleven pieces of artillery with their caissons, and all Rosser's +wagons and ambulances, including his headquarters wagons with his +official papers. It was said that subsequent bulletins announcing +Rosser's anticipated victories for the day were found. Rosser's +fame as a soldier, earned by years of hard fighting, was lost at +Tom's Brook in two hours. + +Disasters had now become so frequent to the Confederates in the +Valley that some wag at Richmond marked a fresh shipment of new +guns destined for Early's army: "_General Sheridan, care of Jubal +A. Early_." + +Sheridan's army retired to the north of Cedar Creek. The Sixth +Corps, having orders to rejoin the Army of the Potomac, continued +its march eastward towards Front Royal, expecting to proceed to +Piedmont and there take cars for Alexandria. It abandoned that +route, however, on the 12th, and marched towards Ashby's Gap, with +a view of passing through it to Washington, and going thence, by +transports, to City Point.(10) When this corps was partly across +the Shenandoah near Millwood, on the 13th, an order came from +Sheridan for Wright to return with his corps to Cedar Creek. This +order was given in consequence of Early's return to Fisher's Hill. +The necessity of the Sixth Corps' action will soon be apparent. +It reached Cedar Creek and went into camp at noon of the 14th. + +I recall the incident of a red fox starting to run through the +temporary bivouac of the corps at Millwood. The troops all turned +out, about 10,000, formed a ring around it, while a few horsemen +rode after it until it fell from fright and exhaustion. The officers +and men of an army always enjoyed incidents of this character. +There was, however, more serious diversion near at hand for these +bronzed soldiers. + +( 1) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 152. + +( 2) _Ibid_., p. 152. + +( 3) _Ibid_., p. 223 (Ricketts' Report). + +( 4) Forsyth, precisely four years later, while in command of +fifty picked scouts was surrounded on Beecher Island, on the +Arickaree fork of the Republican River, by about nine hundred +Indians, led by the celebrated chief, Roman Nose, and made the most +desperate fight known in the annals of our Indian wars. Lieutenant +Beecher, Surgeon Movers, and six of the scouts were killed and +twenty others severely wounded. Forsyth was himself struck in the +right thigh and his left leg was broken by rifle balls. He held +out eight days; meantime two of his scouts succeeded in eluding +the Indians, and, reaching Fort Wallace, 110 miles distant, returned +with a relieving party.--Custer's _Life on the Plains_, 88-98. + +( 5) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 557. + +( 6) _Ibid_., p. 556. + +( 7) _Ibid_., p. 124. + +( 8) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 50-2. + +( 9) General A. T. A. Torbert distinguished himself on many fields +and survived the war. While making a voyage on the steamer _Vera +Cruz_ he was shipwrecked off the Florida coast, August 29, 1880. +He heroically aided others to escape death, and with almost superhuman +exertion kept himself afloat on a broken spar for twenty hours, +and thus reached shore, only to sink down and die from exhaustion. + +(10) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 59. + + +CHAPTER X +Battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, with Comments Thereon-- +Also Personal Mention and Incidents + +General Early, upon his arrival at Fisher's Hill with his reorganized +army, assumed, on the 13th of October, an aggressive attitude by +pushing a division of infantry north of Strasburg and his cavalry +along the Back road towards Cedar Creek. This brought on sharp +engagements, in which Colonel Thoburn's division of Crook's corps +and Custer's cavalry participated. Early seems to have acted in +the belief that all but Crook's command had gone to Petersburg. +This action resulted in bringing Wright back to Cedar Creek, as we +have seen. + +Secretary Stanton, by telegram on the 13th, summoned Sheridan to +Washington for consultation as to the latter's future operations. + +Early, having met unexpected resistance, withdrew his forces at +night to Fisher's Hill, and quiet being restored, Sheridan started +on the 16th to Washington, _via_ Front Royal and Manassas Gap. He +took with him as far as Front Royal his cavalry, under Torbert, +intending to push them through Chester Gap to the Virginia Central +Railroad at Charlottesville, to make an extensive raid east of the +Blue Ridge. + +Early had a signal station on Three Top Mountain in plain view of +our signal officers, who knew the Confederate signal code. From +this station there was flagged, on the 16th, this message: + +"To Lieutenant-General Early: + +"Be ready to move as soon as my forces join you, and we will crush +Sheridan. + + "Longstreet, Lieutenant-General." + +Wright, who was left in command of the army at Cedar Creek, forwarded +this message to Sheridan, who received it when near Front Royal. +Wright, also, in a communication accompanying the message, expressed +fear of an attack in the absence of the cavalry. He anticipated +that it would fall on his right. Sheridan, deeming it best to be +on the safe side, abandoned the cavalry raid, and ordered Torbert +to report back to Wright, cautioning the latter to be well on his +guard, and expressing the opinion to Wright that if attacked he +could beat the enemy.( 1) Sheridan with a cavalry escort proceeded +to Rectortown, the terminus of the railroad; there took cars, and +arrived in Washington the morning of the 17th. He held a consultation +with Stanton and Halleck, and with certain members of his staff +left Washington at 12 M. by rail, arriving the evening of the same +day at Martinsburg. Here he was met by an escort of three hundred +cavalry. He left Martinsburg the next morning (18th), and reached +Winchester about 3 P.M., twenty-two miles distant. He tarried at +the latter place over night, making some survey of the surrounding +heights as to their utility for fortifications. + +But to return to his army. Torbert reached Cedar Creek with the +cavalry on the 17th. The Longstreet message was a ruse. Longstreet, +though in Richmond, was not on duty, not having fully recovered +from his wound received in the Wilderness.( 2) + +The position of the opposing armies the night of the 18th of October +can be briefly stated. + +The Union Army was encamped on each side of the turnpike, facing +southward, and north of Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Shenandoah, +which, flowing in general direction from northwest to southeast, +empties into the river about two miles west of Strasburg. The +north branch of the Shenandoah flows northward to Fisher's Hill, +thence bending to the eastward at the foot of and around the north +end of Three Top (or Massanutten) Mountain, thence, forming a +junction with the south branch, past Front Royal to the west and +again northward, emptying into the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. + +Crook's two divisions, Colonel Joseph Thoburn and Colonel Rutherford +B. Hayes commanding, were wholly to the east of the pike; Thoburn's +division well advanced, his front conforming to the course of the +creek; the Nineteenth Corps (Emory's), two divisions, lay on each +side of the pike, covering the bridge and ford in its immediate +front, and the Sixth was on Emory's right. Ricketts, Wheaton, and +Getty's divisions of the Sixth were encamped in the order named +from left to right. Meadow Brook (sometimes called Marsh Run), a +small stream, with rugged banks, flowing from north to south and +emptying into Cedar Creek, separated the left of Ricketts' division +from the right of the Nineteenth Corps. The Sixth Corps' front +conformed to the line of Cedar Creek; Getty's division being retired, +and consequently much nearer than the others to Middletown. My +brigade was the left of the Sixth, and its left rested on Meadow +Brook. Merritt's cavalry was in close proximity to Getty's right. +Custer was about one and a half miles to Merritt's right, on the +Back road beyond a range of hills and near the foot of Little North +Mountain. The whole course of the Back road is through a rough +country not adapted to cavalry operations. Powell's cavalry division +was near Front Royal. Army headquarters were at the Belle Grove +House on the heights west of the pike, immediately in rear of the +right of the Nineteenth Corps. Wright's headquarters were a short +distance to the rear of Sheridan's. + +The supply and baggage trains of our army were about one mile behind +its right centre and about the same distance from Middletown, a +village twelve miles south of Winchester, and about two miles north +of the Cedar Creek bridge. Getty and Merritt's camps were, in +general, westward of Middletown. The front of our army covered +about two miles; Custer's and Thoburn's divisions, on the right +and left, being outside of this limit. + +The Union Army was not intrenched, save a portion of the Nineteenth +and Eighth Corps. Owing to reports that Early had withdrawn +southward, Wright ordered a brigade of the Nineteenth Corps to +start at daylight of the 19th to make a strong reconnoissance. +The Union troops, except only the usual guards and pickets, quietly +slept in their tents the night of the 18th of October. + +The Confederate Army was encamped on Fisher's Hill, two miles south +of Strasburg and about six miles from the centre of the Union Army, +measured by the pike. Three Top Mountain was east and south of a +bend of the Shenandoah; its north end abutting close up to the +river. General J. B. Gordon and Captain Hotchkiss, from the +Confederate signal station of Three Top, on the 18th, with field- +glasses, marked the location of all the Union camps, and on their +report Early decided to attack the next morning.( 3) Accordingly, +Gordon, Ramseur, and Pegram's divisions and Payne's cavalry brigade +were moved in the night across the river, thence along the foot of +Three Top Mountain, and along its north end eastward to and again +across the river at Bowman and McIntorf's Fords below the mouth of +Cedar Creek, and thence, by 4 A.M., to a position east of the main +camp of Crook's corps. These divisions were under Gordon. Kershaw +and Wharton's divisions marched by the pike to the north of Strasburg, +and there separated; the former moving to the eastward, accompanied +by Early. Kershaw crossed Cedar Creek at Robert's Ford, about one +and a half miles above its mouth, which brought him in front of +Thoburn of Crook's corps. Wharton, followed by all of Early's +artillery, continued on the pike and took position in advance of +Hupp's Hill, less than a mile south of the bridge over Cedar Creek. +He had orders to push across the bridge as soon as Gordon made an +attack on the Union left and rear, and thus bring the artillery +into action. Lomax's cavalry division, theretofore posted in Luray +Valley, was ordered to elude Powell's cavalry, join the right of +Gordon, and co-operate with him in the attack. Rosser's cavalry +divisions were pushed up the night of the 18th close in front of +Custer, with orders to attack simultaneously with Gordon. The +enemy did not know Sheridan was absent from his army, and Payne's +cavalry, which accompanied Gordon, was ordered to penetrate to the +Belle Grove House and make him a prisoner.( 4) + +Wright was in command of the army for all military operations, but +otherwise it was commanded in Sheridan's name, during his absence, +by his staff. Few of the army knew Sheridan was away when the +battle opened. + +At 4 A.M. the still sleeping Union Army was aroused by sharp firing +far off on its right. Rosser had attacked Custer; but though there +was some surprise, Custer held his ground. This was the initial +attack, but almost at the moment Rosser's guns were heard came an +assault on Thoburn by Kershaw, followed at once by Gordon with his +three divisions and Payne's cavalry on Hayes' division of Crook's +corps. Besides being surprised Crook's divisions were largely +outnumbered, and, consequently, after a short and desperate +resistance, both divisions were broken and somewhat dispersed. +Thoburn was killed. The officers heroically did all in their power +to rally the men, but some were captured, and seventeen pieces of +artillery lost. Early soon joined Gordon with Kershaw, and together +they fell on the left of the Nineteenth Corps, which was at the +same time assailed in front by Wharton with all Early's artillery. +The Nineteenth shared the fate of Crook's corps, and was soon broken +and flying to the rear. This brought Early's five infantry divisions +and his artillery together on the heights near the Belle Grove +House, from whence they could operate against the Sixth Corps. +Sheridan's headquarters were captured, his staff being forced to +fly with such official papers as they could collect. Crook and +Emory's commands were routed before it was fully day-dawn. The +position of our cavalry was such that it could render no immediate +aid against the main attack. Gordon prolonged his line towards +Middletown, facing generally to the westward, and was joined on +his right by some irregular cavalry, part of which appeared north +of Middletown. These forces threatened our ammunition and other +trains. A thick fog helped to conceal the enemy's movements. The +disaster sustained must not be attributed to a want of skill and +bravery on the part of the troops of the Eighth and Nineteenth. +Crook, aided by such gallant officers as Colonels Thoburn, Thomas +M. Harris, and Milton Wells of the First, and Colonels R. B. Hayes, +H. F. Devol, James M. Comly, and B. F. Coates of his Second Division, +and Emory, assisted by Generals McMillen and Dwight and Colonels +Davis and Thomas of his First, and Generals Grover and Birge and +Colonels Porter, Molineux, Dan. McCauley, and Shunk of his Second +Division, did all possible under the circumstances to avert calamity. +No braver or more skillful officers could be found. These corps +were victims of a surprise. Their position was badly chosen, and +not well protected by pickets and guards. There is no necessity +to defend the good name of the officers and men who were so +ingloriously routed. The battle, so successful thus far for Early, +was, however, not over, nor was he to have continued good fortune. +Wright had retained the active command of the Sixth Corps, though +by virtue of seniority he was in command of the army. He, as soon +as the attack was made, turned his corps over to Ricketts, who +turned the command of his division (Third) over to me, and I turned +my brigade over to Colonel Wm. H. Ball of the 122d Ohio. My division +was the next to be struck by Early's troops. It had time, however, +to break camp, form, and face about to the eastward. Before it +was fairly daylight, my old brigade, under Colonel Ball, had crossed +Meadow Brook by my order and was advancing up the heights near the +Belle Grove House. Ball's brigade was run through by the broken +troops of the Nineteenth, and it was feared for a time it could +not be held steady. The enemy swung across the Valley pike to my +left and rear, and thus completely isolated my division from other +Union troops. Notwithstanding this situation the division firmly +held its exposed position. To cover a wider front the brigades +were fought and manoeuvred separately in single battle line, and +often faced in different directions. I soon found I was able to +drive or hold back any enemy in front of any part of my command. +The fighting became general and furious and promised an early +success to our arms. Wheaton, next on my right, and Getty next on +his right as camped, likewise faced about and moved eastward towards +the pike to meet the enemy already in possession of it immediately +south of Middletown. Getty encountered some of Gordon's infantry +and cavalry among our trains. Getty and Wheaton were soon widely +separated from each other, and Wheaton, the nearest, was still not +within a half mile of my division, which was the farthest south. +The broken troops of the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps had retreated +as far as Middletown, and some soon reached Newtown, pressing onward +towards Winchester, carrying exaggerated reports of disaster to +the whole army. Custer's cavalry was still held in Cedar Creek +Valley by Rosser. Merritt came gallantly to the rescue, and by 7 +A.M. the enemy were confronted at every point and held at bay. +Getty met a strong force along Meadow Brook, near Middletown, but +maintained himself, though his right flank was assailed by one of +Gordon's divisions. Wheaton fought his division in the interval +between Getty's and my divisions, he having frequently to change +front, as had the other divisions, to meet flanking columns of the +enemy. The complete isolation of the divisions of the Sixth Corps +rendered it impossible for their commanders to know the real +situation throughout the field, and neither of them had any assurance +of co-operation or assistance from the others. My division, being +the farthest south, was in great danger of being cut off. Each +division maintained, from 6 A.M. until after 9 A.M., a battle of +its own. Neither division was, during that time, driven from its +position by any direct attack made on it, and every change of +position by any considerable part of the Sixth Corps was deliberately +made under orders and while not pressed by the enemy in front. +Wright was with Getty or Wheaton until assured of their ability to +cover the trains and to hold their ground. Ricketts, in command +of the corps, after directing me to hold my position near Cedar +Creek until further orders, left me, promising soon to return with +assistance, but about 7 A.M. he fell pierced through the chest with +a rifle ball, and was borne from the field.( 5) The command of +the corps then devolved on Getty, and the command of his division +of General L. A. Grant of Vermont. + +About 8 A.M. Wright came to me with information of Getty and +Wheaton's success. He said he would soon have cavalry on the +enemy's right flank, and that he believed the battle could be won. +He was tranquil, buoyant, and self-possessed. He did not seem to +pay any attention to a wound under his chin, made by a passing +bullet, though he was bleeding profusely. He had no staff officer +with him, and was without escort.( 6) I ordered Captain Damon of +my staff to report to him. Wright repeated Ricketts' order to hold +my division behind Meadow Brook well down to Cedar Creek. This I +had been enabled to do when not threatened on my left flank. It +must be remembered that after 6 A.M. the divisions of the corps +having been faced about, and the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps driven +to the rear, Getty's division became the left, Wheaton's the centre, +and my division the right of the army, the whole line facing, in +general, eastward. In this position, isolated as before stated, +the divisions maintained the battle. My greatest anxiety arose of +the possibility of the ammunition of the men becoming exhausted. +One officer conducted to us through the fog, smoke, and confusion +a considerable supply of cartridges in boxes strapped on mules. +Colonel Ball sent Captain R. W. Wiley of his staff to hasten forward +another such mule-caravan. Owing to a change in the location of +the brigade, he conducted it within the Confederate lines. Captain +Wiley was the only officer of my division captured in the day's +battle. + +Getty, who had successfully fought with his division near Middletown, +took up a position before 10 A.M. with the left of his division +resting on the turnpike north of the town about three fourths of +a mile. + +My division was fiercely engaged all the morning. Colonel Tompkins, +Chief of Artillery of the Sixth Corps, assembled a number of guns +on the plateau to my left under Captains McKnight and Adams. They +were unsupported by infantry. The enemy approached under cover of +the smoke and fog and captured most of them. Under my direction, +Colonel W. H. Henry and Captain C. K. Prentiss with the 10th Vermont +and 6th Maryland changed front and retook them after a fierce +struggle. The guns not disabled were drawn off by hand. My position +was in open ground along the crest of a ridge, right resting near +Cedar Creek, covering Marsh Run (or Meadow Brook). The enemy forced +a crossing of the Run near its mouth, but soon were driven back; +then a fierce attack came on my left from a large force. This too +was repulsed. The battle raged with alternate assaults on the +front and flanks of my division. They were each repulsed with +considerable loss to the enemy. The situation grew so promising +that about 9 A.M. I ordered a general charge along the whole line. +This was promptly made, and the enemy were driven to the east of +Marsh Run, and complete success seemed assured, when a large force +of the enemy again appeared on my left in the direction of Middletown. +The charge had to be suspended and combinations made to meet the +new danger. The battle still raged with great fury, my line being +frequently compelled to change front to meet the flank attacks. +Sometimes a portion of it faced northward, another eastward, and +another southward. The enemy was at no time able to drive us. +All changes of position were made under my orders and after the +enemy had been repulsed in his direct attacks. The importance of +uniting the divisions of the Sixth Corps was kept in mind, and as +the enemy was driven back on my left, my command slowly moved +northward towards Getty and Wheaton's battles. My battle had been +maintained, in general, a mile and more southwestward of Middletown +and in the vicinity of our camps of the night before. Getty and +Wheaton had thus far fought their divisions near Marsh Run to the +south of Middletown. Before 10 A.M., I reached the Woollen Mill +road that ran parallel to the general line my troops were then +holding and almost at right angles to the turnpike, westward to +Cedar Creek from the south end of Middletown. At this time the +enemy was in my front, and our flanks were no longer threatened. +He had suspended further attacks with his infantry, but concentrated +on us a heavy artillery fire which our guns returned. We had lost +few prisoners; even the wounded of the division had been brought +off. The men were in compact order and no demoralization had taken +place. The captured and missing from the division the entire day +was two officers and thirty-four men.( 7) From this last position +I leisurely moved the division to the left and rear over the Old +Forge road (which extended west from the Valley pike at the north +end of Middletown over Middle Marsh Brook and a ridge to the Creek), +passing Wheaton's front, and united with Getty's right. Emerson's +brigade of the division through a mistake temporarily moved a short +distance north of the line designated, but the error was promptly +corrected. Colonel Ball was then, by me, directed to cover the +front of the entire division with a heavy line of skirmishers, and +he accordingly deployed the 110th Ohio and 138th Pennsylvania under +Lieutenant-Colonel Otho H. Binkley, and moved them about three +hundred yards to the front along the outskirts of a woods, with +orders to hold the enemy in check as long as possible if attacked. +Orders were at once given to resupply the troops with ammunition. +Wheaton's division soon formed on my right, and for the first time +after the battle opened the Sixth Corps was united. + +The enemy was now in possession of the camps (except of the cavalry) +of our army, and was flushed with success. Wright had given orders +for all the broken troops to be re-organized, and for Merritt and +Custer's cavalry to move from the right to the left of the army,( 8) +and the division commanders were told the enemy would be attacked +about 12 M. + +We left Sheridan at Winchester. He remained there the night of +the 18th of October. Before rising in the morning an officer on +picket duty in front of the city reported artillery firing in the +direction of his army. Sheridan interpreted this as a strong +reconnoissance in which the enemy was being felt. He had been +notified the night before that Wright had ordered such a reconnoissance. +Further reports of heavy firing having reached him, he, at 8.30 +A.M. started to join his army. When he reached Mill Creek just +south of Winchester, with his escort following, he distinctly heard +the continuous roar of artillery, which satisfied him his army was +engaged in strong battle. As he approached Kearnstown and came +upon a high place in the road, he caught sight of some demoralized +soldiers, camp followers, and baggage and sutler wagons, in great +confusion, hurrying to the rear. There were in this mixed mass +sutlers and their clerks, teamsters, bummers, cow-leaders, servants, +and all manner of camp followers. The sight greatly disturbed +Sheridan; it was almost appalling to him. Such a scene in greater +or less degree may usually be witnessed in the rear of any great +army in battle. The common false reports of the army being all +overwhelmed and in retreat were proclaimed by these flying men as +justification of their own disgraceful conduct. Sheridan, +notwithstanding his experience as a soldier, was impressed with +the belief that his whole army was defeated and in retreat.( 9) +He formed, while riding through these people, erroneous impressions +of what had taken place in the morning battle which were never +removed from his mind. The steady roar of guns and rattle of +musketry should have told him that some organized forces were, at +least, baring their breasts bravely to the enemy and standing as +food for shot and shell. Sheridan mistook the disorganized horde +he passed through for substantial portions of a wholly routed army, +and this mistake prevented him, even later, from clearly understanding +the real situation. + +He first met Torbert, his Chief of Cavalry, and from him only +learned what had taken place to the left of and around Middletown. +Torbert, who had not been to the right, where the battle with +infantry had raged for hours, assumed that demoralization extended +over that part of the field. Next Sheridan came to Getty's division +(10.30 A.M.),(10) and finding it and its brave commander in unbroken +line, facing the foe, assumed without further investigation that +no other infantry troops were doing likewise. He justly gives +Getty's division and the cavalry credit for being "in the presence +of and resisting the enemy."(11) Getty, though theretofore in +command of the Sixth Corps, did not pretend to know the position +or the previous movements of the army. He had remained constantly +with his division, and wisely held the turnpike, covering our left +flank and trains. This, too, was according to Wright's order. +When Sheridan arrived Getty was not actually engaged, but the enemy +were, at long range, firing artillery. A shot passed close to +Sheridan as he approached Getty. After the first salutation, +Sheridan said to Getty: "Emory's corps is four miles to your rear, +and Wheaton's division of your corps is two miles in your rear. +I will form them on your division." Sheridan then said nothing of +Crook's corps, or of the Third Division of the Sixth, which I +commanded.(12) + +Up to this time Sheridan had not met Wright, who was on the right +of the army, nor could Sheridan see from the pike the troops of my +division nor of Wheaton's, still to my right. My division was at +no time as far to the rear as the left of Getty's line. Wright +confirms my recollection of the position of my division at the time +of Sheridan's arrival, but his recollection is that Wheaton had +not completed a connection with my right.(13) + +Colonel Ball, in his report dated the day after the battle, speaking +of the final movement of the Second Brigade of my division to +connect with Getty's division, correctly says: "We were ordered +to move obliquely to the _left and rear_ and connect with the right +of the Second Division." Instead of having to _advance_ to form +line with Getty it was necessary to move obliquely to the _rear_. +By about 10 A.M., the divisions of the Sixth Corps were united, +the organized troops of our army were in line, and the enemy's +flank movements were over. Thenceforth he had to meet us in front. +Our trains were protected, and there was no thought of further +retiring. The Sixth Corps had not lost any of its camp equipage, +not a wagon, nor, permanently, a piece of artillery. Its organization +was perfect, and there were no stragglers from its ranks. A strong +line of skirmishers had been thrown forward and the men resupplied +with ammunition. + +An incident here occurred which came near causing my dismissal from +the army. Colonel J. W. Snyder, of the 9th New York Heavy Artillery, +on being ordered to hold his command ready for an early advance, +notified me his men were practically out of ammunition, and that +the ordnance officer reported there were no cartridges to be had +of suitable size. This was the only regiment in the command armed +with smooth-bore .69 calibre muskets. They required buck and ball. +The other troops were armed with rifles, .58 calibre. I ordered +the Colonel to instruct his men to throw away their muskets as fast +as rifles could be found on the field to take their places. This +his men eagerly did, and Colonel Snyder soon reported his regiment +ready for action, with rifles in their hands and forty rounds of +cartridges. This regiment, a very large and splendid one (three +battalions, four companies each), was thus kept in line to participate +in the impending conflict. After the incident had been almost +forgotten a letter came through the army channels from the Chief +of Ordnance at Washington, advising me that the captains of companies +of the 9th New York had reported, severally, that their men had +thrown away their muskets "October 19, 1864, by order of Colonel +Keifer, division commander," and asking me for an explanation of +the reprehensible order. I plead guilty and stated the circumstances +giving rise to the unusual order, but soon received a further +communication from the same officer informing me that my name had +been sent to the President, through the Secretary of War, for +dismissal. I was told some correspondence arose over the matter, +in which Generals Sheridan and Wright approved my action fully. +This incident serves now to enable me to remember that Wright +proposed to attack Early at 12 M. + +Two or three statements of Sheridan deserve special mention. +Speaking of his appearance on the field, he says: + +"When nearing the Valley pike, just south of Newtown, I saw about +three fourths of a mile west of the pike a body of troops, which +proved to be Ricketts and Wheaton's divisions of the Sixth Corps." + +And speaking of a time after he had met Getty and Wright, he says: + +"I ordered Custer's division back to the right flank, and returning +to the place where my headquarters had been established, I met near +them Ricketts' division under General Keifer and General Frank +Wheaton's division, both marching to the front."(14) + +The distance from Newtown to Middletown is five miles. My division +was at no time on that day within four miles of Newtown. This is +also true, I am sure, of Wheaton's division. Sheridan was deceived +by false reports received before his arrival, and by the sight of +magnified numbers of broken troops of other corps, who had continued +to the rear. It was impossible for Sheridan to have met Wheaton +and myself leading our divisions to the front; besides, our divisions +were not at any time within a mile of his then headquarters. +Wheaton's and the right of my division were farther advanced than +any part of Getty's division. This is proved by the recollection +of Wright, Getty, and others, also by the reports written soon +after the battle by many officers.(15) Sheridan, when he wrote, +must have remembered meeting Wheaton and myself when we, together, +rode to him from the right to tell him of the position and situation +of our respective commands, and to assure him we could hold our +ground and advance as soon as ordered. This ride brought Wheaton +and me nearer Newtown than we were at any other time that day. +Sheridan was so impressed by the circumstances attending his coming +to the field, and by his first meeting with Torbert and Getty, and +the previous reports to him, that he assumed a condition of things +which did not exist. It has been stated that my division joined +Getty on his right. It, however, turned out that a portion of +Hayes' division of Crook's corps had united with Getty's right, +though not at first distinguished by me from the latter's troops. + +Years after the battle, ex-President Hayes referred to some statements +in Sheridan's _Memoirs_ thus: + +"In speaking of that fight he says that, passing up the pike, +sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other, coming to Cedar +Creek, he struck the First Division of Getty, of the Sixth Corps; +that he passed along that division a short distance, when there +arose out of a hollow before him a line consisting entirely of +officers of Crook's Army of West Virginia and of color-bearers. +The army had been stampeded in the morning, but these people were +not panic-stricken. They saluted him, but there was nothing now +between the enemy and him and the fugitives but this division of +Getty's. Said he: 'These officers seemed to rise right up from +the ground.' This was twenty-four years afterward, but he recollects +it perfectly well except names. Among them, however, he recollects +seeing one, Colonel R. B. Hayes, since President of the United +States, and drops the story there, leaving the impression that +there were no men there--no privates, no army--simply some color- +bearers and some officers. + +"The fact is that in the hollow, just in the rear, was a line of +men, a thousand or twelve hundred, probably, and they had thrown +up a little barricade and were lying close behind it. He came up +and saw these officers and did not see the men, or seems not to +have seen them; but I had no idea at the time that he did not see +the private soldiers in that line. He now tells that singular +story of a line of officers, a line of color-bearers, and no force. +The fact is that first came Getty's division, and then mine, and +then came General Keifer's division, all lying down behind that +barricade, but in good condition, except that there had been some +losses in the morning. General Keifer was next to me, and then +came the rest of the Sixth Corps, and farther down I have no doubt +the Nineteenth Corps was in line. We had then been, I suppose, an +hour or an hour and a half in that position."(16) + +Passing from disputed, though important, points relating to the +battle, all agree that when Sheridan reached his army a battle had +been fought and lost to all appearance, and that the Union Army +had been forced to retire to a new position. It should also be +regarded beyond controversy that the Sixth Corps had been united +before his arrival, that broken troops of other commands were being +formed on the Sixth, and that the enemy also had been forced to +change front, and was arrested in his advance. + +Sheridan's presence went far towards giving confidence to his army, +and to inspire the men with a spirit of success. While the army +loved Wright, and believed in him, his temperament was not such as +to cause him to work an army up to a high state of enthusiasm. A +deep chagrin over the morning's disaster pervaded our army, and +had much to do with the subsequent efforts to win a victory. +Sheridan showed himself to the troops by riding along the front, +and he was loudly cheered. He assured them of success before the +day ended. During the lull in the day's battle some of the broken +troops of the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps were reorganized. + +Wright resumed command of his corps and Getty his division. Before +Sheridan came Wright had instructed his division commanders that +he would assume the offensive, and it was understood our army would +advance about 12 M., as soon as an ample resupply of ammunition +could be issued. Sheridan, however, postponed the time for assuming +the offensive until 3 P.M. Early, still filled with high hopes of +complete victory, about 1 P.M. pushed forward on our entire front. +He did not drive in the strong line of skirmishers, and the attack +was easily repulsed. It seemed to me then, as it did to Wright +and others, that our whole army should have been thrown against +the enemy on this repulse, and thus decided the day. Sheridan, +however, adhered to his purpose to act on the defensive until later +in the day. A false report that a Confederate column was moving +towards Winchester on the Front Royal road caused Sheridan to delay +his attack until about 4 P.M. + +Early promptly realized that the conditions had changed, that the +armies must meet face to face. It will be kept in mind that our +army was now fronting southward instead of eastward, and Early's +army was forced to face northward instead of westward, as in the +morning's battle. + +Early, hoping to hold the ground already won and thus reap some of +the fruits of victory, retired, on his repulse, beyond the range +of our guns, and took up a strong position, with his infantry and +artillery, mainly on a natural amphitheatre of hills, centre a +little retired, extending from a point north of Cedar Creek near +Middle Marsh Brook on his left to and across the turnpike near +Middletown, protecting his flanks west of this brook and east of +the town with his cavalry and horse artillery. Early employed his +men busily for the succeeding two hours in throwing up lunettes or +redans to cover his field guns. His men were skillfully posted +behind stone fences, common in the Valley, and on portions of his +line behind temporary breastworks. + +Early, before 12 P.M., wired Richmond he had won a complete victory, +and would drive the Union Army across the Potomac. At 4 P.M. our +army went forward in single line, with no considerable reserves, +but in splendid style. Getty, with his left still on the turnpike, +was the division of direction. My orders were to hold my left on +Getty's right. Wheaton was to keep connection with my right, and +the Nineteenth Corps with the right of the Sixth Corps; and the +cavalry, Merritt east of Middletown and Custer on Cedar Creek, to +cover the flanks. In verifying my position just before starting, +I found troops of Hayes' command filling a space of two or three +hundred yards between Getty's right and my left. I discovered +Hayes temporarily resting on the ground a short distance in rear +of his men, with his staff around him. From him I learned he had +no orders to advance, whereupon I requested him to withdraw his +men so I could close the interval before the movement commenced. +He promptly rose, mounted his horse, and said: "If this army goes +forward I will fill that gap, with or without orders." Unfortunately, +orders came to him to withdraw, and with others of his corps (Eighth) +form in reserve near the turnpike. His withdrawal left, at the +last moment, a gap which could only be filled by obliqueing my +division to the left as it was moving forward. This produced some +unsteadiness in the line, and the right brigade (Emerson's) continued +the movement too long, causing some massing of troops in the centre +of the division, and some disorder resulted while they were under +a severe infantry and artillery fire. This necessary movement also +caused an interval between Wheaton's division and mine, thereby +imperilling my right. Our attack, however, was not checked until +we had gone forward about one mile. The enemy's centre was driven +back upon his partially intrenched line on the heights mentioned. +This brought my division under a most destructive fire of artillery +and infantry from front and flanks. My right flank was especially +exposed, as it had gone forward farther than the troops on the +right. + +The loss in the division was severe, and it became impossible to +hold the exposed troops to the charge. They had not fired as they +advanced. The division retired a short distance, where it was +halted and promptly faced about. In less than five minutes it was +again charging the Confederate left centre. The right of Getty's +division and Wheaton's left went forward with the second charge, +and an advance position in close rifle range of the enemy was gained +and held. My division was partly protected by a stone fence located +on the north of an open field, while the Confederates held the +farther side of the field, about three hundred yards distant, and +were also protected by a stone fence as well as by some temporary +breastworks. The enemy occupied the higher ground, and the field +was lower in the centre than on either side. The battle here was +obstinate and, for a time, promised to extend into the night. +Early's artillery in my front did little execution, as it was +located on the crest of the hills behind his infantry line, and +the gunners, when they undertook to work their guns, were exposed +to our infantry fire. Wheaton's division and that part of the +Nineteenth Corps to his right, though not keeping pace with the +centre, steadily gained ground; likewise the cavalry. Getty, though +under orders to hold his left on the pike, moved his division +forward slowly, making a left half wheel. In this movement Getty's +left reached Middletown, and his right swung somewhat past it on +the west. + +Merritt's cavalry pushed around east of Middletown. At this +juncture, Kershaw's division and part of Gordon's division were in +front of my right and part of Ramseur's in front of my left. +Pegram's and Wharton's divisions were in front of Getty, Wharton +being, in part, east of the pike confronting our cavalry. Early's +left was held by Gordon's troops, including some of his cavalry.(17) +Early now made heroic efforts to hold his position, hoping at night +he could withdraw with some of the fruits of victory. Sheridan +made every possible exertion to dislodge the enemy, and to accomplish +this he was much engaged, personally, on the flanks with the cavalry. +Wright, calm, confident, and unperturbed, gave close attention to +his corps, and was constantly exposed. I frequently met him at +this crisis. He ordered a further charge upon the enemy's centre. +This seemed impossible with the tired troops. Preparation was, +however, made to attempt it. The firing in this last position had +continued for about an hour, during which both sides had suffered +heavily. As the sun was going down behind the mountains that +autumnal evening it became apparent something decisive must take +place or night would end the day of blood leaving the enemy in +possession of the principal part of the battle-field. + +So confident was Early of final victory that, earlier, in the day, +he ordered up his headquarters and supply trains, and by 4 P.M. +they commenced to arrive on the field. + +It must be remembered that the two armies had been manoeuvring and +fighting for twelve hours, with little food or rest and an insufficient +supply of water. Exhausted troops may be held in line, especially +when under some cover, but it is difficult to move then in a charge +with the spirit essential to success. There remained a considerable +interval between Wheaton's left and my right. An illustrative +incident again occurred here in resupplying our men with ammunition. +Three mules loaded with boxes filled with cartridges were conducted +by an ordnance sergeant through the interval on my right in open +view of both armies, and with indifferent leisure to and behind +the stone wall occupied by the Confederates. The sergeant and his +party were not fired on. Word was passed along the line for my +division to make a charge on a given signal, and all subordinate +officers were instructed to use the utmost exertion to make it a +success. The incident of the sergeant and his party going into +the enemy's line served to suggest to me the possibility of +penetrating it with a small body of our soldiers. + +Before giving an order to charge, I instructed Colonel Emerson, +commanding the First Brigade, to hastily form, under a competent +staff officer, a small body of men, and direct them to advance +rapidly along the west of a stone wall extending traversely from +my right to the enemy's position, and to penetrate through a gap +between two of the enemy's brigades, with instructions to open an +enfilading fire on him as soon as his flank was reached. The gap +was between two of Gordon's brigades. The order was promptly and +handsomely executed, and its execution produced the desired effect. +Captain H. W. Day (151st New York, Acting Brigade Inspector) was +charged with the execution of this order.(18) + +The party consisted of about 125 men, each of whom knew that if +unsuccessful death or capture must follow. Colonel Moses H. Granger +(122d Ohio) voluntarily aided, and, in some sense, directed the +movement of this small party. The gap was penetrated on the run +and a fire opened on the exposed flanks of the Confederates which +started them from the cover of their works and the stone wall. At +this juncture the division, as ordered, poured a destructive fire +upon the now exposed Confederates, and at once charging across the +field, drove the enemy in utter rout. A panic seized Gordon's +troops, who were the first struck, then spread to Kershaw's and +Ramseur's divisions, successively on Gordon's right.(19) + +I quote from the report of Colonel Emerson, commanding my First +Brigade, in which he describes the final battle, including the +breaking of Early's line: + +"The brigade lay here under a fire of shell until about 4 P.M., +when Captain Smith came with an order to move forward connecting +on the left with the Second Brigade. The brigade moved through +the woods, when it received a very heavy fire on the right flank, +under which it was broken, but soon reformed in its old position, +and again moved forward to a stone fence, the enemy being behind +another stone wall in front with a clear field intervening. There +was a stone wall running from the right flank of the brigade to +the wall behind which the enemy lay. Some of my men lay scattered +along this last named wall. The First Division lay to the right +and in advance, nearly parallel with the enemy. Everything appeared +to be at a deadlock, with heavy firing of artillery and musketry. +At this stage Colonel Keifer, commanding division, came to me and +inquired what men were those lying along the wall running from our +line to the enemy's, and ordered me to send them forward to flank +the enemy and drive them from their position. The execution of +the order was entrusted to Captain H. W. Day, Inspector of the +[Second] Brigade, who proceeded along the wall, and getting on the +enemy's flank dislodged them, when the brigade was moved rapidly +forward, in connection with the Second Brigade, and did not stop +until we arrived in the works of the Nineteenth Corps, when, in +accordance with orders from Colonel Keifer, the brigade went into +its position of the morning, got its _breakfast_, and encamped, +satisfied that it had done a good day's work before breakfast."(20) + +Also from a report of Colonel Ball, commanding Second Brigade: + +"About 3 P.M. the whole army advanced in one line upon the enemy. +Immediately before advancing the troops were withdrawn to the left, +and my left connected with the Second Division, Sixth Army Corps, +while my right connected with the First Brigade, Third Division. +We advanced half a mile to the edge of the woods, when we were met +by a well-directed fire from the right flank. This fire was returned +with spirit some fifteen minutes, when the troops wavered and fell +back a short distance in some disorder. The Second and Third +Divisions gave way at the same time. The line was speedily reformed +and moved forward and became engaged with the enemy again, each +force occupying a stone wall. Advantage was taken of a wall or +fence running perpendicular to and connecting with that occupied +by the enemy. After the action had continued here about three +quarters of an hour a heavy volley was fired at the enemy from the +transverse wall. A hurried and general retreat of the enemy +immediately followed, and our troops eagerly followed, firing upon +the retreating army as it ran, and giving no opportunity to the +enemy to reform or make a stand. + +"Several efforts were made by the enemy during the pursuit to rally, +but the enthusiastic pursuit foiled all such efforts. Our troops +were subject to artillery fire of solid shot, shell, and grape +during the pursuit, and we reached the intrenchments of the Nineteenth +Army Corps (which were captured in the morning) as the sun set. +Here the pursuit by the infantry was discontinued. The first and +second, and probably the third colors planted on the recovered +works of the Nineteenth Army Corps were of regiments composing this +brigade."(21) + +General Early tells the effect on his army of penetrating his line +by the small body of our troops: + +"A number of bold attempts were made during the subsequent part of +the day, by the enemy's cavalry, to break our line on the right, +but they were invariably repulsed. Late in the afternoon, the +enemy's infantry advanced against Ramseur, Kershaw, and Gordon's +lines, and the attack on Ramseur and Kershaw's front was handsomely +repulsed in my view, and I hoped that the day was finally ours, +but a portion of the enemy had penetrated an interval which was +between Evans' brigade, on the extreme left, and the rest of the +line, when that brigade gave way, and Gordon's other brigades soon +followed. General Gordon made every possible effort to rally his +men and lead them back against the enemy, but without avail. The +information of this affair, with exaggerations, passed rapidly +along Kershaw and Ramseur's lines, and their men, under the +apprehension of being flanked, commenced falling back in disorder, +though no enemy was pressing them, and this gave me the first +intimation of Gordon's condition. At the same time the enemy's +cavalry, observing the disorder on our ranks, made another charge +on our right, but was again repulsed. Every effort was made to +stop and rally Kershaw and Ramseur's men, but the mass of them +resisted all appeals, and continued to go to the rear without +waiting for any effort to retrieve the partial disaster."(22) + +The charge of the division resulted in the total overthrow of +Early's army. Pegram and Wharton's divisions on our extreme left +near Middletown were soon involved in the disaster, and our whole +army went forward, meeting little resistance, taking many prisoners +and guns, only halting when Early's forces were either destroyed, +captured, or driven in the wildest disorder beyond Cedar Creek.(23) +Our cavalry under Merritt and Custer pursued until late in the +night to Fisher's Hill, south of Strasburg, and made many captures. + +It often has been claimed that the cavalry on the right is entitled +to the credit of overthrowing Early's army. It is true Custer did +make some attempts on Gordon's left and rear, but the appearance +of Rosser's cavalry on Custer's right, north and east of Cedar +Creek, called him off, and it was not until after Early's position +had been penetrated and a general retreat had commenced that Custer +again appeared on the enemy's flank and rear. His presence there +had much to do with the wild retreat of Early's men. Custer, who +claimed much for his cavalry, and insisted that it captured forty- +five pieces of artillery, etc., did not in his report of the battle +pretend that his division caused the final break in Early's forces. +Speaking of his last charge on the left, Custer says: + +"Seeing so large a force of cavalry bearing rapidly down upon an +unprotected flank and their line of retreat in danger of being +intercepted, the lines of the enemy, already broken, now gave way +in the utmost confusion."(24) + +Part of Early's artillery and caissons, with ammunition and supply +trains, also ambulances and many battle flags, were captured north +of Cedar Creek. The cavalry, however, seized, south of the Creek, +other substantial fruits of the great victory, including many guns +and headquarters baggage and other trains, and some prisoners. A +panic seized teamsters on the turnpike; they cut out mules or horses +to escape upon, leaving the teams to mingle in the greatest disorder. +Drivers of ambulances filled with dead and wounded also fled, and +the animals ran with them unguided over the field. The scene was +of the wildest ruin. The gloom of night soon fell over the field +to add to its appalling character. + +The guns lost by the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps were taken in the +morning to the public square of Strasburg and triumphantly parked +on exhibition. Our cavalry found them there at night. Little that +makes up an army was left to Early; the disaster reached every part +of his army save, possibly, his cavalry which operated on the remote +flanks. In a large sense, Rosser's cavalry, throughout the day, +had been neutralized by a portion of Custer's, and Lomax had been +held back by Powell on the Front Royal road. Dismay indescribable +extended to the Confederate officers as well as the private soldiers. +Among the former were some of the best and bravest the South +produced. Early himself possessed the confidence of General Lee. +Early had, as division commanders, General John B. Gordon (since +in the United States Senate), Joseph B. Kershaw, Stephen D. Ramseur, +John Pegram, and Gabriel C. Wharton, all of whom had won distinction. +Ramseur fell mortally wounded in attempting a last stand near the +Belle Grove House, and died there. Early fled from the field, +surrounded by a few faithful followers, deeply chagrined and +dejected, and filled with unjust censure of his own troops.(25) +The next day found him still without an organized army.(26) He +seems to have deserved a better fate. His star of military glory +had set. It never rose again. A few months later he reached +Richmond with a single attendant, having barely escaped capture +shortly before by a detachment of Sheridan's cavalry. He finally +returned to Southwest Virginia, where Lee relieved him of all +command, March 30, 1865. + +His misfortunes in the Valley, doubtless, had much to do with his +continued implacable hatred to the Union. Sheridan was his nemesis. +Just after Kirby Smith had surrendered in 1865 and Sheridan was on +his way to the Rio Grande, the latter encountered Early escaping +across the Mississippi in a small boat, with his horses swimming +beside it. He got away, but his horses were captured.(27) + +Sheridan, for his great skill and gallantry, justly won the plaudits +of his country, and his fame as a soldier will be immortal, but +not alone on account of his victory at Cedar Creek, nor on account +of "Sheridan's Ride," as described by the poet Read.(28) + +My division, at dark, resumed its camp of the night before, as did +other divisions of the army. + +When the fifteen hours of carnage had ceased, and the sun had gone +down, spreading the gloom of a chilly October night over the wide +extended field, there remained a scene more horrid than usual. +The dead and dying of the two armies were commingled. Many of the +wounded had dragged themselves to the streams in search of the +first want of a wounded man--_water_. Many mangled and loosed +horses were straggling over the field to add to the confusion. +Wagons, gun-carriages, and caissons were strewn in disorder in the +rear of the last stand of the Confederate Army. Abandoned ambulances, +sometimes filled with dead and dying Confederates, were to be seen +in large numbers, and loose teams dragged overturned vehicles over +the hills and through the ravines. Dead and dying men were found +in the darkness almost everywhere. Cries of agony from the suffering +victims were heard in all directions, and the moans of wounded +animals added much to the horrors of the night. + +"_Mercy_ abandons the arena of battle," but when the conflict is +ended _mercy_ again asserts itself. The disabled of both armies +were cared for alike. Far into the night, with some all the long +night, the heroes in the day's strife ministered to friend and foe +alike, where but the night before our army had peacefully slumbered, +little dreaming of the death struggle of the coming day. To an +efficient medical corps, however, belong the chief credit for the +good work done in caring for the unfortunate. + +The loss in officers was unusually great. Besides Colonel Thoburn, +killed in the opening of the battle, General D. D. Bidwell fell +early in the day, and Colonel Charles R. Lowell, Jr., was killed +near its close while leading a charge of his cavalry brigade. +Eighty-six Union officers were killed or mortally wounded. + +Many distinguished officers were wounded. Of the six officers +belonging to my brigade staff who were turned over to Colonel Ball +in the early morning, one only (Captain J. T. Rorer) remained +uninjured at night. Two were dead. + +All was peaceful enough on the 20th, though on every hand the +evidence of the preceding day's struggle was to be seen. The dead +of both armies were buried--the blue and the gray in separate +trenches, to await the resurrection morn. + +I have no purpose to speak of individual acts of bravery. The +number of killed and wounded of each army was about the same. The +casualties in my division, excluding 36 captured or missing, were, +killed, 8 officers and 100 men; wounded, 34 officers and 528 men; +total, 670. Wheaton lost, killed and wounded, 470; and Getty, 677. +The killed and wounded in the Sixth Corps were 1926, including 109 +of its artillery. + +Much credit for the victory was given by Sheridan to the cavalry. +Its total loss, in the three divisions under Torbert, was, killed, +2 officers and 27 men; wounded, 9 officers and 115 men; total, 153; +not one fourth the number killed and wounded in my infantry division +alone. The killed and wounded in my old brigade, under Colonel +Ball, were 421. + +The casualties of the Union Army are shown by the following official +table:(29) + + Killed. Wounded. Captured or + Missing. Aggregate. + Officers. Officers. Officers. + | Men. | Men. | Men. +Sixth Army Corps 23 275 103 1525 6 194 2126 +Nineteenth Army Corps 19 238 109 1127 14 776 2383 +Army of West Virginia 7 41 17 253 10 530 858 +Provisional Division 1 11 6 66 18 102 +Cavalry 2 27 9 115 43 196 + --- --- --- ---- --- ---- ---- + Grand total 52 529 244 3186 30 1561 5665 + +The table includes 156 of the artillery, killed or wounded. + +The total Union killed and wounded was 4074. + +The dead and wounded in the Sixth Corps, and in some other of the +infantry divisions approximated twenty per cent. of those engaged. +This was larger by six per cent. than similar losses in the French +army at Marengo, where Napoleon won a victory which enabled him, +later, to wear the iron crown of Charlemagne; by six per cent. than +at Austerlitz, the battle of the "Three Emperors"; by eight per +cent. than in Wellington's army at Waterloo, where Napoleon's star +of glory set; or in either the German or French army at Gravelotte, +or at Sedan, where Napoleon III. laid down his imperial crown; and +larger by about fifteen per cent. than the average like losses in +the Austrian and French armies at Hohenlinden. + + "Where drums beat at dead of night, + Commanding the fires of death to light." + +The number killed and wounded in this battle is far below that in +some other great battles of the Rebellion, yet the loss for the +Union Army alone was only a little below the aggregate like losses +in the American army from Lexington to Yorktown (1775-1781), and +approximately the same as in the American army in the Mexican War, +from Palo Alto to the City of Mexico (1846-1848).(30) + +If either of two things had not occurred prior to the battle, the +result of it might have been different. Had Early not precipitated +an attack with an infantry division and Rosser's cavalry on the +13th of October, Wright, with the Sixth Corps, would have gone to +Petersburg; and had the _fake_ (Longstreet) dispatch of the 16th +not been flagged from the Confederate signal station on Three Top +Mountain, Torbert, with the cavalry, would have been east of the +Blue Ridge on the intended raid. But for the Longstreet dispatch, +Sheridan most likely would have tarried in Washington or delayed +his movements on his return trip. Could the Sixth Corps, could +the cavalry, or could Sheridan have been spared from the battle? + +The principal peculiarities of the engagement were: (1) That an +ably commanded army was surprised in its camp, and, in considerable +part, driven from it at the opening of the battle; (2) that +notwithstanding this, it won, at the close of the day, the most +signal and complete field-victory of the war, with the possible +exception of those won at Nashville and Sailor's Creek; (3) the +Confederate Army was destroyed, so there was no battle for the +morrow. In most instances during the Rebellion, it transpired that +the defeated army sullenly retired only a short way in condition +to renew the fight. + +Cedar Creek, in some respects, bears a striking analogy to Marengo. +Both were dual in character, each two battles in one day; the +victors of the morning being the defeated and routed of the evening. +Sheridan's victory over Early, like that of Napoleon over Marshal +Melas, left no further fighting for the victors the next day. In +one other respect, also, the comparison holds good. The commander +of each of the finally routed armies sent a message about the middle +of the day of battle announcing to his government a great victory, +to be followed at sunset with the news of a most signal disaster. + +In other respects, how dissimilar? Napoleon was, from the opening +to the close of Marengo, on the field, commanding in person, sharing +the defeat, then the victory. Sheridan was absent and did not +participate in the discomfiture of his army, but was present at +the final success. Napoleon, after his repulse, was reinforced by +Desaix with 6000 men; but the Army of the Shenandoah, after the +disaster of the morning, was reinforced only by its proper commander +--Sheridan. + +There was not a great disparity of numbers in the opposing armies +at Cedar Creek. Probably 20,000 men of all arms were engaged on +each side. Relative position and situation of troops must be taken +into account, as well as numbers, in determining the strength of +one army over another. Early has tried to excuse his defeat by +claiming he had the smaller army. In response to this, Sheridan +and his Provost-Marshal, Crowninshield, have tried to show that +Early lost in captured more men than he claimed he had present for +duty.(31) After Opequon and Fisher's Hill Early was reinforced by +Kershaw's division of Longstreet's corps, Cutshaw's three batteries, +and Rosser's division of cavalry with light artillery, together +with many smaller detachments, all of which participated in Cedar +Creek. Sheridan received no reinforcements, and Edwards' brigade +of the First Division of the Sixth, Currie's of the Nineteenth, +and Curtis' of the Eighth Corps were each detached, after Opequon, +on other duties, and were not at Cedar Creek. The surprise and +breaking up in the morning of the greater parts of Crook's and +Emory's corps eliminated them, in large part, from the day's battle, +and left the Sixth Corps and the cavalry to wage an unequal contest. + +The war closed on the bloody battle-ground of the Shenandoah Valley, +so far as important operations were concerned, with Cedar Creek. + +President Lincoln appointed me a Brigadier-General by brevet, +November 30, 1864; the commission recited the appointment was "for +gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Opequon, Fisher's +Hill, and Cedar Creek, Virginia," and I was assigned to duty by +him as Brigadier-General, December 29, 1864. + +Sheridan's army returned to Kearnstown and went into winter quarters. +The Sixth Corps was, however, soon transferred by rail and steamboat, +_via_ Harper's Ferry and Washington, to City Point, rejoining the +Army of the Potomac, December 5, 1864. + +( 1) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 64. + +( 2) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), p. 574. + +( 3) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 580, Captain Hotchkiss' +Journal. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 580. + +( 5) General Ricketts was supposed to be mortally wounded. His +wife a second time came to him on the battle-field. He was taken +to Washington, his home, and slowly recovered. He was able again +to perform some field service near the close of the war. He died +of pneumonia, September 22, 1887, and is buried at Arlington. + +( 6) Major A. F. Hayden, of Wright's staff, while the battle was +raging in the early morning, was seen galloping towards me with +one hand raised to indicate he had some important order. Just +before reaching me he was shot through the body and plunged off +his horse on the hard ground, rolling over and over until he lay +almost in a ball. He was borne off in a blanket for dead. In +February following I met him on a steamer on the Chesapeake returning +to duty, and I saw him again at the Centennial in Philadelphia in +1876. + +( 7) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 132. + +( 8) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 53. + +( 9) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 68-82. + +(10) In one account Sheridan fixes his arrival at 9 A.M. In his +_Memoirs_ at 10.30 A.M. (p. 86). Getty, in his report of November, +1864, says, "Sheridan arrived at between 11 A.M. and 12 M." I made +a note (still preserved), of the time Sheridan was seen by me riding +up to the rear of Getty's division. + +(11) _Memoirs_, p. 82. + +(12) These facts are as stated in a private letter from General +Getty to the writer, dated December 31, 1893. + +(13) Here is an extract from a letter of General Wright to me, +dated July 18, 1889: + +"Orders had been given by me for the establishment of the lines, +and Getty's and your divisions (the Second and Third) were in +position, and Wheaton's (First) and the Nineteenth Corps were coming +into position when General Sheridan arrived upon the ground. I +advised him of what had been done and what it was intended to do, +and he made no change in the dispositions I had made. Indeed, as +I understand, he fully approved them. . . . General Sheridan did +later make some change in the disposition of the cavalry." + +(14) _Memoirs_, vol. ii., pp. 82, 85. + +(15) Colonel Moses M. Granger, of the Second Brigade, Third +Division, says: "It is plain that our brigade was in line on +Getty's right a considerable time before Sheridan's arrival."-- +_Sketches War History_, vol. iii., p. 124. + +(16) This extract is from remarks of General Hayes made at a Loyal +Legion banquet in Cincinnati, May 6, 1889. _Sketches War History_, +vol. iv., p. 23. + +(17) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 581. + +(18) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 228, 234, 251-2, 202. + +(19) _Ibid_., p. 562 (Early's Report). + +(20) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 234. + +(21) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., p. 250-1. + +(22) _Battles and Leaders_, etc., vol. iv., p. 528. + +(23) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 562-3, 580. + +(24) _Ibid_., p. 524. + +(25) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 562-3. + +(26) Napoleon once remarked, "How much to be pitied is a general +the day after a lost battle!" + +(27) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 211. + +(28) The distance from Winchester to Middletown is twelve miles. + +(29) _War Records_, vol. xliii., Part I., pp. 131, 137. + +(30) Great events in war are not always measured by the quantity +of blood shed. Sherman's dead and wounded list on his march from +"Atlanta to the Sea" was only 531. _Life of Grant_ (Church), pp. +297-8. + +(31) _Battles and Leaders_, etc., vol. iv., p. 532. + + +CHAPTER XI +Peace Negotiations--Lee's Suggestion to Jefferson Davis, 1862-- +Fernando Wood's Correspondence with Mr. Lincoln, 1862--Mr. Stephens +at Fortress Monroe, 1863--Horace Greeley--Niagara Falls Conference, +1864--Jacquess-Gilmore Visits to Richmond, 1863-4--F. P. Blair, +Sen., Conference with Mr. Davis, 1865--Hampton Roads Conference, +Mr. Lincoln and Seward and Stephens and Others, 1865--Ord-Longstreet, +Lee and Grant Correspondence, 1865, and Lew Wallace and General +Slaughter, Point Isabel Conference, 1865. + +The war had now lasted nearly four years, with varied success in +all the military departments, and the people North and South had +long been satiated with its dire calamities. There had, from the +start, been an anti-war party in the North, and in certain localities +South there were large numbers of loyal men, many of whom joined +the Union Army. The South was becoming exhausted in men and means. +The blockade had become so efficient as to render it almost impossible +for the Confederate authorities to get foreign supplies. It seemed +to unprejudiced observers that the Confederacy must soon collapse. +Sherman in his march from "Atlanta to the Sea" had cut the Confederacy +in twain. It was without gold or silver, and its paper issues were +valueless and passed only by compulsion within the Confederate +lines. Provisions were obtainable only by a system of military +seizure. The Confederacy had no credit at home or abroad; and +there was a growing discontent with President Davis and his advisers. +There also came to be a feeling in the South that slavery, in any +event, was doomed. Lastly, the "cradle and the grave" were robbed +to fill up the army; this by a relentless draft. The Confederate +Congress passed an act authorizing the incorporation into the army +of colored men--slaves. This was not well received, though General +Lee approved of the policy, suggesting, however, that it would be +necessary to give those who became soldiers, freedom.( 1) + +Notwithstanding the desperate straits into which the Confederacy +had fallen it still had in the field not less than 300,000 well- +equipped soldiers, generally well commanded, and, although forced +to act on the defensive, they were very formidable. + +The officers and soldiers of the Union Army longest in the field, +though confident of final and complete success, desired very much +to see the war speedily terminated--to return to their families +and to peaceful pursuits. This desire did not show itself so much +as in discontent as in a restless disposition towards those in +authority, who, it might be supposed, could in some way secure a +peace. The credit of the United States remained good; its bonds +commanded ready sale at home and abroad, yet an enormous debt was +piling up at the rate of $4,000,000 daily, and its paper currency +was depreciated to about thirty-five per cent. of its face value. +These and many other causes led to a general desire for peace. On +both sides, those in supreme authority were unjustly charged with +a disposition to continue the war for ulterior purposes when it +had been demonstrated that it was no longer justifiable. + +This retrospect seems necessary before giving a summary of the +various efforts to negotiate a peace. About the first open suggestion +to that end came from General Robert E. Lee in a letter to President +Davis written at Fredericktown, Maryland, September 8, 1862. This +was just after the Second Bull Run, during the first Confederate +invasion of Maryland and in the hey-day of the Confederacy. Davis +was requested to join Lee's army, and, from its head, propose to +the United States a recognition of the independence of the Confederate +States. Lee in this letter showed himself something of a politician. +He urged that a rejection of such a proposition would throw the +responsibility of a continuance of the war on the Union authorities +and thus aid, at the elections, the party in the country opposed to +the war.( 2) Nothing, however, came of this suggestion of Lee. + +Fernando Wood, who had kept himself in some sort of relations with +President Lincoln, though at all times suspected by the latter, +pretended in a letter to him, dated December 8, 1862, to have +"reliable and truthful authority" for saying the Southern States +would send representatives to Congress provided a general amnesty +would permit them to do so. The President was asked to give +immediate attention to the matter, and Wood suggested "that gentlemen +whose former social and political relations with the leaders of +the _Southern revolt_ may be allowed to hold unofficial correspondence +with them on this subject." + +Mr. Lincoln, whose power to discern a sham, or a false pretense, +exceeded that of any other man of his time, promptly responded: +"I strongly suspect your information will prove groundless; +nevertheless, I thank you for communicating it to me." He said +further to Mr. Wood that if "the _people_ of the Southern States +would cease resistance, and would re-inaugurate, submit to, and +maintain the national authority within the limits of such States, +the war would cease on the part of the United States, and that if, +within a reasonable time, a full and general amnesty were necessary +to such an end, it would not be withheld." The President declined +to suspend military operations "to try any experiment of negotiation." +He expressed a desire for any "exact information" Mr. Wood might +have, saying it "might be more valuable before than after January +1, 1863," referring, doubtless, to the promised Emancipation +Proclamation. Wood's scheme, evidently having no substantial basis, +aborted.( 3) + +Others, about the same time, pestered Mr. Lincoln with plans and +schemes for the termination of the war. One Duff Green, a Virginia +politician, wrote from Richmond in January, 1863, asking the +President for an interview "to pave the way for an early termination +of the war." He asked the same permission from Jeff. Davis. His +efforts came to nothing. + +Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, conceiving, +in the early summer of 1863, that the times were auspicious for +peace negotiations, wrote Mr. Davis, asking to be sent to Washington, +ostensibly to negotiate about the exchange of prisoners, but really +to try to "turn attention to a general adjustment, upon such basis +as might be ultimately acceptable to both parties, and stop the +further effusion of blood." He assured Mr. Davis he had but one +idea of final adjustment--"the recognition of the sovereignty of +the States." Mr. Davis wired Stephens to repair to Richmond, and +he arrived on June 22, 1863. Davis and his Cabinet appear to have +seconded, with some heartiness, Stephens' scheme; all thinking it +might result in aiding the "peace party" North. The Confederate +leaders had been greatly encouraged by the gains of the Democratic +party in the elections of 1862; by repeated attacks on the +Administration by some of Lincoln's party friends; by public meetings +held in New York City at which violent and denunciatory speeches +were listened to from Fernando Wood and others, and by the nomination +of Vallandigham for Governor of Ohio. The military situation was +critical to both governments when Stephens reached Richmond. +Pemberton was besieged and doomed to an early surrender at Vicksburg. +On the other hand Lee was invading Pennsylvania, having just gained +some successes in the Shenandoah Valley; and there was a great +battle imminent on Northern soil. Stephens was directed to proceed +by the Valley to join Lee, and from his headquarters try to reach +Washington. Heavy rains and bad roads deterred the frail Vice- +President. At length the Secretary of the Confederate Navy sent +him in a small steamer (the _Torpedo_) under a flag of truce, +accompanied by Commissioner Robert Ould as his secretary, to Fortress +Monroe. He wrote from this place a letter to Admiral S. P. Lee in +Hampton Roads, of date of July 4, 1863, saying he was "bearer of +a communication in writing from Jefferson Davis, _Commander-in- +Chief_ of the land and naval forces of the Confederate States, to +Abraham Lincoln, _Commander-in-Chief_ of the land and naval forces +of the United States," and that he desired to go to Washington in +his own vessel. The titles by which Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Davis were +designated had been previously determined on by Davis and his +advisers. Anticipating there might be objection to the latter +being referred to as President of the Confederacy, the foregoing +was adopted as likely to be least objectionable. It was, however, +solemnly agreed at Richmond that if the designations or titles +adopted were such as to cause Mr. Stephens' communication to be +rejected, he was to say that he had a communication to "President +Lincoln from the President of the Confederacy." If this were +objectionable as an apparent recognition of Davis as President of +an independent nation, then Mr. Stephens' mission was to forthwith +terminate. Admiral Lee wired to Mr. Lincoln Mr. Stephens' arrival, +his mission, and desire to proceed to Washington. Mr. Lincoln did +not stand on punctilio. He was, at first, inclined to send a long +dispatch refusing Mr. Stephens permission to go to Washington, and +saying nothing would be received "assuming the independence of the +Confederate States, and anything will be received, and carefully +considered by him, when offered by any influential person or persons, +in terms not assuming the independence of the so-called Confederate +States." This was, however, decided to be too much in detail, and +the Secretary of the Navy was ordered to telegraph Admiral Lee: + +"The request of A. H. Stephens is inadmissible. The customary +agents and channels are adequate for all needful communication and +conference between the United States and the insurgents." + +This ended Mr. Stephens' first plans to secure peace. He, in his +book written since the war, admits or pretends that the ulterior +purpose of his proposed trip to Washington was, through a correspondence +that would be published, "to deeply impress the growing constitutional +(_sic!_) party at the North with a full realization of the true +nature and ultimate tendencies of the war . . . that the surest +way to maintain their liberties was to allow us the separate +enjoyment of ours."( 4) + +Great events took place the day Mr. Stephens reached Fortress +Monroe. Vicksburg fell and Lee was, on that memorable Fourth of +July, sending off his wounded, preparatory to a retreat from the +fated field of Gettysburg. + +Horace Greeley, a sincere enemy to slavery, who had somehow become +imbued with the notion that the Administration was responsible for +a prolongation of the war, became restless and complaining. He, +at the head of the New York _Tribune_, gave vent to much criticism, +which encouraged those in rebellion, and their friends in the North. +He listened to all sorts of pretenders and, finally, was duped into +the belief that a peace could be made through some Southern emissaries +in Canada. An adventurer calling himself "William Cornell Jewett +of Colorado," from Niagara Falls, July 5, 1864, wrote Mr. Greeley: + +"I am authorized to say to you . . . that two ambassadors of Davis +& Co. are now in Canada with full and complete powers for peace, +and Mr. Sanders requests that you come on immediately to me at +Cataract House to have a private interview; or, if you will send +the President's protection for him and two friends, they will come +on and meet you. He says the whole matter can be consummated by +_me, you, them, and President Lincoln_.( 5) + +Mr. Greeley was seemingly so impressed with this as an opening for +peace that he wrote a dictatorial letter to Mr. Lincoln reminding +him of the long continuance of the war; asserting the country was +dissatisfied with the manner in which it was conducted and averse +to further calls for troops; avowing that there was a widespread +conviction that the government did not desire peace; rebuking the +President for not having received Mr. Stephens the year before, +and prophesying that unless there were steps taken to show the +country that honest efforts were being made to secure an early +settlement of our difficulties the Union party would be defeated +at the impending Presidential election. Greeley suggested this +wholly impracticable and impossible plan of adjustment: (1) The +Union to be restored and declared perpetual; (2) slavery abolished; +(3) complete amnesty; (4) payment of $400,000,000 to slave States +for their slaves; (5) the slave States to have representation based +on their total population, and (6) a national convention to be +called at once. With a tirade on the condition of the country and +its credit and more warnings as to the coming election, Mr. Greeley +concluded by demanding that negotiations should be opened with the +persons at Niagara. + +Mr. Lincoln, though without faith in either the parties in Canada +or Greeley's plan, wrote the latter, July 9th, saying: + +"If you can find any persons, anywhere, professing to have any +proposition of Jefferson Davis in writing, for peace, embracing +the restoration of the Union, and abandonment of slavery, whatever +else it embraces, say to him he may come to me with you, and that +if he really brings such proposition he shall at the least have +safe conduct with the paper (and without publicity if he chooses) +to the point where you shall have met him. The same if there be +two or more persons." + +The President, thus prompt and frank, utterly surprised and +disconcerted Mr. Greeley. Mr. Lincoln had accepted two main points +in Greeley's plan--restoration of the Union and abandonment of +slavery, and waived all others for the time being. The next day +Mr. Greeley replied by repeating reproaches over what he called +the "rude repulse" of Stephens, saying he thought the negotiators +would not "open their budgets"; referring to the importance of +doing something to aid the elections, and indicating that he might +try to get a look into the hand of the Niagara parties. Again, on +the 13th, he wrote Mr. Lincoln he had reliable information that +Clement C. Clay of Alabama and Jacob Thompson of Mississippi were +at Niagara Falls duly empowered to negotiate for peace, adding that +he knew nothing as to terms, and saying that it was high time the +slaughter was ended. The President, still without the slightest +faith in Greeley or his Canada negotiators, but stung with the +unjust assumption that he was averse to peace, wired Mr. Greeley, +on the 15th: + +"I was not expecting you to send me a letter, but to bring me a +man or men," and saying a messenger with a letter was on the way +to him. + +The letter of Mr. Lincoln was brief, but met the case: + +"Yours of the 13th is just received, and I am disappointed that +you have not already reached here with those commissioners, if they +would consent to come, on being shown my letter to you of the 9th +inst. Show that and this to them, and if they will come on the +terms in the former, bring them. I not only intend a sincere effort +for peace, but I intend you shall be a personal witness that it is +made." + +Mr. Greeley, on this letter being placed in his hands, expressed +much embarrassment, but decided to go in search of the Canada +parties provided he had a safe conduct for C. C. Clay, Jacob +Thompson, James P. Holcombe, and George N. Sanders to Washington, +in company with himself. The safe conduct was obtained through +John Hay, the messenger. On Mr. Greeley's arrival at Niagara he +fell into the hands of "Colorado Jewett," his vainglorious +correspondent, and through him addressed Clay, Thompson, and Holcombe +this letter: + +"I understand you are duly accredited from Richmond as the bearers +of propositions looking to the establishment of peace; that you +desire to visit Washington in fulfilment of your mission; and that +you further desire that George N. Sanders shall accompany you. If +my information be thus far substantially correct, I am authorized +by the President of the United States to tender you his safe conduct +on the journey proposed, and to accompany you at the earliest time +that will be agreeable to you." + +Mr. Greeley, in this communication, ignored all the conditions in +Mr. Lincoln's letters to him. Notwithstanding this, two of the +persons named responded (Thompson not having been with Clay and +Holcombe), saying they had no credentials to treat on the subject +of peace, and hence could not accept his offer. Clay and Holcombe +did say something about being acquainted with the views of their +government, and if permitted to go to Richmond could get, for +themselves or others, proper credentials. Mr. Greeley reported +the situation, asking of the President further instructions. It +now became apparent to everybody connected with the farce that if +it was kept up further, Mr. Lincoln would be put in the attitude +of suing the Confederacy for a peace. Lincoln determined to end +the situation and at the same time define his position before the +world, clearly. He dispatched John Hay to Niagara with this famous +letter: + +"To Whom it May Concern: Any proposition which embraces the +restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the +abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority +that can control the armies now at war with the United States, will +be received and considered by the Executive of the United States, +and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and collateral +points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct +both ways. + + "Abraham Lincoln." + +This explicit letter was communicated to Holcombe at the Clifton +House by Greeley and Hay. Mr. Greeley seems to have expressed to +Jewett his regret over the "sad termination of the initiatory steps +taken for peace, from the charge made by the President in his +instructions given him." Nothing could have been more unjust. +The Confederate emissaries wrote a long letter to Mr. Greeley, +which they gave to the public, arraigning Mr. Lincoln for bad faith. +They assumed Mr. Greeley had been sent by the President, on Mr. +Lincoln's own motion, to invite them to Washington to confer as to +a peace. It does not appear that Mr. Greeley tried to disabuse +the public mind of this error or to make known the truth. He +claimed to regard the safe conduct of July 16th as a wavier of all +the President's precedent terms; also of his own previously expressed +terms. The President did not think best to publish the whole +correspondence, preferring to suffer the injustice in silence. +Mr. Greeley continued in a bad state of mind. He refused to visit +Mr. Lincoln, as requested, for a conference. He wrote the President +on the 8th and again on the 9th of August, 1864, abusing certain +Cabinet officers, reiterating his reproaches of Mr. Lincoln for +not receiving Mr. Stephens, censuring him for not sending, after +Vicksburg, a deputation to Richmond to ask for peace, complaining +to him for not sending the "three biggest" Democrats in Congress to +sue for peace, saying, however, little of his Niagara Falls fiasco, +but adding: "Do not let the month pass without an earnest effort +for peace," and closing his last letter thus: + +"I beg you, implore you, to inaugurate or invite proposals for +peace forthwith. And in case peace cannot now be made, consent to +an _armistice for one year_, each party to retain, unmolested, all +it now holds, but the rebel ports to be opened. Meantime, let a +national convention be held, and there will surely be no more war +at all events." + +This suggestion of an armistice for one year and the opening of +the rebel ports, was equivalent to proposing to give one year for +the Confederacy to recuperate at home and from abroad; to strengthen +its credit, to arrange new combinations, and to tie the hands of +its friends of the Union and the Administration, to say nothing of +the confession of failure to suppress the insurrection. + +While Mr. Greeley was a Union man and had, throughout his public +life, opposed slavery, he had no faith in war, nor did he have any +of the instincts of a soldier to enable him to discern its tendencies. +He was personally friendly, it may be assumed, to the President, +but hostile to Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, and probably intensely +jealous of all the distinguished generals of the army. Greeley +had long been, through the _Tribune_, a recognized factor in moulding +public opinion, and now that war had come to absorb all other +interests, his power and influence through the press had waned. +He was wholly impracticable in executive matters. His failure to +inaugurate a peace and to attain prominence in administrative +affairs during the war embittered him through life towards his old- +time party friends. + +A review of Mr. Lincoln's course relating to Mr. Greeley's attempts +to negotiate a peace shows the former acted with the utmost candor, +and submitted, for the time, to the latter's dictatorial course +and the unjust charge of wavering and acting in bad faith, rather +then crush his old friend or endanger the general cause for selfish +glory.( 6) + +Though in a sense inaugurated in 1863, another quite as futile +attempt to bring about peace was in progress in July, 1864. James +F. Jaquess, Colonel of the 73d Illinois, serving in Rosecrans' army +--a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, a D.D.--in May, 1863, wrote to +James A. Garfield, Chief of Staff, calling attention to the fact +that his church had divided on the slavery question; saying that +the Methodist Episcopal Church South had been a leading element in +the Rebellion and prominent in the prosecution of the war; that a +considerable part of the territory of that church South was in the +possession of the Union Army; that from its ministers, once bitterly +opposed to the Union, he had learned in person: + +"That they consider the Rebellion has killed the Methodist Episcopal +Church South; that it has virtually obliterated slavery, and all +the prominent questions of difference between the North and the +South; that they are desirous of returning to the 'Old Church'; +that their brethren of the South are most heartily tired of the +Rebellion; and that they most ardently desire peace, and the +privilege of returning to their allegiance to church and state, +and that they will do this on the first offer coming from a reliable +source. . . . And from these considerations, but not from these +alone, but because God has laid the duty on me, I submit to the +proper authorities the following proposition, viz.: _I will go +into the Southern Confederacy and return within ninety days with +terms of peace that the government will accept_." + +He further stated; + +"I propose no compromise with traitors--but their immediate return +to allegiance to God and their country. . . . I propose to do this +work in the name of the Lord; if He puts it in the hearts of my +superiors to allow me to do it, I shall be thankful; if not, I have +discharged my duty." + +This letter Rosecrans forwarded to Mr. Lincoln, approving Jacquess' +application. The President, seeing the difficulties, wrote Rosecrans +saying Jacquess "could not go with any government authority," yet +left to Rosecrans the discretion to grant the desired furlough. +The furlough was granted. Jacquess, finding a mere furlough or +church influence would not aid him in getting into the Confederate +lines, repaired to Baltimore and besought General Schenck to send +him _via_ Fort Monore to Richmond. Schenck wired the President +(July 13th) Jacquess' wishes and was answered: "Mr. Jacquess is +a very worthy gentleman, but I can have nothing to do, directly or +indirectly, with the matter he has in view." The Colonel, however, +persuaded Schenck to send him to Fort Monroe, from whence he reached +Richmond through the connivance of officers conducting the exchange +of prisoners. In eleven days he was again in Baltimore asking the +President by letter to grant him permission to report the "valuable +information and proposals for peace" he had obtained. This permission +was not granted. Mr. Lincoln well understood that he could have +nothing official to report, and that in the brief time he was South +he could have gained no reliable information concerning public +sentiment. After lingering in Baltimore a little, this preacher- +colonel rejoined his regiment. It does not appear that he ever +made, even to Rosecrans or Garfield, any detailed report of this +his first trip to Richmond. Though his efforts had so far failed, +he was not discouraged, but with faith characteristic of his class, +resolved upon another effort. He now associated with him one J. +R. Gilmore, a lecturer and literary character known as "Edmund +Kirke," who had spent some time in the Western armies. Both were +enthusiastic, but their zeal constituted their principal merit in +the matter attempted. The President declined a personal interview +with Jacquess, but gave, July, 1864, Gilmore a pass, over his own +signature, to Grant's headquarters, with a note to Grant to allow +both "to pass our lines with ordinary baggage and go South." Mr. +Gilmore had previously (June 15, 1864) written Mr. Lincoln telling +him something of what Jacquess would propose. In substance he +would say: "Lay down your arms and resume peaceful pursuits; the +Emancipation Proclamation tells what will be done with the blacks; +amnesty will be granted the masses, and no terms with rebels. The +leaders to be allowed to seek safety abroad, and at the end of +sixty days not one of them must be found in the United States." +On the 16th, these two men passed from Butler's lines and were +allowed to proceed, under surveillance, to Richmond. Next day they +asked, through Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin, for an interview +with "President Davis," which was accorded them at nine o'clock +that night, both Davis and Benjamin being present. + +The volunteer envoys were politely received, and the interview +lasted two hours. It seems that Jacquess and Gilmore did not even +mention the plan referred to in the latter's letter to Mr. Lincoln. +This was, however, immaterial, as they had no authority to submit +anything. They asked Mr. Davis if the "_dispute_" was not "narrowed +down to this: Union or Disunion." Davis answered: "Yes, or +independence or subjugation." The "envoys" suggested that the two +governments should go to the people with two propositions: (1) +"Peace with disunion and Southern independence," (2) "Peace with +Union, emancipation, no confiscation, and universal amnesty." A +vote to be taken on these propositions within sixty days, in which +the citizens of the whole United States should participate; the +proposition prevailing to be abided by. Pending the vote there +should be an armistice. Mr. Davis promptly said: + +"The plan is wholly impracticable. If the South were only one +State it might work; but as it is, if only one State objected to +emancipation, it would nullify the whole thing: for you are aware +the people of Virginia cannot vote slavery out of South Carolina, +nor the people of South Carolina vote it out of Virginia." + +The interview proceeded on these lines without approaching agreement. +It is evident that the "envoys" were overmatched by Davis and +Benjamin, and were subjected to a charge of ignorance of the form +of their own government. Davis indulged in some _bluff_ about +caring nothing for slavery, as his slaves were already freed by +the war; and he declared the Southern people "will be free"--will +govern themselves, if they "have to see every Southern plantation +sacked and every Southern city in flames." Davis also announced +that he would be pleased, at any time, to receive proposals "for +peace on the basis of independence. It will be needless to approach +me on any other." + +The interview being over, Jacquess and Gilmore got quickly back +into the Union lines, and North. The latter published an account +of the interview in the _Atlantic Monthly_ for September, 1864. +His account does not materially differ from Benjamin's sent to the +Confederate diplomatic agents in Europe, or Davis' in his _Rise +and Fall of the Confederacy_.( 7) + +On the whole the publication of the story of this visit to Richmond +did much good to the Union cause in the pending Presidential +campaign. The story closed the mouths of the peace factionists, +though a few of Mr. Lincoln's party friends, fearing the result of +the election, continued to demand more tangible testimony of his +disposition to negotiate a peace; this largely for the purpose of +its effect on the November election. + +Henry J. Raymond, Chairman of the Republican National Executive +Committee, at a meeting of the committee in New York, apprehensive +of McClellan's nomination and possible election as President, August +22, 1864, indited a panicky letter to Mr. Lincoln, expressing great +fear of the latter's defeat at the polls, giving some unfavorable +predictions as to the result of the election by E. B. Washburne, +Governor Morton, Simon Cameron, and others, deploring the failure +of the army to gain victories, and assigning as a cause for reaction +in public sentiment: + +"The impression is in some minds, the fear and suspicion in others, +that we are not to have peace in any event under this Administration +until slavery is abandoned." + +Continuing: + +"In some way or other the suspicion is widely diffused that we can +have peace with Union if we would. It is idle to reason with this +belief--still more idle to denounce it. It can only be expelled +by some authoritative act, at once bold enough to fix attention +and distinct enough to defy incredulity and challenge respect." + +Raymond was bold enough to ask that a commission be appointed to +offer "peace to Davis, as the head of the rebel armies, on the sole +condition of acknowledging the supremacy of the Constitution--all +other questions to be settled in a convention of the people of all +the States." He stated that if the proffer were accepted the people +would put the execution of the details in loyal hands; if rejected +"it would plant seeds of disaffection in the South and dispel all +delusions about peace that prevail in the North." He demanded the +proposal should be made at once, as Mr. Lincon's "spontaneous act." +Mr. Raymond seemed to express the concurrent views of his Republican +associates.( 8) Three days later he and his committee reached +Washington to personally urge prompt action on the President. In +the light of recent attempts at Niagara and Richmond the Raymond +proposition was inadmissible, yet Mr. Lincoln resolved, if the step +must be taken, to again make the proposer the instrument to +demonstrate its folly. The President wrote a letter of instructions, +which he felt he might have to give to Mr. Raymond, authorizing +him to proceed to Richmond, and propose to "Honorable Jefferson +Davis that upon the restoration of the Union and the national +authority, the war shall cease at once, all remaining questions to +be left for adjustment by peaceful modes." If this proposition +were not accepted, Mr. Raymond was then "to request to be informed +what terms, if any, embracing the restoration of the Union, would +be accepted." "If the presentation of any terms embracing the +restoration of the Union" were declined, then Mr. Raymond was +directed to "request to be informed what terms of peace would be +accepted; and on receiving any answer report the same to the +Government." + +It will be noticed that in the Raymond letter the President left +out all reference to slavery. In previous ones he had insisted on +the _abandonment of slavery by the South_ as well as the restoration +of the Union. On questions of amnesty, confiscation, and all other +matters the President was ready to grant everything to the South.( 9) + +This letter was never delivered. Mr. Raymond, in personal interviews +with Mr. Lincoln, became convinced the latter understood the +situation and the sentiment of the country better than he and his +committee did, and the matter was dropped. + +It must not be assumed that the President for a moment gave up his +long settled purpose to insist on the abolition of slavery as a +condition of peace. In his annual Message to Congress, December, +1864, in expressing his views and purposes on the subject of +terminating the war, he says: + +"In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the national +authority on the part of the insurgents as the only indispensable +condition to ending the war on the part of the government, I retract +nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration +made a year ago, that 'While I remain in my present position I +shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation +nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms +of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress.' If the +people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty +to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their +instrument to perform it. In stating a single condition of peace, +I mean simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the +government whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those who +began it." + +Mr. Lincoln was triumphantly re-elected, but notwithstanding this +and the foreshadowed collapse of the Confederacy, Francis P. Blair, +Sen., a veteran statesman who had flourished in Jackson's time, +came forward in the hope that he might become a successful mediator +between the North and the South. He personally gave the President +hints of his wishes in this respect, but received from the latter +no encouragement, save the remark: "Come to me after Savannah +falls." Sherman took Savannah, December 22, 1864. Mr. Lincoln, +without permitting Mr. Blair to reveal to him his plans in detail, +on December 28th, wrote and signed a card: "Allow the bearer, F. +P. Blair, Sr., to pass our lines, go South, and return." + +With this credential Mr. Blair went to Grant at City Point, and +under a flag of truce sent communications to "Jefferson Davis, +President," etc., etc. The effect of one of the messages was to +request an interview with Mr. Davis to confer upon plans that might +ultimately "lead to something practicable"--peace. After some +vexatious delay, Mr. Blair was allowed to go to Richmond, where, +January 12, 1865, Davis accorded him an interview. + +Mr. Blair explained to Mr. Davis that he came without President +Lincoln's knowledge of his plans but with the latter's knowledge +of his purpose to try and open peace negotiations. After some +preliminary talk Mr. Blair read to Mr. Davis an elaborate paper +containing his "suggestions." These covered a reference to slavery, +"the cause of all our woes," saying it was doomed and hence no +longer an insurmountable obstruction to pacification, adding that +as the South proposed to use slaves to "conquer a peace," and to +secure its independence, "their deliverance from bondage" must +follow.(10) With slavery abolished, Mr. Blair suggested the war +against the Union became a war for monarchy. Reference was then +made to Maximilian's reign in Mexico, under Austrian and French +protection, and of its danger to free institutions by establishing +a "Bonaparte-Hapsburg dynasty on our Southern flank." Mr. Davis +was complimented over his position being such as to be the instrument +to avert the danger. It was suggested that Juarez at the head of +the "Liberals of Mexico" could be persuaded to "devolve all the +power he can command on President Davis--a dictatorship if necessary +--to restore the rights of Mexico." Mr. Davis was to use his +veteran Confederates and Mexican recruits, with, if necessary, +"multitudes of the army of the North, officers and men" to drive +out the invaders, uphold the Monroe Doctrine, and thus "restore +the Mexican Republic." Mr. Blair further suggested that if Mr. +Davis accomplished all this it would "ally his name with Washington +and Jackson as a defender of the liberty of the country" and if +"in delivering Mexico he should model its States in form and +principle to adapt them to our Union and add a new Southern +constellation to its benignant sky," he would attain further glory. +This and more talk of like kind seemed to command Davis' attention, +for Mr. Blair says he pronounced the scheme "possible to be solved." +Mr. Davis declared he was "thoroughly for popular government." + +There was nothing agreed upon, though the interview covered much +ground as reported by Mr. Blair. Mr. Davis was evidently anxious +for some arrangement, for on the 12th of January he addressed to +Mr. Blair, who was still in Richmond, a note saying among other +things he had "no disposition to find obstacles in forms," and was +willing "to enter into negotiations for peace; that he was ready +to appoint a commissioner to meet one on the part of the United +States to confer with a view to secure peace to the _two countries_." +This note was carried to Washington by Mr. Blair and shown to +President Lincoln, who, January 18th, addressed him a note saying, +he had constantly been and still was ready to appoint an agent to +meet one appointed by Mr. Davis, "with the view of securing peace +to the people of our _one common country_." With Mr. Lincoln's +note Mr. Blair returned to Richmond, and without any authority from +any source, shifted to a new project, namely, that Grant and Lee +should be authorized to negotiate. This failed to ripen into +anything. Mr. Lincoln's note proffering negotiations looking alone +to "peace to the people _of our one common country_" placed Mr. +Davis in a great dilemma. The situation was critical in the extreme. +The Confederate Congress had voted a lack of confidence in Mr. +Davis; Sherman had not only marched to the sea, but was moving up +the Atlantic coast through the Carolinas; Lee reported his army +had not two days' rations; and many of Davis' advisers had declared +success impossible. At last Mr. Davis, on consultation with Vice- +President Stephens and his Cabinet, decided to appoint a commission, +composed of Mr. Stephens, Senator R. M. T. Hunter, and ex-Secretary +of War John A. Campbell. This commission was directed (January +28, 1865) to go to Washington for informal conference with President +Lincoln "_upon the issues involved in the existing war, and for +the purpose of securing peace to the two countries_." Mr. Davis +was advised by his Secretary of State, Mr. Benjamin, to instruct +the commissioners to confer upon the subject of Mr. Lincoln's +letter. The instructions were not in accordance with Mr. Lincoln's +note, nor were they warranted by anything he had ever said. +Notwithstanding this, the commissioners appeared at the Union lines +and asked permission to proceed to Washington as "Peace Commissioners." +On this being telegraphed to Washington, Major Eckert of the War +Department was sent to Grant's headquarters, with directions to +admit them, provided they would say, in writing, they came to confer +on the basis of the President's note of January 18th. Before Major +Eckert arrived, they had, in violation of their instructions, asked +permission "to proceed to Washington to hold a conference with +President Lincoln upon the subject of the existing war, and with +a view of ascertaining upon what terms it may be terminated, in +pursuance of the course indicated by him in his letter to Mr. Blair +of January 18, 1865." They were admitted to Grant's headquarters +and Mr. Lincoln was advised of their last request. The latter sent +Secretary Seward to Fortress Monroe to meet them. Seward was, in +writing, instructed to make known to the commissioners that three +indispensable things were necessary: "(1) The restoration of the +national authority throughout all the States. (2) No receding by +the Executive on the slavery question from the position assumed +thereon in the late annual Message. (3) No cessation of hostilities +short of the end of the war, and the disbanding of all forces +hostile to the government." On other questions the Secretary was +instructed to say the President would act "in a spirit of sincere +liberality." Mr. Seward was not definitely to consummate anything. +He started to meet the commissioners on February 1st. Meantime, +on the same day, Major Eckert had met them at City Point and informed +them of the President's requirements, to which they responded by +presenting Davis' written instructions. Major Eckert at once +notified them they could not proceed unless strictly in compliance +with Mr. Lincoln's terms. This seemingly put an end to the mission +of Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell. Grant, being impressed with +their anxiety to secure a peace, wired Stanton his impression, and +expressed regret that Mr. Lincoln could not have an interview with +Stephens and Hunter, if not all three, before their return. The +President on reading Grant's dispatch decided to meet the commissioners +in person at Fortress Monroe. Mr. Lincoln joined Mr. Seward at +this place on the _River Queen_, where they were met by the +commissioners on the morning of February 3d. The conference which +ensued was wholly without significance. The President was frank +and firm, standing by his hitherto announced ultimatum. Stephens +tried to talk about Blair's Mexican scheme; about an armistice and +some expedient to "give time to cool." Mr. Lincoln met all +suggestions by saying: "The restoration of the Union is a _sine +qua non;_" and that there could be no armistice on any other terms. +It is not absolutely certain what was, in detail, proposed or +rejected on either side, as no concurrent report was made of the +conference and reporters were excluded from it. Mr. Lincoln, +according to the commissioners, declared the road to reconstruction +for the insurgents was to disband "their armies and permit the +national authorities to resume their functions." The President +stated he would exercise the power of the Executive with liberality +as to the confiscation of property. He is reported to have said +also that the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation was to be +decided by the courts, giving it as his opinion that as it was a +war measure, it would be inoperative for the future as soon as the +war ceased; that it would be held to apply only to such slaves as +had come under its operation. Mr. Seward called attention to the +very recent adoption by Congress of the Thirteenth Amendment to +the Constitution. The commissioners report him as saying that if +the seceding States would agree to return to the Union they might +defeat the ratification of the amendment. + +It is apparent that some coloring entered into the statements of +Mr. Stephens and party. About the only good point made in the talk +about which there is no controversy was made by Mr. Lincoln. Mr. +Hunter, in attempting to persuade the latter that there was high +precedent for his treating with people in arms, cited the example +of Charles I. of England treating with his subjects in armed rebellion. +To this the President answered: "_I do not profess to be posted +in history. On all such matters I will turn you over to Mr. Seward. +All that I distinctly recollect about the case of Charles I. is +that he lost his head_." + +The commissioners reached Richmond much disappointed, and reported +their failure. The effect on the South was depressing. Mr. Stephens +seemed to give up the Confederate cause at this time; he departed +from Richmond, abandoned the Rebellion and went into retirement.(11) +Mr. Davis transmitted his commissioners' report to the Confederate +Congress, stating that no terms of settlement could be obtained +"other than the conqueror might grant." The last flicker of the +Hampton Roads conference was seen in a public meeting held at the +African Church in Richmond, February 6, 1865, at which bravado +speeches were made by Mr. Davis and others. Mr. Davis announced +a belief that they would "compel the Yankees, in less than twelve +months, to petition us for peace on our own terms."(12) + +General E. O. C. Ord, commanding the Army of the James, about +February 20th, attempted to inaugurate another peace conference to +be conducted through military channels, aided by the wives of +certain officers of the two armies. To this end he secured, on a +trivial pretext, an interview with General James Longstreet, then +commanding the Confederate forces immediately north of Richmond. +Ord, in the interview, referred to the Hampton Roads' conference, +stating (according to Longstreet) that the politicians North were +afraid to touch the question of peace; that there was no way to +open the subject save through officers of the armies; that on the +Union side the war had gone on long enough, and that the army +officers "should come together as former comrades and friends and +talk a little." Ord is reported as saying that the "work as +belligerents" should cease; Grant and Lee should have a talk; that +Longstreet's wife with a retinue of Confederate officers should +first visit Mrs. Grant within the Union lines; that then Mrs. Grant +should return the call at Richmond under escort of Union officers, +and that thus the ladies could aid Generals Grant and Lee in fixing +up peace on terms honorable to both sides. Longstreet took kindly +to Ord's talk. Lee met Longstreet at President Davis' house in +Richmond. Breckinridge (then Secretary of War) was present. At +this meeting it was decided that Longstreet was to seek a further +interview with Ord and see how the subject could be opened between +Grant and Lee. Longstreet summoned his wife from Lynchburg to +Richmond by telegraph. About the last day of February, Ord and +Longstreet had another meeting at which Ord suggested that if Lee +would write Grant a letter, the latter was prepared to receive it, +and thus a military convention could be brought about. Longstreet +reported the result of the talk with Ord, and Lee, March 1st, wrote +Grant that he was informed that Ord, in a conversation relating to +"the possibility of arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the +present _unhappy difficulties_ by means of a military convention," +had stated that if Lee desired an interview with Grant on the +subject, the latter would not decline, provided Lee had authority +to act. Lee, in his letter, said he was fully authorized in the +premises, and proposed a meeting at the place proposed by Ord and +Longstreet, on Monday the 6th. Accompanying Lee's letters was the +usual "by-play" letter on an immaterial subject. Grant, on receiving +Lee's communication, wired its substance to Secretary Stanton, who +laid the matter before President Lincoln at his room at the Capitol +whither he had gone to sign bills the last night of a session of +Congress. Mr. Lincoln, without advice from any person, took his +pen, and with his usual precision wrote: + +"The President directs me to say that he wishes you to have no +conference with General Lee unless it be for capitulation of General +Lee's army, or on some minor or purely military matter. He instructs +me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any +political questions. Such questions the President holds in his +own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or +conventions. Meantime you are to press to the utmost your military +advantages." + +This perfectly explicit dispatch was shown to Mr. Seward, then +handed to Mr. Stanton, who signed and sent it the night of March +3, 1865. Grant, the next day, answered Lee in the light of the +dispatch, saying: + +"In regard to meeting you, I would state that I have no authority +to accede to your proposition for a conference on the subject +proposed. Such authority is vested in the President of the United +States alone."(13) + +Thus ended the Ord-Longstreet attempt to patch up a peace. + +There was one more remarkable attempt made (before Lee surrendered) +to bring about a peace in part of the Confederacy. General Lew +Wallace was ordered, January 22, 1865, "to visit the Rio Grande +and Western Texas on a tour of inspection." Shortly after his +arrival at Brazos Santiago, by correspondence with the Confederate +General J. E. Slaughter, commanding the West District of Texas, +and a Colonel Ford, he arranged for a meeting with them at Point +Isabel (General Wallace to furnish the refreshments), nominally to +discuss matters relating to the rendition of criminals, but really +to talk about peace. The conference took place March 12th. General +Wallace assumed only to negotiate a peace for States west of the +Mississippi. He did not profess to have any authority from +Washington, nor did he offer to make the terms final. He must have +been wholly ignorant of the President's dispatch to Grant of March +3d. Wallace's plan was, at Slaughter and Ford's instance, reduced +to writing, and addressed to them, to be submitted to the Confederate +General J. G. Walker, commanding the Department of Texas. Here it +is: + +"_Proposition. + +"I. That the Confederate military authorities of the Trans- +Mississippi States and Territories agree voluntarily to cease +opposition, armed and otherwise, to the re-establishment of the +authority of the United States Government over all the region above +designated. + +"II. The proper authorities of the United States on their part +guarantee as follows: + +"1. That the officers and soldiers at present actually comprising +the Confederate Army proper, including its _bona fide attaches_ +and employees, shall have, each and all of them, a full release +from and against actions, prosecutions, liabilities, and legal +proceedings of every kind, so far as the government of the United +States is concerned: _Provided_, That if any of such persons choose +to remain within the limits of the United States, they shall first +take an oath of allegiance to the same. If, however, they or any +of them prefer to go abroad for residence in a foreign country, +all such shall be at liberty to do so without obligating themselves +by an oath of allegiance, taking with them their families and +property, with privileges of preparation for such departure. + +"2. That such of said officers and soldiers as thus determine to +remain in the United States shall, after taking the oath of allegiance +to the United States Government, be regarded as citizens of that +government, invested as such will all the rights, privileges, and +immunities now enjoyed by the most favored citizens thereof. + +"3. That the above guaranties shall be extended to all persons +now serving as civil officers of the national and State Confederate +governments within the region above mentioned, upon their complying +with the conditions stated, viz., residence abroad or taking the +oath of allegiance. + +"4. That persons now private citizens of the region named shall +also be included in and receive the same guaranties upon their +complying with the same conditions. + +"5. As respects rights of property, it is further guaranteed that +there shall be no interference with existing titles, liens, etc., +of whatever nature, except those derived from seizures, occupancies, +and procedures of confiscation, under and by virtue of Confederate +laws, orders, proclamations, and decrees, all of which shall be +admitted void from the beginning. + +"6. It is further expressly stipulated that the right of property +in slaves shall be referred to the discretion of the Congress of +the United States. + +"Allow me to say, in conclusion, that if the above propositions +are received in the spirit they are sent, we can, in my opinion, +speedily have a reunited and prosperous people. + +"Very truly, gentlemen, your friend and obedient servant, + + "Lew Wallace, + "Major-General of Volunteers, U. S. Army."(14) + +General Wallace forwarded this pretentious proposition, with an +elaborate letter, through General Dix to General Grant, who received +both about March 29, 1865, but probably made no response thereto. + +The Confederate officers submitted the plan to their chief, who, +besides severely reprimanding them for entertaining it, wrote +General Wallace, March 27, rejecting the proposition, "as to accede +to it would be the blackest treason"; adding, that "whenever there +was a willingness to treat as equal with equal, an officer of your +high rank and character, clothed with proper authority, will not +be reduced to the necessity of seeking an obscure corner of the +Confederacy to inaugurate negotiations." + +The whole story of attempts to negotiate a peace is grotesque, yet +the conditions surrounding the North and the South and the stress +of the times speak in defence of the ambitious spirits who came to +the front and essayed, by negotiations, to put an end to the war. +Providence had another, more fitting and consummate, ending in +store, whereby the war should produce results for the good of +mankind commensurate with its cost in tears, treasure, and blood. + +( 1) _Life of R. E. Lee_, White (Putnam's), pp. 416-17. + +( 2) _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 204. + +( 3) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. vii., pp. 367-8. + +( 4) _War Between the States_, vol. ii., pp. 557-62, 780; _Lincoln_ +(Nicolay and Hay), vol. vii., pp. 371-4. + +( 5) Jewett must have attended school where the master required +the class to parse the sentence, "_Dog, I, and father went a- +hunting_." + +( 6) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. ix., pp. 184-200. + +( 7) Vol. ii., p. 610. Also see _Lincoln_ (N. and H.), vol. ix., +pp. 201-2. + +( 8) The attitude of the Democratic party caused the political +friends of President Lincoln the deepest anxiety. In its National +platform adopted at Chicago, August 30, 1864, it demanded, "that +after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment +of war, immediate efforts should be made for a cessation of +hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the States, +or other peaceable means, to the end that at the earliest practicable +moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of +the States." + +( 9) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. ix., pp. 216-21. + +(10) If the reader is curious to know what effort was made by the +Confederate authorities to enlist slaves and free negroes as +soldiers, he will find interesting correspondence on the subject +between Davis, Lee, Longstreet, and others. _War Records_, vol. +xlvi., Part III., pp. 1315, 1339, 1356, 1348, 1366, 1370. + +(11) Alexander H. Stephens had a small body, small head, and his +whole appearance was that of a most emaciated person. For many +years of his life he was in most delicate health; so feeble he +could not stand or walk. He was moved about in a chair with wheels. +His intellect, however, was strong and elastic, and his voice was +sufficient to enable him to make a public speech. He wrote much. +He was not always consistent in his views. He opposed secession, +then advocated it; then again denied that secession was warranted +by the Constitution. I knew him well in Congress after the war. +He asserted when some of his Democratic brethren were denying Mr. +Hayes' title to the Presidency, that it was superior to the title +of any President who had preceded him--that by virtue of the decision +of the commission, it had become _res adjudicata_. + +(12) _Lincoln_ (Nicolay and Hay), vol. x., pp. 113-31; _Lost Cause_ +(Pollard), pp. 684-5; _War between States_ (Stephens), vol. ii., +pp. 597, 608-12. + +(13) _Manassas to Appomattox_ (Longstreet), pp. 584-7; _Lincoln_ +(Nicolay and Hay), vol. x., pp. 157-8. + +(14) _War Records_, vol. xlviii., Part I., p. 1281. + + +CHAPTER XII +Siege of Richmond and Petersburg--Capture and Re-capture of Fort +Stedman, and Capture of Part of the Enemy's First Line in Front of +Petersburg by Keifer's Brigade, March 25, 1865--Battle of Five +Forks, April 1st--Assault and Taking of Confederate Works on the +Union Left, April 2d--Surrender of Richmond and Petersburg, April +3d--President Lincoln's Visit to Petersburg and Richmond, and His +Death + +The Sixth Corps, as we have seen, returned from its memorable +campaign in Maryland and the Shenandoah Valley to the front of +Petersburg about December 5, 1864. It relieved a portion of the +Fifth Corps. The right of my brigade rested on the Weldon Railroad, +extending to the left to include Forts Wadsworth and Keene. On +the night of the 9th, with other troops, the brigade went on an +expedition to Hatcher's Run, returning the next day. Again the +Sixth Corps constructed winter quarters. The brigade was moved, +February 9, 1865, to the extreme left of the army, near the Squirrel +Level road, where it took up a position including Forts Welch, +Gregg, and Fisher, of which the first two were unfinished and the +last named was barely commenced. The brigade completed the +construction of these forts. Colonel McClennan, with the 138th +Pennsylvania, also occupied Fort Dushane on the rear line. + +The brigade, a third time for the winter, constructed quarters. + +Discipline in the army continued in all its severity. During my +entire service but one instance occurred where I was required to +execute a Union soldier of my command. Private James L. Hicks, of +the 67th Pennsylvania, a boy nineteen years old, was found guilty +of desertion. He had deserted to go to Philadelphia, his home, in +company with a soldier of another command, much his senior, who +had forged a furlough for himself and Hicks. Both were arrested, +returned to the army, and convicted and sentenced to be shot. +General Meade ordered me to execute the sentence as to Hicks, +February 10, 1865. The man who was largely responsible for Hicks' +desertion succeeded, through friends, in inducing President Lincoln +to commute his sentence to imprisonment at the Dry Tortugas. I +was aware of efforts being made to have Hicks' sentence likewise +commuted, and I tried to reach the President with communications +asking the same leniency for Hicks. So certain was I that Lincoln +had or would reprieve Hicks that I failed to have him shot on the +day named. Some officious persons reported my dereliction to Meade, +who thereupon (with some censure) ordered me to shoot Hicks on the +next day, and to report in person the fact of the shooting. This +order I was obliged to obey. The brigade was drawn up on three +sides of a square, with ranks opened facing each other, and in the +centre of the fourth and open side a grave was dug and a coffin +was placed beside it. The condemned soldier was marched between +the ranks of the command, preceded by a drum and fife band, playing +the "dead-march," and then was taken to the coffin, where he was +blindfolded and required to stand in front of six men armed with +rifles, five only of which were loaded with ball. At the command +"_Fire!_" from a designated officer, the guns were discharged and +poor Hicks fell dead. He was placed in the coffin and forthwith +buried. On the same day word came that Lincoln had pardoned Hicks. + +Wright's corps became the left of the besieging army, and all the +troops were constantly on the alert, never less than one tenth of +them on guard or in the trenches. + +The several corps of the Army of the Potomac were then commanded +as follows: Second, by General A. A. Humphreys; Fifth, by General +G. K. Warren; Sixth, by General H. G. Wright; the Ninth, by General +J. G. Parke. The last named was on the right and in part south of +the Appomattox. The Army of the James was north of Richmond and +the James, commanded by General B. F. Butler, until relieved, on +the request of General Grant, January 8, 1865, when General E. O. +C. Ord succeeded him. + +The army under Grant had been engaged since June, 1864, besieging +Richmond and Petersburg with no signal success. It had, however, +held the main army of the Confederacy closely within intrenchments +where it could do little harm, and was difficult to provide with +supplies. Prior to this siege the Army of the Potomac had met the +enemy, save at Gettysburg, on his chosen battle-fields, and in its +forward movements had been forced to attack breastworks, assail +the enemy in mountain passes or gaps, force the crossings of deep +rivers, always guarding long lines of communications over which +supplies must be brought, and it was at all times the body-guard +of the Capital--Washington. + +The Confederate Army under Lee, when the last campaign opened, was +strongly fortified from the James River above Richmond, extending +around on the north to the James below Richmond; thence to and +across the Appomattox; thence south of Petersburg extending in an +unbroken line westward to the vicinity of Hatcher's Run, with +interior lines of works and forts for use in case the outer line +was forced. Longstreet commanded north of the James. Generals R. +S. Ewell, R. H. Anderson, A. P. Hill, and John B. Gordon commanded +corps of the Army of Northern Virginia south of Petersburg and the +James, the whole under Lee. At the last, Ewell commanded in Richmond +and its immediate defences. The Confederates had water-batteries +and naval forces on the James immediately below Richmond. Their +forts and connecting breastworks had been laid out and constructed +by skilled engineers, on a gigantic scale, with months, and, in +some places, years of labor. On most of the main line there were +enclosed field-forts, a distance of a quarter to a half mile apart, +connected by strong earthworks and some masonry, the whole having +deep ditches in front, the approaches to which were covered by +_abattis_ composed of pickets sunk deep in the ground close together, +the exposed ends sharpened, and placed at an angle of about forty- +five degrees, the points of the pickets about the height of a man's +face. There were in place _chevaux-de-frise_ and other obstructions. +These fortifications could not be battered down by artillery; they +had to be scaled. They contained many guns ranging from 6 to 200- +pounders, all well manned. The Union lines conformed, generally, +to the Confederate lines and were near to them, but, being the +outer, were necessarily the longer. Richmond and Petersburg were +twenty miles apart. The Union works were substantially of the same +structure and strength as the Confederate. + +Forts Welch, Gregg, and Fisher, and connecting works, held by six +of my regiments, formed a loop on the extreme left, to prevent a +flank attack. These forts were about nine miles from City Point, +Grant's headquarters. In the centre of the loop was a high +observation tower.( 1) In our front the Confederates had an outer +line of works to cover their pickets, and we had a similar one to +protect ours. The main lines were, generally, in easy cannon range, +in most places within musket range, and the pickets of the two +armies were, for the most part, in speaking distance, and the men +often indulged in talking, for pastime. Except in rare instances +the sentinels did not fire on each other by day, but sometimes at +night firing was kept up by the Confederates at intervals to prevent +desertion. During the last months of the siege, circulars were +issued by Grant offering to pay deserters for arms, accoutrements, +and any other military supplies they would bring with them, and to +give them safe conduct north. The circulars were gotten into the +enemy's lines by various devices, chief among which was, by flying +kits at night when the wind blew in the right direction, to the +tail of which the circulars were attached. When the kites were +over the Confederate lines the strings were cut, thus causing them +to fall where the soldiers might find them.( 2) So friendly were +the soldiers of the two armies that by common consent the timber +between the lines was divided and cut and carried away for fuel. +Petersburg was in plain view, to the northeast, from my headquarters. +In front of my line an event took place which brought about the +speedy overthrow of the Confederacy. + +With Sherman moving triumphantly northward through the Carolinas +the time was at hand for the final campaign of the Army of the +Potomac. President Lincoln and General Grant were each anxious +that army should, without the direct aid of the Western army, +overcome and destroy the Army of Northern Virginia, which it had +fought during so many years with varying success.( 3) + +Grant issued orders, March 24, 1865, for a general movement, to +commence the 29th; the objective of the movement to be the Confederate +Army as soon as it could be forced out of the fortifications. + +At the time Grant was writing these orders, Lee was planning an +assault to break the Union lines, hoping he might gain some material +success and thereby prevent an aggressive campaign against him. +General Gordon, accordingly, at early dawn, March 25th, assaulted +Fort Stedman, and, by a surprise, captured it and a portion of our +line adjacent to it; but Union troops, from the right and left, +assailed and recaptured the works and about four thousand of Gordon's +command, the Union loss in killed, wounded, and captured being +about twenty-five hundred. This daring attack, instead of delaying, +precipitated the preparatory work of opening the campaign. About +1 P.M. I received an order to send two regiments to my advanced +line with orders to charge and carry the outer line of the enemy. +The latter was strongly intrenched and held by a large number of +men, besides being close under the guns of the Confederate main +works. The 110th and 122d Ohio were moved outside the forts, and +Colonel Otho H. Binkley was ordered to take command of both regiments +and the picket guard. He charged the enemy, but being unsupported +on the flanks and being exposed to a fierce fire from guns in the +enemy's main works, was forced to retire after suffering considerable +loss. I protested, vehemently, against the renewal of the attack +with so small a force. General Wright thereupon ordered me to +assemble the number of men necessary to insure success, take charge +of them in person, and make the desired capture. I added to the +Ohio regiments mentioned the 67th Pennsylvania, portions of the +6th Maryland and 126th Ohio, and a battalion of the 9th New York +Heavy Artillery, and under a severe fire, at 3 P.M., without halting +or firing, charged over the enemy's first intrenched line, capturing +over two hundred prisoners. Notwithstanding a heavy artillery fire +concentrated upon us the captured works were held. Our loss was +severe and hardly compensated for by the number of the enemy killed +and captured. For my part in this affair I was complimented by +Meade in general orders. + +It turned out that the section of works taken was more important +to us than first estimated. + +Sheridan, with his cavalry, having recently arrived from the +Shenandoah Valley _via_ the White House, moved to the left on the +29th of March in the direction of Dinwiddie Court-House, where he +encountered a considerable force. A battle ensued on the 30th and +31st, in which Sheridan with his cavalry, in part dismounted, fought +some of the best cavalry and infantry of Lee's army, the former +commanded by Fitzhugh Lee and the latter by Pickett of Gettysburg +fame. By using temporary barricades, Sheridan, though outnumbered, +repulsed the attacks of Fitz Lee and Pickett, and at nightfall of +the 31st was in possession of the Court-House. + +In consequence of incessant rain for two days Grant, from his +headquarters, then on Gravelly Run, issued orders the evening of +the 30th to suspend all further movements until the roads should +dry up; but he was visited by Sheridan and persuaded to continue +the campaign. Sheridan asked that the Sixth Corps should be ordered +to follow and support him.( 4) He claimed this corps had served +under him in the Valley and its officers were well known to him. +His request was not acceded to, as other work was already assigned +to Wright. Grant ordered Meade to send the Fifth Corps under +General G. K. Warren to reinforce Sheridan. Meade was directed to +"_urge Warren not to stop for anything_." Sheridan, April 1st, +determined to press the enemy, regardless of bad roads and his +isolated position. Pickett and Fitz Lee, heavily reinforced from +Lee's main army, concentrated in front of Five Forks, where they +intrenched. + +Warren was ordered to push rapidly on the left of the enemy. +Sheridan promptly opened battle, but he was hard pressed throughout +the day. Warren, for some not satisfactorily explained cause, did +not arrive on the field and bring his three infantry divisions into +action until late in the day, but yet in time to strike the enemy +on his left and rear, as had been planned. Just at night a combined +assault of all arms completely overthrew Pickett and Fitz Lee, +taking six of their guns, thirteen battle-flags, and nearly six +thousand prisoners. The Confederates who escaped were cut off from +the remainder of Lee's army and thrown back on the upper Appomattox. + +Warren, in the full flush of the victory, was, by Sheridan, with +Grant's previous authority, relieved on the battle-field from the +command of his corps for the alleged dilatory march to the relief +of the imperilled cavalry. Warren had long commanded the Fifth +Corps, and was beloved by it. But the fates of war were inexorable. +The removal of Warren was perhaps unjust, in the light of the +previous conduct of the war. He had not been insubordinate. He +had imbibed the notion too often theretofore acted on, that in the +execution of an important order, even when other movements depended +on it, the subordinate officer could properly exercise his own +discretion as to the time and manner of its execution. Warren was +a skilled engineer officer and held too closely in an emergency to +purely scientific principles. He had none of Sheridan's precipitancy, +and did not believe in violating, under any circumstances, principles +of war taught by the books. Before a subsequent court of inquiry +Warren produced what appeared to be overwhelming testimony from +experienced and distinguished officers of the army to the effect +that he had moved his corps to Five Forks with the energy and +celerity usually exhibited by an officer of ordinary skill and +ability. + +Sheridan was called as a witness before the same court, and when +interrogated, corroborated the other officers' testimony, adding, +that it was not an officer of _ordinary_ skill and ability that +was required to meet an emergency when a battle was on, but one of +_extraordinary_ skill and ability; that officers of the former +class were plenty, but they were not fit to command an army corps +in time of battle. Sheridan wanted an officer like Desaix, who, +by putting his ear to the ground, heard the thunder of the guns at +Marengo, though far off, and marched to their sound without awaiting +orders, and to the relief of Napoleon, arriving in time to turn +defeat into victory, though losing his own life. Warren had many +friends and sympathizers, but he died many years after the war of +a broken heart. + +In anticipation of Sheridan's success, orders were issued for the +Sixth Corps to assault Lee's main fortifications on Sunday morning, +April 2d. The place selected for the assault was in front and a +little to the left of Forts Fisher and Welch and directly opposite +the intrenched line taken by me on March 25th.( 5) Other corps to +the right of the Sixth were ordered to be ready to assault also. +It was originally intended the troops should be formed in the quiet +of the night, and that the assault should be made, as a surprise, +at four o'clock in the morning. Grant, fearing that Lee, in the +desperation of defeat at Five Forks, would strip his fortified +lines of troops to overwhelm and destroy Sheridan, now fairly on +Lee's right flank, at 10 P.M. on the night of the 1st ordered all +his guns turned loose from the James to the Union left, to give +the appearance of a readiness to do just what had been ordered to +be done. This fire brought a return fire all along the lines. +The night was dark and dismal, and the scene witnessed amid the +deafening roar of cannon was indescribably wild and grand. Duty +called some of us between the lines of cross-fire when the screaming +shot and bursting shell from perhaps four hundred heavy guns passed +over our heads. The world's war-history described no sublimer +display. Being near the end of the Rebellion, the Confederacy, +and the institution of slavery, it was a fitting closing scene. +It was supposed that in consequence of this artillery duel, which +lasted about two hours, the assault ordered would be abandoned, as +a surprise was not possible. But at 12, midnight, the order came +to take position for the attack. The Sixth Corps, in the gloom of +the damp, chilly night, silently left its winter quarters and filed +out to an allotted position within about two hundred yards of the +mouths of the enemy's cannon, there to await the discharge of a +gun from Fort Fisher, the signal for storming the works. There +were no light hearts in the corps that night, but there were few +faint ones. The soldiers of the corps knew the strength and +character of the works to be assailed. They had watched their +completion; they knew of the existence of the _abattis_ and the +deep ditches to be passed, as well as the high ramparts to be +scaled. The night added to the solemnity of the preparation for +the bloody work. + +The Second Division was formed on the right, the Third Division on +the left, each in two lines of battle, about two hundred feet apart. +The First Division (Wheaton's) was in echelon by brigades, in +support on Getty's right.( 6) The corps was formed on ground lower +than that on which the enemy's fortifications were constructed. +There was an angle in the enemy's line in front of the corps as +formed at which there was a large fort. Getty's division was to +assault to the right and Seymour's to the left of this fort. My +brigade was to assault between it and the fort about a third of a +mile to its left. The connecting breastworks were strong, as has +been explained, with a deep ditch and formidable _abattis_ in their +front, and well manned and supplied with artillery. The enemy was +alert and opened fire on us with artillery and musketry before we +were completely formed, inflicting some loss. Long before the hour +for the signal the corps was ready. Much preparation is necessary +for a well delivered assault. Every officer should be personally +instructed as to his particular duties, as commands can rarely be +given after the troops are in motion. The pioneer corps with axe- +men were required to accompany the head of the column, to cut down +and remove obstructions and to aid the soldiers in crossing trenches +and scaling the works. The _abattis_ was to be cut down or torn +up, and, wherever possible, used in the ditches to provide means +of crossing them. + +A narrow opening, just wide enough for a wagon to pass through, +was known to exist in the enemy's line in front of my brigade, +though it was skillfully covered by a shoulder around it. The +existence of this opening was discovered from the observation tower, +and deserters told of it. I determined to take advantage of it, +and therefore instructed Colonel Clifton K. Prentiss of the 6th +Maryland when the time for the attack came to move his regiment by +the flank rapidly through this opening without halting or firing, +and when within, open on the Confederates behind the works, taking +them in flank, and, if possible, drive them out and thus leave for +our other troops little resistance in gaining an entrance over the +ramparts. + +At 4.40 A.M., while still dark, a gray light in the east being +barely discernible, Fort Fisher boomed forth a single shot. All +suspense here ended. Simultaneously the command, "_Forward_," was +given by all our officers, and the storming column moved promptly; +the advance line, with bayonets fixed, guns not loaded, the other +line with guns loaded to be ready to fire, if necessary, to protect +those in advance while passing the trenches. A few only of the +officers were on horseback. The enemy opened with musketry and +cannon, but the column went on, sweeping down the _abattis_, making +use of it to aid in effecting a passage of the deep ditches and to +gain a footing on the berme of the earthworks. Muskets and bayonets +were also utilized by thrusting them into the banks of the ditches +to enable the soldiers to climb from them. Men made ladders of +themselves by standing one upon another, thus enabling their comrades +to gain the parapets. The time occupied in the assault was short. +Colonel Prentiss with his Marylanders penetrated the fortifications +at the opening mentioned. They surprised the enemy by their presence +and a flank fire, and, as anticipated, caused him to fall back. +The storming bodies swarmed over the works, and the enemy immediately +in their front were soon killed, wounded, captured, or dispersed. +Ten pieces of artillery, three battle-flags, and General Heth's +headquarters flag were trophies of my command. The Third Division +gained an entrance first, owing to the shortness of the distance +it had to pass over. Getty's division (Second), however, promptly +obtained a foothold within the fortifications to the right of the +angle, followed on its right closely by Wheaton's division. The +fort at the salient angle was quickly evacuated, and the corps +charged forward, taking possession of the enemy's camps. Some hand- +to-hand fighting occurred on the ramparts of the fortifications +and in the camps, in which valuable lives were lost. A Confederate +soldier emerged from a tent, shot and killed Captain Henry H. +Stevens (110th Ohio), and immediately offered to surrender. One +week before a like incident occurred in my presence, where a +Confederate officer shot, with a pistol, a Union soldier, then +threw down his arms and proposed to surrender. Officers seldom +restrained soldiers from avenging, on the spot, such cowardly and +unsoldierly acts. Such incidents were, happily, very rare. + +Though thus far the assault had been crowned with success, the +greatest danger was still before us. Experience had taught that +the fate which one week before befell Gordon at Fort Stedman was +a common fate of troops who, in a necessarily broken state, gained +an entrance inside of an energetic enemy's lines. Our position +was not dissimilar to Gordon's after he had taken Fort Stedman. +To our left was a strong, closed star-fort, well manned and supplied +with cannon. It was impossible at once to restore order. Many of +our men passed, without orders, far to the north, some as far as +the Southside Railroad leading into Petersburg, which they began +to tear up. + +One important incident must be mentioned. + +Corporal John W. Mouk (138th Pennsylvania), with one comrade, having +penetrated in the early morning some distance in advance of our +other troops, was met by a Confederate general officer, accompanied +by his staff. The general demanded his surrender, whereupon the +corporal fired and killed him. He proved to be Lieutenant-General +A. P. Hill, then in command of Lee's right wing, and one of the +ablest officers the Confederacy produced. The corporal and his +comrade escaped, and Hill's staff bore his body away. It has been +claimed the corporal deceived Hill by pretending to surrender until +the General was in his power, then shot him. I investigated this +incident at the time and became convinced the corporal practised +no deception, and that his deliberate conduct--natural to him--led +Hill and his staff to assume he intended to surrender. + +But to return to the captured works. I entered them on horseback, +with some of my staff, close after Colonel Prentiss. Up to this +time no general orders had been given, save those promulgated prior +to the assault. The ranks were much broken, regiments were +intermingled, and excitement prevailed. I was charged with the +duty of carrying the next fort to our left. The steady fire on us +from this fort helped to recall the troops to a sense of danger. +Day was just dawning. I ordered Major S. B. Larmoeaux (9th New +York Heavy Artillery) to man such of the captured artillery as was +available. He soon had four guns firing on the fort, under cover +of which I ordered a general rush of the still disordered Union +troops on the fort. This charge resulted in its capture with six +more guns and a number of prisoners. The real danger was still +not passed. It was soon discovered that a Confederate division +was advancing on us from a camp to our left. As the men now in +the captured fort were in a disorganized state I made, with the +aid of other officers, every effort to withdraw the surplus men +for the purpose of formation and to relieve it of a too crowded +condition for defence. We also tried to man the guns of the fort. +Before we were prepared the enemy was upon us in a counter charge, +and the fort, with its guns, was lost, and some of our men were +taken; the greater number, however, escaped to a position still +within the captured lines. In this affair not many were killed or +wounded. The final ordeal was now on us. From the fort again came +shot, shell, and rifle-balls on our unprotected men. Under cover +of the fire of the before-mentioned captured artillery (having, by +that time, discovered an ample supply of ammunition) we succeeded +in making a somewhat confused formation, and again charged the +fort. The resistance was obstinate, but it was now light enough +to distinguish friend from foe. Though of short duration, the most +determined and bloody fight of the day took part on the ramparts +of and in this fort, resulting in our again taking it, and with it +its guns and most of the Confederate division. The brave Colonel +Prentiss as he led a storming column over the parapet of the fort, +was struck by a ball which carried away a part of his breast-bone +immediately over his heart, exposing its action to view. He fell +within the fort at the same moment the commander of the Confederate +battery fell near him with what proved to be a mortal wound. These +officers, lying side by side, their blood commingling on the ground, +there recognized each other. They were brothers, and had not met +for four years. They were cared for in the same hospitals, by the +same surgeons and nurses, with the same tenderness, and in part by +a Union chaplain, their brother. The Confederate, after suffering +the amputation of a leg, died in Washington in June, 1865, and +Colonel Prentiss died in Brooklyn, N. Y., the following August. + +Our hard fighting and bloody work for the day ended with the struggle +just described. We, a little later, with others of the corps, +swept to the left to the vicinity of Hatcher's Run, carrying +everything before us. We then, with the other divisions of the +corps, turned back towards Petersburg, reaching an inner line of +works by 10 A.M. + +General Parke with the Ninth Corps made a vigorous assault in front +of Fort Sedgwick near the Jerusalem plank-road at the same time +the Sixth made its assault, and with some success, but failed to +gain a permanent footing inside of the enemy's main fortifications. +The Sixth Corps alone made a secure lodgment within Lee's lines. +It made a rift in the Confederacy. + +The army then believed the end of the war was near, but blood enough +had not yet been spilled to destroy human slavery. + +General Ord, who had been transferred from the front of Richmond, +met and drove back some troops on Hatcher's Run, and Sheridan +advanced from Five Forks to the Appomattox, thence, uniting with +Ord, proceeded down it towards Petersburg. The left of Grant's +army was thrown across the Southside Railroad to the Appomattox +above Petersburg, and some isolated inner forts were taken, and +the enemy was crowded into his last line in the suburbs of Petersburg. +Grant ordered a general assault to be made at 6 A.M. of the 3d. +Thus far, since the general movement commenced, Lee had lost about +12,000 prisoners and about 50 guns. The killed and wounded were +not proportionately great. Lee had been forced to withdraw Longstreet +from north of Richmond, leaving his lines there very slimly defended.( 7) +General Weitzel had been left with a division north of the +James to threaten Richmond. Lee, early on the 2d, realized the +critical situation, and at 10.30 of that memorable Sabbath morning +wired Mr. Breckinridge, Secretary of War, at Richmond: + +"I see no prospect of doing more than holding our position here +until night. I am not certain I can do that. If I can I shall +withdraw to-night north of the Appomattox, and, if possible, it +will be better to withdraw the whole line to-night from James River. +I advise that all preparations be made for leaving Richmond to- +night. I will advise you later according to circumstances." + +This was handed to Mr. Davis while at church. He arose quietly +and retired, but the portent of the message was soon known and +caused great consternation among the inhabitants of the Confederate +Capital. For almost four years Richmond had been the defiant centre +of the rebellion. Now it was to be abandoned on less than twelve +hours' notice. + +Jefferson Davis wired Lee: + +"The Secretary of War has shown me your dispatch. To move to-night +will cause the loss of many valuables, both for the want of time +to pack and of transportation. Arrangements are progressing, and +unless you otherwise advise the start will be made." + +Lee responded: + +"I think it absolutely necessary that we should abandon our position +to-night. I have given all the necessary orders on the subject to +the troops, and the operation, though difficult, I hope will be +performed successfully. I have directed General Stevens to send +an officer to your Excellency to explain the routes to you by which +the troops will be moved to Amelia Court-House, and furnish you +with a guide and any assistance you may require for yourself."( 8) + +Richmond and Petersburg were evacuated the night of April 2d. The +troops in and around the two cities commenced to retire at 8 P.M., +and were directed to concentrate at Amelia Court-House, about sixty +miles distant, where Lee had ordered supplies for his army to be +collected. Ewell withdrew the troops north of Richmond and the +marines from the James. There was insufficient transportation for +the archives and other valuables of the several departments of the +Confederacy, to say nothing of other public and private property. +Army supplies had to be destroyed or abandoned. A panic seized +the city, and in burning some public stores it took fire in two +places, and but for the arrival, about 8 A.M. of the 3d, of Union +troops from Weitzel's command, it would have burned down. Petersburg +suffered little in the evacuation. Its mayor and council surrendered +it about 4 A.M. of the 3d. The besieging army, so long striving +for its possession, was not permitted to enter it. + +President Lincoln was at City Point when the movement of Grant's +army commenced, and remained until Richmond and Petersburg fell. +Grant, on the 2d, in anticipation of further success, suggested +that the President visit him at the front next day. Mr. Lincoln +accordingly met Grant in Petersburg the morning of its surrender +and held an interview with him of an hour and a half. Secretary +Stanton, learning that the President contemplated going to the +front, wired from Washington on the morning of the 3d, protesting +against his exposing "the nation to the consequence of any disaster +to himself in the pursuit of a dangerous enemy like the rebel army." + +The President answered from City Point at 5 P.M.: + +"Yours received. Thanks for your caution, but I have already been +to Petersburg. Staid with Grant an hour and a half and returned +here. It is certain now that Richmond is in our hands, and I will +go there to-morrow. I will take care of myself."( 9) + +Mr. Lincoln made his entry into Richmond on the 4th (on foot from +a boat), almost without personal protection, and excited the highest +interest of the people, especially of the slaves, who looked upon +and adored him as their savior. There were no bounds to their +rejoicing. He, while there, in consultation with Judge J. A. +Campbell and other former Confederate leaders, talked of plans of +reconstruction, and went so far as to sanction the calling of the +Confederate Legislature of Virginia together with a view to its +withdrawing the Virginia troops from the army.(10) + +He was in a generous mood, willing to concede much to secure a +speedy restoration of the Union. + +Mr. Campbell reports the President's position thus: + +"His indispensable conditions are the restoration of the authority +of the United States and the disbanding of the troops, and no +receding on his part from his position on the slavery question as +defined in his message in December and other official documents. +All other questions to be settled on terms of sincere liberality. +He says that to any State that will promptly accept these terms he +will relinquish confiscation, except where third persons have +acquired adverse interests."(11) + +Abraham Lincoln returned from Richmond to Washington filled to +overflowing with hope, joy, and thoughts of generous treatment of +his rebellious countrymen. He, too, was soon to become a sacrifice +in atonement for his nation's sins. He fell, at the apex of human +glory, by the hands of a disloyal assassin, April 14, 1865.(12) +The great and the humble friends of freedom, not only of his own +country but of the world, wept. He had been permitted, however, +to look through the opening portals of peace upon a restored Union +with universal freedom, under one flag. + +( 1) See map, and _Battles and Leaders of the War_, vol. iv., p. +538. + +( 2) One enterprising Confederate managed to escape to our lines +with a wagon and six mules from a party gathering wood. His outfit +was valued at $1200. + +( 3) Grant's _Memoirs_, vol. ii., p. 460. + +( 4) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 145-7. + +( 5) General Wright, speaking of this position in his report of +the storming of the fortifications at Petersburg, says: + +"It should here be remarked that, but for the success of the 25th +ultimo, in which was carried the intrenched line of the enemy, +though at a cost in men which at the time seemed hardly to have +warranted the movement, the attack of the 2d inst. on the enemy's +main lines could not have been successful. The position thus gained +was an indispensable one to the operations on the main lines, by +affording a place for the assembling of assaulting columns within +striking distance of the enemy's main intrenchments." _War Records_, +vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 903. + +( 6) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 954. + +( 7) _Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 603-5. + +( 8) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 1378. + +( 9) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 509. + +(10) _Ibid_., pp. 612, 655-7, 724-5. + +(11) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 723. + +(12) Abraham Lincoln, on the evening of March 14, 1865, attended +Ford's Theatre in Washington in company with Mrs. Lincoln, Miss +Harris, and Major Henry R. Rathbone (daughter and stepson of Senator +Ira Harris of New York), and while in a private box (at 10 P.M.) +was shot by John Wilkes Booth. The bullet entered his head on the +left side, passed through the brain, and lodged behind the left +eye. He was carried to a house across the street, where he died +(never being conscious after the shot) at twenty-two minutes after +seven the morning of April 15, 1865. Secretary Stanton, standing +by him as his life went out, more than prophetically said: "_Now +he belongs to the ages_." + +An attempt was made the same night to assassinate Secretary Wm. H. +Seward, which came near being successful. He was, also his son +Frederick, terribly wounded and beaten. + + +CHAPTER XIII +Battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6th--Capitulation of General Robert +E. Lee's Army at Appomattox Court-House, April 9, 1865--Surrender +of Other Confederate Armies, and End of the War of the Rebellion + +Richmond and Petersburg having been evacuated, the Army of the +Potomac, at early dawn, April 3, 1865, under orders, marched +westward. Its sole objective now was the Confederate Army. Grant +directed some corps of his army to pursue on the line of Lee's +retreat, and others to march westward on roads farther to the south +to strike other roads necessary for Lee to pursue in gaining North +Carolina where he might form a junction with General Joe Johnston +who was then trying to stem the advance of Sherman. + +It was soon known that Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet had reached +Danville, Virginia, and had proclaimed it the seat of the Confederate +Government. + +To reach Danville Lee bent all his energy. + +The sagacious and energetic movements of the several corps of the +Union army from the morning of April 3d to the surrender of Lee +will stand as a lasting testimonial to Grant's military genius, +ranking him with the great strategists of the world. Lee's officers +were familiar with the roads; the inhabitants were their friends; +his retreat was upon the shorter line, and he had a night's start. +Generals Meade, Sheridan, Ord, and the corps commanders also, won +just fame for the successful handling of their several commands. + +Meade kept his forces in hand and pushed them precipitously on the +desired points. Sheridan was indomitable and remorseless in his +pursuit with the cavalry. Grant accompanied the army, sometimes +with one part of it and then with another, always knowing what was +going on and the position of all the troops. His orders were +implicitly obeyed. Rest or sleep was impossible for any length of +time. Recent and continuing rains rendered the roads almost +impassable for artillery trains. Teams were doubled and one half +the artillery and wagons were left behind. Lee undertook to order +supplies sent to Burkeville, where he expected to meet them. +Sheridan's cavalry captured, April 4th, a messenger with dispatches +in his boots which he was conveying to Burkeville to be wired to +Danville and Lynchburg, directing 300,000 rations to be forwarded +to Burkeville. Sheridan, by scouts disguised as rebels, had the +dispatches taken to Burkeville and sent, with the expectation he +would capture the rations on their arrival. They did not reach +Burkeville, but several train loads were sent forward from Lynchburg. +Sheridan's cavalry met them at Appomattox Station on the 8th, and +received them in bulk, locomotives, trains, and all.( 1) + +Late on the 5th, Lee leisurely moved his army from Amelia Court- +House towards Burkeville. Sheridan's cavalry, with some infantry, +had possession of Jetersville on a road Lee attempted to pursue. +Sheridan assailed Lee's advance furiously and drove it back, forcing +him to form his army for battle. This occupied so much time that +when it was ready to attack, night was approaching, and the Fifth +and Sixth Corps were arrived or were arriving. Lee's escape to +Danville by the way of Burkeville was no longer possible. The day +was too far spent to fight a battle. Grant was still pushing his +corps upon different roads to intercept Lee's retreat. Lee's prime +mistake was in not concentrating his army, on the 4th, at Burkeville, +the junction of the two railroads, instead of at Amelia Court-House. +It was supposed that a decisive battle would be fought at Jetersville, +but Lee withdrew during the night. + +General Lee claimed he lost one day at Amelia Court-House gathering +subsistence, because his orders to collect them there in advance +of his retreat had been disregarded.( 2) + +Jefferson Davis reached Danville, Virginia, with members of his +Cabinet, on the 3d of April, and, on the 5th, he issued a proclamation +which he subsequently characterized thus: + +"Viewed in the light of subsequent events, it may be fairly said +it was over-sanguine." In it he used such expressions as: + +"Let us but will it and we are free. I announce to you, fellow +countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my +whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the +enemy one foot of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy; +that Virginia--noble State, whose ancient renown has been eclipsed +by her still more glorious recent history; whose bosom has been +bared to receive the main shock of the war; whose sons and daughters +have exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her illustrious +through all time to come--that Virginia with the help of the people, +and by the blessings of Providence, shall be held and defended, +and no peace ever made with the infamous invaders of her territory. + +"If by the stress of numbers, we should be compelled to a temporary +withdrawal from her limits or those of any other border State, we +will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in +despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a free +people."( 3) + +In consequence of Hill's death, Lee divided his army into two wings, +Ewell commanding one and Longstreet the other, his cavalry being +under Fitzhugh Lee and his artillery under Pendleton. + +The Confederate Army, on the night of April 5th, abandoned Amelia +Court-House, and by circuitous country roads endeavored to pass +around the Union left through Deatonville and Painesville to Prince +Edward's Court-House, hoping still to be able to escape to Danville. + +At daylight of the 6th the Union forces at Jetersville advanced in +battle array on Amelia Court-House, and some precious hours were +lost in ascertaining the direction of Lee's retreat. Our army was, +however, soon counter-marched to Jetersville, and thence, by +different roads and regardless of them, by forced marches, it sought +to intercept Lee. It must be remembered Lee's troops had one day +or more rest since leaving Petersburg and Richmond, and Grant's +army had none, and the latter had been moved by night as well as +by day, and irregularly fed. The most appealing orders were issued +by General Meade to his army to make the required sacrifices and +efforts to overtake and overthrow Lee's army. I quote from Meade's +order of the night of April 4th: + +"The Major-General commanding feels he has but to recall to the +Army of the Potomac the success of the oft repeated gallant contests +with the Army of Northern Virginia, and when he assures the army +that, in the opinion of so distinguished an officer as General +Sheridan, it only requires these sacrifices to bring this long and +desperate conflict to a triumphant issue, the men of this army will +show that they are as willing to die of fatigue and starvation as +they have ever shown themselves ready to fall by the bullets of +the enemy."( 4) + +This order, when read to the regiments, was loudly cheered. There +was perfect harmony of action among Grant's generals; all putting +forth their best efforts. On the 4th, Sheridan dispatched Grant, +"If we press on we will no doubt get the whole army." And again +on the 6th, "_If the thing is pressed I think Lee will surrender_." +( 5) On these dispatches being forwarded to President Lincoln, still +at City Point, he is reported to have wired Grant, "Let the thing +be pressed."( 6) + +Grant, personally, gave more attention to the movements of his +forces to important places than to fighting battles. He was +especially anxious for Ord's command to be hastened forward on a +line south of Lee. Grant was always in touch with Meade and +Sheridan, but on the 5th and 6th he was with Ord. At night of the +5th he dispatched from Nottoway Court-House to Meade: + +"Your movements are right. Lee's army is the objective point, and +to capture that is all we want. Ord has marched fifteen miles to- +day to reach here, and is going on. He will probably reach Burkeville +to-night. My headquarters will be with the advance."( 7) + +Sheridan, in command of the cavalry, was often, temporarily, also +given command of a corps of infantry. + +In the pursuit on the 6th from Jetersville, Wright's corps followed +Merritt's cavalry, and about 3 P.M., after a forced march of eighteen +miles, partly without roads and over a hilly country and under a +hot sun, came up with a portion of it heavily engaged trying to +seize a road at a point about two miles from Sailor's Creek on the +left and about the same distance from Deatonville on the right, on +which Ewell's wing of Lee's army was retreating. Ewell was heading +towards Rice's Station to form a junction with Longstreet, both +intending to move _via_ Prince Edward's Court-House south. Ord, +with the Army of the James, late on this day confronted Longstreet +at Rice's Station. The Third Division of the Sixth was in advance, +and my brigade went into line of battle and rapidly into action, +with scarcely a halt for formation, and, together with the cavalry, +charged and drove the enemy across the road, capturing many prisoners, +wagons, and some pieces of artillery, including General Heth's +headquarters wagons. + +An incident occurred soon after we gained this road. Another road +from the west intersected at this point the one we had just seized, +and on which the enemy had a battery which opened on us furiously. +I hastened to the intersecting road to direct some of my regiments +to charge and capture the battery or drive it away. Generals +Sheridan and Wright, with their staffs, soon galloped up. Sheridan +was accompanied by a large mounted brass band that commenced playing +_Hail to the Chief_, or some other then unwelcome music. This drew +the fire from the battery with increased fury on the whole party. +Both Sheridan and Wright were too proud spirited to retire in the +presence of the troops or each other, though not needed at that +place. The dry limbs of pine trees rattling down around us and +the bursting of shells rendered the situation embarrassing in the +extreme, and the lives of others were being sacrificed or imperilled +by the presence of the distinguished party. Being in immediate +charge of the forces there, I invited the Generals to get out of +the way, but as they did not retire I ordered a charge upon the +"_noisy band_," and thus caused the whole party to retire to a +place of greater safety. Some of them were quite willing to go. + +I gave Colonel Binkley such an imperative order to silence the +battery, that he pursued it with a detachment to such a distance +that he did not rejoin the brigade in time to participate in the +principal battle of the day yet to be fought. + +Ewell's wing of the Confederate Army had mainly passed on towards +its destination. Pursuit was promptly ordered by Sheridan and +conducted by Wright. Ewell's rear-guard fought stubbornly and fell +back slowly through the timber until it reached Sailor's Creek. +Wheaton's division arrived and joined the Third on the left in the +attack and pursuit. Merritt's cavalry passed rapidly around Ewell's +right to intercept the retreat. Merritt crossed Sailor's Creek +with Custer and Devin's divisions south of the road on which the +enemy retreated. + +General R. S. Ewell crossed Sailor's Creek, and about 5 P.M. took +up a strong position on heights on its west bank. These heights, +save on their face, were covered with forest. There was a level, +cultivated bottom about one half mile in width, wholly on the east +bank of the stream. Sailor's Creek, then greatly swollen, washed +the foot of the heights on which Ewell had posted his army. He +hoped to be able to hold his position until night, when, under +cover of darkness, he might escape towards Danville. + +Our troops were temporarily halted on the hills at the eastern edge +of the valley, in easy range of the enemy's guns, and the lines +were hastily adjusted.( 8) Artillery went into position and at +once opened a heavy fire. An effort was made to bring up Getty's +division of the Sixth and the detachment of my brigade under Binkley, +but the day was too far spent to await their arrival. It was +plainly evident that Ewell outnumbered our forces in line, and our +men had been on foot for twelve hours. Wright hesitated under the +circumstances, but Sheridan, coming to the front, advised an +assault.( 9) Wright then promptly ordered the infantry on the +field to make one, under cover of the artillery. Colonel Stagg's +cavalry brigade was ordered to attack the enemy's right flank, and +Merritt and Crook's cavalry were to attack still farther around +his right and on his rear. + +Ewell covered his front with a strong line of infantry, and massed +a large body in column, in rear of his centre, to be used as the +exigencies of the battle might require. Ewell's cavalry covered +his right and rear. General R. H. Anderson and J. B. Gordon, with +their corps, had preceded Ewell in crossing Sailor's Creek, and +Sheridan, who had now personally passed from the front around to +Merritt, encountered them some distance to the rear of Ewell's +position. The Confederate trains were on the road to Rice's Station, +where Longstreet was confronting Ord, neither, however, willing to +attack the other. + +The plan was for Anderson and Gordon to attack and clear the rear, +while Ewell stopped the infantry at the Creek.(10) The latter had +three infantry divisions, with parts of others, under the command +of Generals Kershaw, G. W. Custis Lee, Pickett, Barton, DuBose, +Corse, Hunton, and others of the most distinguished officers of +the Confederate Army. Commodore John Randolph Tucker, formerly of +the United States navy, commanding the Marine Brigade, was posted +on the face of the heights on Ewell's front. Colonel Crutchfield, +who had been recently in charge of the artillery at Richmond, +commanded a large brigade of artillerymen serving as infantry. + +About 5 P.M. the two divisions of the Sixth descended from the hills, +in a single line, and moved steadily across the valley in the face +of a destructive fire, with muskets and ammunition boxes over the +shoulder, the men waded the swollen stream. Though the water was +from two to four feet deep, the creek was crossed without a halt. +Many fell on the plain and in the water, and those who reached the +west bank were in some disorder. The command, was, however, given +by the officers accompanying the troops to storm the heights, and +it was obeyed. Not until within a few yards of the enemy, while +ascending the heights, did our men commence firing. The enemy's +advance line gave way, and an easy victory seemed about to be +achieved, but before the crest was reached, Ewell with his massed +troops made an impetuous charge upon and through our line. Our +centre was completely broken and a disastrous defeat for us seemed +imminent. The large column of Confederate infantry now, however, +became exposed to the renewed fire from Wright's massed artillery +on the hills east of the valley. + +The right and left of the charging line met with better success, +driving back all in their front, and, wholly disregarding the defeat +of the centre, persisted in advancing, each wheeling as on a pivot +in the centre, until the enemy's troops were completely enveloped +and subjected to a deadly fire on both flanks, as well as from the +artillery in front. The flooded stream forbade an advance on our +unguarded batteries. The cavalry, in a simultaneous attack, about +this time overthrew all before them on the Confederate right and +rear. Ewell's officers gallantly exerted themselves to avert +disaster, and bravely tried to form lines to the right and left to +repel the now furious flank attacks. This, however, proved +impossible. Our men were pushed up firing to within a few feet of +the massed Confederates, rendering any reformation or change of +front by them out of the question, and speedily bringing hopeless +disorder. A few were bayoneted on each side. The enemy fell +rapidly, while doing little execution. Flight became impossible, +and nothing remained to put an end to the bloody slaughter but for +the Confederates to throw down their arms and become captives. As +the gloom of approaching night settled over the field, now covered +with dead and dying, the fire of artillery and musketry ceased, +and General Ewell, together with eleven general officers and about +all the survivors of his gallant army, were prisoners. Ewell, +Kershaw, G. W. Custis Lee (son of General R. E. Lee), and others +surrendered to the Sixth Corps. Barton, Corse, Hunton, DuBose, +and others were taken by the cavalry. Crutchfield of the Artillery +Brigade was killed near me, and his command captured or dispersed. +Generals Anderson and Gordon got away with part of B. R. Johnson's +division, and Pickett escaped with about six hundred men.(11) +Tucker's Marine Brigade, numbering about two thousand, surrendered +to me in a body a little later.(12) It had been passed by in the +onset of the charge. About thirty-five of the officers of this +brigade had served in the United States Navy before the war. The +brigade was made up of naval troops who had recently served on +gunboats and river batteries on the James below Richmond. As +infantrymen they cut a sorry figure, but they were brave, and stood +to their assigned position after all others of their army had been +overthrown. They knew nothing about flight, and were taken as a +body. By reason of their first position they suffered heavily. +When disarmed there was found to be a wagon load or more of pistols +of all patterns which had been collected from all the countries of +the civilized world. Certain incidents relating to the surrender +of this brigade may be of interest.(13) + +Tucker's command was not at once engulfed in the general disaster. +Tucker had, after making a gallant charge, withdrawn it from its +exposed position into the dense timber in a depression in the +bluffs. Near the close of the battle, just at dusk, it was reported +to me that a force of Confederates was in this timber. I made two +vain attempts to get into communication with it and to notify its +commanding officer that he was in our power. At last, having some +doubts of its presence where reported, and my staff and orderlies +being engaged reforming troops and caring for prisoners, I rode +alone to investigate. After proceeding in the woods a short +distance, to my surprise I came upon Tucker's brigade in line of +battle, partly concealed by underbrush. To avoid capture I resorted +to a ruse. In a loud voice I gave the command, "_Forward_," and +it was repeated by the Confederate officers all along the line. +I turned to ride towards my own troops. The dense thicket prevented +speed and the marines therefore kept at my horse's heels. As an +open space was approached the nearest Confederate discovered that +I was a Union officer, and cried "Shoot him." As I turned to +surrender, some confusion arose and a few shots were fired, but +Tucker and Captain John D. Semmes, being near me, knocked up the +ends of the nearest rifles with their swords and saved my life. +From this situation, lying close on my horse's neck, I escaped to +my own command. With a detachment I at once returned to the timber, +where I met Tucker and explained to him the situation of which he +was ignorant, and forthwith received his surrender with his brigade. +Later, when Tucker and Semmes were prisoners at Johnson's Island, +near Sandusky, the appealed to me to intercede for their release, +which I most gladly and successfully did. They had each been, at +the beginning of the war, in the United States Navy, which caused +them to be exceptionally detained as prisoners under President +Johnson's order.(14) + +The infantry, under Wright, engaged in the battle at Sailor's Creek +at no time exceeded ten thousand men. The number participating in +the charge across the plain and in storming the heights did not +exceed seven thousand, being fewer in number than the enemy captured +on the field. It has been claimed that Humphreys' Second Corps +participated in the battle, and some Confederate officers assert +that the attack was made with thirty thousand men under Wright. +Humphreys did have a lively skirmish the evening of the 6th, and +captured a considerable train, far off to the right of the battle- +field, and in this the detachment under Colonel Binkley from my +brigade participated.(15) + +Getty's division of the Sixth did not reach the field in time to +become engaged.(16) The results, being so great, naturally led +interested parties to exaggerate the number of the attacking +forces.(17) + +Sheridan, in his report, May 16, 1865, speaking of the infantry +attack, says: "It was splendid, but no more than I had reason to +expect from the gallant Sixth Corps." And he speaks of the fighting +of the cavalry and the captures thus: + +"The cavalry in the rear of the enemy attacked simultaneously, and +the enemy, after a gallant resistance, were completely surrounded, +and nearly all threw down their arms and surrendered. General +Ewell, commanding the enemy's forces, a number of other general +officers, and about 10,000 other prisoners were taken by us. Most +of them fell into the hands of the cavalry, but they are no more +entitled to claim them than the Sixth Corps, to which equal credit +is due for the result of this engagement." + +Our loss in killed and wounded was comparatively small; that of +the enemy was great, but not in proportion to his loss in prisoners. +One week after the battle I visited the field, and could then have +walked on Confederate dead for many successive rods along the face +of the heights held by the enemy when the battle opened. + +The capture of Ewell and his generals, with the larger part of the +forces under them, and the dispersion of the remainder of Ewell's +wing of Lee's army were irreparable disasters to the Confederacy. +Lee could no longer hope to cope with the pursuing army. The Sixth +Corps had the distinguished honor of striking the decisive blows +at Petersburg on the 2d, and at Sailor's Creek on the 6th of April, +1865. + +Sailor's Creek may fairly be called the last field battle of the +war. A distinguished Confederate General, Wade Hampton, in a +_Century Magazine_ article, pronounced the battle of Bentonville, +North Carolina, the "last important one of the war, . . . the last +general battle of the Civil War." There may be room for controversy +as to where and when the last "general battle" of the war was +fought. Certain it is that it was not at Bentonville that the +conflict ended on a large scale and blood ceased to flow in the +great Rebellion. Bentonville was mainly fought March 19, 1865, +and while it may properly be called a field engagement and of no +insignificant proportions, it was not the last one. This is not +the place to enter into any controversy about last battles, their +character and significance, yet it may not be out of place to call +attention to the most prominent battles, etc., fought after March +19, 1865. + +Fort Stedman, in front of Petersburg, Virginia, was assaulted and +temporarily taken by the Confederate General Gordon, March 25, +1865, and while the fighting which ensued in retaking the fort and +in driving out the attacking forces may not be denominated a general +battle, yet it was a bloody one. Other severe fighting took place +in front of Petersburg the same day. + +Five Forks, Virginia, fought by General Sheridan's cavalry and the +Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac, April 1, 1865, was fought outside +of fortifications by cavalry, infantry, and artillery combined, +and there were charges and counter-charges, lasting several hours, +the losses being heavy in killed and wounded. Many prisoners were +there taken by Sheridan's command. Five Forks was a general field +engagement. + +The assaults and conflicts on, over, and around the ramparts of +the forts and fortifications (incomparably bloody) in front of +Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865, which tore open the strong +lines of defence held by General Lee's army, forced it to flight, +and lost Petersburg and Richmond to the Confederacy, may not be +entitled to be classed as general field battles. + +Sailor's Creek came next in order, fought April 6, 1865. + +The assault and capture of Fort Blakely, near Mobile, Alabama, took +place April 9, 1865. If Blakely can be called a general battle it +was the last one of the war. It was, however, mainly an assault +by the Union forces under General E. R. S. Canby on fortifications, +though rich in results. The killed and wounded at Blakely in both +armies aggregated about 2000 men. Canby's forces captured 3423 +men, 40 pieces of artillery, 16 battle flags, etc. The prize fought +for and won was Mobile, its surrounding forts and the Confederate +Navy in the harbor of Mobile. + +At Palmetto Ranche, Texas, on May 13, 1865, near the battle-field +of General Zachary Taylor at Palo Alto (May 8, 1846), the first of +the Mexican War, and about two thousand miles from Big Bethel, the +scene, June 10, 1861, of the first considerable battle of the +Rebellion, a lively engagement took place, hardly, however, rising +above the dignity of a skirmish or an _affair_, though it was by +no means bloodless. (The magnitude of the battles of the Rebellion +dwarfed to _affairs_ or skirmishes what were formerly in this and +other countries called battles.) + +Colonel Theodore H. Barrett commanded the Union forces at Palmetto +Ranche, and General J. E. Slaughter the Confederates. + +The 62d United States Colored Infantry, in this fight, probably +fired the last angry volley of the war, and Sergeant Crocket of +that regiment (three days after Jefferson Davis' capture) received +the last wound from a rebel hostile bullet, and hence shed the last +fresh blood in the war resulting in the freedom of his race in the +United States. The observation irresistibly comes, that on the +scene of the first battle of the Mexican War--a war inaugurated +for the acquisition of slave territory--and of the _first_ battle +participated in by Lieutenant-General (then Second Lieutenant) U. +S. Grant, almost exactly nineteen years later, the last conflict +took place in the war for the preservation of the Union, and in +which slavery was totally overthrown in our Republic. + +But to return from the digression and to conclude the story of +Sailor's Creek, or the "Forgotten Battle." It may truthfully be +said that it was not only the last general field battle of the war, +but the one wherein more officers and men were captured in the +struggle of actual conflict than in any battle of modern times. + +There was some fighting between the cavalry of the two armies and +many minor affairs between the advance- and rear-guards, but the +four years' heavy fighting between the Army of Northern Virginia +and the Army of the Potomac ended at Sailor's Creek. + +During the battle Lee was with Longstreet at Rice's Station, two +miles distant, impatiently awaiting news from Lieutenant-Generals +Ewell and Anderson. General Mahone states what transpired when +Colonel Venable of Lee's staff reported to his chief something of +the disaster at Sailor's Creek: + +"General Lee exclaimed, 'Where is Anderson? Where is Ewell? It +is strange I can't hear from them." Then turning to me, he said, +'General Mahone, I have no other troops, will you take your division +to Sailor's Creek?' and I promptly gave the order by the left flank, +and off we were for Sailor's Creek, where the disaster had occurred. +General Lee rode with me, Colonel Venable a little in the rear. +On reaching the south crest of the high ground at the crossing of +the river road overlooking Sailor's Creek, the disaster which had +overtaken our army was in full view, and the scene beggars description, +--hurrying teamsters with their teams and dangling traces (no +wagons), retreating infantry without guns, many without hats, a +harmless mob, with the massive columns of the enemy moving orderly +on. At this spectacle General Lee straightened himself in his +saddle, and, looking more the soldier than ever, exclaimed, as if +talking to himself, 'My God! has the army dissolved?' As quickly +as I could control my own voice I replied, 'No, General, here are +troops ready to do their duty'; when, in a mellowed voice, he +replied: 'Yes, General, there are some true men left. Will you +please keep those people back?' As I was placing my division in +position to 'keep those people back,' the retiring herd just referred +to had crowded around General Lee while he sat on his horse with +a Confederate battle-flag in his hand. I rode up and requested +him to give me the flag, which he did. + +"It was near dusk, and he wanted to know of me how to get away. +I replied: 'Let General Longstreet move by the river road to +Farmville, and cross the river there, and I will go through the +woods to the High Bridge (railroad bridge) and cross there.' To +this he assented." + +Longstreet retired at nightfall to Farmville and there crossed the +Appomattox the morning of the 7th, and Mahone and broken detachments, +with such trains and artillery as Lee still possessed, crossed at +the High Bridge. All bridges were wholly or partially destroyed +by the enemy on being passed. + +The result of the operations of April 6th forced Lee off of all +roads leading to Danville, and Lynchburg became his objective. + +Grant's plans did not justify a halt on the field of Sailor's Creek +long enough to bury the dead, or even long enough to care for our +wounded, and, though night had come, the battle-stained soldiers, +hungry and exhausted, were marched on. The Sixth Corps encamped +at 10 P.M. near Rice's Station, about three miles from the battle- +field. Other corps on different lines were kept to their work, +and their operations also contributed towards baffling Lee's plans +for escape. + +A single serious disaster occurred on the 6th to a detachment of +our army. Ord, whose orders were to obstruct all lines of retreat, +detached Colonel Francis Washburn with the 123d Ohio and portions +of the 54th Pennsylvania and 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, about eight +hundred in all, to destroy High Bridge over the Appomattox below +Farmville. Later in the day, Colonel Thomas Reed of Ord's staff +with eighty cavalrymen was sent to recall Washburn. The detachments +met, and having penetrated to within about two miles of the bridge, +encountered Lee's advance cavalry and infantry. Washburn and Read +put up one of the most gallant fights of the war, but were soon +surrounded. They led repeated charges until both fell, mortally +wounded. Not until most of the command had fallen did it surrender. +The Confederate loss was severe, especially in officers. This +affair caused Lee to lose precious time, he being led to believe +from the obstinacy of the fight that a large Union force was in +his front. + +The Sixth Corps, after Sailor's Creek, was ordered to pursue Lee's +army directly. Its flanking work was done; its mission was to +assail Lee's rear, delay him, and if possible bring him to battle. + +Sheridan, with Merritt's cavalry division, followed by Ord and the +Fifth Corps, continued westward, with orders not to stop for bad +roads, nor wait for subsistence or for daylight. They were not to +halt until planted across Lee's front. + +Humphreys, who also had orders to press Lee's rear, succeeded with +his corps and a cavalry division under Crook in crossing the +Appomattox close on Mahone's rear. Wright, the morning of the 7th, +followed Longstreet to Farmville, where the latter had passed to +the north of the river. + +Grant and his staff, with a small escort, rode by us about noon. +The roads were muddy from recent rains and much cut up by the +Confederate Army. Grant was dressed, to all appearance, in a +tarpaulin suit, and he was, even to his whiskers, so bespattered +with mud, fresh and dried, as to almost prevent recognition. He +then, as always, was quiet, modest, and undemonstrative. A close +look showed an expression of deep anxiety on his countenance. + +Farmville is in a narrow, short valley on the south bank of the +Appomattox, surrounded on the south by high bluffs. As the Sixth +arrived on the heights above the town I was riding with General +Wright. All were anxious to ascertain the exact whereabouts of +the enemy, when, to our amazement, apparently the whole Confederate +Army came into view on the high plain north of the river. It was +drawn up in battle array and seemingly about to envelop and destroy +Crook's cavalry, that was furiously assailing it to delay it. From +the heights it seemed to us Crook's command would speedily be +annihilated. Wright was an unimpassioned man, little given to +excitement, but this scene threw him into a vehement state. His +corps was too far off the render assistance; the Appomattox, deep +through narrow, lay between, and pontoons were not up. He ordered +his corps hastened forward, and plunged down the bluffs into +Farmville, looking for a crossing. He soon came in front of a +Virginia tavern with the usual "stoops" or low porches in front, +above, and below. Grant was seated on the upper "stoop," resting +his chin on his folded arms, which were on the rail of a baluster. +He was smoking a cigar, and doubtless casting his eyes on the +situation across the river. He then looked happy, contented, and +unconcerned. He did not change when Wright exhibited, by word and +act, great solicitude for the fate of the cavalry. When Wright +had finished, Grant withdrew his cigar from his lips, raised his +head only a little, and pleasantly said: "The cavalry are doing +well, and I hope General Lee will continue to fight them, as the +delay will lessen his chances of escape." Grant also, pointing in +the direction of the river, added: "General Wright, you will find +the debris of a railroad bridge down there, on which you can +construct a passage for your infantry and get them over the river +during the night." Grant resumed smoking and we went about our +business. + +A crossing was soon made on the iron and timbers of a broken-down +bridge, over which foot soldiers could pass in single file. As +the structure was liable to get out of order, each officer, from +division to company commander, was required to stand at its end +and see that the soldiers of his command marched on it at proper +intervals and with steady step. It was 3 A.M. of the 8th before +the last of the corps had crossed and bivouacked. Mounted officers +and escorts swam the stream at a swollen ford near-by. + +Crook lost heavily in his unequal combat, one of his brigades +especially, its commanding officer, General J. Irwin Gregg, being +captured, but the purpose of the attack was accomplished. Crook +withdrew his recently imperilled cavalry to the south of the river +about 9 P.M. of the 7th, and reached Prospect Station the same +night, under orders to rejoin Sheridan. + +Lee, late on the evening of the 7th, seems to have been personally +seized with a panic on hearing some threatening reports of being +cut off or flanked, and he caused his trains to retreat in a wild +rush and the infantry under Longstreet to march at double-quick to +Cumberland Church, where he formed for battle.(18) + +General Ewell, at supper with Wright the night after his capture +on the 6th, made some remarks about the hopeless condition of the +Confederate Army, and suggested that Lee might be willing to +surrender. This and other like talk of Ewell, being communicated +by a Dr. Smith to Grant, suggested the idea to him of demanding +the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia.(19) A note to this +effect was accordingly sent to Lee, under a flag of truce, at 5 +P.M. of the 7th. Lee immediately answered, saying he did not +entertain the opinion that further resistance was hopeless on the +part of his army, yet asked Grant to name the terms he would offer +on condition of surrender. Grant, on the 8th, replied that there +was but one condition he would insist on, viz.: + +"That the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for +taking up arms against the government of the United States until +properly exchanged." + +Lee, the same day, responded, saying that in his note of the day +before, he "did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of +Northern Virginia," but only to ask the terms of Grant's proposition, +adding that he could not meet Grant with the view of surrendering +that army, but as far as Grant's proposal might affect the Confederate +States forces under his command and tend to the restoration of +peace, he would be pleased to meet Grant the next day at 10 A.M. +Very early on the 9th Grant sent Lee a note saying: "I have no +authority to treat on the subject of peace; the meeting proposed +for 10 A.M. to-day could lead to no good." + +At the earliest dawn of the 8th, the Sixth Corps pushed after Lee, +compelling him to abandon some of his heaviest artillery and a +further part of his trains. Longstreet covered Lee's rear, and +his troops had not been seriously engaged on the retreat. Ord and +the Fifth Corps struggled westward, cutting off all chance of Lee +turning southward and of thus extricating himself. The 8th was +not a day of battles but of the utmost activity in both armies. + +I note an incident. While halted, about noon on the 8th, in some +low pines to drink a cup of coffee and eat a cracker, Colonel Horace +Kellogg, of the 123d Ohio, who had been captured with Washburn's +command on the 6th, near High Bridge, came to us through the bushes +from a hiding-place to which he escaped soon after his capture. +He looked cadaverous, was wild-eyed, and in a crazed condition, +caused by starvation and want of water for two days. We had to +restrain him, and give him water, coffee, and food in small quantities +at first, to prevent his killing himself from over-indulgence. + +Sheridan, who had concentrated his cavalry at Prospect Station +under Crook, Merritt, and Custer, at daybreak of the 8th hastened +westward, south of Lee, to Appomattox Station. Sergeant White, of +the scouts, in advance, in disguise, west of the Station, met four +trains from Lynchburg with supplies sent in obedience to the +Burkeville dispatch already mentioned. The trains were feeling +their way eastward, in ignorance of Lee's whereabouts. The Sergeant +had the original dispatch with him, and exhibited it, and, by +dwelling on the starving condition of Lee's army, easily persuaded +the officers in charge to run the trains east of Appomattox Station, +he having, meantime, sent word to Sheridan where they could be +found. Custer hastened forward, sending two regiments by a detour, +in a gallop, to seize and break the railroad behind the trains. +The trains were captured. One was burned, and the other three sent +eastward towards Farmville. This capture took place just as the +head of Lee's column came in sight.(20) Custer attacked Lee's +advance, and was soon joined by Devin's division and a brigade from +Crook. Together they drove it back, capturing twenty-five pieces +of artillery, a hospital train, and a large park of wagons which +were being sent ahead of Lee's main army. Sheridan's headquarters, +at night, were at a farm-house, just south of Appomattox Station, +and about three miles southwest of the Court-House of that name. +Neither he nor his command slept that night. Sheridan was now +across Lee's front, and if he could hold on, Lee must surrender. +Ord, with the Fifth Corps following, was hastening to Sheridan. +The supreme hour was at hand. Ord was no laggard, and it was known +that he would put forth all human effort, yet Sheridan dispatched +through the night officer after staff officer to apprise Ord of +the immediate danger the cavalry was in, if unsupported, and to +assure him that his presence with his column would end the Rebellion. +Before day-dawn the cavalry was in the saddle, in battle array, +bearing down on the Confederate advance, then at the Court-House. +Ord arrived in person before sun-up of the 9th, and hastily consulted +Sheridan where to put in his troops on their arrival. Ord then +returned to hurry on his weary, hungry, foot-sore men, who had +marched all the night, having little sleep for many days. Sheridan +turned from the consultation with Ord to take charge of the battle +already raging near the Court-House. + +Let us look within the lines of the Confederate Army and see what +was transpiring there. That army had, since Sailor's Creek and +Farmville, been directed, of necessity, along the north of the +river on Appomattox Court-House and Lynchburg. It had been assailed, +night and day, flank and rear, from the time it left Petersburg. +Provisions were scarce, and many of its best officers had, in the +last week, fallen or been captured. It, however, had held out +bravely and with more spirit than would be expected. It was an +old and once splendidly organized and equipped army, and its +discipline had been good. Pendleton and others of Lee's generals +(not including Longstreet) secretly, on the 7th, held a council, +and with a view of lightening Lee's responsibilities, decided to +inform him that they thought the time had come to surrender his +army. The next day Longstreet was requested to bear the report of +this council to Lee. He declined, and Pendleton made to report to +Lee himself. The latter, if correctly reported, said: "I trust +it has not come to that," adding, among other things, "If I were +to say a word to the Federal commander, he would regard it as such +a confession of weakness as to make it the condition of demanding +an _unconditional surrender_."(21) + +Gordon, with Fitz Lee at the head of the cavalry, commanded the +advance, and Longstreet the rear. The night of the 8th found Lee's +advance at Appomattox Court-House forced well back, and Longstreet's +rear pressed close on his main body. General Lee called in council, +at a late hour that night, Lieutenant-General James Longstreet, +Major-Generals John B. Gordon, Fitzhugh Lee, and Wm. N. Pendleton.(22) +This was the last council of war of the Army of Northern Virginia, +if it could be called one. The meeting was in a secluded spot, in +a gloomy pine woods, without shelter. The night was damp and +chilly, and there was a small, smoky, green-pine fire, affording +little light. The whole surrounding was calculated to dispirit +the five officers, to say nothing of the occasion. Little was said +or done. Lee made some inquiry as to the position of the troops. +At the end of an hour the council broke up, Lee directing Gordon +to mass his command, including all the cavalry under Fitz Lee and +General Long's batteries of thirty guns, and move through Appomattox +Court-House, where the advance rested, and to commence the movement +at 1 A.M. The trains were to follow closely, covered by Longstreet's +corps, which was still Lee's rear-guard. Sheridan's cavalry was +to be overwhelmed, and, with this done, the retreat was to continue +on to Lynchburg. At 3 in the morning General Lee rode slowly +forward apparently to join his van-guard in the effort to break +through our lines. Not, however, until 5 A.M. of the 9th did Gordon +and Fitz Lee get in motion against Sheridan's cavalry, which they +then found spread over a wide front near Appomattox Court-House. +The battle commenced, the Union cavalry sullenly falling back. +This inspired new hope in the Confederate Army. General Mumford, +with a portion of his Confederate cavalry division, found a break +in Sheridan's line, and charging through, escaped. This gave rise +to a report that the road had been opened.(23) + +Gordon pushed on with renewed confidence, infantry, cavalry, and +artillery, first striking Crook and McKenzie on the Union left, +then Merritt in the centre, the latter two yielding as though +defeated. Crook, however, held firmly on the extreme left, while +Merritt drew from the centre to the right, there to unite Custer +and Devin's cavalry divisions, leaving the centre apparently +abandoned. Gordon hastily dispatched word of his success, and, +inspired with a hope of complete victory, hurled his hosts into +the great gap thus made, capturing two pieces of artillery, and +moved forward to the crest of a ridge. But, alas! From this crest +Gordon and his officers saw a new scene. They beheld through the +mists and the morning gray, on the plain before them, Ord's column, +formed and forming, in full array, ready for strong battle. Hope +vanished from the minds of the Confederate generals. The Fifth +Corps, under General Charles Griffin, was also then arriving on +Ord's extreme right in support of the cavalry already there. The +cavalry in the centre had been but a curtain. Gordon halted and +sent word of the situation to his chief, notifying him that further +effort was hopeless, and would cause a useless sacrifice; that he +had "fought his troops to a frazzle."(24) + +Ord was Sheridan's superior in rank, but both decided to end matters +at once, so, with battle flags and guidons bent to the front, the +combined forces advanced to their work. Some artillery shots passed +through their lines, but did not arrest them. The Confederates +retired to another ridge immediately fronting the Court-House. +Gordon there displayed a white flag, indicating a willingness to +negotiate. Custer first saw it. He notified Sheridan, who notified +Ord, and the attack was suspended. Sheridan galloped to the front, +though fired on by soldiers of a South Carolina brigade,(25) and +soon joined Gordon. A truce looking to a surrender was made. +Colonel J. W. Forsyth of Sheridan's staff passed through the +Confederate Army to Meade, and notified him of the truce, and thus +stopped the Second and Sixth Corps then attacking Longstreet. +Colonel Newhall, Sheridan's Adjutant-General, rode to meet Grant +and advise him that Lee desired a meeting with a view to surrendering +his army. + +Little has been said of the great soldier, Meade, in this campaign. +Much credit is due him. He aided in organizing a victory at Five +Forks (26) and in planning the assault on Petersburg. Though ill +at Jetersville, and much of the time thereafter to the end of the +campaign, he was always up with one or the other of his corps, +doing all it was possible for him to do to accomplish the great +result finally attained. + +Let us again return to Grant--the silent soldier. On the 5th of +April Grant and his staff with a small escort became separated from +his headquarters camp equipage and wagons. He was even without +his sword. He and his staff thereafter slept on porches of farm- +houses or bivouacked in the woods or fields without cover. They +picked up scant fare at any camp they could find it, and often went +hungry, as did many other officers. As a result of exposure to +frequent rains, poor food, fatigue, loss of sleep, and, doubtless, +extreme prolonged anxiety, Grant, on the afternoon of the 8th, had +a violent attack of sick-headache. At a farm-house that night he +was induced to bathe his feet in hot water and mustard and to have +mustard plasters applied to his wrists and the back of his neck, +but all this brought him no relief. He lay down to sleep in vain. +He, however, during the night, received and sent dispatches relating +to the next day's operations. At 4 o'clock his staff found him in +a yard in front of the house, pacing up and down with both hands +to his head and suffering great pain. He wrote a note in the early +morning answering Lee's note of the previous day. He rode early +to Meade's camp (then in the immediate rear of the two pursuing +corps), and there drank some coffee, with little relief. His staff +tried to induce him to ride that day in an ambulance, but, sick as +he was, he mounted his favorite horse--Cincinnati--and in consequence +of dispatches from Sheridan giving an account of the situation at +the front, started by a circuitous route to join him. Some five +miles from the Court-House a dispatch from Meade was handed Grant, +advising him of a two-hours' truce and of the place General Lee +would meet him; also this note from Lee: + + "April 9, 1865. +"General,--I received your note of this morning on the picket line, +whither I had come to meet you, and ascertain definitely what terms +were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the +surrender of this army. I now ask an interview, in accordance with +the offer contained in your letter of yesterday, for that purpose. + + "R. E. Lee, General. +"Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant." + +Grant wrote to Lee (11.50 A.M.), saying he would meet him as +requested. General Porter asked Grant, as they rode on, about the +pain in his head. Grant answered: "The pain in my head seemed to +leave me as soon as I got Lee's letter."(27) He reached the Court- +House about 1 P.M., where he was met by Ord and Sheridan. Lee had +already arrived, and was awaiting Grant at the McLean house. The +two Generals met face to face. Lee wore a new Confederate uniform +and a handsome sword. He was tall, straight, and soldierly in +appearance. He wore a full gray beard. Grant, much below Lee in +stature, wore only a soldier's blouse and soiled suit, and was +without a sword, having only some dingy shoulder-straps denoting +the rank of Lieutenant-General. + +Lee, on his arrival, dismounted, and was seated for a short time +at the roadside, beneath an apple tree. This circumstance alone +gave rise to the widely circulated report that the surrender took +place under an apple tree.(28) + +Some civilities passed between the Generals at the McLean house. +There was substantially no negotiation as to the terms of surrender. +Lee asked Grant to write them. Grant said: "Very well, I will +write them out." He took a manifold order-book, and without +consultation with anybody, in the presence of Lee and others, wrote: + +"General,--In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of +the 8th inst. I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of +Northern Virginia on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all +the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given +to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such +officer or officers you may designate. The officers to give their +individual paroles not to take up arms against the government of +the United States until properly [exchanged], and each company or +regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their +commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked +and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to +receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, +nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and +man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed +by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles +and the laws in force where they may reside. + + "Very respectfully, + "U. S. Grant, Lt.-Gen." + +This was immediately handed to General Lee, who, after reading it, +observed the word "_exchanged_" had been inadvertently omitted +after the words "until properly." The word was inserted. Lee +inquired of Grant whether the terms proposed permitted cavalrymen +and artillerists who, in his army, owned their horses, to retain +them. Grant answered that the terms, as written, would not, but +added, that as many of the men were small farmers and might need +their animals to raise a crop in the coming season, he would instruct +his paroling officers to let every man who claimed to own a horse +or mule keep it. Lee remarked that this would have a good effect. + +Grant's draft was handed to be copied to an _Indian_, Colonel Ely +S. Parker (Chief of the Six Nations) of Grant's staff, he being +the best scribe of Grant's officers present. Lee mistook Parker +for a negro, and seemed to be struck with astonishment to find one +on Grant's staff. + +Lee then wrote this note: + + "Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, April 9, 1865. +"General,--I received your letter of this date containing the terms +of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. +As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter +of the 8th inst. they are accepted. I will proceed to designate +the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. + + "R. E. Lee, General. +"Lieut.-General U. S. Grant." + +Generals Gibbon, Griffin, and Merritt were designated by Grant, +and Generals Longstreet, Gordon, and Pendleton by Lee, to carry +into effect the terms of surrender. + +Before separating, Lee stated to Grant that his army was badly in +want of food and forage; that his men had lived for some days on +parched corn, and that he would have to ask for subsistence. Grant +promised it at once, and asked how many men there were to supply. +Lee replied, "About twenty-five thousand." Grant authorized him +to send to Appomattox Station and get a supply out of the recently +captured trains. At that time our army had few rations, and only +such forage as the poor country afforded. + +Some detachments and small bands of Lee's army escaped, but there +were paroled 2781 officers and 25,450 men, aggregate 28,231.(29) + +Lee's army was not required to march out, stack arms, and surrender +according to the general custom of war, but the men, quietly, under +their officers, stacked their guns and remained in camp until +paroled. They soon dispersed, never to reassemble. The Army of +Northern Virginia then ceased to exist. + +The Union Army, on learning of the surrender, commenced firing a +salute of one hundred guns. Grant ordered the firing stopped, not +desiring to exult over his captured countrymen. General Meade and +others protested in vain that it was due to the Army of the Potomac +for its sacrifices and gallantry in the years of war that it should +have the honor of a formal surrender and a day of military +demonstrations. + +The wildest scenes of rejoicing, however, took place in the Union +Army on learning of the surrender. It did not take on the form of +boasting over the captured. It was a genuine exultation over the +prospect of the end of the war, the overthrow of the Confederacy, +the restoration of the Union, and the destruction of slavery in +the Republic. Officers, however high of rank, were not safe from +the frenzied rush of the excited soldiers. Some eloquent, joyous +speeches were made. + +The little wild-cherry tree under which myself and staff were +seated, drinking a cup of coffee and chewing "hard tack" when word +of the surrender came, was torn down for mementoes. Meade and +Wright did not escape, being almost dragged from their horses in +the mad rejoicing. + +The enlisted men of the two armies met on the guard lines, where +many of the Union soldiers gave their last cracker to hungry +Confederates. The gentlest and kindest feeling was exhibited on +both sides. Not an ungenerous word was heard. + +Grant at 4.30 P.M. telegraphed the Secretary of War: "_General +Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on +terms proposed by myself_." + +President Lincoln had the news of Lee's surrender to cheer his +great soul for five days before the assassin's bullet laid him low. + +Grant retired to an improvised camp, and immediately announced his +intention to leave the army in the field and start for Washington +the next day. He rode within the Confederate lines at 9 A.M. on +the 10th, and held a half hour's talk with Lee about the possibility +of other Confederate armies surrendering and the speedy ending of +the war, but Lee, though expressing himself satisfied further effort +was vain, would take no responsibility, even to advising other +armies to surrender, without consulting Jefferson Davis.(30) Grant +left for Washington at noon. + +General Lee retired to his home at Richmond. + +The Union Army counter-marched to Burkeville. While there the +death of Abraham Lincoln was announced to it. The army loved him, +and his assassination excited the bitterest feeling. A memorial +meeting was held at my headquarters at Burkeville, and like meetings +were held in some other commands, at which speeches were made by +officers. + +The casualties in the Union Army in all the operations from March +29 to April 9, 1865 (Dinwiddie Court-House to Appomattox inclusive) +were, in killed and wounded:(31) + + Army of the Potomac . . . . . . 6,609 + Army of the James . . . . . . . 1,289 + Cavalry (Sheridan) . . . . . . 1,168 + ----- + Grand total . . . . . . . . . 9,066 + +The killed and wounded in the Sixth Corps were 1500, and in my +brigade 379 (above one fourth in the corps), and in the campaign, +including March 25th at Petersburg, 480. + +The brigade in the campaign, besides taking sixteen pieces of +artillery and many prisoners in battle, captured six battle-flags, +including General Heth's division headquarters flag.(32) + +Sheridan with the cavalry and Wright with the Sixth Corps were +ordered from Burkeville to North Carolina, to co-operate with +Sherman against J. E. Johnston's army. The Sixth left Burkeville +the 23d of April, 1865, and arrived, _via_ Halifax Court-House, at +Danville, a hundred miles or more distant, on the 27th, where, on +learning that Johnston had capitulated, it was halted. + +I obtained leave to continue south without my command (with two +staff officers and a few orderlies), to visit old friends in +Sherman's army with whom I had served in the West in 1861 and 1862. +I travelled through bodies of paroled Confederates for fifty miles, +to Greensboro, North Carolina, and there came into the lines of +the Twenty-Third Corps, commanded by my old and distinguished +friend, General J. D. Cox. After a few days' sojourn as his guest, +and having seen the surrendered army of Joe Johnston, I returned +to Danville and my proper command, feeling the war was about over. + +The Army of the Potomac marched to Washington, and there (Sixth +Corps excepted), uniting with Sherman's army, held the Grand Review +of May 23, 1865. The Sixth Corps, with many detachments, numbering +about 30,000 in all, arrived later, and was reviewed by President +Johnson and his Cabinet and Generals Grant, Sherman, and Meade, +June 8, 1865. The Army of the Potomac was disbanded June 28, 1865. +All the armies of the Union were soon broken up and the volunteers +composing them mustered out and sent to their homes to take up the +pursuits of peace.(33) The prisons of the South had given up their +starving victims. + +On the recommendations of Wright, Meade, and Grant I was appointed +a Brevet Major-General of Volunteers, the commission of the President +reciting that it was "for gallant and distinguished services during +the campaign ending in the surrender of the insurgent army under +General R. E. Lee." + +I was mustered out at Washington June 27, 1865, having served +continuously as an officer precisely four years and two months, +and fought in about the first (Rich Mountain) and the last (Sailor's +Creek) battles of the war, and campaigned in six of the eleven +seceding States, and in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.(34) + +The regiments of my brigade (110th, 122d and 126th Ohio, 67th and +138th Pennsylvania, 6th Maryland, and 9th New York Heavy Artillery) +lost, killed on the field, 54 officers and 812 enlisted men, wounded +101 officers and 2410 enlisted men, aggregate 3377, only _six_ less +than the killed and wounded under Scott and Taylor in their conquest +of Mexico, 1846-1848,(35) and more than the like casualties under +the direct command of Washington in the Revolutionary War--Lexington +to Yorktown. + +The terms of capitulation accorded to Lee's army were granted to +other armies. + +With Lee's surrender came the capture of Fort Blakely, Alabama, +April 9th, followed by the surrender of Mobile, April 12th; Joe +Johnston's army in North Carolina, April 26th; Dick Taylor's in +Mississippi; May 4th; and Kirby Smith's in Texas, May 26th. +Jefferson Davis, with members of his Cabinet, was captured at +Irwinville, Georgia, May 10, 1865. + +As the curtain fell before the awful drama of war, 174,233 Confederates +surrendered, who, with 98,802 others held as prisoners of war (in +all 273,035), were paroled and sent to their homes, and 1686 cannon +and over 200,000 small arms were the spoils of victory. + +The war was over; it was not in vain. + +State-rights and secession--twin heresies, as promulgated by Calhoun +and his followers and maintained by Jefferson Davis and the civil +and military powers of the would-be Confederacy, and human slavery, +a growth of the ages, fostered by avarice, and a blot on our +civilization for two hundred and fifty years--were likewise overthrown +or destroyed; and the integrity of the Union of the States and the +majesty of the Constitution as a charter of organized liberty were +vindicated, and the American Republic, full-orbed, was perpetuated, +under one flag, and with one destiny. + +The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, declaring that: +"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment +for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall +exist within the United States or any place subject to its +jurisdiction"; submitted, February 1, 1865, by Congress to the +States for ratification, and proclaimed ratified December 18, 1865, +is but the inevitable decree of war, in the form of organic law, +resulting from the triumph of the Union arms, accomplished through +the bloody sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of devoted men, +together with the concurrent sufferings of yet other hundreds of +thousands of wounded and sick and the sorrows of disconsolate and +desolate millions more, superadded by billions in value of property +laid waste and other billions of treasure expended. Such, indeed, +was the penalty paid to eradicate the crime of the centuries-- +_SLAVERY_. + +Freedom was triumphant, and civilization moved higher. + +( 1) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 175, 189. + +( 2) This statement is taken from Lee's official report, though +Jefferson Davis, in his work, takes pains to viciously deny its +truth. _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 1265; _Battles and +Leaders_, etc., vol. iv., p. 724; _Rise and Fall of the Confederacy_, +vol. ii., pp. 668-76. + +( 3) _Rise and Fall of the Confederacy_, Davis, vol. ii., p. 677. +I picked up at Danville a copy of this document at the press where +it had recently been printed. + +( 4) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 549. + +( 5) _Ibid_., pp. 556, 610. + +( 6) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 187. + +( 7) _War Records_., vol. xlvi., Part III., p. 576. + +( 8) While riding along the face of the hills with Colonel Andrew +J. Smith of the division staff, to get a good view of the enemy's +position, I dispatched the Colonel to bring up and put a battery +in a designated position. He met and sent Major O. V. Tracey of +the same staff on his errand, and soon rejoined me. Some movements +displayed large numbers of the enemy, whereupon Smith characteristically +exclaimed: "Get as many boys as ever you can; get as many shingles +as ever you can; get around the corner as fast as ever you can,-- +a whole hogshead of molasses all over the walk!" Before this +outburst ceased a bullet whistled past by bridle reins and struck +Smith in the right leg. While yet repeating his lingo, he threw +his arms around his horse's neck and swung to the ground. + +( 9) Grant wrote Sheridan informing him the Sixth Corps was +following him, saying: "The Sixth Corps will go in with a vim any +place you may dicate."--_Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 182. + +(10) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 1284, 1298. + +(11) Longstreet, _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 614. + +(12) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 980. + +(13) Captains John F. Hazleton and T. J. Hoskinson, serving +respectively as my Quartermaster and Commissary of Subsistence, +reported to me at a critical juncture in the battle of Sailor's +Creek and volunteered for field duty, and for their exceptional +gallantry each was, on my recommendation, brevetted a Major by the +President. + +(14) Tucker after the war expatriated himself from the country +for a time, and became an Admiral in the Peruvian navy, but as our +naval officers refused to salute his flag on the sea, Peru was +forced to dismiss him. + +(15) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 683, 980. + +(16) _Ibid_., p. 906. + +(17) As to numbers engaged, see correspondence, Appendix C. + +(18) Longstreet, _Manassas to Appomattox_, p. 616. + +(19) _Memoirs of Grant_, vol. ii., pp. 477-8. + +(20) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 191, 199. + +(21) _Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 618, 620; _Memoirs of Lee_ +(Long), p. 416. + +(22) Letter of General Gordon to the writer, of October 1, 1894. + +(23) Longstreet relates that information came to him from Gordon +that a break had been found through which the Confederate Army +"could force passage," and that he dispatched a Colonel Haskell +"on a blooded mare" after Lee, who had gone to the rear expecting +to meet Grant, as requested by Lee by note previously sent, Longstreet +telling the Colonel "to kill his mare, but bring Lee back."-- +_Manassas to Appomattox_, pp. 623, 626. + +(24) _Memoirs of Lee_ (Long), p. 421. + +(25) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., pp. 194-8. + +(26) _Memoirs of Sheridan_, vol. ii., p. 154. + +(27) _Battles and Leaders_, etc., vol. iv., p. 740; _Memoirs of +Grant_, vol. ii., p. 483. + +(28) _Memoirs of Grant_., vol. ii., p. 488. + +(29) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 1279. + +(30) _Memoirs of Grant_, vol. ii., p. 497. + +(31) _War Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., p. 597. + +(32) The individual captors of flags were F. M. McMillen, Co. C, +and Isaac James, Co. A, 110th Ohio; Milton Blickensderfer, Co. E, +126th Ohio; George Loyd, Co. A, 122d Ohio (Heth's battle flag); +John Keough, Co. E, 67th Pennsylvania; and Trustrim Connell, Co. +I, 138th Pennsylvania. Each was awarded a Medal of Honor.--_War +Records_, vol. xlvi., Part I., pp. 909, 981. + +(33) An incident will illustrate how Secretary Stanton sometimes +did business. The first order to muster out volunteers excepted +those whose term of enlistment expired after October 1, 1865. This +would have left in service some men of each company of my Ohio +regiments and caused dissatisfaction. Through a written application +I obtained authority to muster out all the men of these regiments. +Later, complaints came from regiments of other States similarly +affected, and an application was made by me for like authority as +to them, which was refused. This was invidious. In company with +General Meade I called on the Secretary of War to ask a reconsideration. +On the bare mention of our mission Mr. Stanton flew into a rage +and denounced Meade for making the request, saying no such order +had been or would be issued. Meade was deeply hurt and started to +withdraw, and the wrath of the Secretary was turned on me. I +interrupted him and, displaying the order relating to the Ohio +regiments, told him his statement was not true. Stanton thereupon +became still more violent and abusive and declared the order I had +was issued by mistake or through fraud and would be revoked. I +replied that it had been executed; that the men were discharged, +paid off, and on their way home. He then became calm, relented, +apologized for his intemperate language, and kindly issued the +desired order. + +(34) I was, in 1866, on the joint request of Generals Grant and +Meade, appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the 26th Infantry, U. S. A. +I declined the commission. + +(35) There were 26,690 regulars and 56,926 volunteers--83,616, +employed in the invasion of Mexico, not mentioning the navy.-- +_History of Mexican War_ (Wilcox), p. 561. For the author's farewell +order to the brigade, and table of casualties in it by regiments, +see Appendix C. + + +APPENDICES + + +APPENDIX A +GENERAL KEIFER IN CIVIL LIFE + +I +ANCESTRY AND LIFE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR + +I was born, January 30, 1836, on a farm on Mad River, north side, +six miles west of Springfield, Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, +a short distance west of Tecumseh Hill, the site of the original +Piqua, Shawnee Indian village, destroyed by General George Rogers +Clark August 8, 1780. + +My ancestors, though not especially distinguished for great deeds, +either in peace or war, were of the sturdy kind, mentally, physically, +and morally. + +My grandfather, George Keifer, was born (1728) in one of the German +States, from whence he emigrated to America and settled in the +Province of Maryland about the year 1750. Nothing is certainly +known of his life or family in Germany. He was a Protestant, and +was probably led to quit German-Europe to escape the religious +intolerance, if not persecutions, there at the time so common. + +He availed himself of the Act of Parliament made in the thirteenth +year of the reign of King George the Second, which provided for +the naturalization of "Foreign Protestants," settled or who should +settle in his Majesty's colonies in America, and was naturalized +and became a subject of King George the Third of England, an +allegiance he did not long faithfully maintain, as he became a +Revolutionary patriot in 1776.( 1) He participated in the Revolution, +though there is no known record of his being a regular soldier in +the war. He gave some attention to farming, but was by trade a +shoemaker. He resided in Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, +on Antietam Creek, and there died, April 11, 1809. His wife, +Margaret (Schisler) was likewise German, probably born in Germany +(1745), but married in Maryland. Her family history is unknown, +but she was a woman of a high order of intelligence, and possessed +of much spirit and energy. After her husband's death she removed +(1812) with her two sons to Ohio (walking, from choice, the entire +distance), and died there, February 9, 1827, in my father's family, +at eighty-two years of age. George and Margaret Keifer had two +sons, George (born October 27, 1769, and died August 31, 1845), +and Joseph (my father), born February 28, 1784, at Sharpsburg, +Maryland. They followed, when young, the occupation and trade of +their father. The facilities and opportunities for acquiring an +education for persons in limited circumstances were then small, +yet Joseph Keifer early determined to secure an education, and by +his own persevering efforts, with little, if any, instruction, he +became especially proficient in geography and mathematics, and +acquired a thorough practical knowledge of navigation and civil +engineering. He could speak and read German. He was a general +reader, and throughout his life was a constant student of both +sacred and profane history, and devoted much attention to a study +of the Bible. In September, 1811, he left Sharpsburg, on horseback, +on a prospecting tour over the mountains to the West, destination +Ohio. He kept a journal (now before me) of his travels, showing +each day's journey, the places visited, the topography of the +country, the kinds of timber growing, the lay of the land and kinds +of soil, the water supply and its quality, etc., and something of +the settlers. This journey occupied seven weeks, during which he +rode 1140 miles, much of it over trails and bridle paths, his total +cash "travelling expenses being $36.30." He travelled through +Jefferson, Tuscarawas, Stark, Muskingum, Fairfield, Pickaway, Ross, +Fayette, Champaign (including what is now Clark), Montgomery, +Warren, Butler, Hamilton, Guernsey, and Belmont Counties, Ohio. +In April, 1812, he started on another like journey over much the +same country, returning May 15th. + +On his first journey he visited Springfield, Ohio, and vicinity, +and bargained for and made an advance payment of $500 in silver +for about seven hundred acres of land, located near (west of) New +Boston, from John Enoch, for himself and his brother George Keifer, +agreeing to take possession and make further payment in one year. +He removed with his brother George (who then had a wife and family +of several children), his mother accompanying, by wagon and on +horseback to this land, in the fall of 1812, where both brothers +made their homes during life, each following the general occupation +of farming. The land was chosen with reference to its superior +quality, excellent growth of popular, oak, walnut, hickory, and +other valuable timber for building purposes, and likewise with +reference to its fine, healthful, perennial springs of pure limestone +water. The tract fronted on Mad River, extending northward into +the higher lands so as to include bottom-lands and uplands in +combination. + +Joseph Keifer, before leaving Maryland, procured to be made at +Frederick, Maryland, a surveyor's compass and chain (still in my +possession), and when in Ohio, in addition to clearing lands and +farming, he surveyed many extensive tracts of land for the early +settlers. Later in life he gave up surveying, save for his neighbors +when called on. He had some inclination to music. He served for +a short time in the War of 1812, joining an expedition for the +relief of General Harrison and Fort Meigs on the Maumee when besieged +by the British and Indians in 1813. He, however, lived in his Ohio +home a quiet, sober, peaceful, contented, studious, moral life, +much esteemed for his straightforward, honest, plain character by +all who knew him, but always taking a deep interest in public +affairs, state and national, his sympathies being with the poor, +oppressed, and unfortunate. His detestation of slavery led him to +emigrate from a slave State to one where slavery not only did not +and could not exist, but where free labor was well requited and +was regarded as highly honorable. Though among the early settlers +of the then wild West, he did not care much, if at all, for hunting +and fishing, then common among his neighbors and associates. He +preferred to devote his leisure hours to reading and intellectual +pursuits and to the society of those of kindred tastes, especially +interesting himself in the education of his large family of children. +He was, in theory and practice, a moral and religious man, a church +attendant, though never a member of any church, yet one year before +his death (1849), at his own request, he was baptized in Mad River, +by Rev. John Gano Reeder, of the Christian Church. + +He was one of the founders and first directors of the Clark County +Bible Society, organized September 2, 1822. + +Throughout his life he took a deep interest in politics, but he +never sought or held any important office. He was an Adams-Clay +Whig. + +He died on his farm, April 13, 1850, and his remains, likewise his +mother's and his brother's, are now buried in Ferncliff Cemetery, +Springfield, Ohio. + +He was married, November 9, 1815, to Mary Smith, daughter of Rev. +Peter Smith, a Baptist minister (then resident on a farm near what +is now Donnelsville, Clark County, Ohio), who had some celebrity +also as a physician in the "Miami Country." He was a son of Dr. +Hezekiah Smith of the "Jerseys," and was born in Wales, February +6, 1753, from whence this branch of the _Smith_ family came. He +was some relation to Hezekiah Smith, D.D., of Haverhill, Massachusetts, +but in what way connected is not known. Peter Smith was educated +at Princeton, and married in New Jersey to Catherine Stout (December +23, 1776), and he seems to have early, under his father, given some +attention to medicine, and became familiar with the works of Dr. +Rush, Dr. Brown, and other writers of his day on "physic." He +also, during his life, acquired much from physicians whom he met +in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, +Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio. He called himself an "Indian Doctor" +(because he sometimes used in his practice herbs, roots, etc., and +other remedies known to the Indians), though he was in no proper +sense such a doctor. He was an early advocate, much against public +prejudice, of inoculations for smallpox; this before Dr. Jenner +had completed his investigations and had introduced vaccination as +a preventive for smallpox.( 2) + +Dr. Peter Smith, in his little volume (printed by Brown & Looker, +Cincinnati, 1813), speaks of inoculating 130 persons, in New Jersey, +for smallpox in 1777, using, to prevent dangerous results, with +some of them, calomel, and dispensing with it with others, but +reaching the conclusion that calomel was not necessary for the +patient's safety. + +In this book, entitled _The Indian Doctor's Dispensatory_, etc., +( 3) on the title-page he says: "_Men seldom have wit enough to +prize and take care of their health until they lose it--And doctors +often know not how to get their bread deservedly, until they have +no teeth to chew it_." He seems to have been an original character +and investigator, availing himself of all the opportunities for +acquiring knowledge within his reach, especially acquainting himself +with domestic, German, and tried Indian remedies, roots, herbs, +etc. In the Introduction to his book he says: "The elements by +Brown seem to me plain, reasonable, and practicable. But I have +to say of his prescriptions, as David did of Saul's _armour_, when +it was put upon him, '_I cannot go with this, for I have not proved +it_.' He thus chose his sling, his staff, shepherd's bag and +stones, because he was used to them, and could recollect what he +had heretofore done with them." The modern germ or bacilli theory +of disease, now generally accepted by learned physicians, was not +unknown or even new in his time. He speaks of it as an "_insect_" +theory, based on the belief that diseases were produced by an +invisible _insect_, floating in the air, taken in with the breath, +where it either poisons or propagates its kind, so as to produce +disease.( 4) + +Besides much in general, Peter Smith's book contains about ninety +prescriptions for the cure of as many diseases or forms of disease, +to be compounded generally from now well-known medicine, roots, +herbs, etc., some of them heroic, others quaint, etc. He did not +recommend dispensing wholly with the then universal practice of +bleeding patients, but he generally condemned it. + +About the year 1780, from New Jersey, he commenced his wandering, +emigrating life, with his wife and _some_ small children. He +lingered a little in Virginia, in the Carolinas, and settled for +a time in Georgia, and all along he sought out people from whom he +could gather knowledge, especially of the theory and practice of +medicine. And he preached, possibly in an irregular way, the +Gospel, as a devout Baptist of the Old School, a denomination to +which he was early attached. Not satisfied with his Georgia home, +"with its many scorpions and slaves," he took his family on horseback, +some little children (twin babies among them) carried in baskets +suitable for the purpose, hung to the horns of the saddle ridden +by his wife, and thus they crossed mountains, rivers, and creeks, +without roads, and not free from danger from Indians, traversing +the woods from Georgia through Tennessee to Kentucky, intending +there to abide. But finding Kentucky had also become a slave State, +he and his family, bidding good-by to Kentucky "headticks and +slavery," in like manner emigrated to Ohio, settling on Duck Creek, +near Columbia (Old Baptist Church), now within the limits of +Cincinnati, reaching there about 1794. He became, with his family, +a member of this church, and frequently preached there and at other +frontier places, but still pursuing the occupation of farming, and, +though perhaps not for much remuneration, the practice of medicine. +In 1804 he again took to the wilderness with his entire family, +then grown to the number of twelve children, born in the "Jerseys" +or on the line of his march through the coast or wilderness States +or territories. He settled on a small and poor farm on Donnels +Creek, in the midst of rich ones, where he died, December 31, 1816. +It seems from his book (page 14) (published while he resided at +his last home), that he did not personally cease his wanderings +and search for medical knowledge, as he says he was in Philadelphia, +July 4, 1811, where he made some observations as to the effect of +hot and cool air upon the human system, through the respiration. +But it is certain he taught to the end, in the pulpit, and ministered +as a physician to his neighbors and friends, often going long +distances from home for the purpose. He concluded, near the end +of his long and varied experiences, that: "Men have contrived to +break all God's _appointments_. But this: '_It is appointed for +all men once to die_' has never been abrogated or defeated by any +man. And as to medicine we are about to take: _If the Lord will_, +we shall do this or that with success; _if the Lord will_, I shall +get well by this means or some other." He concluded his "Introduction" +by commending the "iron doctrine" for consumptives, and assenting +to Dr. Brown's opinion that "_an old man ought never to marry a +young woman_." + +He is buried in a neglected graveyard near Donnelsville, Clark +County, Ohio. + +Men of the type and character described impressed for good Western +life and character while they lived, and through their example and +posterity also the indefinite future. + +Peter Smith had four sons, Samuel, Ira, Hezekiah, and Abram, who +each lived beyond eighty years, dying the order of their birth, +each leaving a large family of sons and daughters, whose children, +grandchildren, etc., are found now in nearly, if not all, the States +of the Union, many of them also becoming pioneers to the frontiers, +long ago reaching the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific slope and coast.( 5) + +His sons Ira and Hezekiah, much after the fashion of their father, +preached the Gospel (Baptist) in Ohio and Indiana, but not +neglecting, as did their father, to amass each a considerable +fortune. Ira resided and died at Lafayette, Indiana, and Rev. +Hezekiah Smith at Smithland, Indiana. Samuel, the eldest (Clark +County, Ohio), was always a plain, creditable farmer, but his sons +and grandchildren became noted as educators, physicians, surgeons, +and divines. + +Samuel's son, Peter Smith, besides acquiring a good general education, +studied surveying, my father assisting him, and he taught school +in Clark and other counties in Ohio, and became celebrated for his +success. He was the first in Ohio to advocate higher-graded, or +union schools, and through his efforts a first law was passed in +Ohio to establish them. He adopted a merit-ticket system for +scholars in schools which, for a time, was highly successful and +became popular. He removed, about 1830, to Illinois, then became +a surveyor and locator of public lands, farmer, etc., and was killed +by a railroad train at Sumner, Illinois, when about eighty years +of age, leaving a large number of grown children. + +Rev. Milton J. Miller (now of Geneseo, Illinois), grandson of Samuel +Smith, though a farmer boy, early resolved to acquire an education +and enter the ministry. His resolution was carried out. He +graduated at Antioch College; attended a theological school at +Cambridge, Mass., became a minister of the Christian Church, later +of the Unitarian, and was for about one year a chaplain in the +volunteer army (110th Ohio), and distinguished himself in all +relations of life. + +Dr. Hezekiah Smith, also son of Samuel, became somewhat eminent as +a physician, and died at Smithland, Shelby County, Indiana, in 1897. + +Abram, though once in prosperous circumstances, through irregular +habits and the inherited disposition to rove over the world, became +poor, and sometimes, when remote from his family and friends, in +real want, yet he, the youngest of the four, lived past the +traditional family fourscore years, dying poor (near Lawrenceville, +Illinois), but leaving children and grandchildren in many States +of the West, who had become, at his death, or since became, +distinguished as soldiers and eminent citizens. He was a man of +most cheerful disposition, and whatever his circumstances or lot +were he seemed content and happy. + +Five of Dr. Peter Smith's daughters (besides my mother) lived to +be married. Sarah married Henry Jennings; Elizabeth, Hezekiah +Ferris; Nancy, John Johns; Margaret, Hugh Wallace, and Rhoda, Dr. +Wm. Lindsay, but each died comparatively young. They also each +left children; and their grandchildren, etc., are now numerous and +many of them highly esteemed citizens, also scattered widely over +the country. + +Two others of Dr. Smith's children (Catherine and Jacob Stout) +lived only to the ages of fifteen and seventeen years respectively. + +But Peter Smith was not the sole head of this remarkable and long +wandering family, nor the repository or source of all its brains +or good qualities of head and heart. + +He was married, as stated, to Catherine Stout, in New Jersey, whose +family was theretofore, then, and since both numerous and widely +dispersed, and many of them more than usually prominent or celebrated +in public or private life. + +Her ancestry may be traced briefly. Richard Stout, who seems to +have been first of his name in America, was the son of John Stout, +of Nottinghamshire, England. When a young man he came to New +Amsterdam (New York City), where he met Penelope Van Princess, a +young woman from Holland. She, with her first husband, had been +on a ship from Amsterdam, Holland, bound for New Amsterdam. The +ship was wrecked in the lower bay and driven on the New Jersey +coast below Staten Island. The passengers and crew escaped to the +shore, but were there attacked by Indians, and all left for dead; +Penelope alone was alive, but severely wounded. She had strength +enough to get to a hollow tree, where she is said to have lived +unaided for seven days, during which time she was obliged to keep +her bowels in place with her hand, on account of a cut across her +abdomen. At the end of this time a merciful but avaricious Indian +discovered and took pity on her. He took her to his wigwam, cared +for her, and thence took her to New Amsterdam by canoe and _sold_ +her to the Dutch. This woman Richard Stout married about the year +1650. The couple settled in New Jersey, and raised a family of +seven sons and three daughters. The third son, Jonathon, married +a Bullen, settled at Hopewell, New Jersey, and had six sons and +three daughters. The fifth son, Samuel, married Catherine Simpson, +by whom he had one son, Samuel, born in 1732. This Samuel served +in the New Jersey Legislature, and was a Justice of the Peace. He +married Anne Van Dyke, and had seven sons and three daughters. +His daughter Catherine, great-great-granddaughter of Richard and +Penelope (born November 25, 1758), married, December 25, 1776, +Peter Smith, whose history we have traced. She was the companion +of all his journeyings, caring for and directing affairs and the +family in his frequent absence and itinerarys from home "preaching +the Gospel and disbursing _physic_ for the salvation of souls and +the healing of the body." She, too, was a devout Christian (Baptist), +and ministered to the exposed and often needy pioneers in the +wilderness. She survived him fifteen years, dying March 3, 1831. +She is buried beside her husband. + +Mary (my mother), a daughter of Peter and Catherine Smith, born +January 31, 1799, on Duck Creek near Columbia Church, within the +present limits of Cincinnati, married (as stated) Joseph Keifer, +when not yet seventeen years of age, and became the mother of +fourteen children, eight of whom lived to mature years--two sons +and six daughters. She died at Yellow Springs, Ohio, March 23, +1879, passing her eightieth birthday, like her brothers named, +having survived all her brothers and sisters. She was next to the +youngest of them. She inherited, cultivated, and practised the +essential virtues necessary in a successful, useful, pure, happy, +and contented life. She had a most cheerful disposition, and was +a confident and buoyant spirit, in sorrow and adversity. She was +devoted to all her children, and all owe her much for their +fundamental preparation, education, etc., together with the habits +of industry and perseverance, essential to whatever of success they +have attained in life. And, above all, she early became a member +of church (Baptist and Christian), and maintained her church +relations for above sixty years, to her death, never doubting in +her Christian belief, yet never bigoted or intolerant of the +religious views of others. + +She was a devoted companion to her husband, and with him ever took +a deep interest in their family and neighbors, never neglecting a +duty to them. She, born in the Ohio territory, lived within its +borders above eighty years, witnessed its transformation from +savagery to the highest civilization, and its growth in wealth, +power, and population from little to the third of the great States +of the Union. She witnessed the coming, through science and +inventions, of railroads, telegraphs, steam, and electric power, +telephones, etc. She saw the soldiers of the War of 1812, the +Mexican war, and the War of the Rebellion, and something of the +Indian wars in Ohio. In her childhood she lived in proximity to +savages. With her husband she had ministered to escaped slaves, +and saw slavery (always detested by both) abolished. She witnessed +with becoming pride a degree of success in the efforts of her +children and grandchildren, and she held on her knees her great- +grandchildren. She is buried beside her husband in Ferncliff +Cemetery, Springfield, Ohio. + +The children who grew to maturity were: Margaret, born September +22, 1816, who married Joseph Gaines, and died March 10, 1896, +leaving two sons and a daughter; Sarah (still living) born September +29, 1819, who married Lewis James, and, after his decease, Richard +T. Youngman, having one son, J. Warren James (Captain 45th Ohio, +War of the Rebellion), and _five_ children by her last husband; +Benjamin Franklin (still living), born April 22, 1821, who married +Amelia Henkle, and has three sons and three daughters living; +Elizabeth Mary, born February 20, 1823, unmarried, still living; +Lucretia, born January 20, 1828, died August 5, 1892, surviving +her husband, Eli M. Henkle, and her only son, John E. Henkle; +Joseph Warren Keifer, born January 20, 1836, who married, March +22, 1860, Eliza Stout, of Springfield, Ohio. [They have three sons +living, Joseph Warren, born May 13, 1861; William White, born May +24, 1866, and Horace Charles, born November 14, 1867. Their only +other child, a daughter, Margaret Eliza, was born June 2, 1873, +and died August 16, 1890.] Minerva, born July 15, 1839 (died July +22, 1899), married to Charles B. Palmer, and they have two sons +and a daughter; and Cordelia Ellen, born July 17, 1842, not married. + +From the ancestry described and from the widely diversified strains +of blood--German, English, Welsh, Dutch, and others not traced or +traceable--meeting, to make, in _composite_, a full-blooded American +--came the author of this sketch. He also sprang from a farmer, +shoemaker, civil engineer, clergyman, physician, etc., ancestry, +no lawyer or soldier of mark appearing in the long line, so far as +known. + +Born with a vigorous constitution, of strong ( 6) and remarkably +healthy parents, I, early as strength permitted, became useful, in +the varied ways a boy can be, on a farm where the soil is not only +tilled, but trees first have to be felled, rails split, hauled, +and fences built. Timber had to be cut and hauled to saw-mills, +to make lumber for buildings, etc. In the 40's clearing was still +done by deadening, felling, and by burning, the greater part of +the timber not being necessary or suitable for sawed lumber or +rails. In all this work, as I grew in years and strength, I +participated. At or before the age of seven years, and long +thereafter, I performed hard farm work, hauling, ploughing, sowing, +planting, cultivating corn and vegetables, harvesting, etc., and +was never idle. I mowed grass with a scythe, and reaped grains +with a sickle (the rough marks of the teeth of the latter are seen +still on the fingers of my left hand as I write this.) Later, the +cradle to cut small grain was introduced, though at first it was +not popular, because it reduced the usual number of harvest hands +required to "sickle the crop." Raking and binding wheat, rye, and +oats were part of the hard work of the harvest field. Husking corn +was a fall and sometimes winter occupation. Stock had to be cared +for and fed. Flax for home-made garments was raised, pulled up by +hand, spread, rotted, broken, skutched, hackled, etc. All this +work of the farm I pursued with regularity and assiduity. My father +dying when I was fourteen years of age, and my only living brother +(Benjamin F.) being married and on his own farm, much more of the +duties and management of a farm of above two hundred acres devolved +on me for the more than six succeeding years while my mother +continued to reside on the homestead. + +My education was commenced at home and at the log district schoolhouse, +located on my father's farm. The beginning of a child's schooling, +by law and custom, was then at four years of age. Thus early I +went to school, but not regularly. It was then rare that a summer +school was kept up, and the winter _term_ was usually only three +or four months, at the outside. The farmer boy was needed to work +almost the year round, and even while attending school, he arose +early to attend to the feeding of stock, chopping fire-wood, doing +chores, etc., and when school closed in the evening he was often, +until after darkness set in, similarly engaged. The school hours +were from 8 A.M. to 12 M. and from 1 to 5 P.M. Saturdays were days +of hard work. The school months were busy ones to the farmer boys +and girls. Spelling matches at night were common. + +The schools were, however, good, though the teachers were not always +efficient or capable of instructing in the higher branches of +learning now commonly taught in public schools in Ohio. But in +reading, spelling, writing, English grammar, geography within +certain limits, and arithmetic, the instruction was quite thorough, +and scholars inclined to acquire an education early became proficient +in the branches taught. + +At school I made progress, though attending usually only about +three--sometimes four--months in the year. But I had the exceptional +advantage of aid at home from my father and mother; also older +sisters, who had all of them become fitted for teachers. My natural +inclination was to mathematics and physical geography rather than +to English grammar or other branches taught. While engaged in the +study of geography my father arranged to make a globe to illustrate +the zones, etc., and grand divisions of the world. Though then +but twelve years of age I aided him in chopping down a native linden +tree, from which a block was cut and taken to a man (Crain) who +made spinning-wheels, which was by him turned, globe-shaped, about +a foot in diameter, and hung in a frame. My father marked on it +the lines of latitude and longitude and laid off the grand divisions, +islands, oceans, seas, etc., and with appropriate shadings to +indicate lines or boundaries, it was varnished and became a veritable +globe, fit for an early student of geography, and far from crude. +It now stands before me as perfect as when made fifty years since. +In mathematics I soon, out of school, passed to the study of algebra, +geometry, natural philosophy, etc. My common school and home +advantages were excellent, and while my father lived, even when at +work in the field, problems were being stated and solved, and +interesting matters were discussed and considered. The country +boy has an inestimable advantage over the town or city boy in the +fact that he is more alone and on his own resources, which gives +him an opportunity for independent thought, and forces him to become +a _thinker_, without which no amount of scholastic advantages will +make him, in any proper sense, learned. + +I had the misfortune, before ten years of age, of injuring, by +accident, my left foot, and in consequence went on crutches about +two years of my boyhood life. This apprehension of again becoming +lame early turned my thought to an occupation other than farming. +When sixteen years of age I decided to try to become a lawyer, and +in this decision my mother seconded me heartily. Though continuing +to labor on the farm without intermission, I pursued, as I had long +before, a regular study of history, and procured and read some +elementary law books, including a copy of Blackstone's _Commentaries_, +which I systematically and constantly read and re-read, and availed +myself, without an instructor, of all possible means of acquiring +legal knowledge. In my eighteenth year I was regularly entered as +a student at law with Anthony & Goode, attorneys, at Springfield, +Ohio, though my reading was still continued on the farm, noons, +nights, and between intervals of hard work.( 7) + +Lyceums or debating societies which met at the villages or schoolhouses +were then common. They were usually well conducted, and they were +excellent incentives to study, affording good opportunity for +acquiring habits of debate and public speaking. They are, +unfortunately, no longer common. These lyceums I frequented, and +participated in the discussions. I taught public school "_a +quarter_," the winter of 1852-53, at the Black-Horse tavern +schoolhouse, on Donnels Creek, for sixty dollars pay. + +I attended Antioch College (1854-55) in Horace Mann's time, for +less than a year, reciting in classes in geometry, higher algebra, +English grammar, rhetoric, etc., pursuing no regular course, and +part of the time taking special lessons, and while there actively +participated in a small debating club, to which some men still +living and of high eminence belonged. One member only of the club +has, so far, died upon the gallows. This was Edwin Coppoc, who +was hanged with John Brown in December, 1859. + +In the exciting Presidential campaign of 1856 (though not old enough +to vote) I made, in Clark and Greene Counties, Ohio, above fifty +campaign speeches for Fremont, the excitement being so high that +mobbing or egging was not uncommon. The pro-slavery people called +Fremont's supporters _abolitionists_--the most opprobrious name +they conceived they could use. Colonel Wm. S. Furay (now of +Columbus, Ohio), of about my age, also made many speeches in the +same campaign, and we were joint recipients of at least one _egging_, +at Clifton, Ohio. + +In the midst of my farm work and duties, by employing room hours, +evenings, rainy days, etc., I could make much progress in studies, +and besides this I did a little fishing in the season, and some +hunting with a rifle, in the use of which I was skillful in killing +game. Hunting became almost a passion, hence had to be wholly +given up. + +At the close of the 1856 Presidential campaign, my mother having, +in consequence of my purpose to practise law, removed from the farm +to Yellow Springs, Ohio, I became a resident of Springfield, and +there pursued, regularly, in Anthony & Goode's office, the study +of law. + +Before this I had ventured to try a few law cases before justices +of the peace, both in the country, in villages, and in the city, +and I had some professional triumphs, occasionally over a regular +attorney, but more commonly meeting the "pettifogger," who was of +a class once common, and not to be despised as "rough and tumble," +_ad captandum_, advocates in justices' courts. They often knew +some crude law, and they never knew enough to concede a point or +that they were wrong. + +My studies went on in much the usual way until I was admitted to +the bar, January 12, 1858, by the Supreme Court of Ohio, at Columbus. +I recognize now more than I did then that my preparation for the +profession of the law, which demands knowledge of almost all things, +ancient, modern, scientific, literary, historical, etc., was wholly +defective. All knowledge is called into requisition by a general +and successful legal practitioner. My early deficiency in learning, +and the many interruptions in the course of about forty years, have +imposed the necessity of close and constant application. On being +admitted to the bar, I determined to visit other parts and places +before locating. I visited Toledo; it was then muddy, ragged, +unhealthful, and unpromising. Chicago was then next looked over. +It was likewise apparently without promise. The streets were almost +impassable with mire. The sidewalks were seldom continuously level +for a square. The first floors of some buildings were six to ten +feet above those of others beside them. So walking on the sidewalks +was an almost constant going up and down steps. There was then no +promise of its almost magic future. At Springfield, Illinois, I +saw and heard, in February, 1858, before the Supreme Court, an +ungainly appearing man, called _Abe_ Lincoln. He was arguing the +application of a statute of limitations to a defective tax title +to land. He talked very much in a conversational way to the judges, +and they gave attention, and in a Socratic way the discussion went +on. I did not see anything to specially attract attention to Mr. +Lincoln, save that he was awkward, ungainly in build, more than +plain in features and dress, his clothes not fitting him, his +trousers being several inches too short, exposing a long, large, +unshapely foot, roughly clad. But he was even then, by those who +knew him best, regarded as intellectually and professionally a +great man. When I next saw him (March 25, 1865, twenty days before +his martyrdom) he looked much the same, except better dressed, +though he was then President of the United States and Commander-in- +Chief of its Army and Navy. He appeared on both occasions a sad +man, thoughtful and serious. The last time I saw him he was watching +the result of an assault on the enemy's outer line of works from +Fort Fisher in front of Petersburg, the day Fort Stedman was carried +and held for a time by the Confederates. + +I also visited St. Louis, and took a look at its narrow (in old +part) French streets; thence I went to Cairo, the worst, in fact +and appearance, of all. In going alone on foot along the track of +the Illinois Central Railroad from Cairo to Burkeville Junction, +in crossing the Cash bottoms, or slashes, I was assailed by two of +a numerous band of highwaymen who then inhabited those parts, and +was in danger of losing my life. In a struggle on the embankment +one of the two fell from the railroad bed to the swamp at its side, +and on being disengaged from the other I proceeded without being +further molested to my destination. + +By March 1, 1858, I was again at home, resolved to practise law in +my native county, at Springfield, where I opened an office for that +purpose. To locate to practise a profession among early neighbors +and friends has its disadvantages. The jealous and envious will +not desire or aid you to succeed; others, friendly enough, still +will want you to establish a reputation before they employ you. + +All will readily, however, espouse your friendship, and proudly +claim you as their school-mate, neighbor, and dearest friend when +you have demonstrated you do not need their patronage. + +I did succeed, in a way, from the beginning, and was not without +a good clientage, and some good employments. I was prompt, faithful, +and persistently loyal to my clients' interests, trying never to +neglect them even when they were small. Then litigations were +sharper generally than at present, and often, as now understood, +unnecessary. The court-term was once looked forward to as a time +for a lawyer to earn fees; now it is, happily, otherwise with the +more successful and better lawyers. Commercial business is too +tender to be ruthlessly shocked by bitter litigations. Disputes +between successful business men can be settled usually now in good +lawyers' offices on fair terms, saving bitterness, loss of time, +and expensive or prolonged trials. A just, candid, and good attorney +should make more and better fees by his advice and counsel and in +adjusting his client's affairs in his office than by contentions +in a trial court-room. + +I was an active member of the Independent Rover Fire Company in +Springfield, and with it ran to fires and worked on the brakes of +a hand-engine, etc. + +I gave little attention to matters outside of the law, though a +little to a volunteer militia company of which I was a member; for +a time a lieutenant, then in 1860 brigade-major on a militia +brigadier's staff. We staff officers wore good clothes, much +tinsel, gaudy crimson scarfs, golden epaulets, bright swords with +glistening scabbards, rose horses in a gallop on parade occasions +and muster days, yet knew nothing really military--certainly but +little useful in war. We knew a little of company drill and of +the handling of the old-fashioned muster. + +My wife (Eliza Stout) was of the same Stout family of New Jersey +from whence came my maternal grandmother. She was born at Springfield, +Ohio, July 11, 1834, and died there March 12, 1899. + +Her father, Charles Stout, and mother, Margaret (McCord) Stout, +emigrated from New Jersey, on horseback, in 1818, to Ohio, first +settling at Cadiz, then at Urbana, and about 1820 in Clark County. +The McCords were Scotch-Irish, from County Tyrone. Thus in our +children runs the Scotch-Irish blood, with the German, Dutch, Welsh, +English, and what not--all, however, Aryan in tongue, through the +barbaric, Teutonic tribes of northern Europe. + +Thus situated and occupied, I was, after Sumter was fired on, and +although wholly unprepared by previous inclination, education, or +training, quickly metamorphosed into a soldier in actual war. + +Five days after President Lincoln's first call for volunteers I +was in Camp Jackson, Columbus, Ohio (now Goodale Park), a private +soldier, and April 27, 1861, I was commissioned and mustered as +Major of the 3d Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with the regiment went +forthwith to Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, for drill and equipment. +Here real preparations for war, its duties, responsibilities, and +hardships, began. Without the hiatus of a day I was in the volunteer +service four years and two months, being mustered out, at Washington, +D. C., June 27, 1865, on which date I settled all my ordnance and +other accounts with the departments of the government, though they +covered several hundred thousand dollars. + +I served and fought in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, +Georgia, West Virginia, and Maryland, and campaigned in other +States. I was thrice slightly wounded, twice in different years, +near Winchester, Virginia, and severely wounded in the left forearm +at the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864. I was off duty on +account of wounds for a short time only, though I carried my arm +in a sling, unhealed, until after the close of the war. + +The story of my service in the Civil War is told elsewhere. + +II +PUBLIC SERVICES SINCE THE CIVIL WAR + +On my return from the war I resumed, in Springfield, Ohio, the +practice of law, and have since pursued it, broken a little by some +official life.( 8) I took a deep interest in the political questions +growing out of the reconstruction of the States lately in rebellion, +and especially in the adoption of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and +Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The _first_ of these +abolished slavery in the United States; the _second_ (1) secured +to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, citizenship +therein and in the State wherein they resided; prohibited a State +from making any law that would abridge the privileges or immunities +of citizens, and from depriving any person of life, liberty, or +property without due process of law, and from denying to any person +the equal protection of the laws; (2) required Representatives to +be apportioned among the States according to number, excluding +Indians not taxed, but provided that when the right of male citizens +over twenty-one years to vote for electors and Federal and State +executive, judicial or legislative officers, was denied or abridged +by any State, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, +the basis of representation therein should be reduced proportionately; +(3) excluded any person who, having previously taken an oath as a +member of Congress or of a State Legislature, or as an officer of +the United States or of a State, to support the Constitution of +the United States, shall have engaged or aided in rebellion, from +holding any office under the United States or any State, leaving +Congress the right by a two-thirds vote of each House to remove +such disability, and (4) prohibited the validity of the public +debt, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions and +bounties, from being questioned, and prevented the United States +or any State from paying any obligation incurred in aid of the +Rebellion, or any claim for the emancipation of any slave, and the +_third_ provided that citizens shall not be denied the right to +vote "By any State on account of race, color, or previous condition +of servitude."( 9) Those amendments completed the cycle of +fundamental changes of the Constitution, and were necessary results +of the war. + +Ohio ratified each of them through her Legislature, but, in January, +1868, rescinded her previous ratification of the Fourteenth +Amendment. I voted and spoke in the Ohio Senate against this +recession. + +The Constitution of Ohio gave the elective franchise only to "white" +persons. In 1867 the people of the State voted against striking +the word "white" from the Constitution. In that year I was elected +to the Ohio Senate, and participated in the political discussion +of those times, both on the stump and in the General Assembly, and +favored universal suffrage and the political equality of all persons. +The wisdom of such suffrage will hardly be settled so long as there +exists a great disparity of learning and moral, public and private, +among the people, race not regarded. + +I originated some laws, still on the statute books of Ohio, one or +two of which have been copied in other States. An amendment to +the replevin laws, so as to prevent the plaintiff from acquiring, +regardless of right, heirlooms, keepsakes, etc., is an example of +this. I served on the Judiciary and other committees of the Ohio +Senate in the sessions of 1868-69. + +I supported my old war chief for President in 1868 and 1872. I +was Commander of the Department of the Ohio, Grand Army of the +Republic, for the years 1868, 1869, and 1870, during which time, +under its auspices, the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home +was established at Xenia, through a board of trustees appointed by +me. The G. A. R. secured the land, erected some cottages and other +buildings thereon, and carried on the institution, paying the expense +for nearly two years before the State accepted the property as a +donation and assumed the management of the Home. I was Junior Vice- +Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R., 1871-72; was trustee of the +Orphans' Home from April, 1871, date when the State took charge of +it, to March, 1878; have been a trustee of Antioch College since +June, 1873; was the first President of the Lagonda National Bank, +Springfield, Ohio, (April, 1873), a position I still hold; was a +delegate-at-large from Ohio to the National Republican Convention +in Cincinnati, in June, 1876, when General Hayes was nominated for +President; was thereafter, serving in the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, +Forty-seventh, and Forty-eighth Congresses, ending March 4, 1885, +covering the administrations of Presidents Hayes, Garfield, and +Arthur. I served in the Forty-fifth on the Committee on War Claims, +and in the Forty-sixth on Elections, and on other less important +committees. + +I opposed the repeal of the act providing for the resumption of +specie payments, January 1, 1879. In a somewhat careful speech +(November 16, 1877), I insisted that the act "to strengthen the +public credit" (March 18, 1869), and the resumption act of January +14, 1875, reaffirmed the original promise and renewed the pledges +of the nation to redeem, when presented, its notes issued during +and on account of the Rebellion, thus making them the equivalent +of coin. I then, also against the prophecy of many in and out of +Congress, demonstrated the honesty, necessity, and ability of the +government to resume specie payment. + +The act was not repealed, and resumption came under it without a +financial shock, and the nation's credit, strength, honor, and good +faith were maintained inviolate with its own people. + +I advocated the payment of claims of loyal citizens of the +insurrectionary States for supplies furnished or seized by the +Union Army, necessary for its use for subsistence, but opposed +payment, to even loyal citizens, of claims based on the loss or +destruction of property incident to the general devastation of the +war. Claims for destruction of property were the most numerous, +and the most energetically pressed, and, in some instances, +appropriations were made to pay them, but the great majority of +them failed. The loyalty of claimants from the South was often +more than doubtful. For want of a well defined rule, which it is +impossible to establish in Congress, very many just claims against +the United States never are paid, or, if paid, it is after honest +claimants have been subjected to the most vexatious delays, and, +in many instances, forced to be victimized by professional lobbyists. +Many claimants have spent all they and their friends possessed +waiting in Washington, trying to secure an appropriation or to pay +blackmailing claim-agents or lobbyists. It is doubtful whether +the latter class of persons ever really aided, by influence or +otherwise, in securing an honest appropriation, though they, to +the scandal of the members, often had credit for doing so. It is +doubtful whether there is any case where members of either House +were bribed with money to support a pending bill, yet many claimants +have believed they paid members for their influence and votes. + +An illustrative incident occurred when Wm. P. Frye of Maine was +serving on the War Claims Committee of the House. A lobbyist in +some way ascertained that Mr. Frye was instructed by his committee +to report a bill favorably by which a considerable claim would be +paid. The rascal found the claimant, and told him that for five +hundred dollars Mr. Frye would make a favorable report, otherwise +his report would be adverse. The claimant paid the sum. But for +an accident Mr. Frye never would have known of the fraud, and the +claimant would have believed he bribed an honest member. + +I opposed the payment of a large class of claims presented for +institutions of learning or church buildings destroyed by one or +the other army, not so much on account of their disloyal owners, +but because their destruction belonged to the general ravages of +war, never compensated for, as of right, according to the laws and +usages of nations. + +Besides making reports on various war claims, I spoke (December +13, 1878) at some length against a bill to reimburse William and +Mary College, Virginia, for property destroyed during the war, in +which I collated the precedents and reviewed the law of nations in +the matter of payment of claims for property destroyed in the +ravages of war by either the friendly or opposing army. I also +frequently participated in the debates on the floor of the House +involving war claims and other important matters. + +The necessity for presenting claims for the judgment of Congress +results in the most grievous wrong to honest claimants, and often +results in the payment of fraudulent claims through the persistency +of claimants and the lack of time and adequate means for investigation. +In the absence of judicial investigation according to the usual +forms of procedure it quite frequently happens that fraudulent +claims are made to appear honest, and hence paid. Want of time +causes other, however just, to fail of consideration, thus doing +incalculable injustice. The government of the United States suffers +in its reputation from its innumerable failures to pay, at least +promptly, its honest creditors. Thousands of bills to pay claims +are annually introduced which go to committees and to the calendar, +never to be disposed of for want of time. To remedy this, on April +16, 1878, I proposed in the House an amendment to the Constitution +in these words: + +"_Article ----_ + +"Section 1. Congress shall have no power to appropriate money for +the payment of any claims against the United States, not created +in pursuance of or previously authorized by law, international +treaty, or award, except in payment of a final judgment rendered +thereon by a court or tribunal having competent jurisdiction. + +"Section 2. Congress shall establish a court of claims to consist +of five justices, one of whom shall be chief-justice, with such +original jurisdiction as may be provided by law in cases involving +claims against the United States, and with such other original +jurisdiction as may be provided by law, and Congress may also confer +on any other of the courts of the United States inferior to the +Supreme Court, original jurisdiction in like cases. + +"Section 3. All legislation other than such as refers exclusively +to the appropriation of money in any appropriation act of Congress +shall be void, except such as may prescribe the terms or conditions +upon which the money thereby appropriated shall be paid or received." +--_Con. Record_, Vol. vii., Part III., p. 2576. + +The adoption of this amendment would have relieved Congress of much +work; have given claimants at all times a speedy and certain remedy +for the disposition of their claims and at the same time secured +protection to the government against unfounded claims. A statute +of limitations could have put a rest old and often trumped-up +claims, still constantly being brought before Congress. It is +impossible for Congress to make a statute of limitations for its +own guidance.(10) It never will obey a law against its own action. + +In the Forty-sixth Congress there were many contested election +cases, growing out of frauds and crimes at elections, especially +in the South. The purpose of the dominant race South to overthrow +the rule of the blacks or their friends was then manifest in the +conduct of elections. The colored voter was soon, by coercion and +fraud, practically deprived of his franchise. The plan of stuffing +ballot-boxes with tissue ballots (printed often on tissue paper +about an inch long and less in width) was in vogue in some districts. +The judge or clerk of the election would, when the ballot-box was +opened, shake from his sleeve into the box hundreds of these tickets. +In these districts voters were encouraged to vote, but the tissue +ballot was mainly counted to the number of the actual voters; those +remaining were burned. The party in the majority in the House, +however, generally voted in its men, regardless of the facts. + +As early as June 7, 1878, I proposed to amend the postal laws so +as to extend the free-delivery letter-carrier system to post offices +having a gross revenue of $20,000. This amendment subsequently +became a law, and gave many cities the carrier system. Prior to +this, population alone was the test for establishing such offices. + +I opposed the indiscriminate distribution of the remaining $10,000,000 +of the $15,500,000 paid by Great Britain, as adjudged by the Geneva +Arbitration, for indemnity for losses occasioned by Confederate +cruisers which went to sea during the Rebellion from English ports +with the connivance or through the negligence of the British +Government. I insisted in a speech (December 17, 1878) that the +fund should be distributed in payment of claims allowed by the +arbitrators in making the award, or retained by the government as +general indemnity. Many of the losers whose claims were taken into +account in making the award could not be proper claimants to the +fund, as they had been fully paid by marine insurance companies. +It was insisted by some members that the companies had no equitable +right to be subrogated to the rights of the claimants who were thus +paid, because the companies had charged war-premiums, and hence +did not deserve reimbursement.(11) + +The Forty-sixth Congress will long be memorable in the history of +our country. It was Democratic in both branches, for the first +time since the war. + +The previous Congress (House Democratic) adjourned March 4, 1879, +without having performed its constitutional duty of appropriating +the money necessary to carry on,. for the coming fiscal year, the +legislative, executive, and judicial departments of the government, +and for the pay of the army. The avowed purpose of this failure +was to coerce a Republican President to withhold his veto and +approve bills prohibiting the use of troops "to keep the peace at +the polls on election days"; taking from the President his power +to enforce all laws, even to the suppression of rebellion, except +on the motion first taken by State authorities; repealing all +election laws which secured the right, through supervisors of +elections and special deputy marshals, to have free, fair elections +for electors and members of Congress; and also that made it a crime +for an officer of the army to suppress riots or disorder or to +preserve the peace at elections. + +The President called the Forty-sixth Congress in extra session, +March 18, 1879, to make the necessary appropriations. The effort +was at once made, through riders to appropriation bills and by +separate bills, to enact the laws mentioned. Excitement ran high. +For the first time in the history of the United States (perhaps in +the history of any government) it was announced by a party in +control of its law-making power, and consequently responsible for +the proper conduct and support of the government, that unless the +Executive would consent to legislation not by him deemed wise or +just, there should not be provided means for maintaining the several +departments of the government--that the government should be "starved +to death." In vain were precedents sought for in the history of +England for such suicidal policy. The debate in both branches of +Congress ran high, and there was much apprehension felt by the +people. Mr. Blackburn of Kentucky, speaking for his party, said: + +"For the first time in eighteen years past the Democracy are back +in power in both branches of this Legislature, and she proposes to +signallize her return to power; she proposes to celebrate her +recovery of her long-lost heritage by tearing off these degrading +badges of servitude and destroying the machinery of a corrupt and +partisan legislation. We do not intend to stop until we have +stricken the last vestige of your war measures from the statute- +book, which, like these, were born of the passions incident to +civil strife and looked to the abridgment of the liberty of the +citizen." + +Others threatened to refuse to vote appropriations until the "Capitol +crumbled into dust" unless the legislation demanded was passed. +President Hayes' veto alone prevented the legislation. It is not +here proposed to give a history of the struggle, fraught with so +much danger to the Republic, but only to call attention to it. +The contest lasted for months. + +Senators Edmunds, Conkling, Blaine, Chandler of Michigan, and other +Republicans, and Thurman, Voorhees, Beck, Morgan, Lamar, and other +Democrats participated in the debates. In the House Mr. Garfield, +Mr. Frye, Mr. Reed, and other Republicans, and Mr. Cox, Mr. Tucker, +Mr. Carlisle, and other Democrats took a more or less prominent +part in the discussion. I spoke against the repeal of the election +laws on April 25, 1879, and against the prohibition of the use of +troops at the polls to keep the peace on election days, on June +11, 1879. The necessity for the pay of members for the fiscal year +ending June 30, 1880, had the effect, finally, after many vetoes +of the President, to cause the Democratic members to recede, for +a time, from the false position taken. The whole question was, +however, renewed in the first regular session of the same Congress. +Precisely similar riders to appropriation bills and new bills +relating to the use of troops at the polls, to repeal laws authorizing +the appointment of supervisors and special deputy marshals for +elections, and to make it a crime for an officer of the army to +aid in keeping the peace at the polls on election days were brought +forward and their enactment into laws demanded. I spoke on the +8th and on the 10th of April, 1880, against inhibiting the use of +the army at the polls and restricting the President's power to keep +the peace at elections when riots and disorder prevailed, and on +March 18th, and again on the 11th of June, 1880, in opposition to +a bill intended to repeal existing laws relating to the use of +deputy marshals at elections. In these debates I sought to make +clear the power of the government to protect the voter in Federal +elections; to demonstrate the necessity for doing so; to show that +it was as important to have peace on election day at the polls as +on the other days of the year and at other places; that it was not +intended, and had never been the purpose, to use troops or supervisors +or deputy marshals to prevent a voter from voting for officers of +his choice, but only to secure him in that right; and that the +right to a peaceful election had always been sacredly maintained, +and for this purpose the army had been used in England and in all +countries where free elections had been held. I maintained that +the citizen was as much entitled to be protected in his right +peacefully and freely to exercise the elective franchise, as to be +protected in any other right, and that it was as much the duty and +as clearly within the power of the Federal Government to use, when +necessary, the army as a police force on an election day as to use +it on other days of the year to suppress riots and breaches of the +peace; and I further insisted that it was the duty of the United +States to protect its citizens at home as well as abroad in all +their constitutional rights.(12) I also showed that the coercive +policy of forcing legislation under threats of destroying the +government was not only indefensible, treasonable, and unpatriotic, +but wholly new. The precedents alleged to be found in the history +of the British Parliament were shown not to exist in fact; that +the farthest the English Parliament had ever gone was to refuse +subsidies to the Crown, the princes, or to maintain royalty, or to +vote supplies to carry on a foreign war not approved by the House +of Commons; that in no case had the life of the nation been threatened +as the penalty for the Crown's not approving laws passed by the +House of Commons, and that the English statutes provided for preserving +peace and order by the army, especially at elections. + +In some cases during this memorable contest in the Forty-sixth +Congress I took issue in the House with the majority of my party +colleagues when they, through timidity, or for other causes, yielded +their opposition to proposed legislation touching the use of the +army and special deputy marshals and supervisors of elections to +secure peaceable and fair elections. In one notable instance (June +11, 1879), Mr. Garfield of Ohio, Mr. Hale of Maine, and the other +Republican members of the appropriation committee so far surrendered +their previously expressed views as to concur in the adoption of +a section in the army appropriation bill which prohibited any of +the money appropriated by it from being "paid for the subsistence, +equipment, transportation, or compensation of any portion of the +army of the United States to be used as a police force to keep the +peace at any election held within any State." + +The application of the previous question cut off general debate, +and I was only able to get five minutes to state my objections to +the proposed measure. + +Though the section was plainly intended to deprive the President +of his constitutional power as Commander-in-Chief of the army, +eleven Republicans only of the House joined me in voting against +it. The Republican Senators, however, generally opposed the section +when the bill reached the Senate. Later in the same Congress the +Republicans of the House unitedly supported the position taken by +me. This and other like incidents led, however, to a charge being +made later by some weak, jealous, and vain Republicans that I was +not friendly to Mr. Garfield as a leader and not always loyal to +my party. + +In the last army appropriation bill of the same Congress, after +full discussion, a similar provision was omitted, and no such +limitation on the use of the army has since been or is ever again +likely to be attempted to be enacted into law. + +The political heresies of the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses +have apparently passed away, and a more patriotic sentiment generally +exists in all parties, and, fortunately, the necessity for troops, +supervisors of elections, and special deputy marshals at the polls +no longer exists in so marked a degree. + +I spoke, December 7, 1880, and again, February 9, 1881, at length, +against the adoption of a joint rule of Congress relating to counting +the electoral vote, which rule, among other things, undertook to +give Congress the right to settle questions that might arise on +objection of a member as to the vote of the electors of a State. +I maintained that, under the Constitution, Congress neither in +joint session nor in separate sessions had the right to decide that +the vote of a State should or should not be counted, or that there +was any power anywhere to reject the vote of any State after it +had been cast and properly certified and returned; that the two +Houses only met, as provided in the Constitution, to witness the +purely ministerial work of the Vice-President in opening and counting +the electoral vote as returned to him. I cited the precedents from +the beginning of the government under the Constitution in support +of my position, excepting only the dangerous one of 1877, growing +out of the Electoral Commission. + +I spoke on many other important subjects, especially on the true +rule of apportionment of representation in the House; on election +cases, and parliamentary questions. I was not always in harmony +with my party leaders. I denied the policy of surrendering principle +in any case, even though apparent harmony was, for the time being, +attainable thereby. + +At the November election of 1880, James A. Garfield was elected +President, and the Republicans had a bare majority in the House at +the opening of the Forty-seventh Congress over the Democrats and +Greenbackers, but not a majority over all. There were three Mahone +re-Adjusters elected from Virginia. I formed no purpose to become +a candidate for Speaker of the House, until the close of the Forty- +sixth, and then only on the solicitation of leading members of that +Congress who had been elected to the next one. + +Shortly after Mr. Garfield was inaugurated President of the United +States, a violent controversy arose over appointments to important +offices in New York, which led to the resignation of Senators +Conkling and Platt. This was followed by President Garfield being +shot (July 2, 1881) by a crazy crank (Guiteau) who, in some way, +conceived that he, through the controversy, was deprived of an +office. In company with General Sherman I saw and had an interview +with Mr. Garfield in his room at the White House the afternoon of +the day he was shot. His appearance then was that of a man fatally +wounded. He lingered eighty days, dying September 19, 1881. (He +is buried at Cleveland, Ohio.) Garfield was a man of great intellect, +and attracted people to him by his generous nature. I have spoken +of him in an oration delivered, May 12, 1887, at the unveiling of +a statue of him at the foot of Capitol Hill, Washington, D. C., +erected by the Society of the Army of the Cumberland.(13) + +Over such competitors as Mr. Reed, of Maine, Mr. Burrows of Michigan, +Mr. Hiscock of New York, and others, I was chosen Speaker of the +Forty-seventh Congress, December 5, 1881. The contest was sharp +before the caucus met, but when my nomination became reasonably +apparent, Mr. Hiscock, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Burrows, my three leading +competitors, generously voted and had their friends vote for my +nomination. + +Chester A. Arthur, as Vice-President, succeeded to the Presidency +on the death of Mr. Garfield. There came, later, an acute division +in the Republican party, Blaine and Conkling (both then out of +office by a singular coincidence), being the assumed heads of the +opposing factions. President Arthur tried, faithfully, to bring +the elements together by recognizing both, but in this, as is +usually the case, he was not successful and had not the active +support of either faction. Mr. Blaine was too inordinately ambitious +and jealous of power to patiently bide his time, and Mr. Conkling +was too imperious and vengeful to tolerate, through his political +friends, fair treatment of his supposed enemies. Mr. Conkling was +a man of honesty and sincerity, true to his friends to a degree, +of overtowering intellect, with marvellous industry. Notwithstanding +his many unfortunate traits of character, Mr. Conkling was a great +man. + +Mr. Blaine was essentially a politician, and possessed of a vaulting +and consuming ambition, and was jealous of even his would-be personal +and political friends. Mr. Conkling advised some of his friends +in Congress to support me for Speaker, as did also his former +senatorial colleague, Mr. Platt of New York. The members from New +York state, however, though many of them were followers of Mr. +Conkling, unitedly supported Mr. Hiscock until the latter decided, +during the caucus, himself to vote for me. Mr. Blaine, though to +me personally professing warm friendship, held secret meetings at +the State Department and at his house to devise methods of preventing +my election.(14) He had been a member, for many terms, of the +House, and thrice its Speaker, had been a Senator, and for a few +months Secretary of State under Presidents Garfield and Arthur. +He had an extended acquaintance and many enthusiastic friends. He +lacked breadth and strength of learning, as well as sincerity of +character. He, however, came near being a great man, especially +in public, popular estimation. + +The Forty-seventh Congress met December 5, 1881, and being elected +its Speaker over Mr. Randall, the candidate of the Democrats, I +made this inaugural address: + +"Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,--I thank you with a +heart filled with gratitude for the distinguished honor conferred +on me by an election as your Speaker. I will assume the powers +and duties of this high office with, I trust, a due share of +diffidence and distrust of my own ability to meet them acceptably +to you and the country. I believe that you, as a body and +individually, will give me hearty support in the discharge of all +my duties. I invoke your and the country's charitable judgment +upon all my official acts. I will strive to be just to all, +regardless of party or section. Where party principle is involved, +I will be found to be a Republican, but in all other respects I +hope to be able to act free from party bias. + +"It is a singular fact that at this most prosperous time in our +nation's history no party in either branch of Congress has an +absolute majority over all other parties, and it is therefore +peculiarly fortunate that at no other time since and for many years +prior to the accession of Abraham Lincoln to the Executive chair +have there been so few unsettled vital questions of a national +character in relation to which party lines have been closely drawn. + +"The material prosperity of the people is in advance of any other +period in the history of our government. The violence of party +spirit has materially subsided, and in great measure because many +of the reasons for its existence are gone. + +"While the universal tendency of the people is to sustain and +continue to build up an unparalleled prosperity, it should be our +highest aim to so legislate as to permanently promote and not +cripple it. This Congress should be, and I profoundly hope it will +be, marked peculiarly as a business Congress. + +"It may be true that additional laws are yet necessary to give to +every citizen complete protection in the exercise of all political +rights. With evenly balanced party power, with few grounds for +party strife and bitterness, and with no impending Presidential +election to distract us from purely legislative duties, I venture +to suggest that the present is an auspicious time to enact laws to +guard against the recurrence of dangers to our institutions and to +insure tranquillity at perilous times in the future. + +"Again thanking you for the honor conferred, and again invoking +your aid and generous judgment, I am ready to take the oath prescribed +by law and the Constitution and forthwith proceed, with my best +ability, guided by a sincere and honest purpose, to discharge the +duties belonging to the office with which you have clothed me." + +The duties of Speaker were arduous, varied, and delicate. Under +the law, rules, and practice of the House he had control of the +Hall of the House, and of the assignment of committee rooms; signed +orders for the monthly pay of each member, and the pay of employees; +approved bonds of officers; appointed and removed stenographers; +examined and approved the daily journal of the proceedings of the +House before being read; received and submitted messages from the +President and heads of departments; appointed three regents to the +Smithsonian Institution, and three members annually as visitors to +the Military Academy, and a like number to the Naval Academy, and +performed many other duties cast upon him, besides appointing all +the committees of the House. The Speaker is naturally the person +to whom members, employees, and others having business with the +House flock for advice, assistance, and with their real or imaginary +grievances. An extensive correspondence and social duties demand +much of the Speaker's time. All this, independent of his real +duties as presiding officer of the House, in performing what is +expected, without time for deliberation, to decide correctly all +parliamentary questions and inquiries. And he is obliged, in +addition, to discharge the ordinary duties of a member for his +district and constituents. The members from all parts of the Union +have diverse and often conflicting interests to press upon the +attention of the House, and the jealousy of members in matters of +precedence or recognition by the Speaker renders his duties severely +trying. It constantly occurred that several members with equal +rights, urging matters of equal merit, were dependent on the +recognition of the Speaker in a "morning hour," when not more than +one or two of them at most could, for want of time, be recognized. +The Speaker has to be invidious, relying on the future to even +matters up. The recognition of a member by the Speaker is final, +and from which there is no appeal. Members and often personal +friends not infrequently feel aggrieved at the Speaker, for a time +at least. All this regardless of political party lines. It is +the Speaker's duty to equally divide recognition on party sides, +and this duty, from the member's standpoint, is often a ground of +complaint. + +The first duty of the Speaker, ordinarily, after the House is +organized and before it can proceed regularly to business, is to +appoint the standing committees. + +Chairmanships of committees and appointments on leading ones are +much sought after, and members appeal to the Speaker on all kinds +of grounds to give them the coveted places. Personal and party +friendship is pressed upon him to induce favorable action. The +same place is often sought by a number of members. Experience in +congressional service, regardless of the member's prior duties, +pursuit, or occupation, is generally urged as a reason for making +a desired appointment. Some construct a geographical reason for +a particular selection. Out of all this and more, the Speaker, +with little or no acquaintance with a large number of the members, +does the best he can. A few always are disappointed, and, necessarily +under the circumstances, some mistakes are made, but generally +those who make the loudest complaint are the weak, vain, and +inefficient members who hope to be made great in the eyes of their +constituents by being named on one or more important committees by +the Speaker. + +Some who seek and obtain committee appointments of their own choice +soon find they are not what they had expected, and they also join +the clamor against the Speaker. There are, however, only a small +number out of the whole who are unreasonable or dissatisfied. This +small number, by their wailing, give the appearance of a general +discontent. Complaint was made by the disappointed that I gave +preference on committees to personal and party friends who supported +me for Speaker. I always believed in rewarding my friends. + +I, however, appointed Hon. Thomas B. Reed (since Speaker), Hon. +Frank Hiscock, Hon. J. C. Burrows (all competitors for Speaker), +Chairmen, respectively, of the Committees on the Judiciary, +Appropriations, and Territories. Hon. William D. Kelley was made +Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. He was the acknowledged +leading advocate of a high protective tariff to which the Republican +party was then pledged, though the party was then honeycombed with +free-traders, some of whom edited leading newspapers. Some of the +latter in New York, Chicago, and Cincinnati, took occasion to assail +me for appointing Mr. Kelley, and to give weight to their unjust +attacks made many false statements as to the organization of other +committees.(15) In this they were inspired by Mr. Blaine, and a +very few others outside of Congress, who imagined their dictations +should have been regarded, or who were otherwise disappointed in +not being able to say who should be Speaker. The Speaker could +not go into the newspapers and contradict these and like malicious +stories, and hence some of them are still ignorantly repeated.(16) + +After fuller acquaintance with the members, it became obvious that +in assigning them to committee work I had overrated some and +underrated others, but a better working Congress never met. Its +work abundantly proves this, not only in amount of work done, but +in the importance and character of the legislation, and its freedom +from all that was corrupt or vicious. I cannot recall that even +the weak and vicious slanderers or disappointed lobbyists ever +risked charging me while I was Speaker or during my eight years in +Congress with favoring any corrupt measure pending in Congress. +Polygamy, notwithstanding it had maintained itself in the United +States for fifty years, and was then more firmly established in +Utah than at any time before, was given a blow, under which it has +since about disappeared. The first three-per-cent. funding bill +was passed by this Congress. Pauper immigration was prohibited, +and immigrants were required to be protected on their way across +the sea; national bank charters were extended, letter postage was +reduced to two cents, and many public acts wisely regulating the +Indian and land policy of the government were passed. Liberal +pension laws were enacted; internal-revenue taxes were largely +reduced, and there was a general revision (March 3, 1883) of the +tariff laws. The Civil Service Act was also passed in this +Congress. + +More bills were introduced for consideration in the Forty-seventh +than came before Congress in the first fifty years of its existence. + +In discharging the duties of Speaker I had no strong parliamentary +leader of my party on the floor to aid me, and I had had but little +experience as a presiding officer. Of the opposite party were Mr. +Randall, who had been Speaker of the three preceding Congresses; +Mr. Cox of New York, the pugnacious, who had acted as Speaker for +a time in the Forty-third; Mr. Carlisle (my successor as Speaker), +and Mr. Knott of Kentucky, and others who laid just claim to much +parliamentary learning. The House was hardly Republican; and in +my own party were disappointed aspirants who often thought they +saw opportunities to gain a little cheap applause.(17) Notwithstanding +this situation, no parliamentary decision of mine was overruled by +the House, though many appeals were taken, and more than the usual +number of important questions were raised by members and decided +by me. The most memorable of the decisions was the one which put +an end to dilatory motions to prevent the House from making or +amending its rules of procedure. The occasion of this holding +arose on the consideration of a report of the Committee on Rules +whereby it was proposed to so amend the rules as to prevent +filibustering and dilatory motions in the consideration of contested +election cases. It may be observed that for the first time in the +history of Congress, dilatory methods were resorted to, to prevent +the _consideration_ of election cases. I was then ready to hold +(and so stated) that dilatory motions were not in order to prevent +the consideration of such cases, as their disposition affected the +organization of the House for business; and I was also prepared to +count a quorum when a quorum of members was present not voting, +but these questions did not arise, and it was then understood that +leading Republicans (Mr. Reed of Maine among the number (18)) did +not agree with my views on these two points. A point of order was +made against a dilatory motion, which was debated at much length, +and with some heat, by the ablest parliamentarians of all parties +in the House. My opinion on the question made is quoted from the +_Record_ of May 29, 1882. + +"Mr. Reed, as a privileged question, called up the report of the +Committee on Rules made on Saturday last; when Mr. Randall raised +the question of consideration; pending which, Mr. Kenna moved that +the House adjourn; pending which Mr. Blackburn moved that when the +House adjourn it be to meet on Wednesday next; and the question +being put thereon, it was decided in the negative. + +* * * * * + +"The question recurring on the motion of Mr. Kenna that the House +adjourn; pending which Mr. Randall moved that when the House adjourn +it be to meet on Thursday nest; + +"Mr. Reed made the point of order that the said motion was not in +order at this time, on the ground that pending a proposition to +change the rules of the House, dilatory motions cannot be entertained +by the Chair. + +"After debate on said point of order, + +"The Speaker. The question for the Chair to decide is briefly +this: The gentleman from Maine (Reed) has called up for present +consideration the report of the Committee on Rules made on the 27th +inst., and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall) raised, +as he might under the practice and the rules of the House, the +question of consideration. The gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. +Kenna) then moved that the House adjourn, and the gentleman from +Kentucky (Mr. Blackburn) moved that when the House adjourn it be +to meet on Wednesday next, which last motion was voted down; and +thereupon the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall) moved that +when the House adjourn it be to meet on Thursday next. The gentleman +from Maine (Mr. Reed) then raised the point of order that such +motions are mere dilatory motions, and therefore, as against the +right of the House to consider a proposition to amend the rules, +not in order. + +"It cannot be disputed that the Committee on Rules have the right +to report at any time such changes in the rules as it may decide +to be wise. The right of that committee to report at any time may +be, under the practice, a question of privilege; but if it is not, +resolutions of this House, adopted December 19, 1881, expressly +give that right. + +"The Clerk will read the resolutions. + +"The Clerk read as follows: + +'_Resolved_, That the rules of the House of Representatives of the +Forty-sixth Congress shall be the rules of the present House until +otherwise ordered; and, + +'_Resolved_ further, That the Committee on Rules when appointed +shall have the right to report at any time all such amendments or +revisions of said rules as they may deem proper.' + +"The Speaker. It will be seen that these resolutions not only give +the right to that committee to report at any time, but the committee +is authorized to report any change, etc., in the rules. The right +given to report at any time carries with it the right to have the +proposition reported considered without laying over. The resolutions +are the ones adopting the present standing rules of the House for +its government; and it will be observed that they were only +conditionally adopted; and the right was expressly reserved to the +House to order them set aside. Paragraph 1 of Rule xxviii provides +that.-- + +'No standing rule of the House shall be rescinded or changed without +one day's notice of the motion therefor.' + +"This clause of the rule, if applicable at all, may fairly be +construed to make it in order under the standing rules of the House +to consider any motion to rescind or change the rules after one +day's notice. + +"But the question for the Chair to decide is this: Are the rules +of this House to be so construed as to give to the minority of the +House the absolute right to prevent the majority or a quorum of +the House from making any new rules for its government; or in the +absence of anything in the rules providing for any mode of proceeding +in the matter of consideration, when the question of changing the +rules is before the House, shall the rules be so construed as to +virtually prevent their change should one-fifth of the House oppose +it? It may be well to keep in mind that paragraph 2 of section 5 +of article 1 of the Constitution says that-- + +'Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings.' + +"The same section of the Constitution provides that-- + +'A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business.' + +"The right given to the House to determine the rules of its +proceedings is never exhausted, but is at all times a continuing +right, and in the opinion of the Chair gives a right to make or +alter rules independent of any rules it may adopt. Dilatory motions +to prevent the consideration of business are comparatively recent +expedients, and should not be favored in any case save where +absolutely required by some clear rule of established practice. + +"In any case it is a severe strain upon common sense to construe +the rules so as to prevent a quorum of the House from taking any +proceedings at all required by the Constitution; and it is still +more difficult to find any justification for holding that the +special resolutions of this House adopted December 19th last, or +the standing rules even of the House, were intended to prevent the +House, if a majority so desired, from altering or abrogating the +present rules of the House. + +"There seems to be abundant precedent for the view the Chair takes. +The Clerk will read from the _Record_ of the Forty-third Congress, +volume ix, page 806, an opinion expressed by the distinguished +Speaker, Mr. Blaine, which has been repeatedly alluded to to-day. + +"The Clerk read as follows: + +'The Chair has repeatedly ruled that pending a proposition to change +the rules dilatory motions could not be entertained, and for this +reason he has several times ruled that the right of each House to +determine what shall be its rules is an organic right expressly +given by the Constitution of the United States. The rules are the +creature of that power, and, of course, they cannot be used to +destroy that power. The House is incapable by any form of rules +of divesting itself of its inherent constitutional power to exercise +its functions to determine its own rules. Therefore the Chair has +always announced upon a proposition to change the rules of the +House he never would entertain a dilatory motion.' + +"The Speaker. It will be observed that the then Speaker says he +has frequently held that pending a proposition to change the rules +dilatory motions could not be entertained. The precedents for +ruling out dilatory motions where an amendment of the rules is +under consideration are many. + +"During the electoral count my immediate predecessor (Mr. Randall) +decided, in principle, the point involved here. On February 24, +1877, after an obstructive motion had been made, the following +language was used, as found in the _Record_ of the Forty-fourth +Congress, page 1906. + +'The Speaker. The Chair is unable to recognize this in any other +light than as a dilatory motion. + +'The mover then denied that he made the motion as such. + +'The Speaker. The Chair is unable to classify it in any other way. +Therefore he rules that when the Constitution of the United States +directs anything to be done, or when the law under the Constitution +of the United States enacted in obedience thereto directs an act +of this House, it is not in order to make any motion to obstruct +or impede the execution of that injunction of the Constitution and +laws.' + +"While this decision is not on the precise point, it clearly covers +the principle involved in the case with which we are now dealing. + +"The Chair thinks the Constitution and the laws are higher than +any rules, and when they conflict with the rules the latter must +give way. There is not one word in the present rules, however, +which prescribes the mode of proceeding in changing the standing +rules except as to the reference of propositions to change the +rules, with the further exception that-- + +'No standing rule or order of the House shall be rescinded or +changed without one day's notice.' + +"But it will be observed that there is an entire absence from all +these standing rules of anything that looks to giving directions +as to the procedure when the rule is under consideration by the +House. This only refers to the time of considering motions to +rescind or change a standing rule to the reference of propositions +submitted by members, and to the time and manner of bringing them +before the House for consideration, and not to the method of +considering them when brought before the House. + +"It seems to purposely avoid saying one word as to the forms of +proceedings while considering such motions. This is highly +significant. + +"There is nothing revolutionary in holding that purely dilatory +motions cannot be entertained to prevent consideration or action +on a proposition to amend the rules of the House, as this right to +make or amend the rules is an organic one essential to be exercised +preliminary to the orderly transaction of business by the House. +It would be more than absurd to hold otherwise. + +"Rule XLV undertakes to fasten our present standing rules on the +present and all succeeding Congresses. It reads as follows: + +'These rules shall be the rules of the House of Representatives of +the present and succeeding Congresses, unless otherwise ordered.' + +"If this rule is of binding force on succeeding Congresses, and +the rules apply and can be invoked to give power to a minority in +the House to prevent their abrogation or alteration, they would be +made perpetual if only one-fifth of the members of the House so +decreed. + +"The fallacy of holding that the standing rules can be held to +apply to proceedings to amend, etc., the rules will more sharply +appear when we look to the case in hand. The proposition is to so +amend the rules in contested-election cases as to take away the +right to make and repeat dilatory motions, to prevent consideration, +etc. And the same obstructive right is appealed to to prevent its +consideration. To allow this would be to hold the rules superior +not only to the House that made them but to the Constitution of +the United States. + +"The wise remarks quoted in debate, made long since by the +distinguished speaker, Mr. Onslow of the House of Commons, about +the wisdom of adhering to fixed rules in legislative proceedings, +were made with no reference to the application of rules which it +was claimed were made to prevent any proceedings at all by the body +acting under them. + +"The present occupant of the chair has tried, and will try, to give +full effect to all rules wherever applicable, and especially to +protect the rights of the minority to the utmost extent the rules +will justify. + +"The Chair is not called upon to hold that any of the standing +rules of the House are in conflict with the Constitution, as it +is not necessary to do so. It only holds that there is nothing in +the rules which gives them application pending proceedings to amend +and rescind them. It also holds that under the first of the +resolutions adopted by the House on December 19, 1881, the right +was reserved to order the standing rules set aside at any time this +House so decided, and without regard to dilatory forms of proceedings +provided for in them. The Chair does not hold that pending the +question of consideration no motion shall be in order. It is +disposed to treat one motion to adjourn as proper at this time, as +it is a well-known parliamentary motion, and that such motion may +be liable at some stage of the proceedings to be repeated if made +for a proper and not a dilatory purpose. + +"The Chair feels better satisfied with its ruling in this case, +because the rule proposed to be adopted is one which looks to an +orderly proceeding in the matter of taking up and disposing of +contested-election cases, a duty cast directly on the House by the +Constitution of the United States, and an essential one to be +performed before it is completely organized. + +"The Chair is unable to find in the whole history of the government +that any dilatory motions have ever been made or entertained to +prevent the consideration or disposition of a contested-election +case until this Congress. The point of order has not yet been made +against obstructive motions to prevent the consideration of a +contested-election case, and the Chair is not now called on to +decide whether such motions are in order or not where they would +prevent a complete organization of the House. The principle here +involved will suffice to indicate the opinion of the Chair on that +question. + +"The question here decided the Chair understands to be an important +one, because it comprehends the complete organization of the House +to do business, but it feels that on principle and sound precedents +the point of order made by the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Reed) must +be sustained to the extent of holding that the motion made by the +gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall), which is in effect a +dilatory motion, is not at this time in order. + +"It has been, in debate, claimed that on January 11, 1882, the +present occupant of the chair made a different holding. The question +then made and decided arose on a matter of reference of a proposition +to amend the rules to an appropriate committee as provided for +under the rules, and not on the consideration of a report when +properly brought before the House for its action. The two things +are so plainly distinguishable as to require nothing further to be +said about them. + +"Mr. Randall. From your decision, Mr. Speaker, just announced, I +appeal to the House, whose officer you are. + +"Mr. Reed. I move to lay the appeal on the table. + +"The Speaker. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Randall) appeals +from the decision of the Chair, and the gentleman from Maine (Mr. +Reed) moves that the appeal be laid upon the table. + +"The question was taken; and there were--yeas 150, nays 0, not +voting 141. + +"So the appeal was laid on the table."(19) + +There was much clamor and undue excitement over this decision of +the Speaker cutting off the, always to me, foolish and unjustifiable, +though time-honored, practice of allowing a turbulent minority to +stop business indefinitely, by purely dilatory, though in form, +privileged motions. This holding, however, received the commendation +of sober, learned men of this country, and in Europe it was quoted +approvingly by Gladstone in the House of Commons of England, and +was followed, in principle, by its Speaker in upholding the rule +of _cloture_ against violent filibustering of the Irish party. +Such dilatory methods have been little resorted to since. + +At the end of this Congress a resolution was adopted, on the motion +of Mr. Randall, thanking "the Speaker for the ability and courtesy +with which he has presided over the deliberations of the House +during the Forty-seventh Congress." + +My valedictory as Speaker was as follows: + +"Gentlemen, the time has come when our official relations as +Representatives in the Forty-seventh Congress are to be dissolved. +In a moment more this House of Representatives will be known only +in history. Its acts will stand, many of them, it is believed, +through the future history of the Republic. + +"On the opening day of this Congress, I ventured the suggestion +and the expression of a hope that it would be marked 'as peculiarly +a business Congress.' + +"It has successfully grappled with more of the vital, material, +and moral questions of the country than its predecessors. Many of +these have been settled wisely and well by appropriate legislation. +It would be quite impossible at this time to enumerate the many +important laws which have been enacted to foster and promote the +substantial interests of the whole country. + +"This Congress enacted into a law the first 3 per cent. funding +bill known to this country, and under it a considerable portion of +the government debt has been refunded at lower rates than ever +before. + +"It did not hesitate to take hold of the question of polygamy, and +it is believed it has struck the first effective blow in the +direction of destroying that greatest remaining public crime of +the age. + +"Laws have been passed to protect the immigrant on his way across +the sea and upon his arrival in the ports of this country. + +"Laws have also been passed to extend the charters of the banking +institutions so that financial disorder cannot take place, which +would otherwise have come at the expiration of the old bank +charters. + +"Many public acts will be found relating to the Indian policy and +the land policy of this country which will prove to be wise. + +"The post-office laws have been so changed as to reduce letter +postage from three to two cents, the lowest rate ever known in the +United States. + +"No legislation of this Congress will be found upon the statute +books, revolutionary in character or which will oppress any section +or individual in the land. All legislation has been in the direction +of relief. + +"Pension laws have been enacted which are deemed wise, and liberal +appropriations have been made to pay the deserving and unfortunate +pensioner. + +"Internal-revenue taxes have been taken off, and the tariff laws +have been revised. + +"Sectionalism has been unknown in the enactment of laws. + +"In the main a fraternal spirit has prevailed among the members +from all portions of the Union. What has been said in the heat of +debate and under excitement and sometimes with provocation is not +to be regarded in determining the genuine feeling of concord existing +between members. The high office I have filled through the session +of this Congress has enabled me to judge better of the true spirit +of the members that compose it than I could otherwise have done. + +"It is common to say that the House of Representatives is a very +turbulent and disorderly body of men. This is true more in appearance +than in reality. Those who look on and do not participate see more +apparent confusion than exists in reality. The disorder that often +appears on the floor of the House grows out of an earnest, active +spirit possessed by members coming from all sections of the United +States, and indicates in high degree their strong individuality +and their great zeal in trying to secure recognition in the prompt +discharge of their duty. No more conscientious body of men than +compose this House of Representatives, in my opinion, ever met. +Partisan zeal has in some instances led to fierce word-contests on +the floor, but when the occasion which gave rise to it passed by, +party spirit went with it. + +"I am very thankful for the considerate manner in which I have been +treated by the House in its collective capacity. I am also very +thankful to each individual member of this body for his personal +treatment of me. I shall lay down the gavel and the high office +you clothed me with filled with good feeling towards each member +of this House. I have been at times impatient and sometimes severe +with members, but I have never purposely harshly treated any member. +I have become warmly attached to and possessed of a high admiration, +not only for the high character of this House as a parliamentary +body, but for all its individual members. I heartily thank the +House for its vote of thanks. + +"The duties of a Speaker are of the most delicate and critical +kind. His decisions are in the main made without time for deliberation +and are often very far-reaching and controlling in the legislation +of the country on important matters, and they call out the severest +criticism. + +"The rules of this House, which leave to the Speaker the onerous +duty and delicate task of recognizing individuals to present their +matters for legislation, render the office in that respect as +exceedingly unpleasant one. No member should have the legislation +he desires depend upon the individual recognition of the Speaker, +and no Speaker should be compelled to decide between members having +matters of possibly equal importance or of equal right to his +recognition. + +"I suggest here that the time will soon come when another mode will +have to be adopted which will relieve both the Speaker and individual +members from this exceedingly embarrassing if not dangerous power. + +"During my administration in the chair very many important questions +have been decided by me, and I do not flatter myself that I have, +in the hurry of these decisions, made no mistakes. But I do take +great pride in being able to say that no parliamentary decision of +mine has been overruled by the judgment of this almost evenly +politically balanced House, although many appeals have been taken. + +"I congratulate each member of this House upon what has been +accomplished by him in the discharge of the important duties of a +Representative, and with the sincerest hope that all may return +safely to their homes, and wishing each a successful and happy +future during life, I now exercise my last official duty as presiding +officer of this House by declaring the term of this House under +the Constitution of the United States at an end, and that it shall +stand adjourned _sine die_. (Hearty and continued applause.)"-- +_Con. Record_, Vol. xiv., Part IV., p. 3776. + +I was the caucus nominee and voted for by my party friends for +Speaker of the Forty-eighth Congress, but Mr. Carlisle was elected, +the Democrats being in the majority. I served on the Committees +on Appropriations and Rules of the Forty-eighth Congress, and +performed much hard work. I participated actively in much of the +general business of this House, and in the debates. On January +24, 1884, I made an extended speech against a bill for the relief +of Fitz-John Porter, by which it was proposed to make him "Colonel +in the Army," and thus to exonerate him from the odium of his +conduct while under General Pope, August 29, 1862, at the Second +Bull Run, as found by a general court-martial. I advocated (January +5, 1885) pensioning Mexican soldiers. I spoke on various other +subjects, and especially advocated (February 20, 1885) the increase +of the naval strength of the government so that it might protect +our commerce on the high seas in peace, guard our boundary coast +line (in length, excluding Alaska, one and two thirds times the +distance around the earth at the equator), and successfully cope, +should war come, with any naval power of the world. + +My principal work in this Congress was in the rooms of the Committee +on Appropriations in the preparation of bills. Hon. Samuel J. +Randall (Democrat) of Pennsylvania was Chairman of this committee. +He was conscientious, industrious, and honest, absolutely without +favorites, personal and political, in the making of appropriations. +This committee, chiefly, too, by the labor of a very few of its +members, each annual session prepared bills for the appropriation +of hundreds of millions of dollars, which (with the rarest exception) +passed the House without question (and ultimately became laws), +the members generally knowing little or nothing as to the honesty +or special necessity, if even the purpose, of the appropriations +made. In the preparation of these bills the expenditures and +estimates in detail of all the departments of the government +including all branches of the public service and all special matters +of expense, liability, and obligation, were examined and scrutinized, +to avoid errors, injustice to the government or individuals, +extravagance, or fraud. I have, covering as many as five of the +last days of a session, remained with Mr. Randall in the committee +rooms at the Capitol, working, almost uninterruptedly, night and +day, to complete the bills necessary to be passed before adjournment. +This committee work brought no immunity from attendance in the +House. + +My service in Congress ended March 4, 1885, since which time I have +participated in public and political affairs as a private citizen, +and assiduously pursued the practice of the law and attended to my +personal affairs; writing this volume, mainly, in the winter nights +of 1896 and 1897, incident to an otherwise busy life. + +III +SERVICE IN SPANISH WAR + +After the foregoing was written, a war arose between the United +States and Spain, growing out of the latter's bad government of +Cuba, which Spain had held (except for a brief time) since its +discovery in 1492. + +Spain was only partially successful in putting down the ten years' +(1868-1877) struggle of the Cubans for independence, and was forced +to agree (1876) to give the inhabitants of Cuba all the rights, +representation in the Cortes included, of Spanish citizens. This +agreement was not kept, and in February, 1895, a new insurrection +broke out, supported by the mass of the Cuban population, especially +by those residing outside of the principal coast cities. +Notwithstanding Spain employed in Cuba her best regular troops as +well as volunteers, she failed to put down this insurrection. +Governor-General Weyler inaugurated fire and slaughter wherever +the Spanish armies could not penetrate, not sparing non-combatants, +and, February 16, 1896, he adopted the inhuman policy of forcing +the rural inhabitants from their homes into closely circumscribed +so-called military zones, where they were left unprovided with +food, and hence to die. Under Weyler's cruel methods and policy +about one third (600,000) of the non-combatant inhabitants of the +island were killed or died of starvation and incident disease before +the end of the Spanish-American War. Yet a war was maintained by +the insurgents under the leadership of able men, inspired with a +patriotic desire for freedom and independence. The barbarity of +the reconcentrado policy excited, throughout the civilized world, +deep sympathy for the Cubans, and, April 6, 1896, a resolution +passed Congress, expressing the opinion that a "state of war existed +in Cuba," and declaring that the United States should maintain a +strict neutrality, but accord to each of the contending powers "the +rights of belligerents in the ports and territory of the United +States," and proposing that the friendly offices of the United +States "be offered by the President to the Spanish government for +the recognition of the independence of Cuba." This resolution and +the proffered friendly offices bore no fruit. To meet a possible +attack upon our citizens in Havana, the battle-ship _Maine_, +commanded by Captain C. D. Sigsbee, was sent there in January, +1898. It was peacefully anchored in the harbor, where, February +15th, it was destroyed by what was generally believed to have been +a sub-marine mine, designedly exploded by unauthorized Spaniards. +Of its officers and crew 266 perished, and the splendid war-ship +was totally destroyed. + +Preparations for war commenced at once in our country. Congress +appropriated $50,000,000 "for the national defence." + +It also, April 18, 1898, passed joint resolutions, declaring: + +"That the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right ought to +be, free and independent"; demanding of Spain that it "at once +relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba, and +withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters"; +authorizing the President "to use the entire land and naval forces +of the United States . . . and the militia of the several States, +to such an extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions +into effect," but disclaiming that the United States had "any +intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over +said island, except for the pacification thereof," and asserting +its determination that when that was completed to "leave the +government and control of the island to its people." The resolutions +were approved by the President April 20th, and in themselves had +the effect of a declaration of war. The Spanish Minister at once +demanded his passports and departed from Washington. The American +Minister at Madrid was handed his passports on the morning of April +21, 1898, without being permitted to present the resolutions to +the Spanish authorities. Congress, April 25th, by law, declared +that war existed between the United States and Spain since and +including April 21, 1898. + +Thus, after a long peace of thirty-three years, our country was +again to engage in war, and with and old and once powerful and war- +like nation, which must be waged both by sea and land. + +I do not intend to write a history of the one hundred and fourteen +days' war that ensued. I merely summarize the conditions which +caused me to turn from civil pursuits and a quiet home to again +take up the activities of a military life in war. + +The President called for volunteers (125,000 April 23d, and 75,000 +May 25th), and, June 9th, I was, by him, appointed, and, June 14th, +1898, unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate, a Major- +General of Volunteers. I was the only person in civil life from +a northern State, or who had served in the Union Army in the Civil +War but never in the regular Army, on whom was originally conferred +that high rank in the Spanish-American War. + +This rank was conferred on Fitzhugh Lee of Virginia, Joseph Wheeler +of Alabama, and Matthew C. Butler of South Carolina, each of whom +had served as a general officer in the Confederate Army; and on +James H. Wilson of Delaware, who had served as a Major-General in +the Union Army in the Civil War. These four were from civil life, +but, save Butler, each was a graduate of West Point and had served +in the United States Army. + +Hon. William J. Sewell of New Jersey declined an appointment to +that rank, and Francis V. Greene of New York was appointed after +the protocol was signed. He was a graduate of West Point, and had +served in the United States Army. No other Major-General was +appointed from civil life before the treaty of peace. + +A feature of the Spanish War was the alacrity with which ex- +Confederates and Southern men tendered their services to sustain +it. It was worth the cost of the war, to demonstrate the patriotism +of the whole people, and their readiness to unite under one flag +and fight in a common cause. + +I was assigned to the Seventh Army Corps, then being organized, +with headquarters at Jacksonville, Florida. I reported there to +Major-General Fitzhugh Lee, its commander, and was assigned to the +First Division, then located at Miami, 366 miles farther south, on +the east coast of Florida, at the terminus of railroad transportation. +I assumed command of the Division, July 7th, with headquarters at +Miami. It then numbered about 7500 officers and enlisted men. My +tents were pitched in a cocoanut grove on the shore of the Biscayne +Bay. The corps had been designated to lead an early attack on +Havana. I had exercised no military command for a third of a +century, and had misgivings of my ability to discharge, properly, +the important duties. This feeling was not decreased by the fact +that the division was composed of southern troops--1st and 2d +Louisiana; 1st and 2d Alabama; and 1st and 2d Texas Volunteer +Infantry regiments. Some of these regiments and many of the +companies were commanded by ex-Confederate officers, and one brigade +--the Second--was commanded by Brigadier-General W. W. Gordon, an +ex-Confederate officer from Georgia. He commanded this brigade +until the protocol, when he was made one of the evacuation +commissioners for Porto Rico. Several of the staff were sons of +Confederate officers. The only officer, other than staff-officers, +who was not southern, was Brigadier-General Loyd Wheaton, who +commanded the First Brigade. He had served in the Union Army in +the Civil War from Illinois, and became, after the war, an officer +in the United States Army, from which he was appointed a general +officer of Volunteers in the Spanish War. Wheaton remained in my +command until after our army occupied Havana, and commanded a +division that entered that city, January 1, 1899, then shortly +thereafter was ordered to the Philippines, where he has, in several +battles with the Filipinos, distinguished himself, and deservedly +acquired fame. + +I soon, however, became familiar with my duties, and the command +was a most agreeable and pleasant one. I became warmly attached +to and proud of it; and it was, throughout, loyal to me. No better +volunteer soldiers were ever mustered, and if occasion had arisen +they would have proved their skill and valor by heroic deeds and +willing sacrifices. + +The camp at Miami was the farthest south of any in the United +States, consequently the hottest, and by reason of the situation +near the Everglades and the Miami River (their principal outlet to +the sea) the water proved bad, and only obtainable for the troops +through pipes laid on the rocky surface of the earth from the +Everglades at the head of the river. It thus came warm, and +sometimes offensive by reason of vegetable matter contained in it. +The reefs--an extension of the Florida Reefs--which lay four miles +from the west shore of the bay, cut off easterly sea breezes; and +the mosquitoes were at times so numerous as to make life almost +unbearable. All possible was done for the health and comfort of +the command. Notwithstanding the location, hotness of the season, +and bad general conditions, the health of the soldiers was better, +numbers considered, than in any other camp in the United States. +A good military hospital was established under capable medical +officers, and, through some patriotic ladies--the wife and daughter +of General W. W. Gordon and others--a convalescent hospital was +established where the greatest care was taken of the sick, and +wholesome delicacies were provided for them. A feeling of unrest +amounting to dissatisfaction, however, arose, which caused the War +Department to order my command to Camp Cuba Libre, Jacksonville, +Florida. It was accordingly transported there by rail early in +August, my headquarters having been at Miami just one month. My +division was then camped in proximity to the St. John's River at +Fairfield, immediately east of Jacksonville. My headquarters tents +were pitched in a pine forest. Here the general conditions were +much better than at Miami, though much sickness, chiefly typhoid +and malarial fevers, prevailed in the corps, my own division having +a far less per centum of cases than either of the other two. The +water was artesian and good, but the absence of anything like a +clay soil rendered it impossible to keep the camps well policed +and the drainage was difficult. Florida sand is not a disinfectant; +clay is. This camp, however, had a smaller list of sick in proportion +to numbers than was reported in other camps farther north. + +There was added to my division at Jacksonville, before any were +mustered out, the 1st Ohio (Colonel C. B. Hunt) and the 4th U. S. +Volunteer Infantry (Colonel James S. Pettit), the two constituting +a third brigade, commanded by Colonel Hunt. My division then +numbered about 11,000; the corps something over 32,000. + +I commanded the corps, in the absence of General Lee, from the 14th +to the 22d of August, 1898. Again, September 27th, I assumed +command of the corps and retained it until October 6th, when I took +a leave of absence home, returning _via_ Washington for consultation +with the authorities. I resumed command of the corps (then removed +to Camp Onward, Savannah, Georgia), October 25th, and retained it +until November 11th, 1898. + +General Lee being about to depart for Havana, Cuba, I assumed, +December 8th, command of all the United States forces at Savannah, +consisting of regulars and volunteers. + +The President, William McKinley, the Secretary of War, R. A. Alger, +and others of the President's cabinet, visited Savannah, December +17th and 18th, and reviewed (17th), under my command, all the troops +then there; about 16,000 of all arms, some of whom had seen service +at Santiago, Cuba, and in Porto Rico. + +The Springfield rifles with which the volunteers had been armed, +were exchanged at Savannah for Krag-Jorgensen magazine (calibre +.30) rifles. + +The troops while at Savannah were generally in good health, although +a few cases of cerebro or spinal meningitis occurred, owing to +frequent changes of temperature. + +The secret of preserving the health of soldiers is in regular drill +and exercise, ventilation of clothing, bedding, and tents, and in +cleanliness of person and camps. Exposure to sun and air purifies +and disinfects better than lime or chemicals. + +I superintended the final equipment and shipment to Cuba of about +16,000 troops; about one half were volunteers of the Seventh Corps, +who went to Havana. + +While at Jacksonville, the war with Spain having ended, a number +of volunteer regiments were mustered out, and the Seventh Corps +was reorganized into two divisions. The 1st Texas, Colonel W. H. +Mabry (who died near Havana, January 4, 1899), and 2d Louisiana, +Colonel Elmer E. Wood, only, were left of my original First Division, +to which was added the 3d Nebraska, Colonel William Jennings Bryan +(who resigned at Savannah December 10, 1898); the 4th Illinois, +Colonel Eben Swift; the 9th Illinois, Colonel James R. Campbell, +and the 2d South Carolina, Colonel Wilie Jones. The first three +regiments constituted the First Brigade, commanded by General Loyd +Wheaton, and the last three, the Second Brigade, commanded by +Brigadier-General Henry T. Douglas, who had served in the Confederate +Army in the Civil War. He was an excellent officer. + +I embarked for Havana on the 26th of December, 1898, with my +headquarters, including my staff, provost-guard, etc., on the +_Panama_, a ship captured from the Spanish early in the war. I +arrived in Havana Harbor the evening of the 28th, and the next day +reached Camp Columbia, southwest of Havana about eight miles, at +Buena Vista, near Marianao, where my last military headquarters +were established, in tents, as always before. The troops were +prepared to take possession of Havana on its surrender by the +Spaniards, January 1, 1899. Major-Generals Brooke, Lee, Ludlow, +and some other officers attended to the ceremonial part in the +surrender of the city, and it became my duty to march the Seventh +Corps and other troops in the vicinity of Havana into it for the +purpose of taking public and actual possession. I, accordingly, +early New Year morning, moved my command, numbering, infantry, +cavalry, and artillery, about 9000, to and along the sea-shore, +crossing the Almendares River on pontoons, near its mouth, thence +through Vedado to the foot of the Prado, opposite Morro Castle, +located east of the neck of the harbor. The formal ceremonies +being over (12 M.), the troops were moved up the Prado, passing +Major-General Brooke and others on the reviewing-stand at the +Inglaterra Hotel, then through principal streets to camp, having +made a march of about eighteen miles, under a tropical sun, the +day being excessively hot for even that climate. The soldiers +endured the march well. The day was a memorable one. A city which +had been under monarchical rule for four hundred years witnessed +the power of freedom, represented by the host of American soldiers, +under the flag of a Republic, move triumphantly through its streets, +with the avowed purpose of securing freedom to all the people. +The Spanish residents did not partake of the joyous feeling or +participate in the wild demonstrations of the Cuban inhabitants. +The latter exhibited a frantic hilarity at times; then a dazed +feeling seemed to come over them, in which condition they stood +and stared, as in meditation. The natural longing to be free had +possessed these people, but when they were confronted with the fact +of personal freedom it was too much for them to fully realize, or +to estimate what the absence of absolute tyranny meant for them. +They appeared in the fronts and on the roofs of the houses, and +along the sides of the streets, displaying all the tokens and +symbols of happiness they possessed. Flowers were thrown in great +profusion, and wild shouts went up from men, women, and children; +especially from children, as, in some way, they seemed to know that +a severance of their country from Spain meant more for them that +it did for the older people. The Cubans are of mixed races, though +they are not to be despised. Some have pure Castilian blood, some +are from other European countries, and some are of pure African +descent, many of the latter having once been in slavery; but many +of the Cubans proper are of a mixed blood, including the Spanish, +African, some Indian, and a general admixture of the people who +early settled in the American tropics. There do not seem to be +any race distinctions where Cubans alone are concerned. The African +and those of mixed blood mingle freely together; and in the insurgent +army officers of all ranks were chosen from the pure or mixed-blood +African as freely as from others. The Cuban colored people seem +to be exceptionally intelligent and energetic, and have a high +reputation as brave soldiers. The typical Cuban does not belong +to the coast cities, the inhabitants of which are more distinctly +Spanish, especially the dominant class. These cities did little +towards the insurrections, and their inhabitants, as a mass, can +claim little of the glory in making Cuba free or independent. Many +of the principal officers of the Cuban army were educated men, and +some were of a high order, capable of deeds, on the theatre of war, +worthy of the best soldiers of any age. When our war with Spain +broke out, the latter had over 200,000 regular soldiers, besides +volunteers, on the island, and the insurgent bands were few in +number, without good arms, with little ammunition and no quartermaster, +commissary, or pay department. Cuba had no permanently located +civil government, and the insurgents owned no ship on the seas, +nor did they possess a single coast city, or a harbor where supplies +could come to them from abroad. They having held the Spanish army +at bay for years, and often confined large parts of it, almost in +a state of siege, within cities and fortified lines, all circumstances +considered, forces us to conclude that talent, skill, endurance, +and bravery were possessed by the Cuban officers, and that the +ranks were filled with devoted soldiers. The insurrections were +of long duration (ten and four years), yet Spain, in 1898, had made +no substantial progress in suppressing the last one, though the +most barbarous methods were adopted. We exploit the partisan heroes +of our Revolution, such as Francis Marion and others, yet they only +acted with and against small bands, leaving our armies to meet the +large organized forces of the British. What is to be said of the +Cuban patriot officer who, year by year, maintained, unsupported, +a war for independence against a relentless foe, equipped with the +best arms the world has yet known? + +My work in Cuba was confined to a military command, principally +outside of the cities. My men were in carefully selected camps, +which were constantly throughly policed and supplied with wholesome +water, piped form the Vento (Havana) Water-works. Thanks to a +thorough enforcement of a good sanitary system, the general health +of my command was good throughout, only a few cases of typhoid or +malarial fever appeared, and there were less than half a dozen +cases of yellow fever among my soldiers. There was no epidemic of +any disease in the camp. The yellow fever cases developed among +men who, out of curiosity, exposed themselves in foul places about +old forts and wharves, or in the unused dungeons of Morro and other +castles. Yellow fever is a _place_ disease, not generally contagious +by contact with the sick. + +My time was taken up in Cuba in keeping the peace and preserving +order, and with the care of the camps and field-hospitals, and, as +throughout my military service, with the drill and discipline of +my command, often turning the corps out for review by superior +officers. I made incursions to the interior of the island, and +observed the devastation of that magnificently beautiful country, +with its stately royal palms, etc., and noted the depopulation, +under Weyler's reconcentrado plan, of the richest and once most +populous rural parts of the island. I saw the Cuban soldiers in +their camps or bivouacs, and made the acquaintance of many of their +officers, and formed a high regard for them; but it was no part of +my duty to try to solve the great, yet unsettled, Cuban problem, +and I must be silent here.(20) + +The muster out of the volunteers commenced again in March, 1899, +and progressed rapidly. The Secretary of War visited Cuba, and +with Major-Generals Brooke, Ludlow, Wilson, and other officers, +reviewed what troops remained of the Seventh Corps, with others, +near Marianao, March 29, 1899. On this occasion, my riding horses +having been shipped away preparatory to my leaving Cuba, I rode a +strange horse, which at a critical time in the review ran away, +carrying me, in much danger, some distance from the reviewing +officers. I recovered control of the horse, but dismounted him +and mounted another, which proved equally untamed, and he likewise, +a little later, attempted to run afield or cast me off. Fortunately +these exceptional accidents terminated without injury; and with that +review ended my public military service--_forever_. + +The fatal illness of my beloved and devoted wife and her death +(March 12, 1899) caused me (with my son) to go to my Ohio home. +I returned to Cuba with Captain Horace C. Keifer, who was on my +staff continuously during my service in the Spanish War. + +All arrangements having been completed for the early muster out of +the volunteers of the Seventh Corps not already gone, and my mission +in the army being practically at an end, and my command proper +disbanded, I took ship (the _Yarmouth_), in Havana Harbor, March +30th, and proceeded _via_ Port Tampa, home, where I was mustered +out of the military service May 12, 1899, having been in the army +as a Major-General eleven months and three days. During my service +in the field in the Spanish War I was not off duty on account of +illness, injury, or accident. + +I had an attack of typhoid fever, at my home in April, from which +I soon recovered, doubtless contracted while travelling to or from +Cuba. + +I had now lived about five years in a tent, or without shelter, in +war times, through all seasons, and being in my sixty-fourth year, +gave up all inclination to continue in military life, knowing the +field is for younger men. My duties in the army, though always +arduous, were pleasant, hence gratifying. I had no serious trouble +with any officer or soldier, though I tried to do my duty in the +discipline of my command. My personal attachment to superior and +inferior officers, especially members of my military staff, was +and is of no ordinary kind. I congratulate myself on being able +to attach to me, loyally, some of the most accomplished, hard- +working, conscientious, and highly educated officers of the United +States Army, as well as others of the volunteers, the service has +known. A list of officers (nine of whom were sons of former +Confederate officers) who served, at some time, on my division +staff in the field, is given in Appendix F. + +Here this narrative must end with only a parting word as to the +Spanish War. + +Dewey destroyed the entire Spanish fleet, with much loss of life, +in Manila Bay, May 1, 1898; seven Americans were wounded, none +killed. Admiral Cervera, with the pride of the Spanish battle- +ships, cruisers, and torpedo-boats, reached Cuban waters from Cape +Verde Islands, and, May 19th, sailed into Santiago Harbor, where +he was blockaded--"bottled up"--by Admirals Sampson and Schley's +fleets. Cervera's fleet, in an attempt to escape, was totally +destroyed, with a loss of above six hundred killed or drowned, and +about two thousand captured, himself included, in two hours, by +our navy under Sampson, on Sunday morning, July 3, 1899, with a +loss of one American killed and one wounded. Other minor naval +affairs occurred, all disastrous to the Spanish. Cervera's entry +into Santiago Harbor caused previous plans for the movement of the +army to be changed. + +The bulk of the regular army, under Major-General Wm. R. Shafter, +was assembled at Port Tampa, from whence they were transported to +and landed (June 24th) at Guantanamo Bay, near Santiago. They were +then joined by a body of Cuban troops under General Garcia. Fighting +commenced at once and continued irregularly at Siboney, El Caney, +San Juan Hill, etc., the principal battles being fought on the 1st +and 2d of July. The next day a demand was made on the Spanish +commander (Toral) for the surrender of his army and Santiago. This +was acceded to, after much negotiation, July 17, 1898, including +the province of Santiago and 22,000 troops, in number exceeding +Shafter's entire available force. The display of skill and bravery +by officers and men of our small army (principally regulars) at +Santiago never was excelled. Our loss in the series of battles +there was, killed, 22 officers and 208 men; wounded, 81 officers +and 1203 men. A Porto Rico campaign was then organized. General +Miles wired the War Department, about July 18th, to send me with +my division (then in camp at Miami) to make up his Porto Rico +expedition. His request was not carried out, and it thus happened +that no soldier of a Southern State volunteer organization fired +a hostile shot during the Spanish War. Ponce was taken July 25th, +followed by an invasion of the island from the south. An affair +took place, August 10th, and operations here, as elsewhere, were +terminated by the _protocol_. Manila was surrendered August 13th, +the day after the protocol was signed. This was the last offensive +land operation of the Spanish War. The invasion of Porto Rico cost +us 3 killed and 40 wounded. + +Through the intervention of Cambon, the French Ambassador at +Washington, negotiations were opened which resulted in a protocol +which bound Spain to relinquish all sovereignty over Cuba, to cede +Porto Rico and other West India island possessions to the United +States, and it provided for a Commission to agree upon a treaty of +peace, to meet in Paris, not later than October 1, 1898; also +provided for Commissions to regulate the evacuation of Cuba and +Porto Rico. + +The treaty was signed in Paris December 10, 1898; was submitted by +the President to the Senate January 11, 1899, and ratified by it, +and its ratification approved by him, February 6, 1899. The Queen +of Spain ratified the treaty March 19, 1899, and its ratifications +were exchanged and proclaimed at Washington April 11, 1899. It +provided for the cession, also, to the United States of the Philippine +Islands and the payment of $20,000,000 therefor. + +The total casualties in battle, during the war, in our navy, were +17 killed and 67 wounded (no naval officer injured); and, in our +army, 23 officers and 257 men killed, and 113 officers and 1464 +men wounded; grand total, 297 killed and 1644 wounded, of all arms +of the service. + +The deaths from disease and causes other than battle, in camps and +at sea, were, 80 officers and 2485 enlisted men. Many died at +their homes of disease; some of wounds. + +An insurrection broke out in the Philippines in February, 1899, +which is not yet suppressed. + +The war was not bloody, and the end attained in the cause of humanity +and liberty is a justification of it; but whether the acquisition +of extensive tropical and distant island possessions was wise, or +will tend to perpetuate our Republic and spread constitutional +liberty, remains to be shown by the infallible test of time. Our +sovereignty over Cuba, thus far, appears to be a friendly usurpation, +without right, professedly in the interest of humanity, civilization, +and good government. Our acquisition of Porto Rico and the Philippine +Islands, all in the tropics, is a new national departure which may +prove wise or not, according as we deal justly and mercifully with +the people who inhabit them. It may be in the Divine plan that +these countries should pass under a more beneficent, enduring, +newer, and higher civilization, to be guided and dominated by a +people speaking the English tongue. + +( 1) The certificate of his naturalization reads: + +"Maryland ss. + +"These are to certify all persons whom it may concern: That George +Keifer of Frederick County, within the Province aforesaid, born +out of the Allegiance of his most Sacred Majesty King George the +Third, etc., did, on the 3d day of September Anno Domini 1765, +Personally appear before the Justices of his Lordship's Provincial +Court, and then and there, in Term Time, between the hours of nine +and twelve in the forenoon of the same day, produced and delivered +a certificate in writing of his having received the Sacrament of +the Lord's Supper in a Protestant or Reformed Congregation in the +said Province of Maryland, within three months next before the +exhibiting of such certificate, signed by the person administering +such Sacrament, and attested by two credible witnesses, in pursuance +of an Act of Parliament made in the thirteenth year of the reign +of his late Majesty King George the Second, entitled, An Act for +naturalizing such foreign _Protestants_, and others therein mentioned, +as are settled or shall settle in any of his Majesty's Colonies in +America; and then and there made appear, that he had been an +inhabitant in some of his Majesty's Plantations seven years, and +had not been absent out of some of the said Colonies for a longer +space than two months at any one time during the said seven years; +and also then and there took the oaths of Allegiance, Abhorrency, +and Abjuration, repeated the Test, and subscribed the same, and +oath of Abjuration. In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my +hand, and affixed the seal of the said court, this 3d day of +September in the year of our Lord God, one thousand seven hundred +and Sixty-five. + + "Test. Reverdy Ghiselm, Clk." + +( 2) Dr. Jenner's primary investigation of the principles of +vaccination began in 1775, but was not satisfactorily completed in +England until five years later. Lady Montagu had, however, introduced +from Turkey into England, as early as 1717, inoculation for smallpox, +but from the beginning it met the fiercest opposition of physicians, +the clergy, and the superstitious public, which was never entirely +overcome in England or America. + +( 3) John Uri Lloyd, Ph.M., Ph.D. (Cin.), the distinguished author +and scientist and collector of medical, etc., books, in an article +printed in the _Am. Jour. of Pharmacy_, January, 1898, on "Dr. +Peter Smith and His Dispensatory," says his book was the "first +Materia Medica 'Dispensatory' published in the West." + +( 4) Owing to its remarkable character we quote from his book: + +"In South Carolina I was once in company with old Dr. Dilahoo, who +was noted for great skill and experience, having traveled into many +parts of the world. In the course of our conversation I asked him +what he conceived the _plague_ to be, which had been so much talked +of in the world. He readily told me that it was his opinion that +the plague is occasioned by an invisible _insect_. This insect +floating in the air, is taken with the breath into the lungs, and +there it either poisons or propagates its kind, so as to produce +that dreadful disease. This, he was confirmed, was likely to be +the truth from the experiments frequently made at Gibraltar. For +there, said he, they of the garrison, when they fear the plague, +have a way to elevate a piece of fresh meat pretty high in the air; +they put it up at night, and if it comes down sound and sweet in +the morning, they conclude there is no danger of the plague. But +if the plague is in the air, the meat will be tainted and spoiled, +and sometimes almost rotten. He was further confirmed in his +opinion of the _insect_, because in and about tobacco warehouses +the plague has never been known. I will remark: Now it is well +known that tobacco will prevent moth from eating our woolen clothes, +if we pack but little of it with them, that is the moth cannot +breed or exist, where there is a sufficient scent of the tobacco. +This scent may be death to the invisible _insects_ even after they +are drawn in with the breath and fastened upon the lungs. This +may account for tobacco being burned (as I have heard it), in many +old countries, on a chaffing dish in a room, that the people of +the house may take in the smoke plentifully with their breath, to +preserve their health and prevent pestilential disorders. + +"Agreeable to this view, we may conclude that all tainted air may +bring disease and death to us. And the plague has never been +(properly speaking) in America as we know of. Yet other effluvia +taken in with the breath may have occasioned other fearful diseases, +such as the yellow fever and other bilious and contagious complaints." +--P. 14. + +( 5) His grandson, James Johns, in the 30's, wandered, as a trapper, +to the Pacific coast, thence north to the mouth of the Willamette +River on the Columbia (Oregon), and there lived a bachelor and +alone until his death, about 1890. He was neither a fighting man +nor a hunter. He travelled, often alone, wholly unarmed, among +wild, savage Indians, his peaceable disposition and defenceless +condition being respected. He, it is said, would not sell his +lands at the mouth of the river, and thus forced the city of Portland +to be located twelve miles from the Columbia. + +( 6) My father was not a large man, his weight being only about +one hundred and sixty pounds and height five feet, ten inches, but +my mother, while only of medium height for a woman, was of large +frame and weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds. + +( 7) Solitary reading law, with time for thought and reflection, +has its advantages, more than compensating for the opportunity to +consult reports, etc., usually enjoyed by a law student in an +office. + +The present Chief-Justice (Hon. David Martin) of Kansas, though +nominally a law student of mine, yet read and mastered the elementary +and principal law-books while tending, as a miller, a dry-water +country grist-mill, remote from my office. + +( 8) On the recommendations of Generals Grant and Meade I was +appointed (1866) by President Johnson a Lieutenant-Colonel in the +26th Infantry, U. S. A., one of the new regular regiments provided +for after the close of the war. I declined the appointment because +I was of too restless a disposition and not educated for a soldier +in time of peace. + +( 9) The Thirteenth Amendment was proclaimed ratified Dec. 18, +1865; the Fourteenth, July 28, 1868, and the Fifteenth, March 30, +1870. + +(10) In the Florida Indian War of 1812 some depredations were +committed on Fisher's corn fields. For this he made a claim +originally for $8000. Congress has since paid on it $66,803, and +there was still a claim in the Forty-Third Congress for $66,848, +on which a committee of the House reported in favor of paying +$16,848, leaving $50,000 of the claim to bother future Congresses. +--_Rep_. (No. 134) _on Law of Claims_, H. of R., Forty-Third Cong., +p. 18. + +(11) Later the Forty-Seventh Congress passed an act authorizing +the distribution of about two-thirds of the whole fund to persons +whose claims were rejected by the Geneva Arbitrators in making up +the award. + +(12) For an authoritative decision on the right of the National +Government to use physical force to compel obedience to its laws, +etc., see _Ex parte_ Seibold, 100 _U. S. Rep._, 371. + +(13) _Proceedings Society of the Army of the Cumberland_, 1887, +pp. 115-40. + +(14) Mr. Blaine was nominated for President in 1884, but was +defeated by Mr. Cleveland. Notwithstanding his duplicity towards +me, I supported him. He was disloyal to Mr. Reed, of his own State, +though he then also professed to support him. + +(15) An unwary, but doubtless well-meaning person (M. P. Follet) +of Quincy, Mass., in 1896 published a small volume on the _Speaker +of the House_, in which she gathered up these stories. She says +Keifer appointed on the elections Committee "eleven Republicans +and two Democrats"; that he appointed one nephew "Clerk to the +Speaker," another "Clerk to the Speaker's table." These and other +like falsehoods appear to have been inspired by a member who, +notwithstanding his free-trade proclivities and other objectionable +qualities and incapacities, sought to be appointed Chairman of the +Ways and Means Committee. The Committee on Elections was composed +of nine Republicans, five Democrats, and one re-Adjuster from +Virginia. The Clerk to the Speaker's table was, throughout the +Congress, a poor young man who had been a page on the floor of the +House and a resident of the State of New York, and no relative of +mine. A nephew of mine, a resident of Washington, was, for a short +time, my clerk, a purely personal position, as was also that of +private secretary. + +The statement of Miss Follet that Keifer's "partisan rulings soon +won him the contempt of Republicans as well as of Democrats," is +shown to be basely untrue by the significant fact that no parliamentary +or other decision of mine was ever overruled by the House, although +my party can hardly be said to have been in the majority of the +House over all other parties. + +What "partisan ruling" of mine was not heartily approved by my +party, or did not command at least the respect of the Democrats? +Miss Follet was imposed on. + +(16) An incident occurred near the close of the last session of +the Forty-seventh Congress which should be mentioned. The reporters +of newspapers, through the courtesy of the House, had been assigned +a separate gallery for their convenience. This gallery, as well +as others for the convenience of visitors, was under the general +control of the Speaker, subject to the order of the House. There +were but few occupants in the reporters' gallery the last night of +the session, and there were many ladies who could not be accommodated +with seats in other galleries. + +I declined, however, though repeatedly requested, to order the +reporters' gallery opened even to ladies, and I also refused to +entertain a motion by a member of the House to order it thrown open +to them; but appeals became so urgent that I, as Speaker, submitted +to the House the request of James W. McKenzie, a member from +Kentucky, for unanimous consent to open the gallery. + +Here is an extract from the _Record_, showing the action taken: + +"Mr. McKenzie.--I ask unanimous consent that the reporters' gallery +be thrown open to the occupation of the wives and friends of +Congressmen, who are unable to obtain seats in other galleries. + +"The Speaker.--The gentleman from Kentucky asks consent that the +rules be so suspended as to permit the reporters' gallery to be +occupied by the wives and friends of members of Congress. + +"There was no objection, and it was ordered accordingly."--_Con. +Record_, vol. xiv., Part IV., p. 3747. + +I was, under the circumstances, the only member who could not have +prevented the gallery being opened. + +Notwithstanding the fact that no reporter was seriously inconvenienced +by the presence of ladies, the incident was viciously seized on by +certain reporters (and, through them, the metropolitan press) to +assail me as the enemy of the press. The truth was suppressed at +the time, and I was personally charged with wilfully opening up +the press gallery as an insult to the dignity of newspaper men, +and, with this, other false statements were published, which could +not be answered through the same medium, by me or my friends, which +made an unfavorable impression, scarcely yet removed from the public +mind. + +(17) It is comparatively easy for a Speaker to preside with a +large political and friendly majority to support him, as was the +case when Colfax, Blaine, and other Speakers were in the Chair. + +(18) See _Con. Record_, vol. xiii., Part V., p. 4313. + +(19) _Con., etc., Rules, etc._, H. of R.; Second Sess. Forty- +seventh, Con., 358. + +(20) My views of the situation in Cuba were expressed in a letter +to General Corbin, dated January 28, 1899. Appendix E. + + +APPENDIX B + +It is due from me, and it gives me pleasure to mention some of the +deserving officers of the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. + +Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. N. Foster served for a time with credit. +Major Otho H. Binkley, later Lieutenant-Colonel and brevetted +Colonel by the President for distinguished services, Captain Wm. +S. McElwain, who became a Major and was killed in the battle of +the Wilderness, Captain Aaron Spangler, later a Major and brevetted +Lieutenant-Colonel for gallantry, Captains Wm. D. Alexander, Nathan +S. Smith (an eminent Presbyterian divine), Wm. R. Moore, (died of +disease while acting as Assistant Inspector-General on my staff), +Joseph C. Ullery, Joseph G. Snodgrass, Luther Brown (wounded at +Monocacy, brevetted Major for gallantry, and for a time Provost- +Marshal of a division), these all were accomplished soldiers and +fought on many fields with distinction. Lieutenants Joseph B. Van +Eaton, Wesley Devenney and Wm. H. Harry, each of whom served as +Adjutant, were all promoted from non-commissioned officers to +Lieutenant, then to Captain, each wounded, Devenney mortally at +the battle of Opequon. + +Lieutenants Albert M. Starke (regimental Quartermaster), E. A. +Shepherd, Wm. D. Shellenberger (twice wounded), Wm. L. Cron, John +T. Shearer, Charles M. Gross, Henry H. Stevens (killed in assault +on Petersburg, April 2, 1865), Wm. A. Hathaway (for a time Assistant +Adjutant-General on my staff, and killed at Monocacy), Alexander +Trimble (died of a wound received at battle of Opequon), George P. +Boyer, Elam Harter, John M. Smith (killed in Wilderness), Joseph +McKnight (mortally wounded in Wilderness), and Thomas J. Weakley, +each became a Captain and were all gallant and more than usually +efficient officers, most of whom were either killed or wounded in +battle. Lieutenants Joshua S. Deeter and Edward S. Simes, promoted +from privates, both wounded in the battle of Opequon, the former +mortally, were likewise gallant officers. Lieutenant Paris Horney, +who heroically fought at Winchester in June, 1863, until surrounded +and captured, died in prison at Columbia, S. C. Lieutenant Robert +W. Wiley served as my aide-de-camp and especially distinguished +himself. Lieutenant Henry Y. Rush served gallantly until broken +by disease, when he resigned and resumed his calling (minister of +the Gospel), in which he is now eminent; also as a writer. Lieutenant +James A. Fox was promoted from Sergeant-Major, served on staff +duty, and was killed leading a company in the battle of Orange +Grove. + +Wm. L. Shaw was promoted to Captain from Lieutenant and brevetted +Major by the President for distinguished services. He served on +division-staff and on cavalry-corps staff duty for a time in +Rosecrans' army, and for a considerable time was my Assistant +Inspector or Assistant Adjutant-General. He was an energetic and +capable officer. Those of the regiment who bore the musket in the +ranks equally deserve mention for what they did and for the sacrifices +they made for their country; but the story of the 110th Ohio is +elsewhere told.( 1) + +( 1) John W. Warrington and John B. Elam, now eminent lawyers, +the former in Cincinnati, the latter in Indianapolis, served as +private soldiers in this regiment. Elam was severely wounded at +Cold Harbor June 3, 1864, and Warrington in the successful assault +of the Sixth Corps at Petersburg April 2, 1865. + + +APPENDIX C +FAREWELL ORDER + + "Headq'rs 2d Brig., 3d Div., 6th Corps, Army of Potomac, + "Camp near Washington, D.C., June 15th, A.D. 1865. +"General Orders No. 28. + +"Officers and Soldiers: This command will soon be broken up in +its organization. It is sincerely hoped that each man may soon be +permitted to return to his home, family, and friends, to enjoy +their blessings and that of a peaceful, free, and happy people. + +"The great length of time I have had to honor to command you has +led to no ordinary attachment. The many hardships, trials, and +dangers we have shared together, and the distinguished services +you have performed in camp, on the march, and upon the field of +battle, have long since endeared you to me. I shall ever be proud +to have been your commander, and will cherish a lasting recollection +of both officers and men. Your efficient services and gallant +conduct in behalf of _human rights_ and _human freedom_ will not +be overlooked and forgotten by a grateful country. + +"I cannot repress the deepest feelings of sadness upon parting with +you. + +"I mourn with you, and share in your sorrow, for the many brave +comrades who have fallen in battle and have been stricken down with +disease. Let us revere their memories and emulate their noble +character and goodness. A proud and great nation will not neglect +their afflicted families. The many disabled officers and soldiers +will also be cared for by a grateful people and an affluent country. + +"You have a proud name as soldiers; and I trust that, at your homes, +you will so conduct yourselves that you will be honored and respected +as good citizens. + +"I shall part with you entertaining the sincerest feelings of +affection and kindness for all, hoping that it may be my good +fortune to meet and greet you in future as honored citizens and +friends. + + "J. Warren Keifer." + +_Summary of Casualties in Regiments of the Second Brigade, Third +Division, Third and Sixth Army Corps, 1863-65_ + + Killed Wounded Total + Officers Officers Officers Aggregate + | En. Men.| En. Men. | En. Men. +110th Ohio Infantry . . . . . . 10 102 18 443 28 545 573 +122d Ohio Infantry . . . . . . 7 92 17 432 24 524 548 +126th Ohio Infantry . . . . . . 9 111 10 379 19 490 509 +6th Maryland Infantry . . . . . 7 103 21 213 28 316 344 +138th Pennsylvania Infantry . . 5 120 16 223 21 343 364 +67th Pennsylvania Infantry . . 2 90 3 130 5 220 224 +9th N. Y. Heavy Artillery . . . 14 204 16 590 30 794 824 + -- --- --- ---- --- ---- ---- + Total . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 812 101 2410 155 3232 3387 + + +APPENDIX D + + "Springfield, Ohio, October 22, 1888. +"General Horatio G. Wright, Washington, D. C. + +"_My Dear Friend_,--After expressing to you that high regard I have +always had for you, and also expressing the hope that your health +is good, also that of your family, I have the honor to call your +attention to the following matter, of some interest to you no doubt. + +"General R. S. Ewell, of date of December 20, 1865, in the form of +a report addressed to General R. E. Lee, to be found in Vol. XIII., +_Southern Historical Papers_, page 247, in speaking of the battle +of Sailor's Creek, after having concluded his general report of +this battle says: + +'I was informed at General Wright's headquarters, whither I was +carried after my capture, that 30,000 men were engaged with us when +we surrendered, viz., two infantry corps and Custer's and Merritt's +divisions of cavalry, the whole under command of General Sheridan.' + +"On page 257, same book, in a note appended to a report of the same +battle, by General G. W. C. Lee, he says: + +'I was told, after my capture, that the enemy had two corps of +infantry and three divisions of cavalry opposed to us at Sailor's +Creek.' + +"Now, as I know you commanded the infantry engaged on the Union +side in that battle from first to last, and that no infantry troops +save of your corps there fought under you, that only a portion of +the Third Division (in which I was then serving) was present, and +General Frank Wheaton's division of the Sixth Corps was the only +other infantry division there, though I am not quite sure that his +entire division was up and engaged in the battle at the time of +the assault, overthrow, and destruction of General Ewell's forces, +and my recollection is quite clear that General G. W. Getty's +Division of your corps did not arrive on the field in time for the +battle, I am certain Generals Ewell and G. W. C. Lee have fallen +into a grave error. We certainly captured more men in the Sailor's +Creek battle than Ewell and G. W. C. Lee say were engaged on the +Confederate side. + +"Since the war, there seems to be a disposition to disparage the +Northern soldiers by representing a small number of Confederate +troops engaged with a very large number of Union troops. The above +is to my mind simply an illustration of what I find running through +the reports, letters, and speeches of Southern officers. + +"As I am writing something from time to time in a fugitive way, +and may some time write with a view to a more connected history of +the war, in so far as it came under my personal observation, I +should be very much obliged to you if you will write me a letter +on this subject as full as you feel that you have time, and allow +me to make such use of it as I may think best. I wish I had a copy +of your report of this battle, etc. Where can I get it? + + "Believe me yours, with the highest esteem, + "J. Warren Keifer." + + + "Washington, November 3, 1888. + "1203 N Street, N. W. +"Dear General Keifer: + +"I have never seen or before heard of the report of General R. S. +Ewell to which you refer, in which you say he states that he was +informed at my headquarters, to which he was carried after his +capture at Sailor's Creek, 'that 30,0000 men were engaged with us +when we surrendered--viz., two infantry corps, and Custer's and +Merritt's divisions of cavalry--the whole under the command of +General Sheridan.' + +"General Ewell was entirely mistaken in regard to the strength of +the infantry opposed to him. Instead of two infantry corps, there +were only two divisions--the First and Third of the Sixth Corps, +the Second Division not having come up till the battle was nearly +over, and taking no part in the fight. He may have been correct +as regards to two divisions of cavalry, though I had not supposed +it to be so strong. Its part in the battle was important, as, by +getting in the rear of the Confederate force, the latter, after +being broken by the infantry attack, and its retreat cut off, was +compelled to surrender. I never knew accurately the number captured, +but General Sheridan and myself estimated it at about 10,000. + +"Of course, the statement of General G. W. C. Lee, to which you +refer, is also erroneous as regards the strength opposed to the +Confederate force. + +"You are quite correct in your statement that you know I commanded +the infantry engaged on the Union side in that battle, from first +to last. General Sheridan was with me as our troops were coming +up, but he left before the battle commenced, to join the cavalry, +as I supposed, and I was not aware that he claimed to be in command +of the combined infantry and cavalry force till some time subsequent +to the battle, when he called upon me for a report. This I declined +to make, on the ground that I was under the orders of General Meade +only, the commander of the Army of the Potomac. General Grant, to +whom the matter was referred by General Sheridan, having decided +that I should make a report to the latter, I sent him a copy of my +report of the battle, which I had already made to General Meade. +I regret that I have no copy of the report, or I should send it to +you with pleasure. I presume that it will soon be published in +the official records of the Rebellion. All the records of the +Sixth Corps were turned in to the Adjutant-General of the Army, as +required by the Army Regulations, on the discontinuance of our +organization, and are, I presume, accessible to any who desire to +examine them. + + "With the most sincere good wishes for your health and prosperity, + "I am, very truly yours, + "H. G. Wright, +"General J. Warren Keifer, Springfield, Ohio." + + +APPENDIX E + + "Headquarters First Division, Seventh Army Corps, + "Camp Columbia, Havana, Cuba, January 28, 1899. + +"General Henry C. Corbin, + "Adjutant-General U.S.A., + "Washington, D.C. + +"_Sir_.--I dislike to take your time, but I hope you will pardon me +for writing you this purely unofficial letter, relative to the +situation in Cuba as it appears to me after a month's investigation +while serving here. Necessarily, to keep in bounds, I must generalize +and not always give reasons for opinions. This is not written in +any spirit of criticism, or of dissatisfaction with my own position +here; in fact, I am satisfied with my command, and am very well +treated by everybody about and around me. Major-Generals Brooke +and Lee are both very kind to me. But to the subject. I shall +not attempt to exhaust it. + +"Cuba is now prostrate and her people quiet. This applies to all +classes,--Cubans, Spaniards, citizens, and soldiers,--including +those who upheld the insurrection and those who did not, and whether +living in cities or in country districts. I say this after having +been in touch with officers and soldiers of the Cuban army, and +others. + +"The reconcentrados are about all dead, and the few living are too +weak to soon recover, even if fed. The attempts to feed them are, +necessarily, largely failures, and must continue to be until some +provision can be made to organize and remove the helpless, broken +families from congested places, where it is impossible to house +them comfortably, and place them in homes in the country districts. +These people are still dying under our eyes. The food we give +them they are not strong enough to eat, save the rice. Some of my +officers were recently shown at San Jose de las Lajas, this province, +one coffin (kept for convenience on a hand-cart) that had recently +done duty in the burial of about five thousand Cubans. But instances +need not be given when it is known that above seven hundred thousand +Cuban non-combatants have been killed or have died of starvation +in the past two or three years, many of them not buried, but their +bones picked by the buzzards. The island is a charnel-house of +dead. Every graveyard has piles of exposed human bones, and the +earth has been strewn with them outside of cities and towns. There +were many killed who were not actual insurgents, but Cubans, women +and children included. The deaths left broken families; many +orphans, who do not know who their parents were. Many owners of +land and their entire families and friends have been killed or +died, and there is no one to claim the land. This in some of the +richest districts is quite the rule. + +"Outside of a little circle about Havana, the plantations in general +have been destroyed, including houses and other buildings, fruit +trees, banana plants, cane fields, farm implements, stock, etc., +and the wells filled up, first being polluted by throwing dead +bodies of Cubans and animals in them. + +"The soil is marvellously rich. It shows no signs of exhaustion +by cultivation, and I think it never will. Tobacco, sugar-cane, +pineapples, oranges, bananas, plantain, etc., to say nothing of +corn, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, onions, beans, grasses, etc., +will grow, if given the slightest chance. Two, three, and as high +as four crops can easily be grown in one year. You will say, Why +do not the people grow them? They have no bread to eat while they +labor, nor have they any oxen or mules,--horses are out of the +question and not suitable to till land here,--or seed, or implements, +or anything. They die in the midst of the most extraordinary +riches. + +"Owners of much of the land in the interior districts, who have +survived, are as helpless as the poorest laborers. + +"The exceptions are confined to remote little valleys, and mountain +places where the insurgents held constant control, and there too +they are poor, having in the past, and still, to maintain the Cuban +soldiers, regular and irregular. + +"Only provisions for food for a short time and means to get animals, +farm implements, etc., will end the present conditions and put the +people of the island on the road to prosperity. Spasmodic issues +of army rations give only temporary relief and tend to encourage +idleness. + +"Another race of people might come, but they could not soon get +titles to lands, if ever. + +"There is no civil government here, not even in form. Gomez and +his insurgent followers are still in their mountain fastnesses, +and whatever of organizations they have are irregular, and military. +They are biding their time for something, not yet fully developed. + +"Our government here is military, disguise it as we may. If it +were anything else, it would soon fail. All attempts at a +hermaphroditical government here must also fail, as it has everywhere. +It must be all American or all Cuban. The Spaniards here, though +they predominate in the principal cities, do not yet count as a +factor, although they are for annexation; this to save their estates +and for personal safety. Any attempts to build up a Cuban government +by the use of a few Cubans and Spaniards in Havana and other cities, +no matter what their character for intelligence and peaceableness +may be, must end in disaster, and a little later, in a wild repetition +of war and bloodshed. Those who organized and maintained, through +the dreadful years of the past, the insurrection against Spanish +power and suffered so much in their estates and families, are going +to have a say in the future control of this island, and if it is +to be annexed to the United States, they will have to be consulted +or a bloody guerilla war will ensue. They are now exhausted, and +tired and sick of war, but they are used to it, and familiar with +death, and already they are preparing and calculating on a war much +easier for them to wage against the United States than against +Spain, as the United States is not expected to be so barbarous in +the treatment of their remaining women and children; and such people +can reasonably calculate on help from sympathizers, adventurers, +etc., of other countries, especially South American, and people of +kindred races and instincts. The cry of freedom and liberty is +always seductive and brings friends. + +"The Cuban people now being recognized here, with rare exceptions, +had nothing to do with maintaining the insurrection, but remained +within the cities and lines of the Spanish army, pretending to be +loyal to Spain, if they were not so in fact. They were too cowardly +to fight, and too avaricious to render material aid to those in +the field. All such are under the ban of suspicion in the eyes of +the real Cuban insurgents, no matter what their pretensions may +be. Any government organized with such persons at the head will, +sooner or later, be overthrown in blood, if not otherwise. The +Cubans, like other people, desire offices, and the war-patriots of +Cuba are no exceptions, and will fight for power, and when the test +comes the mass of Cubans in and out of the cities will be with the +real insurgent leaders. Already the latter are resolving not to +take office until they are recognized and given a full share of +power. + +"Ignoring such people now is easy; later they will defy our country +and be its eternal enemies, with the civilized world in sympathy +with them. The Spaniards, other foreigners, and home-staying Cuban +politicians are the people who now get a hearing, but wait and +listen for what is to come! Our people will appear to the real +Cubans as their despoilers and oppressors, instead of liberators. + +"I am in favor of annexation, and the sooner the better, but the +Cuban patriots must first form a government, provisional or otherwise, +and consent to annexation. This at first would have been easy, +even now possible, to be brought about, but we are fast drifting +away from annexation or a peaceful solution of the great and +scandalous Cuban problem confronting us. + +"The Cuban people are not to be despised; they are a mixed race it +is true, but they have talked of and fought for freedom too many +years not to know something of the sweet fruits of individual +liberty. They are polite and affable, but yet suspicious, as all +people are who have been oppressed. It is said they may be resentful +of the real or imaginary wrongs they have suffered from the Spaniards. +Grant this. Who would not, with their homes as open graveyards +strewn with the dead of their families, etc.? It is not best or +safe to believe all the tales told of Gomez and his followers by +the Spaniards or city Cubans. + +"However, I do not believe that a reorganization, with the insurgents +fairly recognized, would be as bad as these interested people claim, +or would be half so bloody as any organized civil government will +prove to be with them left out. Woe to the Spaniard in the island +if war again breaks out here! Gomez is at the head of the Cuban +military forces, but there are others, generally good men, who are +recognized heads of the Cuban insurgent civil power. These are +the people who will have to be dealt with, or they will deal with +whatever power may be set up. + +"The Cuban is not so ignorant as is often claimed. Generally all +classes can read and write. Now they have no redress for wrongs +against person or property. (They have no civil courts; only a +little remaining semblance of Spanish authority in a few places.) + +"With a simple form of civil government they could soon have this, +and they could be schooled in the primary principles of civil +government, such as self-reliance, knowledge of their just rights, +duty to others, and others' duty to them. Cubans have more need +of justices of the peace than of justices of a Supreme Court. The +people want and need quick redress against trespassers, and in the +collection of debts, etc. + +"A simple code of laws, primitive in character, but comprehensive +and easily understood, yet adequate to bring speedy relief, is what +is now most needed. Such laws could be passed by a provisional +legislative body. Light taxes for a few years should be assessed. +Good land laws with a reasonable law of limitations should be made. +Land titles then soon would be settled. The established government +should take up and lease, pending the adjustment of titles, all +tillable and unoccupied land. Much of this land, even the best of +it (which would be cheap at two hundred dollars per acre), would +escheat for the want of living owners or descendants. The escheated +lands would make a large revenue for the State. Much of the land +in cultivation is capable of netting each year, with only fair +cultivation in tobacco, etc., one thousand dollars per acre. These +lands have had, and soon should have again, a value of from two to +five hundred and often one thousand dollars per acre. + +"Cuba (under Spanish semi-barbaric rule for four hundred years) +could be transformed from a graveyard of open graves, the feeding- +ground and paradise of vultures, to the richest and most ideally +beautiful and most enchanting spot on the face of the earth, with +a prosperous population on a high plane of civilization. Even the +tropical diseases in Havana and other coast cities would disappear +before modern methods of sanitation. In general, outside of a few +cities, the island is healthful, notwithstanding the contaminating +effect of the pestilential cities. Yellow fever, smallpox, and a +few infectious diseases exist here continually, but they soon would +disappear. + +"The property owners, in spite of high taxes, have lived in this +island in 'barbaric luxury,' partaking somewhat of _splendor_. +This will be the case again, and much intensified, when touched by +a civilization that regards the rights of man. + +"The ease and comfort possible in such a place as this are too +great to be appreciated by such plain hard-working persons as you +and I. But---- + + "Yours most respectfully, + "J. Warren Keifer, + "Major-General Volunteers." + + +APPENDIX F + +List of officers who served (at some time) on the division staff +of Major-General Keifer in the Spanish War. + +_Personal Staff_ + +Captain Horace C. Keifer (Ohio), 3d U. S. Vol. Engineers, Aide. + +First Lieutenant Albert C. Thompson, Jr. (Ohio), U. S. Vol. Signal +Corps, Aide. + +First Lieutenant Edward T. Miller (Ohio), U. S. Vol. Signal Corps, +Aide. + +Second Lieutenant Dwight E. Aultman (U.S.A.), 2d U. S. Artillery, +Aide. + +Second Lieutenant Lewis W. Brander (Va.), 3d U. S. Vol. Infantry, +Aide. + +_Division Staff_ + +Major Benjamin Alvord (U.S.A.), Chief Ordnance Officer. (U.S.V.) + +Major George L. Hobart (N. J.), Assistant Adjutant-General. +(U.S.V.) + +Major William S. Scott (U.S.A.), Assistant Adjutant-General. +(U.S.V.) + +Major John Gary Evans (S. C.), Inspector-General. (U.S.V.) + +Major James M. Moody (N. C.), Chief Commissary of Subsistence. +(U.S.V.) + +Major James M. Arrasmith (U.S.A.), Chief Commissary of Subsistence. +(U.S.V.) + +Captain J. E. B. Stuart (Va.), Commissary of Subsistence. (U.S.V.) + +Major Noble H. Creager (Md.), Chief Quartermaster. (U.S.V.) + +Major William J. White (Ohio), Chief Quartermaster. (U.S.V.) + +Captain Fred W. Cole (Fla.), Quartermaster. (U.S.V.) + +Major John L. Chamberlain (U.S.A.), Chief Ordnance Officer. (U.S.V.) + +Major Godfrey H. Macdonald (U.S.A.), Chief Ordnance Officer. +(U.S.V.) + +Major Hugh H. Gordon (Ga.), Chief Engineer Officer. (U.S.V.) + +Major D. M. Appel (U.S.A.), Chief Surgeon. + +Major Francis C. Ford (Texas), Surgeon. (U.S.V.) + +Major Eduard Boeckmann (Minn.), Chief Surgeon. (U.S.V.) + +Major Jefferson R. Kean (U.S.A.), Chief Surgeon. (U.S.V.) + +Dr. Sidney Myers (Ky.), Contract Surgeon. + +First Lieutenant O. C. Drew (Texas), 1st Texas Vol. Inf., Provost- +Marshal. + +First Lieutenant E. P. Clayton (Ill.), 4th Ill. Vol. Inf., Provost- +Marshal. + + +APPENDIX G +Farewell Address + + "Headquarters First Division, Seventh Army Corps, + "Camp Columbia, Havana, Cuba, March 29, 1899. + +"This Division will soon cease to exist by the muster out of the +volunteer regiments composing it. I assumed command of it at Miami, +Florida, July 6, 1898, and have commanded it (when not exercising +a higher command including it) from that time at Miami, Florida, +to August 6th; at Camp Cuba Libre, Jacksonville, Florida, to October +20th; at Camp Onward, Savannah, Georgia, to December 27th; at Camp +Columbia, near Havana, Cuba, to the present. + +"Through changes in regiments and other organizations, about twenty +thousand officers and soldiers have served in the Division. + +"Although not engaged in battle, the dangers from disease in tropical +camps have been great, and many have died or have become broken in +health. The Division has performed important service in maintaining +the high standard of the volunteer soldier in time of war, and in +doing guard duty in Cuba, preparatory to establishing a new +civilization and a free government for a long-oppressed people. +The varied trials and hardships of a soldier's life have been +bravely and manfully met by the officers and soldiers of the +Division. I have been proud to command it; and have only the +warmest friendship for all who composed it. I will always take a +deep interest in them. I am especially thankful to the officers +who have from time to time served on my staff, for their loyalty +to me, and their efficiency and zeal in performance of duty. + +"I have now served in the Volunteer Army of the United States of +America, in the Civil War and the war with Spain, five years, and +on May 12, 1899, I will sheath my sword (in all probability) forever, +conscious that I have tried to do my duty to my country. + +"The troops of this Division will therefore be the last I shall +ever command in peace or war. In sadness I bid all who compose +the Division a farewell, wishing each officer and enlisted man +success in the civil pursuits to which he is soon to return. + + "J. Warren Keifer, + "Major-General of Volunteers. + +"Official: + "Horace C. Keifer, Captain 3d U. S. Vol. Engrs., A.D.C." + + +INDEX +[omitted] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2, by +Joseph Warren Keifer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS OF WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 22100.txt or 22100.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/1/0/22100/ + +Produced by Ed Ferris + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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