diff options
Diffstat (limited to '3035-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 3035-h/3035-h.htm | 6421 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 3035-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 59194 bytes |
2 files changed, 6421 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/3035-h/3035-h.htm b/3035-h/3035-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..40f6223 --- /dev/null +++ b/3035-h/3035-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6421 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> + +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + +<title> +The Day of the Confederacy by Nathaniel W. Stephenson +</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg"> + <style type="text/css"> + + body { margin:8%; text-align: justify; } +h1 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } +h2 { text-align: center; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + font-weight:bold; font-size:medium;} +h3 { text-align: center; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + font-weight:bold; font-size:medium;} +h4 { text-align: left; font-weight:bold; font-size:small; + margin-bottom:0em;} +p {text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em;} +a {text-decoration:none;} +blockquote {font-size: 97%; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} + +p.author { text-indent:0; text-align: center; + font-weight:bold; font-size:large; + margin-bottom:2em;} +div.start-of-book + { text-indent:0; text-align: center; + font-weight:bold; font-size:large; + margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em;} +div.chapterhead { padding-top:4em; } +hr { width: 50%; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} +hr.break { width: 20%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em;} + +p.chaptertitle + { text-indent:0; text-align: center; + font-variant:small-caps; + font-weight:bold; font-size:1.2em; + margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + margin-bottom:2em;} +p.tiny {width:10%; margin:1em auto; border-bottom:1px solid gray;} +div.titlepage { padding-top:5%; padding-bottom:5%; + margin-right:15%; margin-left:15%; + text-align: center;} +p.book-subtitle, p.book-dedication + { text-indent:0; text-align:center; + font-weight:bold; font-variant:small-caps; + margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; } + /* footer classes */ +p.footer { text-indent:0; text-align:justify; font-size:80%; } +div.footer { border-style:solid; border-color:silver; border-width:thin; + border-top:none; border-bottom:none; + padding-left:10%; padding-right:10%;} + /* index classes */ +div.indexfont { font-size:small; text-indent:0; + margin:auto; margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; + padding-top:1em;} + /* boilerplate classes */ +p.boilerplate { text-indent:0; margin-top:1em; } +div.boilerplate { padding-top:1em; padding-bottom:1em; + margin:0; text-indent: 0;} + +.pagenum { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; + background-color: inherit; color: gray; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + /* To remove the page-numbers, use the hidden visibilty feature */ + /* visibility:hidden; */ + border: 1px solid silver; padding: 1px 2px; + font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;} + /* simple-function classes */ +.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;} +.superscript { font-size:65%; vertical-align:top; } +.center {text-align:center; } +.small {font-size:small;} +.xlarge {font-size:x-large;} +.noindent {text-indent: 0%; } +.double-space-top {margin-top:2em;} +.single-space-top {margin-top:1em;} +.quad-space-bottom {margin-bottom:4em;} +.bold {font-weight:bold;} +.left-margin3em {margin-left:3em;} + /* table of contents styling */ +table.toc {margin:0 auto;} +table.toc caption {font-variant:small-caps; font-weight:bold;} +table.toc th {font-size:small;} +table.toc tr td {vertical-align:top;} +table.toc tr td:first-child {text-align:right; padding-right:.5em; } +table.toc tr td:last-child {text-align:right; padding-left:.5em; } + /* poem classes */ +p.poem1 { text-indent:-3em; + margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;} +div.poem1 {margin-left:3em; font-size:small;} +</style> + </head> + <body> + +<div class="boilerplate"> +<p class="boilerplate"> +The Day of the Confederacy by Nathaniel W. Stephenson, +presented by Project Gutenberg +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +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 +</p> + + + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Title: The Day of the Confederacy,<br> + A Chronicle of the Embattled South,<br> + Volume 30 in The Chronicles Of America Series<br> +</p> +<p class="boilerplate"> +Author: Nathaniel W. Stephenson<br> +Editor: Allen Johnson<br> +Release Date: January 26, 2009 [EBook #3035]<br> +Last Updated: September 6, 2016<br> +Language: English<br> +Character set encoding: UTF-8 +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Produced by The James J. Kelly Library of St. Gregory's +University, Alev Akman, David Widger, and Robert Homa. +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate bold quad-space-bottom"> +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAY OF THE CONFEDERACY *** +</p> +</div> + + + + + +<div class="titlepage"> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">i</a></span> + <h1>The Day of the Confederacy</h1> + <p class="author">By Nathaniel W. Stephenson</p> + <p class="book-subtitle">A Chronicle of the Embattled South</p> + <p class="noindent"> + Volume 30 of the<br> + Chronicles of America Series <br> + ∴<br> + Allen Johnson, Editor<br> + Assistant Editors<br> + Gerhard R. Lomer <br> + Charles W. Jefferys + </p> + <p class="tiny"> + <p class="noindent"> + <i>Abraham Lincoln Edition</i><br><br><br><br> + </p> + <p class="noindent small"> + New Haven: Yale University Press<br> + Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co.<br> + London: Humphrey Milford<br> + Oxford University Press<br> + 1919 + </p> +</div> +<p class="noindent center small"> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">ii</a></span> + Copyright, 1919<br> + by Yale University Press +</p> +<p> + <br><br><br> +</p> +<hr> + + + +<p> +<a name="Contents"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">iii</a></span> +<br><br><br> +</p> +<h2 align="center">CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table class="toc" summary="Table of Contents for The Day of the Confederacy"> +<caption>The Day of the Confederacy</caption> +<tr> +<th>Chapter</th> +<th>Chapter Title</th> +<th>Page</th> +</tr> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td>I.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap01">The Secession Movement</a></td> +<td>1</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>II.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap02">The Davis Government</a></td> +<td>24</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>III.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap03">The Fall of King Cotton</a></td> +<td>45</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>IV.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap04">Reaction Against Richmond</a></td> +<td>58</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>V.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap05">The Critical Year</a></td> +<td>87</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>VI.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap06">Life in the Confederacy</a></td> +<td>99</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>VII.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap07">The Turning of the Tide</a></td> +<td>112</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>VIII.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap08">A Game of Chance</a></td> +<td>130</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>IX.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap09">Desperate Remedies</a></td> +<td>145</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>X.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap10">Disintegration</a></td> +<td>165</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>XI.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap11">An Attempted Revolution</a></td> +<td>183</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>XII.</td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#chap12">The Last Word</a></td> +<td>200</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#biblio">Bibliographical Note</a></td> +<td>205</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td class="smcap"> +<a href="#index">Index</a></td> +<td>209</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + + + + + + <hr> + + + + <div class="start-of-book"> + <p class="center"> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"></a> + <a name="chap01" id="chap01"></a> + THE DAY OF THE CONFEDERACY + </p> + <p class="center single-space-top"> + <span class="xlarge">∴</span> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER I.</a> + </h2> + </div> + + + <p class="chaptertitle">The Secession Movement</p> + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">The</span> + secession movement had three distinct stages. The first, beginning + with the news that Lincoln was elected, closed with the news, sent + broadcast over the South from Charleston, that Federal troops had taken + possession of Fort Sumter on the night of the 26th of December. During + this period the likelihood of secession was the topic of discussion in the + lower South. What to do in case the lower South seceded was the question + which perplexed the upper South. In this period no State north of South + Carolina contemplated taking the initiative. In the Southeastern and Gulf + States immediate action of some sort was expected. Whether it would be + secession or some other new course was not certain on the day of Lincoln's + election. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span> + Various States earlier in the year had provided for conventions + of their people in the event of a Republican victory. The first to + assemble was the convention of South Carolina, which organized at + Columbia, on December 17, 1860. Two weeks earlier Congress had met. + Northerners and Southerners had at once joined issue on their relation in + the Union. The House had appointed its committee of thirty-three to + consider the condition of the country. So unpromising indeed from the + Southern point of view had been the early discussions of this committee + that a conference of Southern members of Congress had sent out their + famous address <i>To Our Constituents</i>: "The argument is exhausted. All hope + of relief in the Union … is extinguished, and we trust the South will not + be deceived by appearances or the pretense of new guarantees. In our + judgment the Republicans are resolute in the purpose to grant nothing that + will or ought to satisfy the South. We are satisfied the honor, safety, + and independence of the Southern people require the organization of a + Southern Confederacy—a result to be obtained only by separate state + secession." Among the signers of this address were the two statesmen who + had in native talent no superiors at Washington—Judah + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> + P. Benjamin of Louisiana and Jefferson Davis of Mississippi. + </p> + <p> + The appeal <i>To Our Constituents</i> was not the only assurance of support + tendered to the convention of South Carolina. To represent them at this + convention the governors of Alabama and Mississippi had appointed + delegates. Mr. Hooker of Mississippi and Mr. Elmore of Alabama made + addresses before the convention on the night of the 17th of December. Both + reiterated views which during two days of lobbying they had disseminated + in Columbia "on all proper occasions." Their argument, summed up in + Elmore's report to Governor Moore of Alabama, was "that the only course to + unite the Southern States in any plan of coöperation which could promise + safety was for South Carolina to take the lead and secede at once without + delay or hesitation … that the only effective plan of coöperation must + ensue after one State had seceded and presented the issue when the plain + question would be presented to the other Southern States whether they + would stand by the seceding State engaged in a common cause or abandon her + to the fate of coercion by the arms of the Government of the United + States." + </p> + <p> + Ten years before, in the unsuccessful secession + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> + movement of 1850 and 1851, + Andrew Pickens Butler, perhaps the ablest South Carolinian then living, + strove to arrest the movement by exactly the opposite argument. Though + desiring secession, he threw all his weight against it because the rest of + the South was averse. He charged his opponents, whose leader was Robert + Barnwell Rhett, with aiming to place the other Southern States "in such + circumstances that, having a common destiny, they would be compelled to be + involved in a common sacrifice." He protested that "to force a sovereign + State to take a position against its consent is to make of it a reluctant + associate.… Both interest and honor must require the Southern States to + take council together." + </p> + <p> + That acute thinker was now in his grave. The bold enthusiast whom he + defeated in 1851 had now no opponent that was his match. No great + personality resisted the fiery advocates from Alabama and Mississippi. + Their advice was accepted. On December 20, 1860, the cause that ten years + before had failed was successful. The convention, having adjourned from + Columbia to Charleston, passed an ordinance of secession. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, in Georgia, at a hundred meetings, the secession issue was + being hotly discussed. But + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> + there was not yet any certainty which way the + scale would turn. An invitation from South Carolina to join in a general + Southern convention had been declined by the Governor in November. + Governor Brown has left an account ascribing the comparative coolness and + deliberation of the hour to the prevailing impression that President + Buchanan had pledged himself not to alter the military status at + Charleston. In an interview between South Carolina representatives and the + President, the Carolinians understood that such a pledge was given. "It + was generally understood by the country," says Governor Brown, "that such + an agreement … had been entered into … and that Governor Floyd of + Virginia, then Secretary of War, had expressed his determination to resign + his position in the Cabinet in case of the refusal of the President to + carry out the agreement in good faith. The resignation of Governor Floyd + was therefore naturally looked upon, should it occur, as a signal given to + the South that reinforcements were to be sent to Charleston and that the + coercive policy had been adopted by the Federal Government." + </p> + <p> + While the "canvass in Georgia for members of the State convention was + progressing with much interest on both sides," there came suddenly the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> + news that Anderson had transferred his garrison from Fort Moultrie to the + island fortress of Sumter. That same day commissioners from South + Carolina, newly arrived at Washington, sought in vain to persuade the + President to order Anderson back to Moultrie. The Secretary of War made + the subject an issue before the Cabinet. Unable to carry his point, two + days later he resigned. ¹ + </p> + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_6-1" name="footer_6-1"></a> + ¹ The President had already asked for Floyd's resignation + because of financial irregularities, and Floyd was shrewd + enough to use Anderson's <i>coup</i> as an excuse for resigning. + See Rhodes, <i>History of the United States,</i> vol. II pp. 225, + 236 (note). + </p> + </div> + + <p> + The Georgia Governor, who had not hitherto been in the front rank of the + aggressives, now struck a great blow. Senator Toombs had telegraphed from + Washington that Fort Pulaski, guarding the Savannah River, was "in + danger." The Governor had reached the same conclusion. He mustered the + state militia and seized Fort Pulaski. Early in the morning on January + 3, 1861, the fort was occupied by Georgia troops. Shortly afterward, Brown + wrote to a commissioner sent by the Governor of Alabama to confer with + him: "While many of our most patriotic and intelligent citizens in both + States have doubted the propriety of immediate secession, I feel quite + confident that recent events have dispelled those doubts from the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> + minds of + most men who have, till within the past few days, honestly sustained + them." The first stage of the secession movement was at an end; the second + had begun. + </p> + <p> + A belief that Washington had entered upon a policy of aggression swept the + lower South. The state conventions assembling about this time passed + ordinances of secession—Mississippi, January 9; Florida, January 10; + Alabama, January 11; Georgia, January 19; Louisiana, January 26; Texas, + February 1. But this result was not achieved without considerable + opposition. In Georgia the Unionists put up a stout fight. The issue was + not upon the right to secede—virtually no one denied the right—but + upon the wisdom of invoking the right. Stephens, gloomy and pessimistic, + led the opposition. Toombs came down from Washington to take part with the + secessionists. From South Carolina and Alabama, both ceaselessly active + for secession, commissioners appeared to lobby at Milledgeville, as + commissioners of Alabama and Mississippi had lobbied at Columbia. Besides + the out-and-out Unionists, there were those who wanted to temporize, to + threaten the North, and to wait for developments. The motion on which + these men and the Unionists made their + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> + last stand together went against + them 164 to 133. Then at last came the square question: Shall we secede? + Even on this question, the minority was dangerously large. Though the + temporizers came over to the secessionists, and with them came Stephens, + there was still a minority of 89 irreconcilables against the majority + numbering 208. + </p> + <p> + "My allegiance," said Stephens afterwards, "was, as I considered it, not + due to the United States, or to the people of the United States, but to + Georgia, in her sovereign capacity. Georgia had never parted with her + right to demand the ultimate allegiance of her citizens." + </p> + <p> + The attempt in Georgia to restrain impetuosity and advance with + deliberation was paralleled in Alabama, where also the aggressives were + determined not to permit delay. In the Alabama convention, the + conservatives brought forward a plan for a general Southern convention to + be held at Nashville in February. It was rejected by a vote of 54 to 45. + An attempt to delay secession until after the 4th of March was defeated by + the same vote. + </p> + <p> + The determination of the radicals to precipitate the issue received + interesting criticism from the Governor of Texas, old Sam Houston. To a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> + commissioner from Alabama who was sent out to preach the cause in Texas + the Governor wrote, in substance, that since Alabama would not wait to + consult the people of Texas he saw nothing to discuss at that time, and he + went on to say: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + Recognizing as I do the fact that the sectional tendencies of the Black + Republican party call for determined constitutional resistance at the + hands of the united South, I also feel that the million and a half of + noble-hearted, conservative men who have stood by the South, even to this + hour, deserve some sympathy and support. Although we have lost the day, we + have to recollect that our conservative Northern friends cast over a + quarter of a million more votes against the Black Republicans than we of + the entire South. I cannot declare myself ready to desert them as well as + our Southern brethren of the border (and such, I believe, will be the + sentiment of Texas) until at least one firm attempt has been made to + preserve our constitutional rights within the Union. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Nevertheless, Houston was not able to control his State. Delegates from + Texas attended the later sessions of a general Congress of the seceding + States which, on the invitation of Alabama, met at Montgomery on the 4th + of February. A contemporary document of singular interest today is the + series of resolutions adopted by the Legislature of North Carolina, + setting forth that, as the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> + State was a member of the Federal Union, it + could not accept the invitation of Alabama but should send delegates for + the purpose of persuading the South to effect a readjustment on the basis + of the Crittenden Compromise as modified by the Legislature of Virginia. + The commissioners were sent, were graciously received, were accorded seats + in the Congress, but they exerted no influence on the course of its + action. + </p> + <p> + The Congress speedily organized a provisional Government for the + Confederate States of America. The Constitution of the United States, + rather hastily reconsidered, became with a few inevitable alterations the + Constitution of the Confederacy. ¹ + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> + Davis was unanimously elected + President; Stephens, Vice-President. Provision was made for raising an + army. Commissioners were dispatched to Washington to negotiate a treaty + with the United States; other commissioners were sent to Virginia to + attempt to withdraw that great commonwealth from the Union. + </p> + + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_11-1" name="footer_11-1"></a> + ¹ To the observer of a later age this document appears a + thing of haste. Like the framers of the Constitution of + 1787, who omitted from their document some principles which + they took for granted, the framers of 1861 left unstated + their most distinctive views. The basal idea upon which the + revolution proceeded, the right of secession, is not to be + found in the new Constitution. Though the preamble declares + that the States are acting in their sovereign and + independent character, the new Confederation is declared + "permanent." In the body of the document are provisions + similar to those in the Federal Constitution enabling a + majority of two-thirds of the States to amend at their + pleasure, thus imposing their will upon the minority. With + three notable exceptions the new Constitution, subsequent to + the preamble, does little more than restate the Constitution + of 1787 rearranged so as to include those basal principles + of the English law added to the earlier Constitution by the + first eight amendments. The three exceptions are the + prohibitions (1) of the payment of bounties, (2) of the + levying of duties to promote any one form of industry, and + (3) of appropriations for internal improvements. Here was a + monument to the battle over these matters in the Federal + Congress. As to the mechanism of the new Government it was + the same as the old except for a few changes of detail. The + presidential term was lengthened to six years and the + President was forbidden to succeed himself. The President + was given the power to veto items in appropriation bills. + The African slave-trade was prohibited. + </p> + </div> + <p> + The upper South was thus placed in a painful situation. Its sympathies + were with the seceding States. Most of its people felt also that if + coercion was attempted, the issue would become for Virginia and North + Carolina, no less than for South Carolina and Alabama, simply a matter of + self-preservation. As early as January, in the exciting days when Floyd's + resignation was being interpreted as a call to arms, the Virginia + Legislature had resolved that it would not consent to the coercion of a + seceding State. In May the Speaker of the North Carolina Legislature + assured a commissioner from Georgia that North Carolina would never + consent to the movement of troops "from or + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> + across" the State to attack a + seceding State. But neither Virginia nor North Carolina in this second + stage of the movement wanted to secede. They wanted to preserve the Union, + but along with the Union they wanted the principle of local autonomy. It + was a period of tense anxiety in those States of the upper South. The + frame of mind of the men who loved the Union but who loved equally their + own States and were firm for local autonomy is summed up in a letter in + which Mrs. Robert E. Lee describes the anguish of her husband as he + confronted the possibility of a divided country. + </p> + <p> + The real tragedy of the time lay in the failure of the advocates of these + two great principles—each so necessary to a far-flung democratic + country in a world of great powers!—the failure to coördinate them + so as to insure freedom at home and strength abroad. The principle for + which Lincoln stood has saved Americans in the Great War from playing such + a trembling part as that of Holland. The principle which seemed to Lee + even more essential, which did not perish at Appomattox but was + transformed and not destroyed, is what has kept us from becoming a western + Prussia. And yet if only it had been possible to coördinate the two + without the price of war! It was not possible because of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> + the stored up + bitterness of a quarter century of recrimination. But Virginia made a last + desperate attempt to preserve the Union by calling the Peace Convention. + It assembled at Washington the day the Confederate Congress met at + Montgomery. Though twenty-one States sent delegates, it was no more able + to effect a working scheme of compromise than was the House committee of + thirty-three or the Senate committee of thirteen, both of which had + striven, had failed, and had gone their ways to a place in the great + company of historic futilities. + </p> + <p> + And so the Peace Convention came and went, and there was no consolation + for the troubled men of the upper South who did not want to secede but + were resolved not to abandon local autonomy. Virginia was the key to the + situation. If Virginia could be forced into secession, the rest of the + upper South would inevitably follow. Therefore a Virginia hothead, Roger + A. Pryor, being in Charleston in those wavering days, poured out his heart + in fiery words, urging a Charleston crowd to precipitate war, in the + certainty that Virginia would then have to come to their aid. When at last + Sumter was fired upon and Lincoln called for volunteers, the second stage + of the secession movement ended + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> + in a thunderclap. The third period was + occupied by the second group of secessions: Virginia on the 17th of April, + North Carolina and Arkansas during May, Tennessee early in June. + </p> + <p> + Sumter was the turning-point. The boom of the first cannon trained on the + island fortress deserves all the rhetoric it has inspired. Who was + immediately responsible for that firing which was destiny? Ultimate + responsibility is not upon any person. War had to be. If Sumter had not + been the starting-point, some other would have been found. Nevertheless + the question of immediate responsibility, of whose word it was that served + as the signal to begin, has produced an historic controversy. + </p> + <p> + When it was known at Charleston that Lincoln would attempt to provision + the fort, the South Carolina authorities referred the matter to the + Confederate authorities. The Cabinet, in a fateful session at Montgomery, + hesitated—drawn between the wish to keep their hold upon the + moderates of the North, who were trying to stave off war, and the desire + to precipitate Virginia into the lists. Toombs, Secretary of State in the + new Government, wavered; then seemed to find his resolution and came out + strong against a demand for + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> + surrender. "It is suicide, murder, and will + lose us every friend at the North.… It is unnecessary; it puts us in the + wrong; it is fatal," said he. But the Cabinet and the President decided to + take the risk. To General Pierre Beauregard, recently placed in command of + the militia assembled at Charleston, word was sent to demand the surrender + of Fort Sumter. + </p> + <p> + On Thursday, the 7th of April, besides his instructions from Montgomery, + Beauregard was in receipt of a telegram from the Confederate commissioners + at Washington, repeating newspaper statements that the Federal relief + expedition intended to land a force "which will overcome all opposition." + There seems no doubt that Beauregard did not believe that the expedition + was intended merely to provision Sumter. Probably every one in Charleston + thought that the Federal authorities were trying to deceive them, that + Lincoln's promise not to do more than provision Sumter was a mere blind. + Fearfulness that delay might render Sumter impregnable lay back of + Beauregard's formal demand, on the 11th of April, for the surrender of the + fort. Anderson refused but "made some verbal observations" to the aides + who brought him the demand. In effect he said + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> + that lack of supplies would + compel him to surrender by the fifteenth. When this information was taken + back to the city, eager crowds were in the streets of Charleston + discussing the report that a bombardment would soon begin. But the + afternoon passed; night fell; and nothing was done. On the beautiful + terrace along the sea known as East Battery, people congregated, watching + the silent fortress whose brick walls rose sheer from the midst of the + harbor. The early hours of the night went by and as midnight approached + and still there was no flash from either the fortress or the shore + batteries which threatened it, the crowds broke up. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile there was anxious consultation at the hotel where Beauregard had + fixed his headquarters. Pilots came in from the sea to report to the + General that a Federal vessel had appeared off the mouth of the harbor. + This news may well explain the hasty dispatch of a second expedition to + Sumter in the middle of the night. At half after one, Friday morning, four + young men, aides of Beauregard, entered the fort. Anderson repeated his + refusal to surrender at once but admitted that he would have to surrender + within three days. Thereupon the aides held a council of war. They decided + that the reply was unsatisfactory and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> + wrote out a brief note which they + handed to Anderson informing him that the Confederates would open "fire + upon Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." The note was dated 3:20 A.M. + The aides then proceeded to Fort Johnston on the south side of the harbor + and gave the order to fire. + </p> + <p> + The council of the aides at Sumter is the dramatic detail that has caught + the imagination of historians and has led them, at least in some cases, to + yield to a literary temptation. It is so dramatic—that scene of the + four young men holding in their hands, during a moment of absolute + destiny, the fate of a people; four young men, in the irresponsible ardor + of youth, refusing to wait three days and forcing war at the instant! It + is so dramatic that one cannot judge harshly the artistic temper which is + unable to reject it. But is the incident historic? Did the four young men + come to Sumter without definite instructions? Was their conference really + anything more than a careful comparing of notes to make sure they were + doing what they were intended to do? Is not the real clue to the event a + message from Beauregard to the Secretary of War telling of his interview + with the pilots? ¹ + </p> + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_17-1" name="footer_17-1"></a> + ¹ A chief authority for the dramatic version of the council + of the aides is that fiery Virginian, Roger A. Pryor. He and + another accompanied + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> + the official messengers, the signers of + the note to Anderson, James Chestnut and Stephen Lee. Years + afterwards Pryor told the story of the council in a way to + establish its dramatic significance. But would there be + anything strange if a veteran survivor, looking back to his + youth, as all of us do through more or less of mirage, + yielded to the unconscious artist that is in us all and + dramatized this event unaware? + </p> + </div> + + <p> + Dawn was breaking gray, with a faint rain in the air, when the first boom + of the cannon awakened the city. Other detonations followed in quick + succession. Shells rose into the night from both sides of the harbor and + from floating batteries. How lightly Charleston slept that night may be + inferred from the accounts in the newspapers. "At the report of the first + gun," says the <i>Courier,</i> "the city was nearly emptied of its inhabitants + who crowded the Battery and the wharves to witness the conflict." + </p> + <p> + The East Battery and the lower harbor of the lovely city of Charleston + have been preserved almost without alteration. What they are today they + were in the breaking dawn on April 12, 1861. Business has gone up the + rivers between which Charleston lies and has left the point of the city's + peninsula, where East Battery looks outward to the Atlantic, in its + perfect charm. There large houses, pillared, with high piazzas, stand + apart one from another among gardens. With few exceptions + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> + they were built + before the middle of the century and all, with one exception, show the + classical taste of those days. The mariner, entering the spacious inner + sea that is Charleston Harbor, sights this row of stately mansions even + before he crosses the bar seven miles distant. Holding straight onward up + into the land he heads first for the famous little island where, nowadays, + in their halo of thrilling recollection, the walls of Sumter, rising sheer + from the bosom of the water, drowse idle. Close under the lee of Sumter, + the incoming steersman brings his ship about and chooses, probably, the + eastward of two huge tentacles of the sea between which lies the city's + long but narrow peninsula. To the steersman it shows a skyline serrated by + steeples, fronted by sea, flanked southward by sea, backgrounded by an + estuary, and looped about by a sickle of wooded islands. + </p> + <p> + This same scene, + so far as city and nature go, was beheld by the crowds that swarmed East + Battery, a flagstone marine parade along the seaward side of the boulevard + that faces Sumter; that filled the windows and even the housetops; that + watched the bombardment with the eagerness of an audience in an + amphitheater; that applauded every telling shot with clapping of hands and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> + waving of shawls and handkerchiefs. The fort lay distant from them about + three miles, but only some fifteen hundred yards from Fort Johnston on one + side and about a mile from Fort Moultrie on the other. From both of these + latter, the cannon of those days were equal to the task of harassing + Sumter. Early in the morning of the 12th of April, though not until broad + day had come, did Anderson make reply. All that day, at first under + heavily rolling cloud and later through curiously misty sunshine, the fire + and counterfire continued. "The enthusiasm and fearlessness of the + spectators," says the Charleston <i>Mercury,</i> "knew no bounds." Reckless + observers even put out in small boats and roamed about the harbor almost + under the guns of the fort. Outside the bar, vessels of the relieving + squadron were now visible, and to these Anderson signaled for aid. They + made an attempt to reach the fort, but only part of the squadron had + arrived, and the vessels necessary to raise the siege were not there. The + attempt ended in failure. When night came, a string of rowboats each + carrying a huge torch kept watch along the bar to guard against surprise + from the sea. + </p> + <p> + On that Friday night the harbor was swept by + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> + storm. But in spite of + torrents of rain East Battery and the rooftops were thronged. "The wind + was inshore and the booming was startlingly distinct." At the height of + the bombardment, the sky above Sumter seemed to be filled with the flashes + of bursting shells. But during this wild night Sumter itself was both dark + and silent. Its casements did not have adequate lamps and the guns could + not be used except by day. When morning broke, clear and bright after the + night's storm, the duel was resumed. + </p> + <p> + The walls of Sumter were now crumbling. At eight o'clock Saturday morning + the barracks took fire. Soon after it was perceived from the shore that + the flag was down. Beauregard at once sent offers of assistance. With + Sumter in flames above his head, Anderson replied that he had not + surrendered; he declined assistance; and he hauled up his flag. Later in + the day the flagstaff was shot in two and again the flag fell, and again + it was raised. Flames had been kindled anew by red-hot shot, and now the + magazine was in danger. Quantities of powder were thrown into the sea. + Still the rain of red-hot shot continued. About noon, Saturday, says the + <i>Courier,</i> "flames burst out from every quarter of Sumter and + poured from many + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> + of its portholes … the wind was from the west driving the smoke + across the fort into the embrasures where the gunners were at work." + Nevertheless, "as if served with a new impulse," the guns of Sumter + redoubled their fire. But it was not in human endurance to keep on in the + midst of the burning fort. This splendid last effort was short. At a + quarter after one, Anderson ceased firing and raised a white flag. + Negotiations followed ending in terms of surrender—Anderson to be + allowed to remove his garrison to the fleet lying idle beyond the bar and + to salute the flag of the United States before taking it down. The + bombardment had lasted thirty-two hours without a death on either side. + The evacuation of the fort was to take place next day. + </p> + <p> + The afternoon of Sunday, the 14th of April, was a gala day in the harbor + of Charleston. The sunlight slanted across the roofs of the city, sparkled + upon the sea. Deep and rich the harbor always looks in the spring sunshine + on bright afternoons. The filmy atmosphere of these latitudes, at that + time of year, makes the sky above the darkling, afternoon sea a pale but + luminous turquoise. There is a wonderful soft strength in the peaceful + brightness of the sun. In such an atmosphere the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> + harbor was flecked with + brilliantly decked craft of every description, all in a flutter of flags + and carrying a host of passengers in gala dress. The city swarmed across + the water to witness the ceremony of evacuation. Wherry men did a thriving + business carrying passengers to the fort. + </p> + <p> + Anderson withdrew from Sumter shortly after two o'clock amid a salute of + fifty guns. The Confederates took possession. At half after four a new + flag was raised above the battered and fire-swept walls. + </p> + + <hr> + + + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> + <a name="chap02" id="chap02"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER II.</a> + </h2> + </div> + + <p class="chaptertitle">The Davis Government</p> + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">It</span> + has never been explained why Jefferson Davis was chosen President of + the Confederacy. He did not seek the office and did not wish it. He + dreamed of high military command. As a study in the irony of fate, Davis's + career is made to the hand of the dramatist. An instinctive soldier, he + was driven by circumstances three times to renounce the profession of arms + for a less congenial civilian life. His final renunciation, which proved + to be of the nature of tragedy, was his acceptance of the office of + President. Indeed, why the office was given to him seems a mystery. Rhett + was a more logical candidate. And when Rhett, early in the lobbying at + Montgomery, was set aside as too much of a radical, Toombs seemed for a + time the certain choice of the majority. The change to Davis came suddenly + at the last moment. It was puzzling at the time; it is puzzling still. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> + Rhett, though doubtless bitterly disappointed, bore himself with the + <i>savoir faire</i> of a great gentleman. At the inauguration, it was on Rhett's + arm that Davis leaned as he entered the hall of the Confederate Congress. + The night before, in a public address, Yancey had said that the man and + the hour were met. The story of the Confederacy is filled with dramatic + moments, but to the thoughtful observer few are more dramatic than the + conjunction of these three men in the inauguration of the Confederate + President. Beneath a surface of apparent unanimity they carried, like + concealed weapons, points of view that were in deadly antagonism. This + antagonism had not revealed itself hitherto. It was destined to reveal + itself almost immediately. It went so deep and spread so far that unless + we understand it, the Confederate story will be unintelligible. + </p> + <p> + A strange fatality destined all three of these great men to despair. + Yancey, who was perhaps most directly answerable of the three for the + existence of the Confederacy, lost influence almost from the moment when + his dream became established. Davis was partly responsible, for he + promptly sent him out of the country on the bootless English mission. + Thereafter, until his death in 1863, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> + Yancey was a waning, overshadowed + figure, steadily lapsing into the background. It may be that those critics + are right who say he was only an agitator. The day of the mere agitator + was gone. Yancey passed rapidly into futile but bitter antagonism to + Davis. In this attitude he was soon to be matched by Rhett. + </p> + <p> + The discontent of the Rhett faction because their leader was not given the + portfolio of the State Department found immediate voice. But the + conclusion drawn by some that Rhett's subsequent course sprang from + personal vindictiveness is trifling. He was too large a personality, too + well defined an intellect, to be thus explained. Very probably Davis made + his first great blunder in failing to propitiate the Rhett faction. And + yet few things are more certain than that the two men, the two factions + which they symbolized, could not have formed a permanent alliance. Had + Rhett entered the Cabinet he could not have remained in it consistently + for any considerable time. The measures in which, presently, the + Administration showed its hand were measures in which Rhett could not + acquiesce. From the start he was predestined to his eventual position—the + great, unavailing genius of the opposition. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> + As to the comparative ignoring of these leaders of secession by the + Government which secession had created, it is often said that the + explanation is to be found in a generous as well as politic desire to put + in office the moderates and even the conservatives. Davis, relatively, was + a moderate. Stephens was a conservative. Many of the most pronounced + opponents of secession were given places in the public service. Toombs, + who received the portfolio of State, though a secessionist, was + conspicuously a moderate when compared with Rhett and Yancey. The adroit + Benjamin, who became Attorney-General, had few points in common with the + great extremists of Alabama and South Carolina. + </p> + <p> + However, the dictum that the personnel of the new Government was a triumph + for conservatism over radicalism signifies little. There was a division + among Southerners which scarcely any of them had realized except briefly + in the premature battle over secession in 1851. It was the division + between those who were conscious of the region as a whole and those who + were not. Explain it as you will, there was a moment just after the + secession movement succeeded when the South seemed to realize itself as a + whole, when it turned intuitively to those + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> + men who, as time was to + demonstrate, shared this realization. For the moment it turned away from + those others, however great their part in secession, who lacked this sense + of unity. + </p> + <p> + At this point, geography becomes essential. The South fell, + institutionally, into two grand divisions: one, with an old and firmly + established social order, where consciousness of the locality went back to + remote times; another, newly settled, where conditions were still fluid, + where that sense of the sacredness of local institutions had not yet + formed. + </p> + <p> + A typical community of the first-named class was South Carolina. Her + people had to a remarkable degree been rendered state-conscious partly by + their geographical neighbors, and partly by their long and illustrious + history, which had been interwoven with great European interests during + the colonial era and with great national interests under the Republic. It + is possible also that the Huguenots, though few in numbers, had exercised + upon the State a subtle and pervasive influence through their intellectual + power and their Latin sense for institutions. + </p> + <p> + In South Carolina, too, a wealthy leisure class with a passion for affairs + had cultivated enthusiastically + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> + that fine art which is the pride of all + aristocratic societies, the service of the State as a profession high and + exclusive, free from vulgar taint. In South Carolina all things conspired + to uphold and strengthen the sense of the State as an object of + veneration, as something over and above the mere social order, as the + sacred embodiment of the ideals of the community. Thus it is fair to say + that what has animated the heroic little countries of the Old + World—Switzerland and Serbia and ever-glorious Belgium—with + their passion to remain themselves, animated South Carolina in 1861. Just + as Serbia was willing to fight to the death rather than merge her identity + in the mosaic of the Austrian Empire, so this little American community + saw nothing of happiness in any future that did not secure its virtual + independence. + </p> + <p> + Typical of the newer order in the South was the community that formed the + President of the Confederacy. In the history of Mississippi previous to + the war there are six great names—Jacob Thompson, John A. Quitman, + Henry S. Foote, Robert J. Walker, Sergeant S. Prentiss, and Jefferson + Davis. Not one of them was born in the State. Thompson was born in North + Carolina; Quitman in New York; Foote in Virginia; Walker in Pennsylvania; + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> + Prentiss in Maine; Davis in Kentucky. In 1861 the State was but forty-four + years old, younger than its most illustrious sons—if the paradox may + be permitted. How could they think of it as an entity existing in itself, + antedating not only themselves but their traditions, circumscribing them + with its all-embracing, indisputable reality? These men spoke the language + of state rights. It is true that in politics, combating the North, they + used the political philosophy taught them by South Carolina. But it was a + mental weapon in political debate; it was not for them an emotional fact. + </p> + <p> + And yet these men of the Southwest had an ideal of their own as vivid and + as binding as the state ideal of the men of the eastern coast. Though half + their leaders were born in the North, the people themselves were + overwhelmingly Southern. From all the older States, all round the huge + crescent which swung around from Kentucky coastwise to Florida, + immigration in the twenties and thirties had poured into Mississippi. + Consequently the new community presented a composite picture of the whole + South, and like all composite pictures it emphasized only the factors + common to all its parts. What all the South had in common, what made a man + a Southerner in the general sense—in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> + distinction from a Northerner + on the one hand, or a Virginian, Carolinian, Georgian, on the other—could + have been observed with clearness in Mississippi, just before the war, as + nowhere else. Therefore, the fulfillment of the ideal of Southern life in + general terms was the vision of things hoped for by the new men of the + Southwest. The features of that vision were common to them all—country + life, broad acres, generous hospitality, an aristocratic system. The + temperaments of these men were sufficiently buoyant to enable them to + apprehend this ideal even before it had materialized. Their romantic minds + could see the gold at the end of the rainbow. Theirs was not the pride of + administering a well-ordered, inherited system, but the joy of building a + new system, in their minds wholly elastic, to be sure, but still inspired + by that old system. + </p> + <p> + What may be called the sense of Southern nationality as opposed to the + sense of state rights, strictly speaking, distinguished this brilliant + young community of the Southwest. In that community Davis spent the years + that appear to have been the most impressionable of his life. Belonging to + a "new" family just emerging into wealth, he began life as a West Pointer + and saw gallant service as a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> + youth on the frontier; resigned from the army + to pursue a romantic attachment; came home to lead the life of a wealthy + planter and receive the impress of Mississippi; made his entry into + politics, still a soldier at heart, with the philosophy of state rights on + his lips, but in his heart that sense of the Southern people as a new + nation, which needed only the occasion to make it the relentless enemy of + the rights of the individual Southern States. Add together the instinctive + military point of view and this Southern nationalism that even in 1861 had + scarcely revealed itself; join with these a fearless and haughty spirit, + proud to the verge of arrogance, but perfectly devoted, perfectly sincere; + and you have the main lines of the political character of Davis when he + became President. It may be that as he went forward in his great + undertaking, as antagonisms developed, as Rhett and others turned against + him, Davis hardened. He lost whatever comprehension he once had of the + Rhett type. Seeking to weld into one irresistible unit all the military + power of the South, he became at last in the eyes of his opponents a + monster, while to him, more and more positively, the others became mere + dreamers. + </p> + <p> + It took about a year for this irrepressible + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> + conflict within the + Confederacy to reveal itself. During the twelve months following Davis's + election as provisional President, he dominated the situation, though the + Charleston <i>Mercury,</i> the Rhett organ, found opportunities to be sharply + critical of the President. He assembled armies; he initiated heroic + efforts to make up for the handicap of the South in the manufacture of + munitions and succeeded in starting a number of munition plants; though + powerless to prevent the establishment of the blockade, he was able during + that first year to keep in touch with Europe, to start out Confederate + privateers upon the high seas, and to import a considerable quantity of + arms and supplies. At the close of the year the Confederate armies were + approaching general efficiency, for all their enormous handicap, almost if + not quite as rapidly as were the Union armies. And the one great event of + the year on land, the first battle of Manassas, or Bull Run, was a signal + Confederate victory. + </p> + <p> + To be sure Davis was severely criticized in some quarters for not adopting + an aggressive policy. The Confederate Government, whether wisely or + foolishly, had not taken the people into its confidence and the lack of + munitions was not generally + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> + appreciated. The easy popular cries were all + sounded: "We are standing still!" "The country is being invaded!" "The + President is a do-nothing!" From the coast regions especially, where the + blockade was felt in all its severity, the outcry was loud. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, the South in the main was content with the Administration + during most of the first year. In November, when the general elections + were held, Davis was chosen without opposition as the first regular + Confederate President for six years, and Stephens became the + Vice-President. The election was followed by an important change in the + Southern Cabinet. Benjamin became Secretary of War, in succession to the + first War Secretary, Leroy P. Walker. Toombs had already left the + Confederate Cabinet. Complaining that Davis degraded him to the level of a + mere clerk, he had withdrawn the previous July. His successor in the State + Department was R. M. T. Hunter of Virginia, who remained in office until + February, 1862, when his removal to the Confederate Senate opened the way + for a further advancement of Benjamin. + </p> + <p> + Richmond, which had been designated as the capital soon after the + secession of Virginia, was the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> + scene of the inauguration, on February 22, + 1862. Although the weather proved bleak and rainy, an immense crowd + gathered around the Washington monument, in Capitol Square, to listen to + the inaugural address. By this time the confidence in the Government, + which was felt generally at the time of the election, had suffered a + shock. Foreign affairs were not progressing satisfactorily. Though England + had accorded to the Confederacy the status of a belligerent, this was poor + consolation for her refusal to make full recognition of the new Government + as an independent power. Dread of internal distress was increasing. Gold + commanded a premium of fifty per cent. Disorder was a feature of the life + in the cities. It was known that several recent military events had been + victories for the Federals. A rumor was abroad that some great disaster + had taken place in Tennessee. The crowd listened anxiously to hear the + rumor denied by the President. But it was not denied. The tense listeners + noted two sentences which formed an admission that the situation was + grave: "A million men, it is estimated, are now standing in hostile array + and waging war along a frontier of thousands of miles. Battles have been + fought, sieges have been conducted, and although the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> + contest is not ended, + and the tide for the moment is against us, the final result in our favor + is not doubtful." + </p> + <p> + Behind these carefully guarded words lay serious alarm, not only with + regard to the operations at the front but as to the composition of the + army. It had been raised under various laws and its portions were subject + to conflicting classifications; it was partly a group of state armies, + partly a single Confederate army. None of its members had enlisted for + long terms. Many enlistments would expire early in 1862. The fears of the + Confederate Administration with regard to this matter, together with its + alarm about the events at the front, were expressed by Davis in a frank + message to the Southern Congress, three days later. "I have hoped," said + he, "for several days to receive official reports in relation to our + discomfiture at Roanoke Island and the fall of Fort Donelson. They have + not yet reached me.… The hope is still entertained that our reported + losses at Fort Donelson have been greatly exaggerated.…" He went on to + condemn the policy of enlistments for short terms, "against which," said + he, "I have steadily contended"; and he enlarged upon the danger that even + patriotic men, who intended to reënlist, might + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> + go home to put their + affairs in order and that thus, at a critical moment, the army might be + seriously reduced. The accompanying report of the Confederate Secretary of + War showed a total in the army of 340,250 men. This was an inadequate + force with which to meet the great hosts which were being organized + against it in the North. To permit the slightest reduction of the army at + that moment seemed to the Southern President suicidal. + </p> + <p> + But Davis waited some time longer before proposing to the Confederate + Congress the adoption of conscription. Meanwhile, the details of two great + reverses, the loss of Roanoke Island and the loss of Fort Donelson, became + generally known. Apprehension gathered strength. Newspapers began to + discuss conscription as something inevitable. At last, on March 28, 1862, + Davis sent a message to the Confederate Congress advising the conscription + of all white males between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. For this + suggestion Congress was ripe, and the first Conscription Act of the + Confederacy was signed by the President on the 16th of April. The age of + eligibility was fixed as Davis had advised; the term of service was to be + three years; every one then in service was to be retained + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> + in service + during three years from the date of his original enlistment. + </p> + <p> + This statute may be thought of as a great victory on the part of the + Administration. It was the climax of a policy of centralization in the + military establishment to which Davis had committed himself by the veto, + in January, of "A bill to authorize the Secretary of War to receive into + the service of the Confederate States a regiment of volunteers for the + protection of the frontier of Texas." This regiment was to be under the + control of the Governor of the State. In refusing to accept such troops, + Davis laid down the main proposition upon which he stood as military + executive to the end of the war, a proposition which immediately set + debate raging: "Unity and cooperation by the troops of all the States are + indispensable to success, and I must view with regret this as well as all + other indications of a purpose to divide the power of States by dividing + the means to be employed in efforts to carry on separate operations." + </p> + <p> + In these military measures of the early months of 1862 Davis's purpose + became clear. He was bent upon instituting a strong government, able to + push the war through, and careless of the niceties + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> + of constitutional law + or of the exact prerogatives of the States. His position was expressed in + the course of the year by a Virginia newspaper: "It will be time enough to + distract the councils of the State about imaginary violations of + constitutional law by the supreme government when our independence is + achieved, established, and acknowledged. It will not be until then that + the sovereignty of the States will be a reality." But there were many + Southerners who could not accept this point of view. The <i>Mercury</i> was + sharply critical of the veto of the Texas Regiment Bill. In the interval + between the Texas veto and the passing of the Conscription Act, the state + convention of North Carolina demanded the return of North Carolina + volunteers for the defense of their own State. No sooner was the + Conscription Act passed than its constitutionality was attacked. As the + Confederacy had no Supreme Court, the question came up before state + courts. One after another, several state supreme courts pronounced the act + constitutional and in most of the States the constitutional issue was + gradually allowed to lapse. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, Davis had opened Pandora's box. The clash between State and + Confederate authority had begun. An opposition party began to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> + form. In + this first stage of its definite existence, the opposition made an + interesting attempt to control the Cabinet. Secretary Benjamin, though + greatly trusted by the President, seems never to have been a popular + minister. Congress attempted to load upon Benjamin the blame for Roanoke + Island and Fort Donelson. In the House a motion was introduced to the + effect that Benjamin had "not the confidence of the people of the + Confederate States nor of the army … and that we most respectfully + request his retirement" from the office of Secretary of War. Friends of + the Administration tabled the motion. Davis extricated his friend by + taking advantage of Hunter's retirement and promoting Benjamin to the + State Department. A month later a congressional committee appointed to + investigate the affair of Roanoke Island exonerated the officer in command + and laid the blame on his superiors, including "the late Secretary of + War." + </p> + <p> + With Benjamin safe in the Department of State, with the majority in the + Confederate Congress still fairly manageable, with the Conscription Act in + force, Davis seemed to be strong enough in the spring of 1862 to ignore + the gathering opposition. And yet there was another measure, second only + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> + in the President's eyes to the Conscription Act, that was to breed + trouble. This was the first of the series of acts empowering him to + suspend the privilege of the writ of <i>habeas corpus.</i> Under this act he was + permitted to set up martial law in any district threatened with invasion. + The cause of this drastic measure was the confusion and the general + demoralization that existed wherever the close approach of the enemy + created a situation too complex for the ordinary civil authorities. Davis + made use of the power thus given to him and proclaimed martial law in + Richmond, in Norfolk, in parts of South Carolina, and elsewhere. It was on + Richmond that the hand of the Administration fell heaviest. The capital + was the center of a great camp; its sudden and vast increase in population + had been the signal for all the criminal class near and far to hurry + thither in the hope of a new field of spoliation; to deal with this + immense human congestion, the local police were powerless; every variety + of abominable contrivance to entrap and debauch men for a price was in + brazen operation. The first care of the Government under the new law was + the cleansing of the capital. General John H. Winder, appointed military + governor, did the job with thoroughness. He closed the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> + barrooms, disarmed + the populace, and for the time at least swept the city clean of criminals. + The Administration also made certain political arrests, and even + imprisoned some extreme opponents of the Government for "offenses not + enumerated and not cognizable under the regular process of law." Such + arrests gave the enemies of the Administration another handle against it. + As we shall see later, the use that Davis made of martial law was distorted + by a thousand fault-finders and was made the basis of the charge that the + President was aiming at absolute power. + </p> + <p> + At the moment, however, Davis was master of the situation. The six months + following April 1, 1862, were doubtless, from his own point of view, the + most satisfactory part of his career as Confederate President. These + months were indeed filled with peril. There was a time when McClellan's + advance up the Peninsula appeared so threatening that the archives of the + Government were packed on railway cars prepared for immediate removal + should evacuation be necessary. There were the other great disasters + during that year, including the loss of New Orleans. The President himself + experienced a profound personal sorrow in the death of his friend, Albert + Sidney + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> + Johnston, in the bloody fight at Shiloh. It was in the midst of + this time that tried men's souls that the Richmond <i>Examiner</i> achieved an + unenvied immortality for one of its articles on the Administration. At a + moment when nothing should have been said to discredit in any way the + struggling Government, it described Davis as weak with fear telling his + beads in a corner of St. Paul's Church. This paper, along with the + Charleston <i>Mercury,</i> led the Opposition. Throughout Confederate history + these two, which were very ably edited, did the thinking for the enemies + of Davis. We shall meet them time and again. + </p> + <p> + A true picture of Davis would have shown the President resolute and + resourceful, at perhaps the height of his powers. He recruited and + supplied the armies; he fortified Richmond; he sustained the great captain + whom he had placed in command while McClellan was at the gates. When the + tide had turned and the Army of the Potomac sullenly withdrew, baffled, + there occurred the one brief space in Confederate history that was pure + sunshine. In this period took place the splendid victory of Second + Manassas. The strong military policy of the Administration had given the + Confederacy powerful armies. Lee had inspired them + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> + with victory. This + period of buoyant hope culminated in the great offensive design which + followed Second Manassas. It was known that the Northern people, or a + large part of them, had suffered a reaction; the tide was setting strong + against the Lincoln Government; in the autumn, the Northern elections + would be held. To influence those elections and at the same time to drive + the Northern armies back into their own section; to draw Maryland and + Kentucky into the Confederate States; to fall upon the invaders in the + Southwest and recover the lower Mississippi—to accomplish all these + results was the confident expectation of the President and his advisers as + they planned their great triple offensive in August, 1862. Lee was to + invade Maryland; Bragg was to invade Kentucky; Van Dorn was to break the + hold of the Federals in the Southwest. If there is one moment that is to + be considered the climax of Davis's career, the high-water mark of + Confederate hope, it was the moment of joyous expectation when the triple + offensive was launched, when Lee's army, on a brilliant autumn day, + crossed the Potomac, singing <i>Maryland, my Maryland.</i> + </p> + <hr> + + + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> + <a name="chap03" id="chap03"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER III.</a> + </h2> + </div> + + <p class="chaptertitle">The Fall Of King Cotton</p> + + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">While</span> + the Confederate Executive was building up its military + establishment, the Treasury was struggling with the problem of paying for + it. The problem was destined to become insoluble. From the vantage-point + of a later time we can now see that nothing could have provided a solution + short of appropriation and mobilization of the whole industrial power of + the country along with the whole military power—a conscription of + wealth of every kind together with conscription of men. But in 1862 such + an idea was too advanced for any group of Americans. Nor, in that year, + was there as yet any certain evidence that the Treasury was facing an + impossible situation. Its endeavors were taken lightly—at first, + almost gaily—because of the profound illusion which permeated Southern + thought that Cotton was King. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> + Obviously, if the Southern ports could be + kept open and cotton could continue to go to market, the Confederate + financial problem was not serious. When Davis, soon after his first + inauguration, sent Yancey, Rost, and Mann as commissioners to Europe to + press the claims of the Confederacy for recognition, very few Southerners + had any doubt that the blockade would be short-lived. "Cotton is King" + was the answer that silenced all questions. Without American cotton the + English mills would have to shut down; the operatives would starve; famine + and discontent would between them force the British ministry to intervene + in American affairs. There were, indeed, a few far-sighted men who + perceived that this confidence was ill-based and that cotton, though it + was a power in the financial world, was not the commercial king. The + majority of the population, however, had to learn this truth from keen + experience. + </p> + <p> + Several events of 1861 for a time seemed to confirm this illusion. The + Queen's proclamation in the spring, giving the Confederacy the status of a + belligerent, and, in the autumn, the demand by the British Government for + the surrender of the commissioners, Mason and Slidell, who had been taken + from a British packet by a Union cruiser—both + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> + these events seemed to + indicate active British sympathy. In England, to be sure, Yancey became + disillusioned. He saw that the international situation was not so simple + as it seemed; that while the South had powerful friends abroad, it also + had powerful foes; that the British anti-slavery party was a more + formidable enemy than he had expected it to be; and that intervention was + not a foregone conclusion. The task of an unrecognized ambassador being + too annoying for him, Yancey was relieved at his own request and Mason was + sent out to take his place. A singular little incident like a dismal + prophecy occurred as Yancey was on his way home. He passed through Havana + early in 1862, when the news of the surrender of Fort Donelson had begun + to stagger the hopes and impair the prestige of the Confederates. By the + advice of the Confederate agent in Cuba, Yancey did not call on the + Spanish Governor but sent him word that "delicacy alone prompted his + departure without the gratification of a personal interview." The Governor + expressed himself as "exceedingly grateful for the noble sentiment which + prevented" Yancey from causing international complications at Havana. + </p> + <p> + The history of the first year of Confederate + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> + foreign affairs is interwoven + with the history of Confederate finance. During that year the South became + a great buyer in Europe. Arms, powder, cloth, machinery, medicines, ships, + a thousand things, had all to be bought abroad. To establish the foreign + credit of the new Government was the arduous task of the Confederate + Secretary of the Treasury, Christopher G. Memminger. The first great + campaign of the war was not fought by armies. It was a commercial campaign + fought by agents of the Federal and Confederate governments and having for + its aim the cornering of the munitions market in Europe. In this campaign + the Federal agents had decisive advantages: their credit was never + questioned, and their enormous purchases were never doubtful ventures for + the European sellers. In some cases their superior credit enabled them to + overbid the Confederate agents and to appropriate large contracts which + the Confederates had negotiated but which they could not hold because of + the precariousness of their credit. And yet, all things considered, the + Confederate agents made a good showing. In the report of the Secretary of + War in February, 1862, the number of rifles contracted for abroad was put + at 91,000, of which 15,000 had been delivered. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> + The chief reliance of the + Confederate Treasury for its purchases abroad was at first the specie in + the Southern branch of the United States Mint and in Southern banks. The + former the Confederacy seized and converted to its own use. Of the latter + it lured into its own hands a very large proportion by what is commonly + called "the fifteen million loan"—an issue of eight per cent bonds + authorized in February, 1861. Most of this specie seems to have been taken + out of the country by the purchase of European commodities. A little, to + be sure, remained, for there was some gold still at home when the + Confederacy fell. But the sum was small. + </p> + <p> + In addition to this loan Memminger also persuaded Congress on August 19, + 1861, to lay a direct tax—the "war tax," as it was called—of + one-half of one per cent on all property except Confederate bonds and + money. As required by the Constitution this tax was apportioned among the + States, but if it assumed its assessment before April 1, 1862, each State + was to have a reduction of ten per cent. As there was a general aversion + to the idea of Confederate taxation and a general faith in loans, what the + States did, as a rule, was to assume their assessment, agree to pay it + into + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> + the Treasury, and then issue bonds to raise the necessary funds, thus + converting the war tax into a loan. + </p> + <p> + The Confederate, like the Union, Treasury did not have the courage to + force the issue upon taxation and leaned throughout the war largely upon + loans. It also had recourse to the perilous device of paper money, the + gold value of which was not guaranteed. Beginning in March, 1861, it + issued under successive laws great quantities of paper notes, some of them + interest bearing, some not. It used these notes in payment of its domestic + obligations. The purchasing value of the notes soon started on a + disastrous downward course, and in 1864 the gold dollar was worth thirty + paper dollars. The Confederate Government thus became involved in a + problem of self-preservation that was but half solved by the system of + tithes and impressment which we shall encounter later. The depreciation of + these notes left governmental clerks without adequate salaries and + soldiers without the means of providing for their families. During most of + the war, women and other noncombatants had to support the families or else + rely upon local charity organized by state or county boards. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> + Long before all the evils of paper money were experienced, the North, with + great swiftness, concentrated its naval forces so as to dominate the + Southern ports which had trade relations with Europe. The shipping ports + were at once congested with cotton to the great embarrassment of merchants + and planters. Partly to relieve them, the Confederate Congress instituted + in May, 1861, what is known today as "the hundred million loan." It was + the first of a series of "produce loans." The Treasury was authorized to + issue eight per cent bonds, to fall due in twenty years, and to sell them + for specie or to exchange them for produce or manufactured articles. In + the course of the remaining months of 1861 there were exchanged for these + bonds great quantities of produce including some 400,000 bales of cotton. + </p> + <p> + In spite of the distress of the planters, however, the illusion of King + Cotton's power does not seem to have been seriously impaired during 1861. + In fact, strange as it now seems, the frame of mind of the leaders appears + to have been proof, that year, against alarm over the blockade. For two + reasons, the Confederacy regarded the blockade at first as a blessing in + disguise. It was counted on to act as a protective tariff in stimulating + manufactures; + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> + and at the same time the South expected interruption of the + flow of cotton towards Europe to make England feel her dependence upon the + Confederacy. In this way there would be exerted an economic coercion which + would compel intervention. Such reasoning lay behind a law passed in May + forbidding the export of cotton except through the seaports of the + Confederacy. Similar laws were enacted by the States. During the summer, + many cotton factors joined in advising the planters to hold their cotton + until the blockade broke down. In the autumn, the Governor of Louisiana + forbade the export of cotton from New Orleans. So unshakeable was the + illusion in 1861, that King Cotton had England in his grip! The illusion + died hard. Throughout 1862, and even in 1863, the newspapers published + appeals to the planters to give up growing cotton for a time, and even to + destroy what they had, so as to coerce the obdurate Englishmen. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, Mason had been accorded by the British upper classes that + generous welcome which they have always extended to the representative of + a people fighting gallantly against odds. During the hopeful days of 1862—that + Golden Age of Confederacy—Mason, though not recognized by + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> + the English Government, was shown every kindness by leading members of the + aristocracy, who visited him in London and received him at their houses in + the country. It was during this period of buoyant hope that the <i>Alabama</i> + was allowed to go to sea from Liverpool in July, 1862. At the same time + Mason heard his hosts express undisguised admiration for the valor of the + soldiers serving under Jackson and Lee. Whether he formed any true + impression of the other side of British idealism, its resolute opposition + to slavery, may be questioned. There seems little doubt that he did not + perceive the turning of the tide of English public opinion, in the autumn + of 1862, following the Emancipation Proclamation and the great reverses of + September and October—Antietam-Sharpsburg, Perryville, Corinth—the + backflow of all three of the Confederate offensives. + </p> + <p> + The cotton famine in England, where perhaps a million people were in + actual want through the shutting down of cotton mills, seemed to Mason to + be "looming up in fearful proportions." "The public mind," he wrote home + in November, 1862, "is very much disturbed by the prospect for the winter; + and I am not without hope that it will produce its effects on the councils + of the government." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> + Yet it was the uprising of the British working people + in favor of the North that contributed to defeat the one important attempt + to intervene in American affairs. Napoleon III had made an offer of + mediation which was rejected by the Washington Government early the next + year. England and Russia had both declined to participate in Napoleon's + scheme, and their refusal marks the beginning of the end of the reign of + King Cotton. + </p> + <p> + At Paris, Slidell was even more hopeful than Mason. He had won over + Émile Erlanger, that great banker who was deep in the confidence + of Napoleon. So cordial became the relations between the two that it + involved their families and led at last to the marriage of Erlanger's + son with Slidell's daughter. Whether owing to Slidell's eloquence, or + from secret knowledge of the Emperor's designs, or from his own audacity, + Erlanger toward the close of 1862 made a proposal that is one of the + most daring schemes of financial plunging yet recorded. If the + Confederate Government would issue to him bonds secured by cotton, + Erlanger would underwrite the bonds, put the proceeds of their sale + to the credit of the Confederate agents, and wait for the cotton until it + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> + could run the blockade or until peace should be declared. The Confederate + Government after some hesitation accepted his plan and issued fifteen + millions of "Erlanger bonds," bearing seven per cent, and put them on + sale at Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Frankfort. + </p> + <p> + As a purchaser of these bonds was to be given cotton eventually at a + valuation of sixpence a pound, and as cotton was then selling in England + for nearly two shillings, the bold gamble caught the fancy of speculators. + There was a rush to take up the bonds and to pay the first installment. + But before the second installment became due a mysterious change in the + market took place and the price of the bonds fell. Holders became alarmed + and some even proposed to forfeit their bonds rather than pay on May 1, + 1863, the next installment of fifteen per cent of the purchase money. + Thereupon Mason undertook to "bull" the market. Agents of the United + States Government were supposed to be at the bottom of the drop in the + bonds. To defeat their schemes the Confederate agents bought back large + amounts in bonds intending to resell. The result was the expenditure of + some six million dollars with practically no effect on the market. These + "Erlanger bonds" + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> + sold slowly through 1863 and even in 1864, and netted a + considerable amount to the foreign agents of the Confederacy. + </p> + <p> + The comparative failure of the Erlanger loan marks the downfall of King + Cotton. He was an exploded superstition. He was unable, despite the cotton + famine, to coerce the English workingmen into siding with a country which + they regarded, because of its support of slavery, as inimical to their + interests. At home, the Government confessed the powerlessness of King + Cotton by a change of its attitude toward export. During the latter part + of the war, the Government secured the meager funds at its disposal abroad + by rushing cotton in swift ships through the blockade. So important did + this traffic become that the Confederacy passed stringent laws to keep the + control in its own hands. One more cause of friction between the + Confederate and the State authorities was thus developed: the Confederate + navigation laws prevented the States from running the blockade on their + own account. + </p> + <p> + The effects of the blockade were felt at the ends of the earth. India + became an exporter of cotton. Egypt also entered the competition. That + singular dreamer, Ismail Pasha, whose reign made + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> + Egypt briefly an exotic + nation, neither eastern nor western, found one of his opportunities in the + American War and the failure of the cotton supply. + </p> + <hr> + + + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> + <a name="chap04" id="chap04"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER IV.</a> + </h2> + </div> + + <p class="chaptertitle">The Reaction Against Richmond</p> + + + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">A popular</span> + revulsion of feeling preceded and followed the great period of + Confederate history—these six months of Titanic effort which + embraced between March and September, 1862, splendid success along with + catastrophes. But there was a marked difference between the two tides of + popular emotion. The wave of alarm which swept over the South after the + surrender of Fort Donelson was quickly translated into such a high passion + for battle that the march of events until the day of Antietam resounded + like an epic. The failure of the triple offensive which closed this period + was followed in very many minds by the appearance of a new temper, often + as valiant as the old but far more grim and deeply seamed with distrust. + And how is this distrust, of which the Confederate Administration was the + object, to be accounted for? + </p> + <p> + Various answers to this question were made at + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> + the time. The laws of the + spring of 1862 were attacked as unconstitutional. Davis was held + responsible for them and also for the slow equipment of the army. Because + the Confederate Congress conducted much of its business in secret session, + the President was charged with a love of mystery and an unwillingness to + take the people into his confidence. Arrests under the law suspending the + writ of <i>habeas corpus</i> were made the texts for harangues on liberty. The + right of freedom of speech was dragged in when General Van Dorn, in the + Southwest, threatened with suppression any newspaper that published + anything which might impair confidence in a commanding officer. How could + he have dared to do this, was the cry, unless the President was behind + him? And when General Bragg assumed a similar attitude toward the press, + the same cry was raised. Throughout the summer of victories, even while + the thrilling stories of Seven Pines, the Peninsula, Second Manassas, were + sounding like trumpets, these mutterings of discontent formed an ominous + accompaniment. + </p> + <p> + Yancey, speaking of the disturbed temper of the time, attributed it to the + general lack of information on the part of Southern people as to what the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> + Confederate Government was doing. His proposed remedy was an end of the + censorship which that Government was attempting to maintain, the + abandonment of the secret sessions of its Congress, and the taking of the + people into its full confidence. Now a Senator from Alabama, he attempted, + at the opening of the congressional session in the autumn of 1862, to + abolish secret sessions, but in his efforts he was not successful. + </p> + <p> + There seems little doubt that the Confederate Government had blundered in + being too secretive. Even from Congress, much information was withheld. A + curious incident has preserved what appeared to the military mind the + justification of this reticence. The Secretary of War refused to comply + with a request for information, holding that he could not do so "without + disclosing the strength of our armies to many persons of subordinate + position whose secrecy cannot be relied upon." "I beg leave to remind + you," said he, "of a report made in response to a similar one from the + Federal Congress, communicated to them in secret session, and now a part + of our archives." + </p> + <p> + How much the country was in the dark with regard to some vital matters is + revealed by an attack on the Confederate Administration which + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> + was made by the Charleston <i>Mercury,</i> in February. The Southern + Government was accused of unpardonable slowness in sending agents to + Europe to purchase munitions. In point of fact, the Confederate Government + had been more prompt than the Union Government in rushing agents abroad. + But the country was not permitted to know this. Though the <i>Courier</i> + was a government organ in Charleston, it did not meet the charges of the + <i>Mercury</i> by disclosing the facts about the arduous attempts of the + Confederate Government to secure arms in Europe. The reply of the + <i>Courier</i> to the <i>Mercury,</i> though spirited, was all in + general terms. "To shake confidence in Jefferson Davis," said the + <i>Courier,</i> "is … to bring 'hideous ruin and combustion' + down upon our dearest hopes and interests." It made "Mr. Davis and his + defensive policy" objects of all admiration; called Davis "our Moses." It + was deeply indignant because it had been "reliably informed that men of + high official position among us" were "calling for a General Convention of + the Confederate States to depose him and set up a military Dictator in his + place." The <i>Mercury</i> retorted that, as to the plot against "our + Moses," there was no evidence of its existence except the <i>Courier's</i> + assertion. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> + Nevertheless, it considered Davis "an incubus to the cause." + The controversy between the <i>Mercury</i> and the <i>Courier</i> at + Charleston was paralleled at Richmond by the constant bickering between + the government organ, the <i>Enquirer,</i> and the <i>Examiner,</i> which + shares with the <i>Mercury</i> the first place among the newspapers + hostile to Davis. ¹ + </p> + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_62-1" name="footer_62-1"></a> + ¹ The Confederate Government did not misapprehend the + attitude of the intellectual opposition. Its foreign organ, + <i>The Index,</i> published in London, characterized the leading + Southern papers for the enlightenment of the British public. + While the <i>Enquirer</i> and the <i>Courier</i> were singled out as the + great champions of the Confederate Government, the <i>Examiner</i> + and the <i>Mercury</i> were portrayed as its arch enemies. The + <i>Examiner</i> was called the "Ishmael of the Southern press." The + <i>Mercury</i> was described as "almost rabid on the subject of + state rights." + </p> + </div> + + + <p> + Associated with the <i>Examiner</i> was a vigorous writer having considerable + power of the old-fashioned, furious sort, ever ready to foam at the mouth. + If he had had more restraint and less credulity, Edward A. Pollard might + have become a master of the art of vituperation. Lacking these qualities, + he never rose far above mediocrity. But his fury was so determined and his + prejudice so invincible that his writings have something of the power of + conviction which fanaticism wields. In midsummer, 1862, Pollard published + a book entitled <i>The First Year of the War,</i> which was commended + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> + by his + allies in Charleston as showing no "tendency toward unfairness of + statement" and as expressing views "mainly in accordance with popular + opinion." + </p> + <p> + This book, while affecting to be an historical review, was skillfully + designed to discredit the Confederate Administration. Almost every + disaster, every fault of its management was traceable more or less + directly to Davis. Kentucky had been occupied by the Federal army because + of the "dull expectation" in which the Confederate Government had stood + aside waiting for things somehow to right themselves. The Southern + Congress had been criminally slow in coming to conscription, contenting + itself with an army of 400,000 men that existed "on paper." "The most + distressing abuses were visible in the ill-regulated hygiene of our + camps." According to this book, the Confederate Administration was solely + to blame for the loss of Roanoke Island. In calling that disaster "deeply + humiliating," as he did in a message to Congress, Davis was trying to + shield his favorite Benjamin at the cost of gallant soldiers who had been + sacrificed through his incapacity. Davis's promotion of Benjamin to the + State Department was an act of "ungracious and reckless + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> + defiance of + popular sentiment." The President was "not the man to consult the + sentiment and wisdom of the people; he desired to signalize the + infallibility of his own intellect in every measure of the revolution and + to identify, from motives of vanity, his own personal genius with every + event and detail of the remarkable period of history in which he had been + called upon to act. This imperious conceit seemed to swallow up every + other idea in his mind." The generals "fretted under this pragmatism" of + one whose "vanity" directed the war "from his cushioned seat in Richmond" + by means of the one formula, "the defensive policy." + </p> + <p> + One of Pollard's chief accusations against the Confederate Government was + its failure to enforce the conscription law. His paper, the <i>Examiner,</i> as + well as the <i>Mercury,</i> supported Davis in the policy of conscription, but + both did their best, first, to rob him of the credit for it and, secondly, + to make his conduct of the policy appear inefficient. Pollard claimed for + the <i>Examiner</i> the credit of having originated the policy of conscription; + the <i>Mercury</i> claimed it for Rhett. + </p> + <p> + In other words, an aggressive war party led by the <i>Examiner</i> and the + <i>Mercury</i> had been formed in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> + those early days when the Confederate + Government appeared to be standing wholly on the defensive, and when it + had failed to confide to the people the extenuating circumstance that lack + of arms compelled it to stand still whether it would or no. And yet, after + this Government had changed its policy and had taken up in the summer of + 1862 an offensive policy, this party—or faction, or what you will—continued + its career of opposition. That the secretive habit of the Confederate + Government helped cement the opposition cannot be doubted. It is also + likely that this opposition gave a vent to certain jealous spirits who had + missed the first place in leadership. + </p> + <p> + Furthermore, the issue of state sovereignty had been raised. In Georgia a + movement had begun which was distinctly different from the + Virginia-Carolina movement of opposition, a movement for which Rhett and + Pollard had scarcely more than disdainful tolerance, and not always that. + This parallel opposition found vent, as did the other, in a political + pamphlet. On the subject of conscription Davis and the Governor of Georgia—that + same Joseph E. Brown who had seized Fort Pulaski in the previous year—exchanged + a rancorous correspondence. Their letters were published + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> + in a pamphlet of + which Pollard said scornfully that it was hawked about in every city of + the South. Brown, taking alarm at the power given the Confederate + Government by the Conscription Act, eventually defined his position, and + that of a large following, in the extreme words: "No act of the Government + of the United States prior to the secession of Georgia struck a blow at + constitutional liberty so fell as has been stricken by the conscript + acts." + </p> + <p> + There were other elements of discontent which were taking form as early as + the autumn of 1862 but which were not yet clearly defined. But the two + obvious sources of internal criticism just described were enough to + disquiet the most resolute administration. When the triple offensive broke + down, when the ebb-tide began, there was already everything that was + needed to precipitate a political crisis. And now the question arises + whether the Confederate Administration had itself to blame. Had Davis + proved inadequate in his great undertaking? + </p> + <p> + The one undeniable mistake of the Government previous to the autumn of + 1862 was its excessive secrecy. As to the other mistakes attributed to it + at the time, there is good reason to call them + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> + misfortunes. Today we can + see that the financial situation, the cotton situation, the relations with + Europe, the problem of equipping the armies, were all to a considerable + degree beyond the control of the Confederate Government. If there is + anything to be added to its mistaken secrecy as a definite cause of + irritation, it must be found in the general tone given to its actions by + its chief directors. And here there is something to be said. + </p> + <p> + With all his high qualities of integrity, courage, faithfulness, and zeal, + Davis lacked that insight into human life which marks the genius of the + supreme executive. He was not an artist in the use of men. He had not that + artistic sense of his medium which distinguishes the statesman from the + bureaucrat. In fact, he had a dangerous bent toward bureaucracy. As Reuben + Davis said of him, "Gifted with some of the highest attributes of a + statesman, he lacked the pliancy which enables a man to adapt his measures + to the crisis." Furthermore, he lacked humor; there was no safety-valve to + his intense nature; and he was a man of delicate health. Mrs. Davis, + describing the effects which nervous dyspepsia and neuralgia had upon him, + says he would come home from his office "fasting, a mere mass of throbbing + nerves, and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> + perfectly exhausted." And it cannot be denied that his mind + was dogmatic. Here are dangerous lines for the character of a leader of + revolution—the bureaucratic tendency, something of rigidity, lack of + humor, physical wretchedness, dogmatism. Taken together, they go far + toward explaining his failure in judging men, his irritable confidence in + himself. + </p> + <p> + It is no slight detail of a man's career to be placed side by side with a + genius of the first rank without knowing it. But Davis does not seem ever + to have appreciated that the man commanding in the Seven Days' Battles was + one of the world's supreme characters. The relation between Davis and Lee + was always cordial, and it brought out Davis's character in its best + light. Nevertheless, so rooted was Davis's faith in his own abilities that + he was capable of saying, at a moment of acutest anxiety, "If I could take + one wing and Lee the other, I think we could between us wrest a victory + from those people." And yet, his military experience embraced only the + minor actions of a young officer on the Indian frontier and the gallant + conduct of a subordinate in the Mexican War. He had never executed a great + military design. His desire for the military life was, after all, his + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> + only + ground for ranking himself with the victor of Second Manassas. Davis was + also unfortunate in lacking the power to overcome men and sweep them along + with him—the power Lee showed so conspicuously. Nor was Davis averse + to sharp reproof of the highest officials when he thought them in the + wrong. He once wrote to Joseph E. Johnston that a letter of his contained + "arguments and statements utterly unfounded" and "insinuations as + unfounded as they were unbecoming." + </p> + <p> + Davis was not always wise in his choice of men. His confidence in Bragg, + who was long his chief military adviser, is not sustained by the military + critics of a later age. His Cabinet, though not the contemptible body + caricatured by the malice of Pollard, was not equal to the occasion. Of + the three men who held the office of Secretary of State, Toombs and Hunter + had little if any qualification for such a post, while the third, + Benjamin, is the sphinx of Confederate history. + </p> + <p> + In a way, Judah P. Benjamin is one of the most interesting men in American + politics. By descent a Jew, born in the West Indies, he spent his boyhood + mainly at Charleston and his college days at Yale. He went to New Orleans + to begin his illustrious career as a lawyer, and from Louisiana + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> + entered + politics. The facile keenness of his intellect is beyond dispute. He had + the Jewish clarity of thought, the wonderful Jewish detachment in matters + of pure mind. But he was also an American of the middle of the century. + His quick and responsive nature—a nature that enemies might call + simulative—caught and reflected the characteristics of that singular + and highly rhetorical age. He lives in tradition as the man of the + constant smile, and yet there is no one in history whose state papers + contain passages of fiercer violence in days of tension. How much of his + violence was genuine, how much was a manner of speaking, his biographers + have not had the courage to determine. Like so many American biographers + they have avoided the awkward questions and have glanced over, as lightly + as possible, the persistent attempts of Congress to drive him from office. + </p> + <p> + Nothing could shake the resolution of Davis to retain Benjamin in the + Cabinet. Among Davis's loftiest qualities was his sense of personal + loyalty. Once he had given his confidence, no amount of opposition could + shake his will but served rather to harden him. When Benjamin as Secretary + of War passed under a cloud, Davis led him forth + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> + resplendent as Secretary + of State. Whether he was wise in doing so, whether the opposition was not + justified in its distrust of Benjamin, is still an open question. What is + certain is that both these able men, even before the crisis that arose in + the autumn of 1862, had rendered themselves and their Government widely + unpopular. It must never be forgotten that Davis entered office without + the backing of any definite faction. He was a "dark horse," a compromise + candidate. To build up a stanch following, to create enthusiasm for his + Administration, was a prime necessity of his first year as President. Yet + he seems not to have realized this necessity. Boldly, firmly, + dogmatically, he gave his whole thought and his entire energy to + organizing the Government in such a way that it could do its work + efficiently. And therein may have been the proverbial rift within the + lute. To Davis statecraft was too much a thing of methods and measures, + too little a thing of men and passions. + </p> + <p> + During the autumn of 1862 and the following winter the disputes over the + conduct of the war began to subside and two other themes became prominent: + the sovereignty of the States, which appeared to be menaced by the + Government, and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> + the personality of Davis, whom malcontents regarded as a + possible despot. Contrary to tradition, the first note of alarm over state + rights was not struck by its great apostle Rhett, although the note was + sounded in South Carolina in the early autumn. There existed in this State + at that time an extra assembly called the "Convention," which had been + organized in 1860 for the general purpose of seeing the State through the + "revolution." In the Convention, in September, 1862, the question of a + contest with the Confederate Government on the subject of a state army was + definitely raised. It was proposed to organize a state army and to + instruct the Legislature to "take effectual measures to prevent the agents + of the Confederate Government from raising troops in South Carolina except + by voluntary enlistment or by applying to the Executive of the State to + call out the militia as by law organized, or some part of it to be + mustered into the Confederate service." This proposal brought about a + sharp debate upon the Confederate Government and its military policy. + Rhett made a remarkable address, which should of itself quiet forever the + old tale that he was animated in his opposition solely by the pique of a + disappointed candidate for the presidency. Though + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> + as sharp as ever against + the Government and though agreeing wholly with the spirit of the state + army plan, he took the ground that circumstances at the moment rendered + the organization of such an army inopportune. A year earlier he would have + strongly supported the plan. In fact, in opposition to Davis he had at + that time, he said, urged an obligatory army which the States should be + required to raise. The Confederate Administration, however, had defeated + his scheme. Since then the situation had changed and had become so serious + that now there was no choice but to submit to military necessity. He + regarded the general conscription law as "absolutely necessary to save" + the Confederacy "from utter devastation if not final subjugation. Right or + wrong, the policy of the Administration had left us no other + alternative.…" + </p> + <p> + The dominant attitude in South Carolina in the autumn of 1862 is in strong + contrast, because of its firm grasp upon fact, with the attitude of the + Brown faction in Georgia. An extended history of the Confederate movement—one + of those vast histories that delight the recluse and scare away the man of + the world—would labor to build up images of what might be called the + personalities + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> + of the four States that continued from the beginning to the + end parts of the effective Confederate system—Virginia, the two + Carolinas, and Georgia. We are prone to forget that the Confederacy was + practically divided into separate units as early as the capture of New + Orleans by Farragut, but a great history of the time would have a special + and thrilling story of the conduct of the detached western unit, the + isolated world of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas—the "Department of + the Trans-Mississippi"—cut off from the main body of the Confederacy + and hemmed in between the Federal army and the deep sea. Another group of + States—Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama—became so soon, and + remained so long, a debatable land, on which the two armies fought, that + they also had scant opportunity for genuine political life. Florida, small + and exposed, was absorbed in its gallant achievement of furnishing to the + armies a number of soldiers larger than its voting population. + </p> + <p> + Thus, after the loss of New Orleans, one thing with another operated to + confine the area of full political life to Virginia and her three + neighbors to the South. And yet even among these States there was no + political solidarity or unanimity of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> + opinion, for the differences in their + past experience, social structure, and economic conditions made for + distinct points of view. In South Carolina, particularly, the prevailing + view was that of experienced, disillusioned men who realized from the + start that secession had burnt their bridges, and that now they must win + the fight or change the whole current of their lives. In the midst of the + extraordinary conditions of war, they never talked as if their problems + were the problems of peace. Brown, on the other hand, had but one way of + reasoning—if we are to call it reasoning—and, with Hannibal at + the gates, talked as if the control of the situation were still in his own + hands. + </p> + <p> + While South Carolina, so grimly conscious of the reality of war and the + danger of internal discord, held off from the issue of state sovereignty, + the Brown faction in Georgia blithely pressed it home. A bill for + extending the conscription age which was heartily advocated by the + <i>Mercury</i> was as heartily condemned by Brown. To the President + he wrote announcing his continued opposition to a law which he declared + "encroaches upon the reserved rights of the State and strikes down her + sovereignty at a single blow." Though the Supreme Court of Georgia + pronounced the conscription acts + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> + constitutional, the Governor and his faction did not cease to condemn + them. Linton Stephens, as well as his famous kinsman, took up the cudgels. + In a speech before the Georgia Legislature, in November, Linton Stephens + borrowed almost exactly the Governor's phraseology in denying the + necessity for conscription, and this continued to be the note of their + faction throughout the war. "Conscription checks enthusiasm," was ever + their cry; "we are invincible under a system of volunteering, we are lost + with conscription." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the military authorities looked facts in the face and had a + different tale to tell. They complained that in various parts of the + country, especially in the mountain districts, they were unable to obtain + men. Lee reported that his army melted away before his eye and asked for + an increase of authority to compel stragglers to return. At the same time + Brown was quarreling with the Administration as to who should name the + officers of the Georgia troops. Zebulon B. Vance, the newly elected + Governor of North Carolina and an anti-Davis man, said to the Legislature: + "It is mortifying to find entire brigades of North Carolina soldiers + commanded by strangers, and in many cases our own brave and war-worn + colonels + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> + are made to give place to colonels from distant States." In + addition to such indications of discontent a vast mass of evidence makes + plain the opposition to conscription toward the close of 1862 and the + looseness of various parts of the military system. + </p> + <p> + It was a moment of intense excitement and of nervous strain. The country + was unhappy, for it had lost faith in the Government at Richmond. The + blockade was producing its effect. European intervention was receding into + the distance. One of the characteristics of the editorials and speeches of + this period is a rising tide of bitterness against England. Napoleon's + proposal in November to mediate, though it came to naught, somewhat + revived the hope of an eventual recognition of the Confederacy but did not + restore buoyancy to the people of the South. The Emancipation + Proclamation, though scoffed at as a cry of impotence, none the less + increased the general sense of crisis. + </p> + <p> + Worst of all, because of its immediate effect upon the temper of the time, + food was very scarce and prices had risen to indefensible heights. The + army was short of shoes. In the newspapers, as winter came on, were to be + found touching descriptions of Lee's soldiers standing barefoot in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> + the + snow. A flippant comment of Benjamin's, that the shoes had probably been + traded for whiskey, did not tend to improve matters. Even though short of + supplies themselves, the people as a whole eagerly subscribed to buy shoes + for the army. + </p> + <p> + There was widespread and heartless speculation in the supplies. Months + previous the <i>Courier</i> had made this ominous editorial remark: "Speculators + and monopolists seem determined to force the people everywhere to the full + exercise of all the remedies allowed by law." In August, 1862, the + Governor of Florida wrote to the Florida delegation at Richmond urging + them to take steps to meet the "nefarious smuggling" of speculators who + charged extortionate prices. In September, he wrote again begging for + legislation to compel millers, tanners, and saltmakers to offer their + products at reasonable rates. As these men were exempt from military duty + because their labor was held to be a public service, feeling against them + ran high. Governor Vance proposed a state convention to regulate prices + for North Carolina and by proclamation forbade the export of provisions in + order to prevent the seeking of exorbitant prices in other markets. Davis + wrote to various Governors urging them to obtain state legislation + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> + to + reduce extortion in the food business. In the provisioning of the army the + Confederate Government had recourse to impressment and the arbitrary + fixing of prices. Though the Attorney-General held this action to be + constitutional, it led to sharp contentions; and at length a Virginia + court granted an injunction to a speculator who had been paid by the + Government for flour less than it had cost him. + </p> + <p> + In an attempt to straighten out this tangled situation, the Confederate + Government began, late in 1862, by appointing as its new Secretary of + War, ¹ James A. Seddon of Virginia—at that time high in popular + favor. The <i>Mercury</i> hailed his advent with transparent relief, for no + appointment could have seemed to it more promising. Indeed, as the new + year (1863) opened the <i>Mercury</i> was in better humor with the Administration + than perhaps at any other time during the war. To the President's message + it gave praise that was almost cordial. This amicable temper was + short-lived, however, and three months later the heavens had clouded + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> + again, for the Government had entered upon a course that consolidated + the opposition in anger and distrust. + </p> + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_80-1" name="footer_80-1"></a> + ¹ There were in all six Secretaries of War: Leroy P. Walker, + until September 16, 1861; Judah P. Benjamin, until March 18, + 1862; George W. Randolph, until November 17, 1862; Gustavus + W. Smith (temporarily), until November 21, 1862; James A. + Seddon, until February 6, 1865; General John C. + Breckinridge. + </p> + </div> + + <p> + Early in 1863 the Confederate Government presented to the country a + program in which the main features were three. Of these the two which did + not rouse immediate hostility in the party of the <i>Examiner</i> and the <i>Mercury</i> + were the Impressment Act of March, 1863 (amended by successive acts), and + the act known as the Tax in Kind, which was approved the following month. + Though the Impressment Act subsequently made vast trouble for the + Government, at the time of its passage its beneficial effects were not + denied. To it was attributed by the Richmond <i>Whig</i> the rapid fall of prices + in April, 1863. Corn went down at Richmond from $12 and $10 a bushel to + $4.20, and flour dropped in North Carolina from $45 a barrel to $25. Under + this act commissioners were appointed in each State jointly by the + Confederate President and the Governor with the duty of fixing prices for + government transactions and of publishing every two months an official + schedule of the prices to be paid by the Government for the supplies which + it impressed. + </p> + <p> + The new Tax Act attempted to provide revenues + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> + which should not be paid in depreciated currency. With no bullion to + speak of, the Confederate Congress could not establish a circulating + medium with even an approximation to constant value. Realizing this + situation, Memminger had advised falling back on the ancient system + of tithes and the support of the Government by direct contributions + of produce. After licensing a great number of occupations and laying + a property tax and an income tax, the new law demanded a tenth of the + produce of all farmers. On this law the <i>Mercury</i> pronounced a + benediction in an editorial on <i>The Fall of Prices,</i> which it + attributed to "the healthy influence of the tax bill which has + just become law." ¹ + </p> + + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_81-1" name="footer_81-1"></a> + ¹ The fall of prices was attributed by others to a funding + act,—one of several passed by the Confederate + Congress—which, in March, 1863, aimed by various devices + to contract the volume of the currency. It was very generally + condemned, and it anticipated the yet more drastic measure, + the Funding Act of 1864, which will be described later. + </p> + </div> + + <p> + Had these two measures been the whole program of the Government, the + congressional session of the spring of 1863 would have had a different + significance in Confederate history. But there was a third measure that + provoked a new attack on the Government. The gracious words of the + <i>Mercury</i> on the tax in kind came as an interlude in the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> + midst of a bitter controversy. An editorial of the 12th of March headed + <i>A Despotism over the Confederate States Proposed in Congress</i> + amounted to a declaration of war. From this time forward the opposition + and the Government drew steadily further and further apart and their + antagonism grew steadily more relentless. + </p> + <p> + What caused this irrevocable breach was a bill introduced into the House + by Ethelbert Barksdale of Mississippi, an old friend of President Davis. + This bill would have invested the President with authority to suspend the + privilege of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i> in any part of the Confederacy, + whenever in his judgment such suspension was desirable. The first act + suspending the privilege of <i>habeas corpus</i> had long since expired and + applied only to such regions as were threatened with invasion. It had + served usefully under martial law in cleansing Richmond of its rogues, and + also had been in force at Charleston. The <i>Mercury</i> had approved it and had + exhorted its readers to take the matter sensibly as an inevitable detail + of war. Between that act and the act now proposed the <i>Mercury</i> saw no + similarity. Upon the merits of the question it fought a furious + journalistic duel with the <i>Enquirer,</i> the government organ at Richmond, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> + which insisted that President Davis would not abuse his power. The <i>Mercury</i> + replied that if he "were a second Washington, or an angel upon earth, the + degradation such a surrender of our rights implies would still be + abhorrent to every freeman." In retort the <i>Enquirer</i> pointed out that a + similar law had been enacted by another Congress with no bad results. And + in point of fact the <i>Enquirer</i> was right, for in October, 1862, after the + expiration of the first act suspending the privilege of the writ of <i>habeas + corpus,</i> Congress passed a second giving to the President the immense power + which was now claimed for him again. This second act was in force several + months. Then the <i>Mercury</i> made the astounding declaration that it had never + heard of the second act, and thereupon proceeded to attack the secrecy of + the Administration with renewed vigor. + </p> + <p> + On this issue of reviving the expired second <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act, a battle + royal was fought in the Confederate Congress. The forces of the + Administration defended the new measure on the ground that various regions + were openly seditious and that conscription could not be enforced without + it. This argument gave a new text for the cry of "despotism." The + congressional leader of the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> + opposition was Henry S. Foote, once the rival + of Davis in Mississippi and now a citizen of Tennessee. Fierce, + vindictive, sometimes convincing, always shrewd, he was a powerful leader + of the rough and ready, buccaneering sort. Under his guidance the debate + was diverted into a rancorous discussion of the conduct of the generals + in the execution of martial law. Foote pulled out all the stops in the + organ of political rhetoric and went in for a chant royal of righteous + indignation. The main object of this attack was General Hindman and his + doings in Arkansas. Those were still the days of pamphleteering. Though + General Albert Pike had written a severe pamphlet condemning Hindman, to + this pamphlet the Confederate Government had shut its eyes. Foote, + however, flourished it in the face of the House. He thundered forth his + belief that Hindman was worse even than the man most detested in the + South, than "beast Butler himself, for the latter is only charged with + persecuting and oppressing the avowed enemies of his Government, while + Hindman, if guilty as charged, has practised cruelties unnumbered" on his + people. Other representatives spoke in the same vein. Baldwin of Virginia + told harrowing tales of martial law in that State. Barksdale attempted to + retaliate, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> + sarcastically reminding him of a recent scene of riot and + disorder which proved that martial law, in any effective form, did not + exist in Virginia. He alluded to a riot, ostensibly for bread, in which an + Amazonian woman had led a mob to the pillaging of the Richmond jewelry + shops, a riot which Davis himself had quelled by meeting the rioters and + threatening to fire upon them. But sarcasm proved powerless against Foote. + His climax was a lurid tale of a soldier who while marching past his own + house heard that his wife was dying, who left the ranks for a last word + with her, and who on rejoining the command, "hoping to get permission to + bury her," was shot as a deserter. And there was no one on the Government + benches to anticipate Kipling and cry out "flat art!" Resolutions + condemning martial law were passed by a vote of 45 to 27. + </p> + <p> + Two weeks later the <i>Mercury</i> preached a burial sermon over the Barksdale + Bill, which had now been rejected by the House. Congress was about to + adjourn, and before it reassembled elections for the next House would be + held. "The measure is dead for the present," said the <i>Mercury,</i> "but power + is ever restive and prone to accumulate power; and if the war continues, + other efforts will + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> + doubtless be made to make the President a Dictator. Let + the people keep their eyes steadily fixed on their representatives with + respect to this vital matter; and should the effort again be made to + suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, demand that a recorded vote should show + those who shall strike down their liberties." + </p> + <hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> + <a name="chap05" id="chap05"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER V.</a> + </h2> + </div> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Critical Year</p> + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">The</span> + great military events of the year 1863 have pushed out of men's + memories the less dramatic but scarcely less important civil events. To + begin with, in this year two of the greatest personalities in the South + passed from the political stage: in the summer Yancey died; and in the + autumn, Rhett went into retirement. + </p> + <p> + The ever malicious Pollard insists that Yancey's death was due ultimately + to a personal encounter with a Senator from Georgia on the floor of the + Senate. The curious may find the discreditable story embalmed in the + secret journal of the Senate, where are the various motions designed to + keep the incident from the knowledge of the world. Whether it really + caused Yancey's death is another question. However, the moment of his + passing has dramatic significance. Just as the battle over conscription + was fully begun, when the fear that the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> + Confederate Government had arrayed + itself against the rights of the States had definitely taken shape, when + this dread had been reënforced by the alarm over the suspension of + <i>habeas corpus,</i> the great pioneer of the secession movement went + to his grave, despairing of the country he had failed to lead. His death + occurred in the same month as the Battle of Gettysburg, at the very time + when the Confederacy was dividing against itself. + </p> + <p> + The withdrawal of Rhett from active life was an incident of the + congressional elections. He had consented to stand for Congress in the + Third District of South Carolina but was defeated. The full explanation of + the vote is still to be made plain; it seems clear, however, that South + Carolina at this time knew its own mind quite positively. Five of the six + representatives returned to the Second Congress, including Rhett's + opponent, Lewis M. Ayer, had sat in the First Congress. The subsequent + history of the South Carolina delegation and of the State Government shows + that by 1863 South Carolina had become, broadly speaking, on almost all + issues an anti-Davis State. And yet the largest personality and probably + the ablest mind in the State was rejected as a candidate for Congress. No + character in American + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> + history is a finer challenge to the biographer than + this powerful figure of Rhett, who in 1861 at the supreme crisis of his + life seemed the master of his world and yet in every lesser crisis was a + comparative failure. As in Yancey, so in Rhett, there was something that + fitted him to one great moment but did not fit him to others. There can be + little doubt that his defeat at the polls of his own district deeply + mortified him. He withdrew from politics, and though he doubtless, through + the editorship of one of his sons, inspired the continued opposition of + the <i>Mercury</i> to the Government, Rhett himself hardly reappears in + Confederate history except for a single occasion during the debate a year + later upon the burning question of arming the slaves. + </p> + <p> + The year was marked by very bitter attacks upon President Davis on the + part of the opposition press. The <i>Mercury</i> revived the issue of the conduct + of the war which had for some time been overshadowed by other issues. In + the spring, to be sure, things had begun to look brighter, and + Chancellorsville had raised Lee's reputation to its zenith. The disasters + of the summer, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, were for a time minimized by the + Government and do not appear to have caused the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> + alarm which their + strategic importance might well have created. But when in the latter days + of July the facts became generally known, the <i>Mercury</i> arraigned the + President's conduct of the war as "a vast complication of incompetence and + folly"; it condemned the whole scheme of the Northern invasion and + maintained that Lee should have stood on the defensive while twenty or + thirty thousand men were sent to the relief of Vicksburg. These two ideas + it bitterly reiterated and in August went so far as to quote Macaulay's + famous passage on Parliament's dread of a decisive victory over Charles + and to apply it to Davis in unrestrained language that reminds one of + Pollard. + </p> + <p> + Equally unrestrained were the attacks upon other items of the policy of + the Confederate Government. The Impressment Law began to be a target. + Farmers who were compelled to accept the prices fixed by the impressment + commissioners cried out that they were being ruined. Men of the stamp of + Toombs came to their assistance with railing accusations such as this: "I + have heard it said that we should not sacrifice liberty to independence, + but I tell you, my countrymen, that the two are inseparable.… If we lose + our liberty we shall lose our independence.… I would rather + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> + see the + whole country the cemetery of freedom than the habitation of slaves." + Protests which poured in upon the Government insisted that the power to + impress supplies did not carry with it the power to fix prices. Worthy + men, ridden by the traditional ideas of political science and unable to + modify these in the light of the present emergency, wailed out their + despair over the "usurpation" of Richmond. + </p> + <p> + The tax in kind was denounced in the same vein. The licensing provisions + of this law and its income tax did not satisfy the popular imagination. + These provisions concerned the classes that could borrow. The classes that + could not borrow, that had no resources but their crops, felt that they + were being driven to the wall. The bitter saying went around that it was + "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight." As land and slaves were not + directly taxed, the popular discontent appeared to have ground for its + anger. Furthermore, it must never be forgotten that this was the first + general tax that the poor people of the South were ever conscious of + paying. To people who knew the tax-gatherer as little more than a mythical + being, he suddenly appeared like a malevolent creature who swept off + ruthlessly the tenth of their produce. It is not + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> + strange that an + intemperate reaction against the planters and their leadership followed. + The illusion spread that they were not doing their share of the fighting; + and as rich men were permitted to hire substitutes to represent them in + the army, this really baseless report was easily propped up in the public + mind with what appeared to be reason. + </p> + <p> + In North Carolina, where the peasant farmer was a larger political factor + than in any other State, this feeling against the Confederate Government + because of the tax in kind was most dangerous. In the course of the + summer, while the military fortunes of the Confederacy were toppling at + Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the North Carolina farmers in a panic of + self-preservation held numerous meetings of protest and denunciation. They + expressed their thoughtless terror in resolutions asserting that the + action of Congress "in secret session, without consulting with their + constituents at home, taking from the hard laborers of the Confederacy + one-tenth of the people's living, instead of taking back their own + currency in tax, is unjust and tyrannical." Other resolutions called the + tax "unconstitutional, anti-republican, and oppressive"; and still others + pledged the farmers "to resist to the bitter end any such monarchical + tax." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> + A leader of the discontented in North Carolina was found in W. W. Holden, + the editor of the <i>Raleigh Progress,</i> who before the war had attempted to be + spokesman for the men of small property by advocating taxes on slaves and + similar measures. He proposed as the conclusion of the whole matter the + opening of negotiations for peace. We shall see later how deep-seated was + this singular delusion that peace could be had for the asking. In 1863, + however, many men in North Carolina took up the suggestion with delight. + Jonathan Worth wrote in his diary, on hearing that the influential <i>North + Carolina Standard</i> had come out for peace: "I still abhor, as I always did, + this accursed war and the wicked men, North and South, who inaugurated it. + The whole country at the North and the South is a great military + despotism." With such discontent in the air, the elections in North + Carolina drew near. The feeling was intense and riots occurred. Newspaper + offices were demolished—among them Holden's, to destroy which a + detachment of passing soldiers converted itself into a mob. In the western + counties deserters from the army, combined in bands, were joined by other + deserters from Tennessee, and terrorized the countryside. Governor Vance, + alarmed at the progress which + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> + this disorder was making, issued a + proclamation imploring his rebellious countrymen to conduct in a peaceable + manner their campaign for the repeal of obnoxious laws. + </p> + <p> + The measure of political unrest in North Carolina was indicated in the + autumn when a new delegation to Congress was chosen. Of the ten who + composed it, eight were new men. Though they did not stand for a clearly + defined program, they represented on the whole anti-Davis tendencies. The + Confederate Administration had failed to carry the day in the North + Carolina elections; and in Georgia there were even more sweeping evidences + of unrest. Of the ten representatives chosen for the Second Congress nine + had not sat in the First, and Georgia now was in the main frankly + anti-Davis. There had been set up at Richmond a new organ of the + Government called the <i>Sentinel,</i> which was more entirely under the + presidential shadow than even the <i>Enquirer</i> and the <i>Courier.</i> Speaking of + the elections, the <i>Sentinel</i> deplored the "upheaval of political elements" + revealed by the defeat of so many tried representatives whose constituents + had not returned them to the Second Congress. + </p> + <p> + What was Davis doing while the ground was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> + thus being cut from under his + feet? For one thing he gave his endorsement to the formation of + "Confederate Societies" whose members bound themselves to take Confederate + money as legal tender. He wrote a letter to one such society in + Mississippi, praising it for attempting "by common consent to bring down + the prices of all articles to the standard of the soldiers' wages" and + adding that the passion of speculation had "seduced citizens of all + classes from a determined prosecution of the war to an effort to amass + money." The <i>Sentinel</i> advocated the establishment of a law fixing + maximum prices. The discussion of this proposal seems to make plain the + <i>raison d'être</i> for the existence of the <i>Sentinel.</i> Even + such stanch government organs as the <i>Enquirer</i> and the + <i>Courier</i> shied at the idea, but the <i>Mercury</i> + denounced it vigorously, giving long extracts from Thiers, and discussed + the mistakes of the French Revolution with its "law of maximum." + </p> + <p> + Davis, however, did not take an active part in the political campaign, nor + did the other members of the Government. It was not because of any notion + that the President should not leave the capital that Davis did not visit + the disaffected regions of North Carolina when the startled populace + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> + winced under its first experience with taxation. Three times during his + Administration Davis left Richmond on extended journeys: late in 1862, + when Vicksburg had become a chief concern of the Government, he went as + far afield as Mississippi in order to get entirely in touch with the + military situation in those parts; in the month of October, 1863, when + there was another moment of intense military anxiety, Davis again visited + the front; and of a third journey which he undertook in 1864, we shall + hear in time. It is to be noted that each of these journeys was prompted + by a military motive; and here, possibly, we get an explanation of his + inadequacy as a statesman. He could not lay aside his interest in military + affairs for the supremely important concerns of civil office; and he + failed to understand how to ingratiate his Administration by personal + appeals to popular imagination. + </p> + <p> + In October, 1863,—the very month in which his old rival Rhett + suffered his final defeat,—Davis undertook a journey because Bragg, + after his great victory at Chickamauga, appeared to be letting slip a + golden opportunity, and because there were reports of dissension among + Bragg's officers and of general confusion in his army. After he had, as + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> + he thought, restored harmony in the camp, Davis turned southward on a tour + of appeal and inspiration. He went as far as Mobile, and returning bent + his course through Charleston, where, at the beginning of November, less + than two weeks after Rhett's defeat, Davis was received with all due + formalities. Members of the Rhett family were among those who formally + received the President at the railway station. There was a parade of + welcome, an official reception, a speech by the President from the steps + of the city hall, and much applause by friends of the Administration. But + certain ominous signs were not lacking. The <i>Mercury,</i> for example, + tucked away in an obscure column its account of the event, while its + rival, the <i>Courier,</i> made the President's visit the feature of the + day. + </p> + <p> + Davis returned to Richmond, early in November, to throw himself again with + his whole soul into problems that were chiefly military. He did not + realize that the crisis had come and gone and that he had failed to grasp + the significance of the internal political situation. The Government had + failed to carry the elections and to secure a working majority in + Congress. Never again was it to have behind it a firm and confident + support. The + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> + unity of the secession movement had passed away. Thereafter + the Government was always to be regarded with suspicion by the extreme + believers in state sovereignty and by those who were sullenly convinced + that the burdens of the war were unfairly distributed. And there were not + wanting men who were ready to construe each emergency measure as a step + toward a <i>coup d'état.</i> + </p> + <hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> + <a name="chap06" id="chap06"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER VI.</a> + </h2> + </div> + <p class="chaptertitle">Life In The Confederacy</p> + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">When</span> + the fortunes of the Confederacy in both camp and council began to + ebb, the life of the Southern people had already profoundly changed. The + gallant, delightful, care-free life of the planter class had been + undermined by a war which was eating away its foundations. Economic no + less than political forces were taking from the planter that ideal of + individual liberty as dear to his heart as it had been, ages before, to + his feudal prototype. One of the most important details of the changing + situation had been the relation of the Government to slavery. The history + of the Confederacy had opened with a clash between the extreme advocates + of slavery—the slavery-at-any-price men—and the + Administration. The Confederate Congress had passed a bill ostensibly to + make effective the clause in its constitution prohibiting the African + slave-trade. The quick eye of Davis had detected in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> + it a mode of evasion, + for cargoes of captured slaves were to be confiscated and sold at public + auction. The President had exposed this adroit subterfuge in his message + vetoing the bill, and the slavery-at-any-price men had not sufficient + influence in Congress to override the veto, though they muttered against + it in the public press. + </p> + <p> + The slavery-at-any-price men did not again conspicuously show their hands + until three years later when the Administration included emancipation in + its policy. The ultimate policy of emancipation was forced upon the + Government by many considerations but more particularly by the difficulty + of securing labor for military purposes. In a country where the supply of + fighting men was limited and the workers were a class apart, the + Government had to employ the only available laborers or confess its + inability to meet the industrial demands of war. But the available + laborers were slaves. How could their services be secured? By purchase? Or + by conscription? Or by temporary impressment? + </p> + <p> + Though Davis and his advisers were prepared to face all the hazards + involved in the purchase or confiscation of slaves, the traditional + Southern temper instantly recoiled from the suggestion. A + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> + Government + possessed of great numbers of slaves, whether bought or appropriated, + would have in its hands a gigantic power, perhaps for industrial + competition with private owners, perhaps even for organized military + control. Besides, the Government might at any moment by emancipating its + slaves upset the labor system of the country. Furthermore, the + opportunities for favoritism in the management of state-owned slaves were + beyond calculation. Considerations such as these therefore explain the + watchful jealousy of the planters toward the Government whenever it + proposed to acquire property in slaves. + </p> + <p> + It is essential not to attribute this social-political dread of government + ownership of slaves merely to the clutch of a wealthy class on its + property. Too many observers, strangely enough, see the latter motive to + the exclusion of the former. Davis himself was not, it would seem, free + from this confusion. He insisted that neither slaves nor land were taxed + by the Confederacy, and between the lines he seems to attribute to the + planter class the familiar selfishness of massed capital. He forgot that + the tax in kind was combined with an income tax. In theory, at least, the + slave and the land—even non-farming land—were taxed. However, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> + the dread of a slave-owning Government prevented any effective plan for + supplying the army with labor except through the temporary impressment of + slaves who were eventually to be returned to their owners. The policy of + emancipation had to wait. + </p> + <p> + Bound up in the labor question was the question of the control of slaves + during the war. In the old days when there were plenty of white men in the + countryside, the roads were carefully patrolled at night, and no slave + ventured to go at large unless fully prepared to prove his identity. But + with the coming of war the comparative smallness of the fighting + population made it likely from the first that the countryside everywhere + would be stripped of its white guardians. In that event, who would be left + to control the slaves? Early in the war a slave police was provided for by + exempting from military duty overseers in the ratio approximately of one + white to twenty slaves. But the marvelous faithfulness of the slaves, who + nowhere attempted to revolt, made these precautions unnecessary. Later + laws exempted one overseer on every plantation of fifteen slaves, not so + much to perform patrol duty as to increase the productivity of plantation + labor. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> + This "Fifteen Slave" Law was one of many instances that were caught up by + the men of small property as evidence that the Government favored the + rich. A much less defensible law, and one which was bitterly attacked for + the same reason, was the unfortunate measure permitting the hiring of + substitutes by men drafted into the army. Eventually, the clamor against + this law caused its repeal, but before that time it had worked untold harm + as apparent evidence of "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight." + Extravagant stories of the avoidance of military duty by the ruling class, + though in the main they were mere fairy tales, changed the whole + atmosphere of Southern life. The old glad confidence uniting the planter + class with the bulk of the people had been impaired. Misapprehension + appeared on both sides. Too much has been said lately, however, in + justification of the poorer classes who were thus wakened suddenly to a + distrust of the aristocracy; and too little has been said of the proud + recoil of the aristocracy in the face of a sudden, credulous perversion of + its motives—a perversion inspired by the pinching of the shoe, and + yet a shoe that pinched one class as hard as it did another. It is as + unfair to charge the planter with selfishness in opposing + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> + the + appropriation of slaves as it is to make the same charge against the small + farmers for resisting tithes. In face of the record, the planter comes off + somewhat the better of the two; but it must be remembered that he had the + better education, the larger mental horizon. + </p> + <p> + The Confederacy had long recognized women of all classes as the most + dauntless defenders of the cause. The women of the upper classes passed + without a tremor from a life of smiling ease to a life of extreme + hardship. One day, their horizon was without a cloud; another day, their + husbands and fathers had gone to the front. Their luxuries had + disappeared, and they were reduced to plain hard living, toiling in a + thousand ways to find provision and clothing, not only for their own + children but for the poorer families of soldiers. The women of the poor + throughout the South deserve similar honor. Though the physical shock of + the change may not have been so great, they had to face the same deep + realities—hunger and want, anxiety over the absent soldiers, + solicitude for children, grief for the dead. One of the pathetic aspects + of Confederate life was the household composed of several families, all + women and children, huddled together without + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> + a man or even a half-grown + lad to be their link with the mill and the market. In those regions where + there were few slaves and the exemption of overseers did not operate, such + households were numerous. + </p> + <p> + The great privations which people endured during the Confederacy have + passed into familiar tradition. They are to be traced mainly to three + causes: to the blockade, to the inadequate system of transportation, and + to the heartlessness of speculators. The blockade was the real destroyer + of the South. Besides ruining the whole policy based on King Cotton, + besides impeding to a vast extent the inflow of munitions from Europe, it + also deprived Southern life of numerous articles which were hard to + relinquish—not only such luxuries as tea and coffee, but also such + utter necessities as medicines. And though the native herbs were + diligently studied, though the Government established medical laboratories + with results that were not inconsiderable, the shortage of medicines + remained throughout the war a distressing feature of Southern life. The + Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond and a foundry at Selma, Alabama, were the + only mills in the South capable of casting the heavy ordnance necessary + for military purposes. And + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> + the demand for powder mills and gun factories + to provide for the needs of the army was scarcely greater than the demand + for cotton mills and commercial foundries to supply the wants of the civil + population. The Government worked without ceasing to keep pace with the + requirements of the situation, and, in view of the immense difficulties + which it had to face, it was fairly successful in supplying the needs of + the army. Powder was provided by the Niter and Mining Bureau; lead for + Confederate bullets was collected from many sources—even from the + window-weights of the houses; iron was brought from the mines of Alabama; + guns came from newly built factories; and machines and tools were part of + the precious freight of the blockade-runners. Though the poorly equipped + mills turned a portion of the cotton crop into textiles, and though + everything that was possible was done to meet the needs of the people, the + supply of manufactures was sadly inadequate. The universal shortage was + betrayed by the limitation of the size of most newspapers to a single + sheet, and the desperate situation clearly and completely revealed by the + way in which, as a last resort, the Confederates were compelled to repair + their railroads by pulling up the rails of one + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> + road in order to repair + another that the necessities of war rendered indispensable. + </p> + <p> + The railway system, if such it can be called, was one of the weaknesses of + the Confederacy. Before the war the South had not felt the need of + elaborate interior communication, for its commerce in the main went + seaward, and thence to New England or to Europe. Hitherto the railway + lines had seen no reason for merging their local character in extensive + combinations. Owners of short lines were inclined by tradition to resist + even the imperative necessities of war and their stubborn conservatism was + frequently encouraged by the short-sighted parochialism of the towns. The + same pitiful narrowness that led the peasant farmer to threaten rebellion + against the tax in kind led his counterpart in the towns to oppose the War + Department in its efforts to establish through railroad lines because they + threatened to impair local business interests. A striking instance of this + disinclination towards coöperation is the action of Petersburg. Two + railroads terminated at this point but did not connect, and it was an + ardent desire of the military authorities to link the two and convert them + into one. The town, however, unable to see beyond its boundaries and + resolute in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> + its determination to save its transfer business, successfully + obstructed the needs of the army. ¹ + </p> + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_108-1" name="footer_108-1"></a> + ¹ See an article on <i>The Confederate Government and the + Railroads</i> in the <i>American Historical Review,</i> July, 1917, + by Charles W. Ramsdell. + </p> + </div> + + <p> + As a result of this lack of efficient organization an immense congestion + resulted all along the railroads. Whether this, rather than a failure in + supply, explains the approach of famine in the latter part of the war, it + is today very difficult to determine. In numerous state papers of the + time, the assertion was reiterated that the yield of food was abundant and + that the scarcity of food at many places, including the cities and the + battle fronts, was due to defects in transportation. Certain it is that + the progress of supplies from one point to another was intolerably slow. + </p> + <p> + All this want of coördination facilitated speculation. We shall see + hereafter how merciless this speculation became and we shall even hear of + profits on food rising to more than four hundred per cent. However, the + oft-quoted prices of the later years—when, for instance, a pair of + shoes cost a hundred dollars—signify little, for they rested on an + inflated currency. None the less they inspired the witticism that one + should take money to market in a basket and bring provisions home + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> + in one's + pocketbook. Endless stories could be told of speculators hoarding food and + watching unmoved the sufferings of a famished people. Said Bishop Pierce, + in a sermon before the General Assembly of Georgia, on Fast Day, in March, + 1863: "Restlessness and discontent prevail.… Extortion, pitiless + extortion is making havoc in the land. We are devouring each other. + Avarice with full barns puts the bounties of Providence under bolts and + bars, waiting with eager longings for higher prices.… The greed of + gain … stalks among us unabashed by the heroic sacrifice of our women or + the gallant deeds of our soldiers. Speculation in salt and bread and meat + runs riot in defiance of the thunders of the pulpit, and executive + interference and the horrors of threatened famine." In 1864, the + Government found that quantities of grain paid in under the tax as + new-grown were mildewed. It was grain of the previous year which + speculators had held too long and now palmed off on the Government to + supply the army. + </p> + <p> + Amid these desperate conditions the fate of soldiers' families became + everywhere a tragedy. Unless the soldier was a land-owner his family was + all but helpless. With a depreciated currency and exaggerated prices, his + pay, whatever his rank, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> + was too little to count in providing for his + dependents. Local charity, dealt out by state and county boards, by relief + associations, and by the generosity of neighbors, formed the barrier + between his family and starvation. The landless soldier, with a family at + home in desperate straits, is too often overlooked when unimaginative + people heap up the statistics of "desertion" in the latter half of the + war. + </p> + <p> + It was in this period, too, that amid the terrible shrinkage of the + defensive lines "refugeeing" became a feature of Southern life. From the + districts over which the waves of war rolled back and forth helpless + families—women, children, slaves—found precarious safety + together with great hardship by withdrawing to remote places which + invasion was little likely to reach. An Odyssey of hard travel, often by + night and half secret, is part of the war tradition of thousands of + Southern families. And here, as always, the heroic women, smiling, + indomitable, are the center of the picture. Their flight to preserve the + children was no small test of courage. Almost invariably they had to + traverse desolate country, with few attendants, through forests, and + across rivers, where the arm of the law was now powerless to protect them. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> + Outlaws, defiant of the authorities both civil and military,—ruthless + men of whom we shall hear again,—roved those great unoccupied spaces + so characteristic of the Southern countryside. Many a family legend + preserves still the sense of breathless caution, of pilgrimage in the + night-time intently silent for fear of these masterless men. When the + remote rendezvous had been reached, there a colony of refugees drew + together in a steadfast despair, unprotected by their own fighting men. + What strange sad pages in the history of American valor were filled by + these women outwardly calm, their children romping after butterflies in a + glory of sunshine, while horrid tales drifted in of deeds done by the + masterless men in the forest just beyond the horizon, and far off on the + soul's horizon fathers, husbands, brothers, held grimly the lines of last + defense! + </p> + <hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> + <a name="chap07" id="chap07"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER VII.</a> + </h2> + </div> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Turning Of The Tide</p> + + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">The</span> + buoyancy of the Southern temper withstood the shock of Gettysburg and + was not overcome by the fall of Vicksburg. Of the far-reaching + significance of the latter catastrophe in particular there was little + immediate recognition. Even Seddon, the Secretary of War, in November, + reported that "the communication with the Trans-Mississippi, while + rendered somewhat precarious and insecure, is found by no means cut off or + even seriously endangered." His report was the same sort of thing as those + announcements of "strategic retreats" with which the world has since + become familiar. He even went so far as to argue that on the whole the + South had gained rather than lost; that the control of the river was of no + real value to the North; that the loss of Vicksburg "has on our side + liberated for general operations in the field a large army, while it + requires the enemy to maintain + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> + cooped up, inactive, in positions + insalubrious to their soldiers, considerable detachments of their forces." + </p> + <p> + Seddon attempted to reverse the facts, to show that the importance of the + Mississippi in commerce was a Northern not a Southern concern. He threw + light upon the tactics of the time by his description of the future action + of Confederate sharpshooters who were to terrorize such commercial crews + as might attempt to navigate the river; he also told how light batteries + might move swiftly along the banks and, at points commanding the channel, + rain on the passing steamer unheralded destruction. He was silent upon the + really serious matter, the patrol of the river by Federal gunboats which + rendered commerce with the Trans-Mississippi all but impossible. + </p> + <p> + This report, dated the 26th of November, gives a roseate view of the war + in Tennessee and enlarges upon that dreadful battle of Chickamauga which + "ranks as one of the grandest victories of the war." But even as the + report was signed, Bragg was in full retreat after his great disaster at + Chattanooga. On the 30th of November the Administration at Richmond + received from him a dispatch that closed with these words: "I deem it due + to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> + the cause and to myself to ask for relief from command and an + investigation into the causes of the defeat." In the middle of December, + Joseph E. Johnston was appointed to succeed him. + </p> + <p> + Whatever had been the illusions of the Government, they were now at an + end. There was no denying that the war had entered a new stage and that + the odds were grimly against the South. Davis recognized the gravity of + the situation, and in his message to Congress in December, 1863, he + admitted that the Trans-Mississippi was practically isolated. This was + indeed a great catastrophe, for hereafter neither men nor supplies could + be drawn from the far Southwest. Furthermore, the Confederacy had now lost + its former precious advantage of using Mexico as a means of secret trade + with Europe. + </p> + <p> + These distressing events of the four months between Vicksburg and + Chattanooga established also the semi-isolation of the middle region of + the lower South. The two States of Mississippi and Alabama entered upon + the most desperate chapter of their history. Neither in nor out of the + Confederacy, neither protected by the Confederate lines nor policed by the + enemy, they were subject at once to the full rigor of the financial and + military + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> + demands of the Administration of Richmond and to the full + ruthlessness of plundering raids from the North. Nowhere can the contrast + between the warfare of that day and the best methods of our own time be + observed more clearly than in this unhappy region. At the opening of 1864 + the effective Confederate lines drew an irregular zigzag across the map + from a point in northern Georgia not far below Chattanooga to Mobile. + Though small Confederate commands still operated bravely west of this + line, the whole of Mississippi and a large part of Alabama were beyond aid + from Richmond. But the average man did not grasp the situation. When a + region is dominated by mobile armies the appearance of things to the + civilian is deceptive. Because the powerful Federal armies of the + Southwest, at the opening of 1864, were massed at strategic points from + Tennessee to the Gulf, and were not extended along an obvious trench line, + every brave civilian would still keep up his hope and would still insist + that the middle Gulf country was far from subjugation, that its defense + against the invader had not become hopeless. + </p> + <p> + Under such conditions, when the Government at Richmond called upon the men + of the Southwest + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> + to regard themselves as mere sources of supply, human and + otherwise, mere feeders to a theater of war that did not include their + homes, it was altogether natural that they should resent the demand. All + the tragic confusion that was destined in the course of the fateful year + 1864 to paralyze the Government at Richmond was already apparent in the + middle Gulf country when the year began. Chief among these was the + inability of the State and Confederate Governments to coöperate adequately + in the business of conscription. The two powers were determined rivals + struggling each to seize the major part of the manhood of the community. + While Richmond, looking on the situation with the eye of pure strategy, + wished to draw together the full man-power of the South in one great unit, + the local authorities were bent on retaining a large part of it for home + defense. + </p> + <p> + In the Alabama newspapers of the latter half of 1863 strange incidents are + to be found throwing light on the administrative duel. The writ of <i>habeas + corpus,</i> as was so often the case in Confederate history, was the bone of + contention. We have seen that the second statute empowering the President + to proclaim martial law and to suspend the operation of the writ had + expired by limitation + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> + in February, 1863. The Alabama courts were + theoretically in full operation, but while the law was in force the + military authorities had acquired a habit of arbitrary control. Though + warned from Richmond in general orders that they must not take unto + themselves a power vested in the President alone, they continued their + previous course of action. It thereupon became necessary to issue further + general orders annulling "all proclamations of martial law by general + officers and others" not invested by law with adequate authority. + </p> + <p> + Neither general orders nor the expiration of the statute, however, seemed + able to put an end to the interference with the local courts on the part + of local commanders. The evil apparently grew during 1863. A picturesque + instance is recorded with extreme fullness by the <i>Southern Advertiser</i> in + the autumn of the year. In the minutely circumstantial account, we catch + glimpses of one Rhodes moving heaven and earth to prove himself exempt + from military service. After Rhodes is enrolled by the officers of the + local military rendezvous, the sheriff attempts to turn the tables by + arresting the Colonel in command. The soldiers rush to defend their + Colonel, who is ill in bed at a house some distance away. The judge who + had + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> + issued the writ is hot with anger at this military interference in + civil affairs. Thereupon the soldiers seize him, but later, recognizing + for some unexplained reason the majesty of the civil law, they release + him. And the hot-tempered incident closes with the Colonel's determination + to carry the case to the Supreme Court of the State. + </p> + <p> + The much harassed people of Alabama had still other causes of complaint + during this same year. Again the newspapers illumine the situation. In the + troubled autumn, Joseph Wheeler swept across the northern counties of + Alabama and in a daring ride, with Federal cavalry hot on his trail, + reached safety beyond the Tennessee River. Here his pursuers turned back + and, as their horses had been broken by the swiftness of the pursuit, + returning slowly, they "gleaned the country" to replace their supplies. + Incidentally they pounced upon the town of Huntsville. "Their appearance + here," writes a local correspondent, "was so sudden and … the + contradictory reports of their whereabouts" had been so baffling that the + townspeople had found no time to secrete things. The whole neighborhood + was swept clean of cattle and almost clean of provision. "We have not + enough left," the report continues, "to haul and plow with … + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> + and milch cows are <i>non est.</i>" Including "Stanley's big raid in + July," this was the twenty-first raid which Huntsville had endured + that year. The report closes with a bitter denunciation of the people + of southern Alabama who as yet do not know what war means, who are + accused of complete hardness of heart towards their suffering + fellowcountrymen and of caring only to make money out of war prices. + </p> + <p> + When Davis sent his message to the Southern Congress at the opening of the + session of 1864, the desperate plight of the middle Gulf country was at + once a warning and a menace to the Government. If the conditions of that + debatable land should extend eastward, there could be little doubt that + the day of the Confederacy was nearing its close. To remedy the situation + west of the main Confederate line, to prevent the growth of a similar + condition east of it, Davis urged Congress to revive the statute + permitting martial law and the suspension of the writ of <i>habeas corpus.</i> + The President told Congress that in parts of the Confederacy "public + meetings have been held, in some of which a treasonable design is masked + by a pretense of devotion of state sovereignty, and in others is openly + avowed … a strong suspicion + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> + is entertained that secret leagues and + associations are being formed. In certain localities men of no mean + position do not hesitate to avow their disloyalty and hostility to our + cause, and their advocacy of peace on the terms of submission and the + abolition of slavery." + </p> + <p> + This suspicion on the part of the Confederate Government that it was being + opposed by organized secret societies takes us back to debatable land and + to the previous year. The Bureau of Conscription submitted to the + Secretary of War a report from its Alabama branch relative to "a sworn + secret organization known to exist and believed to have for its object the + encouragement of desertion, the protection of deserters from arrest, + resistance to conscription, and perhaps other designs of a still more + dangerous character." To the operations of this insidious foe were + attributed the shifting of the vote in the Alabama elections, the defeat + of certain candidates favored by the Government, and the return in their + stead of new men "not publicly known." The suspicions of the Government + were destined to further verification in the course of 1864 by the + unearthing of a treasonable secret society in southwestern Virginia, the + members of which were "bound to each other + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> + for the prosecution of their + nefarious designs by the most solemn oaths. They were under obligation to + encourage desertions from the army, and to pass and harbor all deserters, + escaped prisoners, or spies; to give information to the enemy of the + movements of our troops, of exposed or weakened positions, of inviting + opportunities of attack, and to guide and assist the enemy either in + advance or retreat." This society bore the grandiloquent name "Heroes of + America" and had extended its operations into Tennessee and North + Carolina. + </p> + <p> + In the course of the year further evidence was collected which satisfied + the secret service of the existence of a mysterious and nameless society + which had ramifications throughout Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. A + detective who joined this "Peace Society," as it was called, for the + purpose of betraying its secrets, had marvelous tales to tell of + confidential information given to him by members, of how Missionary Ridge + had been lost and Vicksburg had surrendered through the machinations of + this society. ¹ + </p> + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_761-1" name="footer_761-1"></a> + ¹ What classes were represented in these organizations it is + difficult if not impossible to determine. They seem to have + been involved in the singular "peace movement" which is yet + to be considered. This fact gives a possible clue to the + problem of their membership. A suspiciously large number of + the "peace" men were original anti-secessionists, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> + and though + many, perhaps most, of these who opposed secession became + loyal servants of the Confederacy, historians may have + jumped too quickly to the assumption that the sincerity of + all of these men was above reproach. + </p> + </div> + + + <p> + In spite of its repugnance to the suspension of the writ of <i>habeas corpus,</i> + Congress was so impressed by the gravity of the situation that early in + 1864 it passed another act "to suspend the privilege of the writ of <i>habeas + corpus</i> in certain cases." This was not quite the same as that sweeping act + of 1862 which had set the <i>Mercury</i> irrevocably in opposition. Though this + act of 1864 gave the President the power to order the arrest of any person + suspected of treasonable practices, and though it released military + officers from all obligation to obey the order of any civil court to + surrender a prisoner charged with treason, the new legislation carefully + defined a list of cases in which alone this power could be lawfully used. + This was the last act of the sort passed by the Confederate Congress, and + when it expired by limitation ninety days after the next meeting of + Congress it was not renewed. + </p> + <p> + With regard to the administration of the army, Congress can hardly be said + to have met the President more than half way. The age of military service + was lowered to seventeen and was raised to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> + fifty. But the President was + not given—though he had asked for it—general control over + exemptions. Certain groups, such as ministers, editors, physicians, were + in the main exempted; one overseer was exempted on each plantation where + there were fifteen slaves, provided he gave bond to sell to the Government + at official prices each year one hundred pounds of either beef or bacon + for each slave employed and provided he would sell all his surplus produce + either to the Government or to the families of soldiers. Certain civil + servants of the Confederacy were also exempted as well as those whom the + governors of States should "certify to be necessary for the proper + administration of the State Government." The President was authorized to + detail for nonmilitary service any members of the Confederate forces "when + in his judgment, justice, equity, and necessity, require such details." + </p> + <p> + This statute retained two features that had already given rise to much + friction, and that were destined to be the cause of much more. It was + still within the power of state governors to impede conscription very + seriously. By certifying that a man was necessary to the civil + administration of a State, a Governor could place him beyond the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> + legal + reach of the conscripting officers. This provision was a concession to + those who looked on Davis's request for authority over exemption as the + first step toward absolutism. On the other hand the statute allowed the + President a free hand in the scarcely less important matter of "details." + Among the imperative problems of the Confederacy, where the whole male + population was needed in the public service, was the most economical + separation of the two groups, the fighters and the producers. On the one + hand there was the constant demand for recruits to fill up the wasted + armies; on the other, the need for workers to keep the shops going and to + secure the harvest. The two interests were never fully coördinated. Under + the act of 1864, no farmer, mechanic, tradesman, between the ages of + seventeen and fifty, if fit for military service, could remain at his work + except as a "detail" under orders of the President: he might be called to + the colors at a moment's notice. We shall see, presently, how the revoking + of details, toward the end of what may truly be called the terrible year, + was one of the major incidents of Confederate history. + </p> + <p> + Together with the new conscription act, the President approved on February + 17, 1864, a reenactment + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> + of the tax in kind, with some slight concessions + to the convenience of the farmers. The President's appeal for a law + directly taxing slaves and land had been ignored by Congress, but another + of his suggestions had been incorporated in the Funding Act. The state of + the currency was now so grave that Davis attributed to it all the evils + growing out of the attempts to enforce impressment. As the value of the + paper dollar had by this time shrunk to six cents in specie and the volume + of Confederate paper was upward of seven hundred millions, Congress + undertook to reduce the volume and raise the value by compelling holders + of notes to exchange them for bonds. By way of driving the note-holders to + consent to the exchange, provision was made for the speedy taxation of + notes for one-third their face value. + </p> + <p> + Such were the main items of the government program for 1864. Armed with + this, Davis braced himself for the great task of making head against the + enemies that now surrounded the Confederacy. It is an axiom of military + science that when one combatant possesses the interior line, the other can + offset this advantage only by exerting coincident pressure all round, thus + preventing him from shifting his forces from one front to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> + another. On this + principle, the Northern strategists had at last completed their gigantic + plan for a general envelopment of the whole Confederate defense both by + land and sea. Grant opened operations by crossing the Rapidan and + telegraphing Sherman to advance into Georgia. + </p> + <p> + The stern events of the spring of 1864 form such a famous page in military + history that the sober civil story of those months appears by comparison + lame and impotent. Nevertheless, the Confederate Government during those + months was at least equal to its chief obligation: it supplied and + recruited the armies. With Grant checked at Cold Harbor, in June, and + Sherman still unable to pierce the western line, the hopes of the + Confederates were high. + </p> + <p> + In the North there was corresponding gloom. This was the moment when all + Northern opponents of the war drew together in their last attempt to + shatter the Lincoln Government and make peace with the Confederacy. The + value to the Southern cause of this Northern movement for peace at any + price was keenly appreciated at Richmond. Trusted agents of the + Confederacy were even then in Canada working deftly to influence Northern + sentiment. The negotiations with those + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> + Northern secret societies which + befriended the South belong properly in the story of Northern politics and + the presidential election of 1864. They were skillfully conducted chiefly + by Jacob Thompson and C. C. Clay. The reports of these agents throughout + the spring and summer were all hopeful and told of "many intelligent men + from the United States" who sought them out in Canada for political + consultations. They discussed "our true friends from the Chicago + (Democratic) convention" and even gave names of those who, they were + assured, would have seats in McClellan's Cabinet. They were really not + well informed upon Northern affairs, and even after the tide had turned + against the Democrats in September, they were still priding themselves on + their diplomatic achievement, still confident they had helped organize a + great political power, had "given a stronger impetus to the peace party of + the North than all other causes combined, and had greatly reduced the + strength of the war party." + </p> + <p> + While Clay and Thompson built their house of cards in Canada, the Richmond + Government bent anxious eyes on the western battlefront. Sherman, though + repulsed in his one frontal attack at Kenesaw Mountain, had steadily + worked his way by + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> + the left flank of the Confederate army, until in early + July he was within six miles of Atlanta. All the lower South was a-tremble + with apprehension. Deputations were sent to Richmond imploring the removal + of Johnston from the western command. What had he done since his + appointment in December but retreat? Such was the tenor of public opinion. + "It is all very well to talk of Fabian policy," said one of his detractors + long afterward, "and now we can see we were rash to say the least. But at + the time, all of us went wrong together. Everybody clamored for Johnston's + removal." Johnston and Davis were not friends; but the President hesitated + long before acting. And yet, with each day, political as well as military + necessity grew more imperative. Both at Washington and Richmond the effect + that the fighting in Georgia had on Northern opinion was seen to be of the + first importance. Sherman was staking everything to break the Confederate + line and take Atlanta. He knew that a great victory would have + incalculable effect on the Northern election. Davis knew equally well that + the defeat of Sherman would greatly encourage the peace party in the + North. But he had no general of undoubted genius whom he could put in + Johnston's place. However, the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> + necessity for a bold stroke was so + undeniable, and Johnston appeared so resolute to continue his Fabian + policy, that Davis reluctantly took a desperate chance and superseded him + by Hood. + </p> + <p> + During August, though the Democratic convention at Chicago drew up its + platform favoring peace at any price, the anxiety of the Southern + President did not abate his activities. The safety of the western line was + now his absorbing concern. And in mid-August that line was turned, in a + way, by Farragut's capture of Mobile Bay. As the month closed, Sherman, + despite the furious blows delivered by Hood, was plainly getting the upper + hand. North and South, men watched that tremendous duel with the feeling + that the foundations of things were rocking. At last, on the 2d of + September, Sherman, victorious, entered Atlanta. + </p> + + <hr> + + + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> + <a name="chap08" id="chap08"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER VII.</a> + </h2> + </div> + + <p class="chaptertitle">A Game Of Chance</p> + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">With</span> + dramatic completeness in the summer and autumn of 1864, the + foundations of the Confederate hope one after another gave way. Among the + causes of this catastrophe was the failure of the second great attempt on + the part of the Confederacy to secure recognition abroad. The subject + takes us back to the latter days of 1862, when the center of gravity in + foreign affairs had shifted from London to Paris. Napoleon III, at the + height of his strange career, playing half a dozen dubious games at once, + took up a new pastime and played at intrigue with the Confederacy. In + October he accorded a most gracious interview to Slidell. He remarked that + his sympathies were entirely with the South but added that, if he acted + alone, England might trip him up. He spoke of his scheme for joint + intervention by England, France, and Russia. Then he asked why we had + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> + not created a navy. Slidell snapped at the bait. He said that the Confederates + would be glad to build ships in France, that "if the Emperor would give + only some kind of verbal assurance that the police would not observe too + closely when we wished to put on guns and men we would gladly avail + ourselves of it." To this, the imperial trickster replied, "Why could you + not have them built as for the Italian Government? I do not think it would + be difficult but will consult the Minister of Marine about it." + </p> + <p> + Slidell left the Emperor's presence confident that things would happen. + And they did. First came Napoleon's proposal of intervention, which was + declined before the end of the year by England and Russia. Then came his + futile overtures to the Government at Washington, his offer of mediation—which + was rejected early in 1863. But Slidell remained confident that something + else would happen. And in this expectation also he was not disappointed. + The Emperor was deeply involved in Mexico and was busily intriguing + throughout Europe. This was the time when Erlanger, standing high in the + favor of the Emperor, made his gambler's proposal to the Confederate + authorities about cotton. Another of the Emperor's friends + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> + now enters the + play. On January 7, 1863, M. Arman, of Bordeaux, "the largest shipbuilder + in France," had called on the Confederate commissioner: M. Arman would be + happy to build ironclad ships for the Confederacy, and as to paying for + them, cotton bonds might do the trick. + </p> + <p> + No wonder Slidell was elated, so much so that he seems to have given + little heed to the Emperor's sinister intimation that the whole affair + must be subterranean. But the wily Bonaparte had not forgotten that six + months earlier he had issued a decree of neutrality forbidding Frenchmen + to take commissions from either belligerent "for the armament of vessels + of war or to accept letters of marque, or to coöperate in any way + whatsoever in the equipment or arming of any vessel of war or corsair of + either belligerent." He did not intend to abandon publicly this cautious + attitude—at least, not for the present. And while Slidell at Paris + was completely taken in, the cooler head of A. Dudley Mann, Confederate + commissioner at Brussels, saw what an international quicksand was the + favor of Napoleon. It was about this time that Napoleon, having dispatched + General Forey with a fresh army to Mexico, wrote the famous letter which + gave notice to the world of what he was about. Mann + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> + wrote home in alarm + that the Emperor might be expected to attempt recovering Mexico's ancient + areas including Texas. Slidell saw in the Forey letter only "views … + which will not be gratifying to the Washington Government." + </p> + <p> + The adroit Arman, acting on hints from high officers of the Government, + applied for permission to build and arm ships of war, alleging that he + intended to send them to the Pacific and sell them to either China or + Japan. To such a laudable expression of commercial enterprise, one of his + fellows in the imperial ring, equipped with proper authority under + Bonaparte, hastened to give official approbation, and Erlanger came + forward by way of financial backer. There were conferences of Confederate + agents; contracts were signed; plans were agreed upon; and the work was + begun. + </p> + <p> + There was no more hopeful man in the Confederate service than Slidell + when, in the full flush of pride after Chancellorsville, he appealed to + the Emperor to cease waiting on other powers and recognize the + Confederacy. Napoleon accorded another gracious interview but still + insisted that it was impossible for him to act alone. He said that he was + "more fully convinced than ever of the propriety of a general recognition + by the European + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> + powers of the Confederate States but that the commerce of + France and the interests of the Mexican expedition would be jeopardized by + a rupture with the United States" and unless England would stand by him he + dared not risk such an eventuality. In point of fact, he was like a + speculator who is "hedging" on the stock exchange, both buying and + selling, and trying to make up his mind on which cast to stake his + fortune. At the same time he threw out once more the sinister caution + about the ships. He said that the ships might be built in France but that + their destination must be concealed. + </p> + <p> + That Napoleon's choice just then, if England had supported him, would have + been recognition of the Confederacy, cannot be doubted. The tangle of + intrigue which he called his foreign policy was not encouraging. He was + deeply involved in Italian politics, where the daring of Garibaldi had + reopened the struggle between clericals and liberals. In France itself the + struggle between parties was keen. Here, as in the American imbroglio, he + found it hard to decide with which party to break. The chimerical scheme + of a Latin empire in Mexico was his spectacular device to catch the + imagination, and incidentally the pocketbook, of everybody. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> + But in order + to carry out this enterprise he must be able to avert or withstand the + certain hostility of the United States. Therefore, as he told Slidell, "no + other power than England possessed a sufficient navy" to pull his + chestnuts out of the fire. The moment was auspicious, for there was a + revival of the "Southern party" in England. The sailing of the <i>Alabama</i> + from Liverpool during the previous summer had encouraged the Confederate + agents and their British friends to undertake further shipbuilding. + </p> + <p> + While M. Arman was at work in France, the Laird Brothers were at work in + England and their dockyards contained two ironclad rams supposed to + outclass any vessels of the United States navy. Though every effort had + been made to keep secret the ultimate destination of these rams, the + vigilance of the United States minister, reinforced by the zeal of the + "Northern party," detected strong circumstantial evidence pointing toward + a Confederate contract with the Lairds. A popular agitation ensued along + with demands upon the Government to investigate. To mask the purposes of + the Lairds, Captain James Bullock, the able special agent of the + Confederate navy, was forced to fall back upon the same tactics that were + being used + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> + across the Channel, and to sell the rams, on paper, to a firm + in France. Neither he nor Slidell yet appreciated what a doubtful refuge + was the shadow of Napoleon's wing. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless the British Government, by this time practically alined with + the North, continued its search for the real owner of the Laird rams. The + "Southern party," however, had not quite given up hope, and the agitation + to prevent the sailing of the rams was a keen spur to its flagging zeal. + Furthermore the prestige of Lee never was higher than it was in June, + 1863, when the news of Chancellorsville was still fresh and resounding in + every mind. It had given new life to the Confederate hope: Lee would take + Washington before the end of the summer; the Laird rams would go to sea; + the Union would be driven to the wall. So reasoned the ardent friends of + the South. But one thing was lacking—a European alliance. What a + time for England to intervene! + </p> + <p> + While Slidell was talking with the Emperor, he had in his pocket a letter + from J. A. Roebuck, an English politician who wished to force the issue in + the House of Commons. As a preliminary to moving the recognition of the + Confederacy, he wanted authority to deny a rumor going the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> + rounds in + London, to the effect that Napoleon had taken position against + intervention. Napoleon, when he had seen the letter, began a negotiation + of some sort with this politician. It is needless to enter into the + complications that ensued, the subsequent recriminations, and the question + as to just what Napoleon promised at this time and how many of his + promises he broke. He was a diplomat of the old school, the school of + lying as a fine art. He permitted Roebuck to come over to Paris for an + audience, and Roebuck went away with the impression that Napoleon could be + relied upon to back up a new movement for recognition. When, however, + Roebuck brought the matter before the Commons at the end of the month and + encountered an opposition from the Government that seemed to imply an + understanding with Napoleon which was different from his own, he withdrew + his motion (in July). Once more the scale turned against the Confederacy, + and Gettysburg was supplemented by the seizure of the Laird rams by the + British authorities. These events explain the bitter turn given to + Confederate feeling toward England in the latter part of 1863. On the 4th + of August Benjamin wrote to Mason that "the perusal of the recent debates + in Parliament satisfies the President" that Mason's + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> + "continued residence + in London is neither conducive to the interests nor consistent with the + dignity of this government," and directed him to withdraw to Paris. + </p> + <p> + Confederate feeling, as it cooled toward England, warmed toward France. + Napoleon's Mexican scheme, including the offer of a ready-made imperial + crown to Maximilian, the brother of the Emperor of Austria, was fully + understood at Richmond; and with Napoleon's need of an American ally, + Southern hope revived. It was further strengthened by a pamphlet which was + translated and distributed in the South as a newspaper article under the + title <i>France, Mexico, and the Confederate States.</i> The reputed author, + Michel Chevalier, was an imperial senator, another member of the Napoleon + ring, and highly trusted by his shifty master. The pamphlet, which + emphasized the importance of Southern independence as a condition of + Napoleon's "beneficent aims" in Mexico, was held to have been inspired, + and the imperial denial was regarded as a mere matter of form. + </p> + <p> + What appeared to be significant of the temper of the Imperial Government + was a decree of a French court in the case of certain merchants who sought + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> + to recover insurance on wine dispatched to America and destroyed in a ship + taken by the <i>Alabama.</i> Their plea was that they were insured against loss + by "pirates." The court dismissed their suit and assessed costs against + them. Further evidence of Napoleon's favor was the permission given to the + Confederate cruiser <i>Florida</i> to repair at Brest and even to make use of the + imperial dockyard. The very general faith in Napoleon's promises was + expressed by Davis in his message to Congress in December: "Although + preferring our own government and institutions to those of other + countries, we can have no disposition to contest the exercise by them of + the same right of self-government which we assert for ourselves. If the + Mexican people prefer a monarchy to a republic, it is our plain duty + cheerfully to acquiesce in their decision and to evince a sincere and + friendly interest in their prosperity.… The Emperor of the French has + solemnly disclaimed any purpose to impose on Mexico a form of government + not acceptable to the nation.…" In January, 1864, hope of recognition + through support of Napoleon's Mexican policy moved the Confederate + Congress to adopt resolutions providing for a Minister to the Mexican + Empire and giving him instructions with + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> + regard to a presumptive treaty. To + the new post Davis appointed General William Preston. + </p> + <p> + But what, while hope was springing high in America, was taking place in + France? So far as the world could say, there was little if anything to + disturb the Confederates; and yet, on the horizon, a cloud the size of a + man's hand had appeared. M. Arman had turned to another member of the + Legislative Assembly, a sound Bonapartist like himself, M. Voruz, of + Nantes, to whom he had sublet a part of the Confederate contract. The + truth about the ships and their destination thus became part of the + archives of the Voruz firm. No phase of Napoleonic intrigue could go very + far without encountering dishonesty, and to the confidential clerk of M. + Voruz there occurred the bright idea of doing something for himself with + this valuable diplomatic information. One fine day the clerk was missing + and with him certain papers. Then there ensued a period of months during + which the firm and their employers could only conjecture the full extent + of their loss. + </p> + <p> + In reality, from the Confederate point of view, everything was lost. Again + the episode becomes too complex to be followed in detail. Suffice it to + say that the papers were sold to the United States; + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> + that the secret was + exposed; that the United States made a determined assault upon the + Imperial Government. In the midst of this entanglement, Slidell lost his + head, for hope deferred when apparently within reach of its end is a + dangerous councilor of state. In his extreme anxiety, Slidell sent to the + Emperor a note the blunt rashness of which the writer could not have + appreciated. Saying that he feared the Emperor's subordinates might play + into the hands of Washington, he threw his fat in the fire by speaking of + the ships as "now being constructed at Bordeaux and Nantes for the + government of the Confederate States" and virtually claimed of Napoleon a + promise to let them go to sea. Three days later the Minister of Foreign + Affairs took him sharply to task because of this note, reminding him that + "what had passed with the Emperor was confidential" and dropping the + significant hint that France could not be forced into war by + "indirection." According to Slidell's version of the interview "the + Minister's tone changed completely" when Slidell replied with "a detailed + history of the affair showing that the idea originated with the Emperor." + Perhaps the Minister knew more than he chose to betray. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> + From this hour the + game was up. Napoleon's purpose all along seems to have been quite plain. + He meant to help the South to win by itself, and, after it had won, to use + it for his own advantage. So precarious was his position in Europe that he + dared not risk an American war without England's aid, and England had cast + the die. In this way, secrecy was the condition necessary to continued + building of the ships. Now that the secret was out, Napoleon began to + shift his ground. He sounded the Washington Government and found it + suspiciously equivocal as to Mexico. To silence the French republicans, to + whom the American minister had supplied information about the ships, + Napoleon tried at first muzzling the press. But as late as February, 1864, + he was still carrying water on both shoulders. His Minister of Marine + notified the builders that they must get the ships out of France, unarmed, + under fictitious sale to some neutral country. The next month, reports + which the Confederate commissioners sent home became distinctly alarming. + Mann wrote from Brussels: "Napoleon has enjoined upon Maximilian to hold + no official relations with our commissioners in Mexico." Shortly after + this Slidell received a shock that was the beginning of the end: + Maximilian, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> + on passing through Paris on his way to Mexico, refused to + receive him. + </p> + <p> + The Mexican project was now being condemned by all classes in France. + Nevertheless, the Government was trying to float a Mexican loan, and it is + hardly fanciful to think that on this loan the last hope of the + Confederacy turned. Despite the popular attitude toward Mexico, the loan + was going well when the House of Representatives of the United States + dealt the Confederacy a staggering blow. It passed unanimous resolutions + in the most grim terms, denouncing the substitution of monarchical for + republican government in Mexico under European auspices. When this action + was reported in France, the Mexican loan collapsed. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon's Italian policy was now moving rapidly toward the crisis which + it reached during the following summer when he surrendered to the + opposition and promised to withdraw the French troops from Rome. In May, + when the loan collapsed, there was nothing for it but to throw over his + dear friends of the Confederacy. Presently he had summoned Arman before + him, "rated him severely," and ordered him to make <i>bona fide</i> sales of the + ships to neutral powers. The Minister of Marine professed surprise and + indignation + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> + at Arman's trifling with the neutrality of the Imperial + Government. And that practically was the end of the episode. + </p> + <p> + Equally complete was the breakdown of the Confederate negotiations with + Mexico. General Preston was refused recognition. In those fierce days of + July when the fate of Atlanta was in the balance, the pride and despair of + the Confederate Government flared up in a haughty letter to Preston + reminding him that "it had never been the intention of this Government to + offer any arguments to the new Government of Mexico … nor to place + itself in any attitude other than that of complete equality," and + directing him to make no further overtures to the Mexican Emperor. + </p> + <p> + And then came the <i>débâcle</i> in Georgia. On that + same 20th of September when Benjamin poured out in a letter to Slidell + his stored-up bitterness denouncing Napoleon, Davis, feeling the last + crisis was upon him, left Richmond to join the army in Georgia. His + frame of mind he had already expressed when he said, "We have no + friends abroad." + </p> + <hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> + <a name="chap09" id="chap09"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER IX.</a> + </h2> + </div> + <p class="chaptertitle">Desperate Remedies</p> + + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">The</span> + loss of Atlanta was the signal for another conflict of authority + within the Confederacy. Georgia was now in the condition in which Alabama + had found herself in the previous year. A great mobile army of invaders + lay encamped on her soil. And yet there was still a state Government + established at the capital. Inevitably the man who thought of the + situation from the point of view of what we should now call the general + staff, and the man who thought of it from the point of view of a citizen + of the invaded State, suffered each an intensification of feeling, and + each became determined to solve the problem in his own way. The President + of the Confederacy and the Governor of Georgia represented these + incompatible points of view. + </p> + <p> + The Governor, Joseph E. Brown, is one of the puzzling figures of + Confederate history. We have already encountered him as a dogged opponent + of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> + the Administration. With the whole fabric of Southern life toppling + about his ears, Brown argued, quibbled, evaded, and became a + rallying-point of disaffection. That more eminent Georgian, Howell Cobb, + applied to him very severe language, and they became engaged in a + controversy over that provision of the Conscription Act which exempted + state officials from military service. While the Governor of Virginia was + refusing certificates of exemption to the minor civil officers such as + justices of the peace, Brown by proclamation promised his "protection" to + the most insignificant civil servants. "Will even your Excellency," + demanded Cobb, "certify that in any county of Georgia twenty justices of + the peace and an equal number of constables are necessary for the proper + administration of the state government?" The Bureau of Conscription + estimated that Brown kept out of the army approximately 8000 eligible men. + The truth seems to be that neither by education nor heredity was this + Governor equipped to conceive large ideas. He never seemed conscious of + the war as a whole, or of the Confederacy as a whole. To defend Georgia + and, if that could not be done, to make peace for Georgia—such in + the mind of Brown was the aim of the war. His restless + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> + jealousy of the + Administration finds its explanation in his fear that it would denude his + State of men. The seriousness of Governor Brown's opposition became + apparent within a week of the fall of Atlanta. Among Hood's forces were + some 10,000 Georgia militia. Brown notified Hood that these troops had + been called out solely with a view to the defense of Atlanta, that since + Atlanta had been lost they must now be permitted "to return to their homes + and look for a time after important interests," and that therefore he did + "withdraw said organizations" from Hood's command. In other words, Brown + was afraid that they might be taken out of the State. By proclamation he + therefore gave the militia a furlough of thirty days. Previous to the + issue of this proclamation, Seddon had written to Brown making requisition + for his 10,000 militia to assist in a pending campaign against Sherman. + Two days after his proclamation had appeared, Brown, in a voluminous + letter full of blustering rhetoric and abounding in sneers at the + President, demanded immediate reinforcements by order of the President and + threatened that, if they were not sent, he would recall the Georgia troops + from the army of Lee and would command "all the sons of Georgia to return + to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> + their own State and within their own limits to rally round her glorious + flag." + </p> + <p> + So threatening was the situation in Georgia that Davis attempted to take + it into his own hands. In a grim frame of mind he left Richmond for the + front. The resulting military arrangements do not of course belong + strictly to the subject-matter of this volume; but the brief tour of + speechmaking which Davis made in Georgia and the interior of South + Carolina must be noticed; for his purpose seems to have been to put the + military point of view squarely before the people. He meant them to see + how the soldier looked at the situation, ignoring all demands of locality, + of affiliation, of hardship, and considering only how to meet and beat the + enemy. In his tense mood he was not always fortunate in his expressions. + At Augusta, for example, he described Beauregard, whom he had recently + placed in general command over Georgia and South Carolina, as one who + would do whatever the President told him to do. But this idea of military + self-effacement was not happily worded, and the enemies of Davis seized on + his phraseology as further evidence of his instinctive autocracy. The + <i>Mercury</i> compared him to the Emperor of Russia and declared the + tactless remark to be "as + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> + insulting to General Beauregard as it is false and presumptuous in + the President." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile Beauregard was negotiating with Brown. Though they came to an + understanding about the disposition of the militia, Brown still tried to + keep control of the state troops. When Sherman was burning Atlanta + preparatory to the March to the Sea, Brown addressed to the Secretary of + War another interminable epistle, denouncing the Confederate authorities + and asserting his willingness to fight both the South and the North if + they did not both cease invading his rights. But the people of Georgia + were better balanced than their Governor. Under the leadership of such men + as Cobb they rose to the occasion and did their part in what proved a vain + attempt to conduct a "people's war." Their delegation at Richmond sent out + a stirring appeal assuring them that Davis was doing for them all it was + possible to do. "Let every man fly to arms," said the appeal. "Remove your + negroes, horses, cattle, and provisions from before Sherman's army, and + burn what you cannot carry. Burn all bridges and block up the roads in his + route. Assail the invader in front, flank, and rear, by night and by day. + Let him have no rest." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> + The Richmond Government was unable to detach any considerable force from + the northern front. Its contribution to the forces in Georgia was + accomplished by such pathetic means as a general order calling to the + colors all soldiers furloughed or in hospital, "except those unable to + travel"; by revoking all exemptions to farmers, planters, and mechanics, + except munitions workers; and by placing one-fifth of the ordnance and + mining bureau in the battle service. + </p> + <p> + All the world knows how futile were these endeavors to stop the whirlwind + of desolation that was Sherman's march. He spent his Christmas Day in + Savannah. Then the center of gravity shifted from Georgia to South + Carolina. Throughout the two desperate months that closed 1864 the + authorities of South Carolina had vainly sought for help from Richmond. + Twice the Governor made official request for the return to South Carolina + of some of her own troops who were at the front in Virginia. Davis first + evaded and then refused the request. Lee had informed him that if the + forces on the northern front were reduced, the evacuation of Richmond + would become inevitable. + </p> + <p> + The South Carolina Government, in December, 1864, seems to have concluded + that the State must + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> + save itself. A State Conscription Act was passed + placing all white males between the ages of sixteen and sixty at the + disposal of the state authorities for emergency duty. An Exemption Act set + forth a long list of persons who should not be liable to conscription by + the Confederate Government. Still a third act regulated the impressment of + slaves for work on fortifications so as to enable the state authorities to + hold a check upon the Confederate authorities. The significance of the + three statutes was interpreted by a South Carolina soldier, General John + S. Preston, in a letter to the Secretary of War that was a wail of + despair. "This legislation is an explicit declaration that this State does + not intend to contribute another soldier or slave to the public defense, + except on such terms as may be dictated by her authorities. The example + will speedily be followed by North Carolina and Georgia, the Executives of + those States having already assumed the position." + </p> + <p> + The division between the two parties in South Carolina had now become + bitter. To Preston the men behind the State Exemption Act appeared as + "designing knaves." The <i>Mercury,</i> on the other hand, was never more + relentless toward Davis than in the winter of 1864-1865. However, none + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> + or + almost none of the anti-Davis men in South Carolina made the least + suggestion of giving up the struggle. To fight to the end but also to act + as a check upon the central Government—as the new Governor, Andrew + G. Magrath, said in his inaugural address in December, 1864,—was the + aim of the dominant party in South Carolina. How far the State Government + and the Confederate Government had drifted apart is shown by two comments + which were made in January, 1865. Lee complained that the South Carolina + regiments, "much reduced by hard service," were not being recruited up to + their proper strength because of the measures adopted in the southeastern + States to retain conscripts at home. About the same date the <i>Mercury</i> + arraigned Davis for leaving South Carolina defenseless in the face of + Sherman's coming offensive, and asked whether Davis intended to surrender + the Confederacy. + </p> + <p> + And in the midst of this critical period, the labor problem pushed to the + fore again. The revocation of industrial details, necessary as it was, had + put almost the whole male population—in theory, at least—in + the general Confederate army. How far-reaching was the effect of this + order may be judged from the experience of the Columbia and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> + Augusta + Railroad Company. This road was building through the interior of the State + a new line which was rendered imperatively necessary by Sherman's seizure + of the lines terminating at Savannah. The effect of the revocation order + on the work in progress was described by the president of the road in a + letter to the Secretary of War: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + In July and August I made a fair beginning and by October we had about + 600 hands. General Order No. 77 took off many of our contractors and + hands. We still had increased the number of hands to about 400 when + Sherman started from Atlanta. The military authorities of Augusta took + about 300 of them to fortify that city. These contractors being from + Georgia returned with their slaves to their homes after being discharged + at Augusta. We still have between 500 and 600 hands at work and are adding + to the force every week. + </p> + <p> + The great difficulty has been in getting contractors exempt or definitely + detailed since Order No. 77. I have not exceeded eight or nine contractors + now detailed. The rest are exempt from other causes or over age. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + It was against such a background of economic confusion that Magrath wrote + to the Governor of North Carolina making a revolutionary proposal. + Virtually admitting that the Confederacy had been shattered, and knowing + the disposition of those in authority to see only the military aspects of + any + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> + given situation, he prophesied two things: that the generals would + soon attempt to withdraw Lee's army south of Virginia, and that the + Virginia troops in that army would refuse to go. "It is natural under the + circumstances," said he, "that they would not." He would prepare for this + emergency by an agreement among the Southeastern and Gulf States to act + together irrespective of Richmond, and would thus weld the military power + of these States into "a compact and organized mass." + </p> + <p> + Governor Vance, with unconscious subtlety, etched a portrait of his own + mind when he replied that the crisis demanded "particularly the skill of + the politician perhaps more than that of the great general." He adroitly + evaded saying what he really thought of the situation but he made two + explicit counter-proposals. He suggested that a demand should be made for + the restoration of General Johnston and for the appointment of General Lee + to "full and absolute command of all the forces of the Confederacy." On + the day on which Vance wrote to Magrath, the <i>Mercury</i> lifted up its voice + and cried out for a Lee to take charge of the Government and save the + Confederacy. About the same time Cobb wrote to Davis in the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> + most friendly + way, warning him that he had scarcely a supporter left in Georgia, and + that, in view of the great popular reaction in favor of Johnston, + concessions to the opposition were an imperative necessity. "By accident," + said he, "I have become possessed of the facts in connection with the + proposed action of the Governors of certain States." He disavowed any + sympathy with the movement but warned Davis that it was a serious menace. + </p> + <p> + Two other intrigues added to the general political confusion. One of + these, the "Peace Movement," will be considered in the next chapter. The + other was closely connected with the alleged conspiracy to depose Davis + and set up Lee as dictator. If the traditional story, accepted by able + historians, may be believed, William C. Rives, of the Confederate + Congress, carried in January, 1865, to Lee from a congressional cabal an + invitation to accept the rôle of Cromwell. The greatest difficulty in the + way of accepting the tradition is the extreme improbability that any one + who knew anything of Lee would have been so foolish as to make such a + proposal. Needless to add, the tradition includes Lee's refusal to + overturn the Government. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> + There can be no doubt, however, that all the + enemies of Davis in Congress and out of it, in the opening months of 1865, + made a determined series of attacks upon his Administration. Nor can there + be any doubt that the popular faith in Lee was used as their trump card. + To that end, a bill was introduced to create the office of commanding + general of the Confederate armies. The bill was generally applauded, and + every one assumed that the new office was to be given to Lee. On the day + after the bill had passed the Senate the Virginia Legislature resolved + that the appointment of General Lee to supreme command would "reanimate + the spirit of the armies as well as the people of the several States + and … inspire increased confidence in the final success of the cause." + When the bill was sent to the President, it was accompanied by a + resolution asking him to restore Johnston. While Davis was considering + this bill, the Virginia delegation in the House, headed by the Speaker, + Thomas S. Bocock, waited upon the President, informed him what was really + wanted was a change of Cabinet, and told him that three-fourths of the + House would support a resolution of want of confidence in the Cabinet. The + next day Bocock repeated the demand in a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> + note which Davis described as a + "warning if not a threat." + </p> + <p> + The situation of both President and country was now desperate. The program + with which the Government had entered so hopefully upon this fated year + had broken down at almost every point. In addition to the military and + administrative disasters, the financial and economic situation was as bad + as possible. So complete was the financial breakdown that Secretary + Memminger, utterly disheartened, had resigned his office, and the Treasury + was now administered by a Charleston merchant, George A. Trenholm. But the + financial chaos was wholly beyond his control. The government notes + reckoned in gold were worth about three cents on the dollar. The + Government itself avoided accepting them. It even bought up United States + currency and used it in transacting the business of the army. The extent + of the financial collapse was to be measured by such incidents as the + following which is recounted in a report that had passed under Davis's eye + only a few weeks before the "threat" of Bocock was uttered: "Those holding + the four per cent certificates complain that the Government as far as + possible discredits them. Fractions of hundreds cannot be + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> + paid with them. + I saw a widow lady, a few days since, offer to pay her taxes of $1,271.31 + with a certificate of $1,300. The tax-gatherer refused to give her the + change of $28.69. She then offered the whole certificate for the taxes. + This was refused. This apparent injustice touched her far more than the + amount of the taxes." + </p> + <p> + A letter addressed to the President from Griffin, Georgia, contained this + dreary picture: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + Unless something is done and that speedily, there will be thousands of + the best citizens of the State and heretofore as loyal as any in the + Confederacy, that will not care one cent which army is victorious in + Georgia.… Since August last there have been thousands of cavalry and + wagon trains feeding upon our cornfields and for which our quartermasters + and officers in command of trains, regiments, battalions, companies, and + squads, have been giving the farmers receipts, and we were all told these + receipts would pay our government taxes and tithing; and yet not one of + them will be taken by our collector.… And yet we are threatened with + having our lands sold for taxes. Our scrip for corn used by our generals + will not be taken.… How is it that we have certified claims upon our + Government, past due ten months, and when we enter the quartermaster's + office we see placed up conspicuously in large letters "no funds." Some of + these said quartermasters [who] four years ago were not worth the clothes + upon their backs, are now large dealers in lands, negroes, and real + estate. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> + There was almost universal complaint that government contractors were + speculating in supplies and that the Impressment Law was used by officials + to cover their robbery of both the Government and the people. Allowing for + all the panic of the moment, one is forced to conclude that the smoke is + too dense not to cover a good deal of fire. In a word, at the very time + when local patriotism everywhere was drifting into opposition to the + general military command and when Congress was reflecting this widespread + loss of confidence, the Government was loudly charged with inability to + restrain graft. In all these accusations there was much injustice. + Conditions that the Government was powerless to control were cruelly + exaggerated, and the motives of the Government were falsified. For all + this exaggeration and falsification the press was largely to blame. + Moreover, the press, at least in dangerously large proportion, was + schooling the people to hold Davis personally responsible for all their + suffering. General Bragg was informed in a letter from a correspondent in + Mobile that "men have been taught to look upon the President as an + inexorably self-willed man who will see the country to the devil before + giving up an opinion or a purpose." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> + This deliberate fostering of an + anti-Davis spirit might seem less malicious if the fact were not known + that many editors detested Davis because of his desire to abolish the + exemption of editors from conscription. Their ignoble course brings to + mind one of the few sarcasms recorded of Lee—the remark that the + great mistake of the South was in making all its best military geniuses + editors of newspapers. But it must be added in all fairness that the great + opposition journals, such as the <i>Mercury,</i> took up this new issue with the + President because they professed to see in his attitude toward the press a + determination to suppress freedom of speech, so obsessed was the + opposition with the idea that Davis was a monster! Whatever explanations + may be offered for the prevalence of graft, the impotence of the + Government at Richmond contributed to the general demoralization. In + regions like Georgia and Alabama, the Confederacy was now powerless to + control its agents. Furthermore, in every effort to assume adequate + control of the food situation the Government met the continuous opposition + of two groups of opponents—the unscrupulous parasites and the bigots + of economic and constitutional theory. Of the activities of the first + group, one incident is sufficient + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> + to tell the whole story. At Richmond, in + the autumn of 1864, the grocers were selling rice at two dollars and a + half a pound. It happened that the Governor of Virginia was William Smith, + one of the strong men of the Confederacy who has not had his due from the + historians. He saw that even under the intolerable conditions of the + moment this price was shockingly exorbitant. To remedy matters, the + Governor took the State of Virginia into business, bought rice where it + was grown, imported it, and sold it in Richmond at fifty cents a pound, + with sufficient profit to cover all costs of handling. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, when Smith urged the Virginia Legislature to assume control + of business as a temporary measure, he was at once assailed by the second + group—those martinets of constitutionalism who would not give up + their cherished Anglo-Saxon tradition of complete individualism in + government. The Administration lost some of its staunchest supporters the + moment its later organ, the <i>Sentinel,</i> began advocating the general + regulation of prices. With ruin staring them in the face, these devotees + of tradition could only reiterate their ancient formulas, nail their + colors to the mast, end go down, satisfied that, if they failed with these + principles, they would have failed still more + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> + terribly without them. + Confronting the practical question how to prevent speculators from + charging 400 per cent profit, these men turned grim but did not abandon + their theory. In the latter part of 1864 they aligned themselves with the + opposition when the government commissioners of impressment fixed an + official schedule that boldly and ruthlessly cut under market prices. The + attitude of many such people was expressed by the <i>Montgomery Mail</i> when it + said: + </p> + <p> + "The tendency of the age, the march of the American people, is toward + monarchy, and unless the tide is stopped we shall reach something worse + than monarchy. + </p> + <p> + "Every step we have taken during the past four years has been in the + direction of military despotism. + </p> + <p> + "Half our laws are unconstitutional." + </p> + <p> + Another danger of the hour was the melting away of the Confederate army + under the very eyes of its commanders. The records showed that there were + 100,000 absentees. And though the wrathful officials of the Bureau of + Conscription labeled them all "deserters," the term covered great numbers + who had gone home to share the sufferings of their families. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span> + Such in brief was the fateful background of the congressional attack upon + the Administration in January, 1865. Secretary Seddon, himself a + Virginian, believing that he was the main target of the hostility of the + Virginia delegation, insisted upon resigning. Davis met this determination + with firmness, not to say infatuation, and in spite of the congressional + crisis, exhausted every argument to persuade Seddon to remain in office. + He denied the right of Congress to control his Cabinet, but he was finally + constrained to allow Seddon to retire. The bitterness inspired by these + attempts to coerce the President may be gauged by a remark attributed to + Mrs. Davis. Speaking of the action of Congress in forcing upon him the new + plan for a single commanding general of all the armies, she is said to + have exclaimed, "I think I am the proper person to advise Mr. Davis and if + I were he, I would die or be hung before I would submit to the + humiliation." + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless the President surrendered to Congress. On January 26, 1865, + he signed the bill creating the office of commanding general and at once + bestowed the office upon Lee. It must not be supposed, however, that Lee + himself had the slightest sympathy with the congressional cabal which + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> + had + forced upon the President this reorganization of the army. In accepting + his new position he pointedly ignored Congress by remarking, "I am + indebted alone to the kindness of His Excellency, the President, for my + nomination to this high and arduous office." + </p> + <p> + The popular clamor for the restoration of Johnston had still to be + appeased. Disliking Johnston and knowing that the opposition was using a + popular general as a club with which to beat himself, Davis hesitated long + but in the end yielded to the inevitable. To make the reappointment + himself, however, was too humiliating. He left it to the new + commander-in-chief, who speedily restored Johnston to command. + </p> + <hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> + <a name="chap10" id="chap10"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER X.</a> + </h2> + </div> + <p class="chaptertitle">Disintegration</p> + + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">While</span> + these factions, despite their disagreements, were making valiant + efforts to carry on the war, other factions were stealthily cutting the + ground from under them. There were two groups of men ripe for + disaffection—original Unionists unreconciled to the Confederacy and + indifferentists conscripted against their will. + </p> + <p> + History has been unduly silent about these disaffected men. At the time so + real was the belief in state rights that contemporaries were reluctant to + admit that any Southerner, once his State had seceded, could fail to be + loyal to its commands. Nevertheless in considerable areas—such, for + example, as East Tennessee—the majority remained to the end openly + for the Union, and there were large regions in the South to which until + quite recently the eye of the student had not been turned. They were like + deep shadows under mighty trees + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> + on the face of a brilliant landscape. When + the peasant Unionist who had been forced into the army deserted, however, + he found in these shadows a nucleus of desperate men ready to combine with + him in opposition to the local authorities. + </p> + <p> + Thus were formed local bands of free companions who pillaged the civilian + population. The desperadoes whom the deserters joined have been described + by Professor Dodd as the "neglected by-products" of the old régime. + They were broken white men, or the children of such, of the sort that under + other circumstances have congregated in the slums of great cities. Though + the South lacked great cities, nevertheless it had its slum—a + widespread slum, scattered among its swamps and forests. In these + fastnesses were the lowest of the poor whites, in whom hatred of the + dominant whites and vengeful malice against the negro burned like slow + fires. When almost everywhere the countryside was stripped of its fighting + men, these wretches emerged from their swamps and forests, like the Paris + rabble emerging from its dens at the opening of the Revolution. But unlike + the Frenchmen, they were too sodden to be capable of ideas. Like predatory + wild beasts they revenged themselves upon the society that had cast them + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> + off, and with utter heartlessness they smote the now defenseless negro. In + the old days, with the country well policed, the slaves had been protected + against their fury, but war now changed all. The negro villages—or + "streets," as the term was—were without arms and without white + police within call. They were ravaged by these marauders night after + night, and negroes were not the only victims, for in remote districts even + murder of the whites became a familiar horror. + </p> + <p> + The antiwar factions were not necessarily, however, users of violence. + There were some men who cherished a dream which they labeled + "reconstruction"; and there were certain others who believed in separate + state action, still clinging to the illusion that any State had it in its + power to escape from war by concluding a separate peace with the United + States. + </p> + <p> + Yet neither of these illusions made much headway in the States that had + borne the strain of intellectual leadership. Virginia and South Carolina, + though seldom seeing things eye to eye and finally drifting in opposite + directions, put but little faith in either "reconstruction" or separate + peace. Their leaders had learned the truth about men and nations; they + knew that life is a grim business; they + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> + knew that war had unloosed + passions that had to spend themselves and that could not be talked away. + </p> + <p> + But there was scattered over the Confederacy a population which lacked + experience of the world and which included in the main those small farmers + and semipeasants who under the old régime were released from the + burden of taxation and at the same time excluded from the benefits of + education. Among these people the illusions of the higher classes were + reflected without the ballast of mentality. Ready to fight on any + provocation, yet circumscribed by their own natures, not understanding + life, unable to picture to themselves different types and conditions, + these people were as prone as children to confuse the world of their + own desire with the world of fact. When hardship came, when taxation + fell upon them with a great blow, when the war took a turn that + necessitated imagination for its understanding and faith for its + pursuit, these people with childlike simplicity immediately became + panic-stricken. Like the similar class in the North, they had + measureless faith in talk. Hence for them, as for Horace Greeley + and many another, sprang up the notion that if only all their sort + could be brought together + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> + for talk and talk and yet more talk, + the Union could be "reconstructed" just as it used to be, and the cruel + war would end. Before their eyes, as before Greeley in 1864, danced the + fata morgana of a convention of all the States, talking, talking, talking. + </p> + <p> + The peace illusion centered in North Carolina, where the people were as + enthusiastic for state sovereignty as were any Southerners. They had + seceded mainly because they felt that this principle had been attacked. + Having themselves little if any intention to promote slavery, they + nevertheless were prompt to resent interference with the system or with + any other Southern institution. Jonathan Worth said that they looked on + both abolition and secession as children of the devil, and he put the + responsibility for the secession of his State wholly upon Lincoln and his + attempt to coerce the lower South. This attitude was probably + characteristic of all classes in North Carolina. There also an unusually + large percentage of men lacked education and knowledge of the world. We + have seen how the first experience with taxation produced instant and + violent reaction. The peasant farmers of the western counties and the + general mass of the people began to distrust the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> + planter class. They began + asking if their allies, the other States, were controlled by that same + class which seemed to be crushing them by the exaction of tithes. And then + the popular cry was raised: Was there after all anything in the war for + the masses in North Carolina? Had they left the frying-pan for the fire? + Could they better things by withdrawing from association with their + present allies and going back alone into the Union? The delusion that they + could do so whenever they pleased and on the old footing seems to have + been widespread. One of their catch phrases was "the Constitution as it is + and the Union as it was." Throughout 1863, when the agitation against + tithes was growing every day, the "conservatives" of North Carolina, as + their leaders named them, were drawing together in a definite movement for + peace. This project came to a head during the next year in those grim days + when Sherman was before Atlanta. Holden, that champion of the opposition + to tithes, became a candidate for Governor against Vance, who was standing + for reëlection. Holden stated his platform in the organ of his party: "If + the people of North Carolina are for perpetual conscriptions, impressments + and seizures to keep up a perpetual, devastating and exhausting war, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> + let them vote for Governor Vance, for he is for 'fighting it out now'; + but if they believe, from the bitter experience of the last three years, + that the sword can never end it, and are in favor of steps being taken + by the State to urge negotiations by the general government for an + honorable and speedy peace, they must vote for Mr. Holden." + </p> + <p> + As Holden, however, was beaten by a vote that stood about three to one, + Governor Vance continued in power, but just what he stood for and just + what his supporters understood to be his policy would be hard to say. A + year earlier he was for attempting to negotiate peace, but though + professing to have come over to the war party he was never a cordial + supporter of the Confederacy. In a hundred ways he played upon the strong + local distrust of Richmond, and upon the feeling that North Carolina was + being exploited in the interests of the remainder of the South. To cripple + the efficiency of Confederate conscription was one of his constant aims. + Whatever his views of the struggle in which he was engaged, they did not + include either an appreciation of Southern nationalism or the strategist's + conception of war. Granted that the other States were merely his allies, + Vance pursued a course that might justly have aroused + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> + their suspicion, for + so far as he was able he devoted the resources of the State wholly to the + use of its own citizens. The food and the manufactures of North Carolina + were to be used solely by its own troops, not by troops of the Confederacy + raised in other States. And yet, subsequent to his reëlection, he was not + a figure in the movement to negotiate peace. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile in Georgia, where secession had met with powerful opposition, + the policies of the Government had produced discontent not only with the + management of the war but with the war itself. And now Alexander H. + Stephens becomes, for a season, very nearly the central figure of + Confederate history. Early in 1864 the new act suspending the writ of + <i>habeas corpus</i> had aroused the wrath of Georgia, and Stephens had become + the mouthpiece of the opposition. In an address to the Legislature, he + condemned in most exaggerated language not only the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act but + also the new Conscription Act. Soon afterward he wrote a long letter to + Herschel V. Johnson, who, like himself, had been an enemy of secession in + 1861. He said that if Johnson doubted that the <i>Habeas Corpus</i> Act was a + blow struck at the very "vitals of liberty," then he "would not believe + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> + though one were to rise from the dead." In this extraordinary letter + Stephens went on "most confidentially" to state his attitude toward Davis + thus: "While I do not and never have regarded him as a great man or + statesman on a large scale, or a man of any marked genius, yet I have + regarded him as a man of good intentions, weak and vacillating, timid, + petulant, peevish, obstinate, but not firm. Am now beginning to doubt his + good intentions.… His whole policy on the organization and discipline of + the army is perfectly consistent with the hypothesis that he is aiming at + absolute power." + </p> + <p> + That a man of Stephens's ability should have dealt in fustian like this in + the most dreadful moment of Confederate history is a psychological problem + that is not easily solved. To be sure, Stephens was an extreme instance of + the martinet of constitutionalism. He reminds us of those old-fashioned + generals of whom Macaulay said that they preferred to lose a battle + according to rule than win it by an exception. Such men find it easy to + transform into a bugaboo any one who appears to them to be acting + irregularly. Stephens in his own mind had so transformed the President. + The enormous difficulties and the wholly + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> + abnormal circumstances which + surrounded Davis counted with Stephens for nothing at all, and he reasoned + about the Administration as if it were operating in a vacuum. Having come + to this extraordinary position, Stephens passed easily into a rôle that + verged upon treason. ¹ + </p> + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_174-1" name="footer_174-1"></a> + ¹ There can be no question that Stephens never did anything + which in his own mind was in the least disloyal. And yet it + was Stephens who, in the autumn of 1864, was singled out by + artful men as a possible figurehead in the conduct of a + separate peace negotiation with Sherman. A critic very + hostile to Stephens and his faction might here raise the + question as to what was at bottom the motive of Governor + Brown, in the autumn of 1864, in withdrawing the Georgia + militia from Hood's command. Was there something afoot that + has never quite revealed itself on the broad pages of + history? As ordinarily told, the story is simply that + certain desperate Georgians asked Stephens to be their + ambassador to Sherman to discuss terms; that Sherman had + given them encouragement; but that Stephens avoided the + trap, and so nothing came of it. The recently published + correspondence of Toombs, Stephens, and Cobb, however, + contains one passage that has rather a startling sound. + Brown, writing to Stephens regarding his letter refusing to + meet Sherman, says, "It keeps the door open and I think this + is wise." At the same time he made a public statement that + "Georgia has power to act independently but her faith is + pledged by implication to her Southern sisters … will + triumph with her Southern sisters or sink with them in + common ruin." It is still to be discovered what "door" + Stephens was supposed to have kept open. + </p> + </div> + <p> + Peace talk was now + in the air, and especially was there chatter about + reconstruction. The illusionists seemed unable to perceive + that the reëlection of Lincoln had robbed them of their last + card. These dreamers did not even pause to wonder why + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> + after the terrible successes of the Federal army in Georgia, + Lincoln should be expected to reverse his policy and restore + the Union with the Southern States on the old footing. The + peace mania also invaded South Carolina and was espoused by + one of its Congressmen, Mr. Boyce, but he made few converts + among his own people. The <i>Mercury</i> scouted the idea; + clear-sighted and disillusioned, it saw the only alternatives to + be victory or subjugation. Boyce's argument was that the + South had already succumbed to military despotism and would + have to endure it forever unless it accepted the terms of + the invaders. News of Boyce's attitude called forth vigorous + protest from the army before Petersburg, and even went so + far afield as New York, where it was discussed in the + columns of the <i>Herald.</i> + </p> + + + <p> + In the midst of the Northern elections, when Davis was hoping great things + from the anti-Lincoln men, Stephens had said in print that he believed + Davis really wished the Northern peace party defeated, whereupon Davis had + written to him demanding reasons for this astounding charge. To the + letter, which had missed Stephens at his home and had followed him late in + the year to Richmond, Stephens wrote in the middle of December a long + reply which is one of the most curious + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> + documents in American history. He + justified himself upon two grounds. One was a statement which Davis had + made in a speech at Columbia, in October, indicating that he was averse to + the scheme of certain Northern peace men for a convention of all the + States. Stephens insisted that such a convention would have ended the war + and secured the independence of the South. Davis cleared himself on this + charge by saying that the speech at Columbia "was delivered after the + publication of McClellan's letter avowing his purpose to force reunion by + war if we declined reconstruction when offered, and therefore warned the + people against delusive hopes of peace from any other influence than that + to be exerted by the manifestation of an unconquerable spirit." + </p> + <p> + As Stephens professed to have independence and not reconstruction for his + aim, he had missed his mark with this first shot. He fared still worse + with the second. During the previous spring a Northern soldier captured in + the southeast had appealed for parole on the ground that he was a secret + emissary to the President from the peace men of the North. Davis, who did + not take him seriously, gave orders to have the case investigated, but + Stephens, whose mentality in this period is so + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> + curiously overcast, + swallowed the prisoner's story without hesitation. He and Davis had a + considerable amount of correspondence on the subject. In the fierce + tension of the summer of 1864 the War Department went so far as to have + the man's character investigated, but the report was unsatisfactory. He + was not paroled and died in prison. This episode Stephens now brought + forward as evidence that Davis had frustrated an attempt of the Northern + peace party to negotiate. Davis contented himself with replying, "I make + no comment on this." + </p> + <p> + The next step in the peace intrigue took place at the opening of the next + year, 1865. Stephens attempted to address the Senate on his favorite + topic, the wickedness of the suspension of <i>habeas corpus;</i> was halted by a + point of parliamentary law; and when the Senate sustained an appeal from + his decision, left the chamber in a pique. Hunter, now a Senator, became + an envoy to placate him and succeeded in bringing him back. Thereupon + Stephens poured out his soul in a furious attack upon the Administration. + He ended by submitting resolutions which were just what he might have + submitted four years earlier before a gun had been fired, so entirely had + his mind crystallized in the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> + stress of war! These resolutions, besides + reasserting the full state rights theory, assumed the readiness of the + North to make peace and called for a general convention of all the States + to draw up some new arrangement on a confessed state rights basis. More + than a month before, Lincoln had been reëlected on an unequivocal + nationalistic platform. And yet Stephens continued to believe that the + Northerners did not mean what they said and that in congregated talking + lay the magic which would change the world of fact into the world of his + own desire. + </p> + <p> + At this point in the peace intrigue the ambiguous figure of Napoleon the + Little reappears, though only to pass ghostlike across the back of the + stage. The determination of Northern leaders to oppose Napoleon had + suggested to shrewd politicians a possible change of front. That singular + member of the Confederate Congress, Henry S. Foote, thought he saw in the + Mexican imbroglio means to bring Lincoln to terms. In November he had + introduced into the House resolutions which intimated that "it might + become the true policy of … the Confederate States to consent to the + yielding of the great principle embodied in the Monroe Doctrine." The + House referred his + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> + resolutions to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and + there they slumbered until January. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile a Northern politician brought on the specter of Napoleon for a + different purpose. Early in January, 1865, Francis P. Blair made a journey + to Richmond and proposed to Davis a plan of reconciliation involving the + complete abandonment of slavery, the reunion of all the States, and an + expedition against Mexico in which Davis was to play the leading + rôle. Davis cautiously refrained from committing himself, though + he gave Blair a letter in which he expressed his willingness to enter + into negotiations for peace between "the two countries." The visit of + Blair gave new impetus to the peace intrigue. The Confederate House + Committee on Foreign Affairs reported resolutions favoring an attempt + to negotiate with the United States so as to "bring into view" the + possibility of coöperation between the United States and the + Confederacy to maintain the Monroe Doctrine. The same day saw another + singular incident. For some reason that has never been divulged Foote + determined to counterbalance Blair's visit to Richmond by a visit of + his own to Washington. In attempting to pass through the Confederate + lines he was arrested by + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> + the military authorities. With this fiasco Foote passes from the stage + of history. + </p> + <p> + The doings of Blair, however, continued to be a topic of general interest + throughout January. The military intrigue was now simmering down through + the creation of the office of commanding general. The attempt of the + congressional opposition to drive the whole Cabinet from office reached a + compromise in the single retirement of the Secretary of War. Before the + end of the month the peace question was the paramount one before Congress + and the country. Newspapers discussed the movements of Blair, apparently + with little knowledge, and some of the papers asserted hopefully that + peace was within reach. Cooler heads, such as the majority of the Virginia + Legislature, rejected this idea as baseless. The <i>Mercury</i> called the peace + party the worst enemy of the South. Lee was reported by the Richmond + correspondent of the <i>Mercury</i> as not caring a fig for the peace project. + Nevertheless the rumor persisted that Blair had offered peace on terms + that the Confederacy could accept. Late in the month, Davis appointed + Stephens, Hunter, and John A. Campbell commissioners to confer with the + Northern authorities with regard to peace. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> + There followed the famous conference of February 3, 1865, in the cabin of + a steamer at Hampton Roads, with Seward and Lincoln. The Confederate + commissioners represented two points of view: that of the Administration, + unwilling to make peace without independence; and that of the infatuated + Stephens who clung to the idea that Lincoln did not mean what he said, and + who now urged "an armistice allowing the States to adjust themselves as + suited their interests. If it would be to their interests to reunite, they + would do so." The refusal of Lincoln to consider either of these points of + view—the refusal so clearly foreseen by Davis—put an end to + the career of Stephens. He was "hoist with his own petard." + </p> + <p> + The news of the failure of the conference was variously received. The + <i>Mercury</i> rejoiced because there was now no doubt how things stood. + Stephens, unwilling to coöperate with the Administration, left the capital + and went home to Georgia. At Richmond, though the snow lay thick on the + ground, a great public meeting was held on the 6th of February in the + precincts of the African Church. Here Davis made an address which has been + called his greatest and which produced a profound impression. A wave of + enthusiasm swept + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> + over Richmond, and for a moment the President appeared + once more to be master of the situation. His immense audacity carried the + people with him when, after showing what might be done by more drastic + enforcement of the conscription laws, he concluded: "Let us then unite our + hands and our hearts, lock our shields together, and we may well believe + that before another summer solstice falls upon us, it will be the enemy + that will be asking us for conferences and occasions in which to make + known our demands." + </p> + <hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> + <a name="chap11" id="chap11"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER XI.</a> + </h2> + </div> + <p class="chaptertitle">An Attempted Revolution</p> + + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">Almost</span> + from the moment when the South had declared its independence voices + had been raised in favor of arming the negroes. The rejection of a plan to + accomplish this was one of the incidents of Benjamin's tenure of the + portfolio of the War Department; but it was not until the early days of + 1864, when the forces of Johnston lay encamped at Dalton, Georgia, that + the arming of the slaves was seriously discussed by a council of officers. + Even then the proposal had its determined champions, though there were + others among Johnston's officers who regarded it as "contrary to all true + principles of chivalric warfare," and their votes prevailed in the council + by a large majority. + </p> + <p> + From that time forward the question of arming the slaves hung like a heavy + cloud over all Confederate thought of the war. It was discussed in the + army and at home around troubled firesides. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> + Letters written from the + trenches at Petersburg show that it was debated by the soldiers, and the + intense repugnance which the idea inspired in some minds was shown by + threats to leave the ranks if the slaves were given arms. + </p> + <p> + Amid the pressing, obvious issues of 1864, this project hardly appears + upon the face of the record until it was alluded to in Davis's message to + Congress in November, 1864, and in the annual report of the Secretary of + War. The President did not as yet ask for slave soldiers. He did, however, + ask for the privilege of buying slaves for government use—not merely + hiring them from their owners as had hitherto been done—and for + permission, if the Government so desired, to emancipate them at the end of + their service. The Secretary of War went farther, however, and advocated + negro soldiers, and he too suggested their emancipation at the end of + service. + </p> + <p> + This feeling of the temper of the country, so to speak, produced an + immediate response. It drew Rhett from his retirement and inspired a + letter in which he took the Government severely to task for designing to + remove from state control this matter of fundamental importance. + Coinciding with the cry for more troops with which to confront Sherman, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span> + the topic of negro soldiers became at once one of the questions of the + hour. It helped to focus that violent anti-Davis movement which is the + conspicuous event of December, 1864, and January, 1865. Those who believed + the President unscrupulous trembled at the thought of putting into his + hands a great army of hardy barbarians trained to absolute obedience. The + prospect of such a weapon held in one firm hand at Richmond seemed to + those opponents of the President a greater menace to their liberties than + even the armies of the invaders. It is quite likely that distrust of Davis + and dread of the use he might make of such a weapon was increased by a + letter from Benjamin to Frederick A. Porcher of Charleston, a supporter of + the Government, who had made rash suggestions as to the + extraconstitutional power that the Administration might be justified by + circumstances in assuming. Benjamin deprecated such suggestions but + concluded with the unfortunate remark: "If the Constitution is not to be + our guide I would prefer to see it suppressed by a revolution which should + declare a dictatorship during the war, after the manner of ancient Rome, + leaving to the future the care of reëstablishing firm and regular + government." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span> + In the State of Virginia, indeed, the revolutionary + suggestions of the President's message and the Secretary's report were + promptly taken up and made the basis of a political program, which + Governor Smith embodied in his message to the Legislature—a document + that will eventually take its place among the most interesting state + papers of the Confederacy. It should be noted that the suggestions thrown + out in this way by the Administration to test public feeling involved + three distinct questions: Should the slaves be given arms? Should they, if + employed as soldiers, be given their freedom? Should this revolutionary + scheme, if accepted at all, be handled by the general Government or left + to the several States? On the last of the three questions the Governor of + Virginia was silent; by implication he treated the matter as a concern of + the States. Upon the first and second questions, however, he was explicit + and advised arming the slaves. He then added: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + Even if the result were to emancipate our slaves, there is not a man who + would not cheerfully put the negro into the Army rather than become a + slave himself to our hated and vindictive foe. It is, then, simply a + question of time. Has the time arrived when this issue is fairly before + us?… For my part standing before God and my country, I do not hesitate + to say that I would + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> + arm such portion of our able-bodied slave population + as may be necessary, and put them in the field, so as to have them ready + for the spring campaign, even if it resulted in the freedom of those thus + organized. Will I not employ them to fight the negro force of the enemy? + Aye, the Yankees themselves, who already boast that they have 200,000 of + our slaves in arms against us. Can we hesitate, can we doubt, when the + question is, whether the enemy shall use our slaves against us or we use + them against him; when the question may be between liberty and + independence on the one hand, or our subjugation and utter ruin on the + other? + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + With their Governor as leader for the Administration, the Virginians found + this issue the absorbing topic of the hour. And now the great figure of + Lee takes its rightful place at the very center of Confederate history, + not only military but civil, for to Lee the Virginia politicians turned + for advice. ¹ In a letter to a State Senator of Virginia who had asked for + a public expression of Lee's + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span> + views because "a mountain of prejudices, + growing out of our ancient modes of regarding the institution of Southern + slavery will have to be met and overcome" in order to attain unanimity, + Lee discussed both the institution of slavery and the situation of the + moment. He plainly intimated that slavery should be placed under state + control; and, assuming such control, be considered "the relation of master + and slave … the best that can exist between the black and white races + while intermingled as at present in this country." He went on to show, + however, that military necessity now compelled a revolution in sentiment + on this subject, and he came at last to this momentous conclusion: + </p> + + <div class="footer"> + <p class="footer"> + <a id="footer_188-1" name="footer_188-1"></a> + ¹ Lee now revealed himself in his previously overlooked + capacity of statesman. Whether his abilities in this respect + equaled his abilities as a soldier need not here be + considered; it is said that he himself had no high opinion + of them. However, in the advice which he gave at this final + moment of crisis, he expressed a definite conception of the + articulation of civil forces in such a system as that of the + Confederacy. He held that all initiative upon basal matters + should remain with the separate States, that the function of + the general Government was to administer, not to create + conditions, and that the proper power to constrain the State + Legislatures was the flexible, extra-legal power of public + opinion. + </p> + </div> + + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + Should the war continue under existing circumstances, the enemy may in + course of time penetrate our country and get access to a large part of our + negro population. It is his avowed policy to convert the able-bodied men + among them into soldiers, and to emancipate all.… His progress will thus + add to his numbers, and at the same time destroy slavery in a manner most + pernicious to the welfare of our people. Their negroes will be used to + hold them in subjection, leaving the remaining force of the enemy free to + extend his conquest. Whatever may be the effect of our employing negro + troops, it cannot be as mischievous as this. If it end in subverting + slavery it will be accomplished by ourselves, and we can + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span> + devise the means + of alleviating the evil consequences to both races. I think, therefore, we + must decide whether slavery shall be extinguished by our enemies and the + slaves be used against us, or use them ourselves at the risk of the + effects which may be produced upon our social institutions … + </p> + <p> + The reasons that induce me to recommend the employment of negro troops at + all render the effect of the measures … upon slavery immaterial, and in + my opinion the best means of securing the efficiency and fidelity of this + auxiliary force would be to accompany the measure with a well-digested + plan of gradual and general emancipation. As that will be the result of + the continuance of the war, and will certainly occur if the enemy succeed, + it seems to me most advisable to adopt it at once, and thereby obtain all + the benefits that will accrue to our cause.… + </p> + <p> + I can only say in conclusion, that whatever measures are to be adopted + should be adopted at once. Every day's delay increases the difficulty. + Much time will be required to organize and discipline the men, and action + may be deferred until it is too late. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Lee wrote these words on January 11, 1865. At that time a fresh wave of + despondency had gone over the South because of Hood's rout at Nashville; + Congress was debating intermittently the possible arming of the slaves; + and the newspapers were prophesying that the Administration would + presently force the issue. It is to be observed that Lee did not advise + Virginia to wait for Confederate + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> + action. He advocated emancipation by the + State. After all, to both Lee and Smith, Virginia was their "country." + </p> + <p> + During the next sixty days Lee rejected two great opportunities—or, + if you will, put aside two great temptations. If tradition is to be + trusted, it was during January that Lee refused to play the rôle of + Cromwell by declining to intervene directly in general Confederate + politics. But there remained open the possibility of his intervention in + Virginia politics, and the local crisis was in its own way as momentous as + the general crisis. What if Virginia had accepted the views of Lee and + insisted upon the immediate arming of the slaves? Virginia, however, did + not do so; and Lee, having made public his position, refrained from + further participation. Politically speaking, he maintained a splendid + isolation at the head of the armies. + </p> + <p> + Through January and February the Virginia crisis continued undetermined. + In this period of fateful hesitation, the "mountains of prejudice" proved + too great to be undermined even by the influence of Lee. When at last + Virginia enacted a law permitting the arming of her slaves, no provision + was made for their manumission. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span> + Long before the passage of this act in Virginia, Congress had become the + center of the controversy. Davis had come to the point where no tradition + however cherished would stand, in his mind, against the needs of the + moment. To reinforce the army in great strength was now his supreme + concern, and he saw but one way to do it. As a last resort he was prepared + to embrace the bold plan which so many people still regarded with horror + and which as late as the previous November he himself had opposed. He + would arm the slaves. On February 10, 1865, bills providing for the arming + of the slaves were introduced both in the House and in the Senate. + </p> + <p> + On this issue all the forces both of the Government and the opposition + fought their concluding duel in which were involved all the other basal + issues that had distracted the country since 1862. Naturally there was a + bewildering criss-cross of political motives. There were men who, like + Smith and Lee, would go along with the Government on emancipation, + provided it was to be carried out by the free will of the States. There + were others who preferred subjugation to the arming of the slaves; and + among these there were clashings of motive. Then, too, there were those + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> + who were willing to arm the slaves but were resolved not to give them + their freedom. + </p> + <p> + The debate brings to the front of the political stage the figure of + R. M. T. Hunter. Hitherto his part has not been conspicuous either as Secretary + of State or as Senator from Virginia. He now becomes, in the words of + Davis, "a chief obstacle" to the passage of the Senate bill which would + have authorized a levy of negro troops and provided for their manumission + by the War Department with the consent of the State in which they should + be at the time of the proposed manumission. After long discussion, this + bill was indefinitely postponed. Meanwhile a very different bill had + dragged through the House. While it was under debate, another appeal was + made to Lee. Barksdale, who came as near as any one to being the leader of + the Administration, sought Lee's aid. Again the General urged the + enrollment of negro soldiers and their eventual manumission, but added + this immensely significant proviso: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + I have no doubt that if Congress would authorize their [the negroes'] + reception into service, and empower the President to call upon individuals + or States for such as they are willing to contribute, with the condition + of emancipation to all enrolled, a sufficient number would + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> + be forthcoming + to enable us to try the experiment [of determining whether the slaves + would make good soldiers]. If it proved successful, most of the objections + to the measure would disappear, and if individuals still remained + unwilling to send their negroes to the army, the force of public opinion + in the States would soon bring about such legislation as would remove all + obstacles. I think the matter should be left, as far as possible, to the + people and to the States, which alone can legislate as the necessities of + this particular service may require. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + The fact that Congress had before it this advice from Lee explains why all + factions accepted a compromise bill, passed on the 9th of March, approved + by the President on the 13th of March, and issued to the country in a + general order on the 23d of March. It empowered the President to "ask for + and accept from the owners of slaves" the service of such number of + negroes as he saw fit, and if sufficient number were not offered to "call + on each State … for her quota of 300,000 troops … to be + raised from such classes of the population, irrespective of color, in + each State as the proper authorities thereof may determine." However, + "nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize a change in the + relation which the said slaves shall bear toward their owners, except by + consent of the owners and of the States in which + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span> + they may reside and in pursuance of the laws thereof." + </p> + <p> + The results of this act were negligible. Its failure to offer the + slave-soldier his freedom was at once seized upon by critics as evidence + of the futility of the course of the Administration. The sneer went round + that the negro was to be made to fight for his own captivity. + Pollard—whose words, however, must be taken with a grain of + salt—has left this account of recruiting under the new act: + "Two companies of blacks, organized from some negro vagabonds in + Richmond, were allowed to give balls at the Libby Prison and were + exhibited in fine fresh uniforms on Capitol Square as decoys to + obtain recruits. But the mass of their colored brethren looked on + the parade with unenvious eyes, and little boys + exhibited the early prejudices of race by pelting the fine uniforms with + mud." + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless both Davis and Lee busied themselves in the endeavor to raise + black troops. Governor Smith coöperated with them. And in the mind of the + President there was no abandonment of the program of emancipation, which + was now his cardinal policy. Soon after the passage of the act, he wrote + to Smith: "I am happy to receive your assurance of success [in raising + black troops], + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span> + as well as your promise to seek legislation to secure + unmistakable freedom to the slave who shall enter the Army, with a right + to return to his old home, when he shall have been honorably discharged + from military service." + </p> + <p> + While this final controversy was being fought out in Congress, the + enthusiasm for the Administration had again ebbed. Its recovery of + prestige had run a brief course and was gone, and now in the midst of the + discussion over the negro soldiers' bills, the opposition once more + attacked the Cabinet, with its old enemy, Benjamin, as the target. + Resolutions were introduced into the Senate declaring that "the retirement + of the Honorable Judah P. Benjamin from the State Department will be + subservient of the public interests"; in the House resolutions were + offered describing his public utterances as "derogatory to his position as + a high public functionary of the Confederate Government, a reflection on + the motives of Congress as a deliberative body, and an insult to public + opinion." + </p> + <p> + So Congress wrangled and delayed while the wave of fire that was Sherman's + advance moved northward through the Carolinas. Columbia had gone up in + smoke while the Senate debated day + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> + after day—fifteen in all—what + to do with the compromise bill sent up to it from the House. It was during + this period that a new complication appears to have been added to a + situation which was already so hopelessly entangled, for this was the time + when Governor Magrath made a proposal to Governor Vance for a league + within the Confederacy, giving as his chief reason that Virginia's + interests were parting company with those of the lower South. The same + doubt of the upper South appears at various times in the <i>Mercury.</i> And + through all the tactics of the opposition runs the constant effort to + discredit Davis. The <i>Mercury</i> scoffed at the agitation for negro soldiers + as a mad attempt on the part of the Administration to remedy its "myriad + previous blunders." + </p> + <p> + In these terrible days, the mind of Davis hardened. He became possessed by + a lofty and intolerant confidence, an absolute conviction that, in spite + of all appearances, he was on the threshold of success. We may safely + ascribe to him in these days that illusory state of mind which has + characterized some of the greatest of men in their over-strained, + concluding periods. His extraordinary promises in his later messages, a + series of vain prophecies beginning with his speech at the African + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span> + Church, remind one of Napoleon after Leipzig refusing the Rhine as a boundary. His + nerves, too, were all but at the breaking-point. He sent the Senate a + scolding message because of its delay in passing the Negro Soldiers' Bill. + The Senate answered in a report that was sharply critical of his own + course. Shortly afterward Congress adjourned refusing his request for + another suspension of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>. + </p> + <p> + Davis had hinted at important matters he hoped soon to be able to submit + to Congress. What he had in mind was the last, the boldest, stroke of this + period of desperation. The policy of emancipation he and Benjamin had + accepted without reserve. They had at last perceived, too late, the power + of the anti-slavery movement in Europe. Though they had already failed to + coerce England through cotton and had been played with and abandoned by + Napoleon, they persisted in thinking that there was still a chance for a + third chapter in their foreign affairs. + </p> + <p> + The agitation to arm the slaves, with the promise of freedom, had another + motive besides the reinforcement of Lee's army: it was intended to serve + as a basis for negotiations with England and France. To that end + D. J. Kenner was dispatched to Europe + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span> + early in 1865. Passing through New York in + disguise, he carried word of this revolutionary program to the Confederate + commissioners abroad. A conference at Paris was held by Kenner, Mason, and + Slidell. Mason, who had gone over to England to sound Palmerston with + regard to this last Confederate hope, was received on the 14th of March. + On the previous day, Davis had accepted temporary defeat, by signing the + compromise bill which omitted emancipation. But as there was no cable + operating at the time, Mason was not aware of this rebuff. In his own + words, he "urged upon Lord P. that if the President was right in his + impression that there was some latent, undisclosed obstacle on the part of + Great Britain to recognition, it should be frankly stated, and we might, + if in our power to do so, consent to remove it." Palmerston, though his + manner was "conciliatory and kind," insisted that there was nothing + "underlying" his previous statements, and that he could not, in view of + the facts then existing, regard the Confederacy in the light of an + independent power. Mason parted from him convinced that "the most ample + concessions on our part in the matter referred to would have produced no + change in the course determined on by the British Government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> + with regard to recognition." In a subsequent interview with Lord + Donoughmore, he was frankly told that the offer of emancipation had + come too late. + </p> + <p> + The dispatch in which Mason reported the attitude of the British + Government never reached the Confederate authorities. It was dated the + 31st of March. Two days later Richmond was evacuated by the Confederate + Government. + </p> + <hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> + <a name="chap12" id="chap12"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER XII.</a> + </h2> + </div> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Last Word</p> + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">The</span> + evacuation of Richmond broke the back of the Confederate defense. + Congress had adjourned. The legislative history of the Confederacy was at + an end. The executive history still had a few days to run. After + destroying great quantities of records, the government officials had + packed the remainder on a long train that conveyed the President and what + was left of the civil service to Danville. During a few days, Danville was + the Confederate capital. There, Davis, still unable to conceive defeat, + issued his pathetic last <i>Address to the People of the Confederate States.</i> + His mind was crystallized. He was no longer capable of judging facts. In + as confident tones as ever he promised his people that they should yet + prevail; he assured Virginians that even if the Confederate army should + withdraw further south the withdrawal would be but temporary, and that + "again and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span> + again will we return until the baffled and exhausted enemy + shall abandon in despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves + of a people resolved to be free." + </p> + <p> + The surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, compelled another migration + of the dwindling executive company. General Johnston had not yet + surrendered. A conference which he had with the President and the Cabinet + at Greensboro ended in giving him permission to negotiate with Sherman. + Even then Davis was still bent on keeping up the fight; yet, though he + believed that Sherman would reject Johnston's overtures, he was overtaken + at Charlotte on his way South by the crushing news of Johnston's + surrender. There the executive history of the Confederacy came to an end + in a final Cabinet meeting. Davis, still blindly resolute to continue the + struggle, was deeply distressed by the determination of his advisers to + abandon it. In imminent danger of capture, the President's party made its + way to Abbeville, where it broke up, and each member sought safety as best + he could. Davis with a few faithful men rode to Irwinsville, Georgia, + where, in the early morning of the 10th of May, he was surprised and + captured. But the history of the Confederacy was not quite + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span> + at an end. The + last gunshots were still to be fired far away in Texas on the 13th of May. + The surrender of the forces of the Trans-Mississippi on May 26, 1865, + brought the war to a definite conclusion. + </p> + <p> + There remains one incident of these closing days, the significance of + which was not perceived until long afterward, when it immediately took its + rightful place among the determining events of American history. The + unconquerable spirit of the Army of Northern Virginia found its last + expression in a proposal which was made to Lee by his officers. If he + would give the word, they would make the war a duel to the death; it + should drag out in relentless guerrilla struggles; and there should be no + pacification of the South until the fighting classes had been + exterminated. Considering what those classes were, considering the + qualities that could be handed on to their posterity, one realizes that + this suicide of a whole people, of a noble fighting people, would have + maimed incalculably the America of the future. But though the heroism of + this proposal of his men to die on their shields had its stern charm for + so brave a man as Lee, he refused to consider it. He would not admit that + he and his people had a right thus to extinguish their power + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span> + to help mold + the future, no matter whether it be the future they desired or not. The + result of battle must be accepted. The Southern spirit must not perish, + luxuriating blindly in despair, but must find a new form of expression, + must become part of the new world that was to be, must look to a new birth + under new conditions. In this spirit he issued to his army his last + address: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and + fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to + overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the survivors of so + many hard-fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I + have consented to the result from no distrust of them; but feeling that + valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the + loss that would have attended the continuation of the contest, I + determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services + have endeared them to their countrymen.… I bid you an affectionate + farewell. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + How inevitably one calls to mind, in view of the indomitable valor of + Lee's final decision, those great lines from Tennyson: + </p> +<div class="poem1"> + <p class="poem1">Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'</p> + <p class="poem1">We are not now that strength which in old days</p> + <p class="poem1">Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;</p> + <p class="poem1">One equal temper of heroic hearts,</p> + <p class="poem1">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will.</p> +</div> +<hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span> + <a name="biblio" id="biblio"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</a> + </h2> + </div> + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="smcap">There</span> + is no adequate history of the Confederacy. It is rumored that a + distinguished scholar has a great work approaching completion. It is also + rumored that another scholar, well equipped to do so, will soon bring out + a monumental life of Davis. But the fact remains that as yet we lack a + comprehensive review of the Confederate episode set in proper perspective. + Standard works such as the <i>History of the United States from the + Compromise of 1850</i>, by J. F. Rhodes (7 vols., 1893-1906), even when + otherwise as near a classic as is the work of Mr. Rhodes, treat the + Confederacy so externally as to have in this respect little value. The one + searching study of the subject, <i>The Confederate States of America,</i> by + J. C. Schwab (1901), though admirable in its way, is wholly overshadowed by + the point of view of the economist. The same is to be said of the article + by Professor Schwab in the 11th edition of <i>The Encyclopædia Britannica.</i> + </p> + <p> + Two famous discussions of the episode by participants are: <i>The Rise and + Fall of the Confederate Government,</i> by the President of the Confederacy + (2 vols., 1881), and <i>A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the + States,</i> by Alexander H. Stephens (2 vols., 1870). Both works, though + invaluable to the student, are tinged with controversy, each of the + eminent + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span> + authors aiming to refute the arguments of political antagonists. + </p> + <p> + The military history of the time has so overshadowed the civil, in the + minds of most students, that we are still sadly in need of careful, + disinterested studies of the great figures of Confederate civil affairs. + <i>Jefferson Davis,</i> by William E. Dodd (<i>American Crisis Biographies,</i> + 1907), is the standard life of the President, superseding older ones. Not + so satisfactory in the same series is <i>Judah P. Benjamin,</i> by Pierce + Butler (1907), and <i>Alexander H. Stephens,</i> by Louis Pendleton (1907). + Older works which are valuable for the material they contain are: <i>Memoir + of Jefferson Davis,</i> by his Wife (1890); <i>The Life and Times of Alexander + H. Stephens,</i> by R. M. Johnston and W. M. Browne (1878); <i>The Life and + Times of William Lowndes Yancey,</i> by J. W. Du Bose (1892); <i>The Life, + Times, and Speeches of Joseph E. Brown,</i> by Herbert Fielder (1883); + <i>Public Life and Diplomatic Correspondence of James M. Mason,</i> by his + Daughter (1903); <i>The Life and Time of C. G. Memminger,</i> by H. D. Capers + (1893). The writings of E. A. Pollard cannot be disregarded, but must be + taken as the violent expression of an extreme partizan. They include a + <i>Life of Jefferson Davis</i> (1869) and <i>The Lost Cause</i> (1867). A charming + series of essays is <i>Confederate Portraits,</i> by Gamaliel Bradford (1914). + Among books on special topics that are to be recommended are: <i>The + Diplomatic History of the Southern Confederacy</i> by J. M. Callahan (1901); + <i>France and the Confederate Navy,</i> by John Bigelow (1888); and <i>The Secret + Service of the Confederate States in Europe,</i> by J. D. Bulloch (2 vols., + 1884). There is a large number of contemporary accounts of life in the + Confederacy. Historians have + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span> + generally given excessive attention to <i>A + Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital,</i> by J. B. Jones + (2 vols., 1866) which has really neither more nor less value than a + Richmond newspaper. Conspicuous among writings of this type is the + delightful <i>Diary from Dixie,</i> by Mrs. Mary B. Chestnut (1905) and <i>My + Diary, North and South,</i> by W. H. Russell (1862). + </p> + <p> + The documents of the civil history, so far as they are accessible to the + general reader, are to be found in the three volumes forming the fourth + series of the <i>Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies</i> (128 + vols., 1880-1901); the <i>Journals of the Congress of the Confederate + States</i> (8 vols., 1904) and <i>Messages and Papers of the Confederacy,</i> + edited by J. D. Richardson (2 vols., 1905). Four newspapers are of first + importance: the famous opposition organs, the Richmond <i>Examiner</i> and the + Charleston <i>Mercury,</i> which should be offset by the two leading organs of + the Government, the <i>Courier</i> of Charleston and the <i>Enquirer</i> of Richmond. + The Statutes of the Confederacy have been collected and published; most of + them are also to be found in the fourth series of the <i>Official Records</i>. + </p> + <p> + Additional bibliographical references will be found appended to the + articles on the <i>Confederate States of America,</i> <i>Secession,</i> and + <i>Jefferson Davis,</i> in <i>The Encyclopædia Britannica,</i> 11th edition. + </p> + <p> + <br><br><br><br> + </p> + <hr> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p class="center"> + <br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span> + <a name="index" id="index"></a> + <br><br><br> + </p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">INDEX</a> + </h2> + </div> + + + <h3>A</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Alabama, + represented at South Carolina convention, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>; + secedes, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>; + convention, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>; + situation in, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a>; + iron for munitions from, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>; + questions of state sovereignty in, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br> + <i>Alabama</i>, The (ship), <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br> + Anderson, Major Robert, + transfers garrison to Sumter, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>; + refuses Beauregard's demands, + <a href="#Page_15">15</a>-<a href="#Page_16">16</a>; + <i>see also</i> Sumter.<br> + Antietam campaign, + <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br> + Appomattox, surrender at, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.<br> + Arkansas, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, + <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br> + Arman, + shipbuilder of Bordeaux, + <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-<a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br> + Army, + composition and size of, + <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-<a href="#Page_37">37</a>; + state armies, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>; + difficulty of enlisting, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>; + lack of shoes for, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a>-<a href="#Page_78">78</a>; + desertion, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, + <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>; + surrenders, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>-<a href="#Page_202">202</a>; + <i>see also</i> Conscription, Military policy.<br> + Ayer, L. M., of South Carolina, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>B</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Baldwin, of Virginia, tells of martial law, + <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br> + Barksdale, Ethelbert, of Mississippi, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, + <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_85">85</a>, + <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br> + Beauregard, General P. G. T., + and the surrender of Fort Sumter, + <a href="#Page_15">15</a>-<a href="#Page_24">24</a>; + in Georgia, + <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.<br> + Benjamin, J. P., + signs <i>To Our Constituents</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>; + Attorney-General, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>; + Secretary of War, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, + <a href="#Page_79">79</a> (note); + Secretary of State, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>; + complaints against, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>; + life and character, + <a href="#Page_69">69</a>-<a href="#Page_71">71</a>; + denounces Napoleon, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>; + on extraconstitutional power, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>; + attacked by Congress, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>; + accepts policy of emancipation, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.<br> + Blair, F. P., plan of reconciliation, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a>.<br> + Blockade, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br> + Bocock, T. S., Speaker of House, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br> + Bonds, <i>see</i> Finance.<br> + Boyce, of South Carolina, argument for peace, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.<br> + Bragg, General Braxton, + plan to invade Kentucky, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>; + attitude toward press, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>; + Davis's confidence in, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>; + army conditions under, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>; + resigns command, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-<a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br> + Breckinridge, General J. C., + Secretary of War, <a href="#Page_79">79</a> (note).<br> + Brown, J. E., + Governor of Georgia, on secession, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a>-<a href="#Page_7">7</a>; + on conscription, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_66">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_75">75</a>-<a href="#Page_76">76</a>; + opponent of Administration, + <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_149">149</a>; + motives, <a href="#Page_174">174</a> (note).<br> + Bull Run, Battle of, <i>see</i> Manassas.<br> + Bullock, Captain James, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a>.<br> + Butler, A. P., of South Carolina, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>C</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Cabinet, + <a href="#Page_14">14</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, + <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br> + Campbell, J. A., + Confederate commissioner at Hampton Roads, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.<br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span> + Canada, Confederate agents in, + <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br> + Chancellorsville, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br> + Charleston, <a href="#Page_15">15</a> <i>et seq.,</i> + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br> + Charleston <i>Courier,</i> <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, + <a href="#Page_21">21</a>-<a href="#Page_22">22</a>, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-<a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.<br> + Charleston <i>Mercury,</i> + describes siege of Sumter, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>; + opposes Administration, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, + <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-<a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>; + on conscription, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>; + on Seddon's appointment, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>; + on Impressment Act, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>; + on Tax Act, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>; + on suspension of <i>habeas corpus,</i> + <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_83">83</a>, + <a href="#Page_85">85</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>; + issue of conduct of war, + <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>; + account of President's visit to Charleston, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>; + on peace, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>; + doubts upper South, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>; + on negro soldiers, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.<br> + Chattanooga, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br> + Chestnut, James, <a href="#Page_18">18</a> (note).<br> + Chevalier, Michel, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.<br> + Chickamauga campaign, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br> + Clay, C. C., <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br> + Cobb, Howell, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, + <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-<a href="#Page_155">155</a>.<br> + Cold Harbor, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br> + Columbia and Augusta Railroad Company, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br> + "Confederate Societies," <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br> + Confederate States, + provisional government organized, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>; + status of belligerent accorded by England, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>; + clash with state authority, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_40">40</a>; + archives threatened, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>; + period of elation, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a>; + foreign affairs, + <a href="#Page_46">46</a> <i>et seq.;</i> + <a href="#Page_130">130</a> <i>et seq.;</i> + secrecy of government, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>; + divided into separate units, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>; + impotence of government, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>; + anti-war factions in, + <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-<a href="#Page_167">167</a>; + war ended, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>; + <i>see also</i> Davis, South.<br> + Congress, Confederate, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br> + Congress, U. S., + House committee of thirty-three, + <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.<br> + Conscription, adopted, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_38">38</a>; + constitutionality attacked, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>; + Pollard's criticism of enforcement, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>; + correspondence of Davis and Brown on, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_66">66</a>; + Rhett's opinion of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>; + opposition to, + <a href="#Page_75">75</a>-<a href="#Page_77">77</a>; + exemptions, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>; + hiring of substitutes, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>; + failure of State and Confederate + governments to coöperate, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>; + age limits, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_123">123</a>.<br> + Constitution, Confederate, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br> + Corinth, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br> + Cotton, to solve financial problem, + <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_46">46</a>; + necessary to English, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>; + effect of blockade, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_57">57</a>; + powerless to coerce England, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>D</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Danville, Confederate capital, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.<br> + Davis, Jefferson, signs <i>To Our Constituents,</i> + <a href="#Page_3">3</a>; + elected President in provisional Government, + <a href="#Page_11">11</a>; + as President, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, + <a href="#Page_24">24</a> <i>et seq.;</i> + from Mississippi, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>; + born in Kentucky, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>; + early life, + <a href="#Page_31">31</a>-<a href="#Page_32">32</a>; + personal characteristics, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>; + military activities, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>; + criticism of, + <a href="#Page_33">33</a>-<a href="#Page_34">34</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-<a href="#Page_65">65</a>, + <a href="#Page_89">89</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>, + <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a>, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>; + President at first regular election, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>; + inauguration, + <a href="#Page_35">35</a>-<a href="#Page_36">36</a>; + message to Congress (1862), <a href="#Page_36">36</a>; + proposes conscription, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>; + vetoes Texas Regiment Bill, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>; + clash with state authority, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a>-<a href="#Page_40">40</a>; + use of martial law, + <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_42">42</a>; + at height of powers, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>; + shortcomings, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a>; + relations with Lee, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>; + Cabinet, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>; + personal loyalty, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>; + statecraft, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>; + endorses "Confederate Societies," <a href="#Page_95">95</a>; + journeys during Administration, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>-<a href="#Page_97">97</a>; + message to Congress (1863), <a href="#Page_114">114</a>; + message to Congress (1864), + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a>; + in Georgia, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, + <a href="#Page_148">148</a>-<a href="#Page_149">149</a>; + forced to reorganize army, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_164">164</a>; + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span> + confident of Confederate success, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_197">197</a>; + signs compromise bill, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>; + <i>Address to the People of the Confederate States,</i> + <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_201">201</a>; + resolute to continue struggle, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>; + capture at Irwinsville, Ga., <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.<br> + Davis, Mrs. Jefferson, quoted, + <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-<a href="#Page_68">68</a>, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br> + Davis, Reuben, quoted, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.<br> + Deserters, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, + <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br> + Desperadoes, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, + <a href="#Page_166">166</a>-<a href="#Page_167">167</a>.<br> + Donelson, Fort, + <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.<br> + Donoughmore, Lord, Mason interviews, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.<br> + Draft, <i>see</i> Conscription.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>E</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Egypt enters cotton competition, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a>-<a href="#Page_57">57</a>.<br> + Elmore, of Alabama, addresses South Carolina convention, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.<br> + Emancipation, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>; + Proclamation, + <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.<br> + England, attitude toward Confederacy, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, + <a href="#Page_46">46</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>; + mission to, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>; + effort to coerce, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_52">52</a>; + Mason in, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a>-<a href="#Page_53">53</a>; + cotton famine in, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>; + bitterness against, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_137">137</a>-<a href="#Page_138">138</a>; + "Southern party," + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>; + shipbuilding investigations, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a>; + decides France's attitude, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br> + Erlanger, Émile, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<br> + Exemptions, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>F</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Finance, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>; + specie seized, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>; + "fifteen million loan," <a href="#Page_49">49</a>; + war tax, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>-<a href="#Page_50">50</a>; + loans, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>; + note issues, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>; + "hundred million loan," <a href="#Page_51">51</a>; + "Erlanger bonds," <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>; + price fixing, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>; + <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, + <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>; + Impressment Act, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>; + tax in kind, + <a href="#Page_80">80</a>-<a href="#Page_81">81</a>, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + licensing of occupations, + <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>; + income tax, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>; + property tax, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>; + Funding Act, <a href="#Page_81">81</a> (note), + <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + financial breakdown, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a>-<a href="#Page_158">158</a>.<br> + Florida, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br> + <i>Florida,</i> The, Confederate cruiser, + <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br> + Floyd, J. B., U. S. Secretary of War, resignation, + <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.<br> + Food situation, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_109">109</a>, + <a href="#Page_160">160</a>-<a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br> + Foote, H. S., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, + <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a>.<br> + Forey, General, dispatched to Mexico, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br> + France, <i>see</i> Napoleon.<br> + <i>France, Mexico, and the Confederate Slates,</i> + <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>G</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Georgia, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>; + secession issue in, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a>; + state sovereignty in, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_66">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_75">75</a>-<a href="#Page_76">76</a>; + unrest in, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>; + invaded, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a>, + <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br> + Gettysburg, Battle of, + <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.<br> + Grant, General U. S., crosses Rapidan, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>; + at Cold Harbor, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>H</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + <i>Habeas corpus</i> acts, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_86">86</a>, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a>; + <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>.<br> + "Heroes of America," + <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>.<br> + Hindman, General T. C., <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br> + Holden, W. W., of North Carolina, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a>-<a href="#Page_171">171</a>.<br> + Hood, General J. B., + <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.<br> + Hooker, of Mississippi, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.<br> + Houston, Sam, Governor of Texas, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>-<a href="#Page_9">9</a>.<br> + Hunter, R. M. T., Secretary of State, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>; + in Senate, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>; + Confederate commissioner at Hampton Roads, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>; + opposes levy of negro troops, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br> + Huntsville (Ala.), + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>I</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Impressment Act, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, + <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.<br> + <i>Index, The,</i> Confederate foreign organ, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a> (note).<br> + India begins to export cotton, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.<br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span> + Industries in the South, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br> + Ismail Pasha, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>J</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Johnson, H. V., <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.<br> + Johnston, A. S., + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>.<br> + Johnston, General J. E., <a href="#Page_69">69</a>; + succeeds Bragg in command, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>; + lower South demands removal of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>; + superseded by Hood, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>; + appeals for restoration of, + <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>; + restored to command, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>; + surrenders, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.<br> + Johnston, Fort, + <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>K</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Kenesaw Mountain, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br> + Kenner, D. J., dispatched to Europe, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a>-<a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br> + Kentucky, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>; + plan of Confederacy to win, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>L</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Labor, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>.<br> + Laird rams controversy, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a>, + <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br> + Lee, General R. E., inspires army, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a>; + to invade Maryland, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>; + and Davis, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>-<a href="#Page_69">69</a>; + demand of full command for, + <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>; + conspiracy to set up as dictator, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>; + made commanding general, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>; + opinion of peace project, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>; + as statesman, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>-<a href="#Page_190">190</a>; + officers propose to continue fighting, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a>-<a href="#Page_203">203</a>; + address to army, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br> + Lee, Stephen, <a href="#Page_18">18</a> (note).<br> + Lincoln, Abraham, reëlection, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>; + conference at Hampton Roads, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br> + Louisiana, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>M</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + McClellan, General G. B., + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br> + Magrath, A. G., + Governor of South Carolina, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a>-<a href="#Page_154">154</a>, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.<br> + Manassas, Battle of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>; + Second, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br> + Mann, A. D., + Confederate commissioner at Brussels, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, + <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a href="#Page_133">133</a>, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.<br> + Martial law, <i>see Habeas corpus.</i> + Maryland, plan of Confederate States to win, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br> + Mason, J. M., capture of, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>; + replaces Yancey as commissioner, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>; + in England, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a>-<a href="#Page_53">53</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>; + in Paris, + <a href="#Page_137">137</a>-<a href="#Page_138">138</a>, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br> + Memminger, C. G., Secretary of Treasury, + attempts to establish foreign credit, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>; + resigns, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>; <i>see also</i> Finance.<br> + Mexico, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>; + Napoleon III and, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, + <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a href="#Page_133">133</a>, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, + <a href="#Page_139">139</a>; + Confederate negotiations with, + <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_140">140</a>, + <a href="#Page_144">144</a>; + project condemned by French people, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>; + expedition suggested, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.<br> + Military policy, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br> + Mississippi, represented in South Carolina convention, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a>; + secedes, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>; + typical of new order in South, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>; + sense of Southern nationality, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>; + status of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_115">115</a>.<br> + Mobile Bay, capture of, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br> + Montgomery (Ala.), general Congress of seceding States at, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_11">11</a>.<br> + <i>Montgomery Mail,</i> <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br> + Moultrie, Fort, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br> + Munitions, + <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>N</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Napoleon III, offers mediation, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>; + intrigues with Confederacy, + <a href="#Page_130">130</a> <i>et seq.</i>; + Italian policy, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>; + purpose exposed, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>; + influence in Mexican policy of the South, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.<br> + New Orleans, loss of, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br> + <i>New York Herald,</i> <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.<br> + Niter and Mining Bureau supplies powder for South, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br> + North Carolina, + resolutions concerning Congress of seceding States, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a>-<a href="#Page_10">10</a>; + against secession, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>; + secedes, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>; + state rights, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span> + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>; + political life in, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>; + protests tithes, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>; + disorder in, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_94">94</a>; + anti-Davis tendencies in, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>; + peace illusion in, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a>; + <i>see also</i> Vance.<br> + <i>North Carolina Standard,</i> <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>P</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Palmerston, Lord, British Prime Minister, Mason interviews, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br> + Peace, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a>, + <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a>, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a>, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a>, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.<br> + Peace Convention, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.<br> + "Peace Society," + <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br> + Peninsular campaign, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br> + Perryville, Battle of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.<br> + Petersburg (Va.), + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>-<a href="#Page_108">108</a>.<br> + Pierce, Bishop, quoted, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.<br> + Pike, General Albert, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.<br> + Pollard, E. A., + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>; + <i>The First Year of the War,</i> + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br> + Porcher, F. A., <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.<br> + Prentiss, S. S., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br> + Press, Freedom of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br> + Preston, General J. S., <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br> + Preston, General William, + <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.<br> + Price-fixing, <i>see</i> Finance.<br> + Profiteering, + <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_79">79</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_109">109</a>, + <a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_162">162</a>.<br> + Pryor, R. A., <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, + <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_18">18</a> (note).<br> + Pulaski, Fort, seized, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>Q</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Quitman, J. A., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>R</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + <i>Raleigh Progress,</i> <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br> + Ramsdell, C. W., + <i>The Confederate Government and the Railroads,</i> + cited, <a href="#Page_108">108</a> (note).<br> + Randolph, G. W., Secretary of War, + <a href="#Page_79">79</a> (note).<br> + Refugees, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br> + Rhett, R. B., + leader of secession movement of 1850-1851, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>; + candidate for President of Confederate States, + <a href="#Page_24">24</a>; + disappointment, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>; + on state army, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_73">73</a>; + retires, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, + <a href="#Page_88">88</a>-<a href="#Page_89">89</a>; + on arming the negroes, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br> + Rhodes, J. F., <i>History of the United States,</i> cited, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a> (note).<br> + Richmond (Va.), capital of Confederacy, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a>; + martial law in, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_85">85</a>; + evacuated, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.<br> + Richmond <i>Enquirer,</i> government organ, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_83">83</a>, + <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.<br> + Richmond <i>Examiner,</i> opposition newspaper, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_64">64</a>-<a href="#Page_65">65</a>, + <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.<br> + Richmond <i>Sentinel,</i> government organ, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.<br> + Richmond <i>Whig,</i> <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.<br> + Rives, W. C., <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.<br> + Roanoke Island, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.<br> + Roebuck, J. A., + <a href="#Page_136">136</a>-<a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br> + Rost, Confederate commissioner to Europe, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>S</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Secession movement, <a href="#Page_1">1</a> <i>et seq.;</i> + of 1850-51, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a href="#Page_4">4</a>.<br> + Secrecy of Administration, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.<br> + Seddon, J. A., + Secretary of War, + <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>; + resigns, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.<br> + Selma (Ala.), foundry at, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br> + Seven Pines (Va.), <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br> + Seward, W. H., at Hampton Roads conference, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br> + Sherman, General W. T., + Georgia campaign, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a>, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br> + Slaves, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>: + not directly taxed, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + relation of Government to, + <a href="#Page_99">99</a>-<a href="#Page_102">102</a>; + "Fifteen Slave" Law, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>-<a href="#Page_103">103</a>; + arming of, <a href="#Page_183">183</a> <i>et seq.; + see also</i> Emancipation.<br> + Slave-trade, African, prohibited, <a href="#Page_11">11</a> (note), + <a href="#Page_99">99</a>-<a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br> + Slidell, John, capture of, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>; + Confederate commissioner at Paris, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>; + and Napoleon, <a href="#Page_130">130</a> <i>et seq.;</i> + conference at Paris, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br> + Smith, G. W., <a href="#Page_79">79</a> (note).<br> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span> + Smith, William, Governor of Virginia, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_187">187</a>.<br> + South, division in, <a href="#Page_28">28</a> <i>et seq.;</i> + life in, <a href="#Page_99">99</a> <i>et seq.</i><br> + South Carolina, convention (1860), + <a href="#Page_2">2</a>-<a href="#Page_4">4</a>; + secedes, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>; + community of aristocratic class, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_29">29</a>; + question of state sovereignty in, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>; + political life in, + <a href="#Page_73">73</a>-<a href="#Page_75">75</a>; + anti-Davis, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>; + situation in 1864, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a>-<a href="#Page_152">152</a>; + passes State Conscription Act, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.<br> + <i>Southern Advertiser</i>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br> + State sovereignty, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_66">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_71">71</a> <i>et seq.</i>, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.<br> + Stephens, A. H., + leads opposition to secession, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>; + on state sovereignty, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>; + Vice-President in provisional Government, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>; + a conservative, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>; + elected Vice-President at first regular election, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a>; + as central figure in South, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>-<a href="#Page_174">174</a>; + on question of peace, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>-<a href="#Page_178">178</a>; + commissioner at Hampton Roads conference, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br> + Stephens, Linton, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.<br> + Substitutes, Hiring, + <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.<br> + Sumter, Fort, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>; + attack on, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>-<a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>T</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Taxation, <i>see</i> Finance.<br> + Tennessee, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br> + Texas, secedes, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>; + secession issue in, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>; + proposes regiment for home defense, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>; + last gunshots of war, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>; + <i>see also</i> Trans-Mississippi.<br> + Thompson, Jacob, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br> + <i>To Our Constituents,</i> + <a href="#Page_2">2</a>-<a href="#Page_3">3</a>.<br> + Toombs, Robert, gives information about Fort Pulaski, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a>; + a secessionist, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>; + Secretary of State, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>; + and Sumter, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>-<a href="#Page_15">15</a>; + candidate for President, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>; + leaves Cabinet, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br> + Trans-Mississippi, + <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br> + Transportation, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>-<a href="#Page_108">108</a>.<br> + Tredegar Iron Works, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br> + Trenholm, G. A., <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>V</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Vance, Z. B., Governor of North Carolina, + on military arrangements, + <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_77">77</a>; + seeks to regulate prices, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>; + proclamation to urge order, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>-<a href="#Page_94">94</a>; + urges political changes, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>; + reëlection, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>-<a href="#Page_171">171</a>; + policy, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-<a href="#Page_172">172</a>.<br> + Van Dorn, General Earl, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.<br> + Vicksburg (Miss.), + <a href="#Page_89">89</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br> + Virginia, and secession, + <a href="#Page_11">11</a>-<a href="#Page_14">14</a>; + calls Peace Convention, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>; + political life in, + <a href="#Page_74">74</a>-<a href="#Page_75">75</a>, + <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_187">187</a>; + <i>see also</i> Richmond. <br> + Voruz, shipbuilder of Nantes, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>W</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Walker, L. P., <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, + <a href="#Page_79">79</a> (note).<br> + Walker, R. J., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br> + Wheeler, Joseph, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br> + Winder, J. H., <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br> + Women, position in Confederacy, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_105">105</a>, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br> + Worth, Jonathan, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.<br> + <p><br></p> + </div> + <h3>Y</h3> + <div class="indexfont"> + Yancey, W. L., influence of, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>, + commissioner to England, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, + <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>; + relieved by Mason, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>; + incident at Havana, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>; + attempts to abolish secrecy of Government, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-<a href="#Page_60">60</a>; + death, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.<br> + </div> + + <hr> + <div class="chapterhead"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2><a href="#Contents">The Chronicles of America Series</a></h2> + <ol> + <li>The Red Man's Continent<br> by Ellsworth Huntington</li> + <li>The Spanish Conquerors<br> by Irving Berdine Richman</li> + <li>Elizabethan Sea-Dogs<br> by William Charles Henry Wood</li> + <li>The Crusaders of New France<br> by William Bennett Munro</li> + <li>Pioneers of the Old South<br> by Mary Johnson</li> + <li>The Fathers of New England<br> by Charles McLean Andrews</li> + <li>Dutch and English on the Hudson<br> by Maud Wilder Goodwin</li> + <li>The Quaker Colonies<br> by Sydney George Fisher</li> + <li>Colonial Folkways<br> by Charles McLean Andrews</li> + <li>The Conquest of New France<br> by George McKinnon Wrong</li> + <li>The Eve of the Revolution<br> by Carl Lotus Becker</li> + <li>Washington and His Comrades in Arms<br> by George McKinnon Wrong</li> + <li>The Fathers of the Constitution<br> by Max Farrand</li> + <li>Washington and His Colleagues<br> by Henry Jones Ford</li> + <li>Jefferson and his Colleagues<br> by Allen Johnson</li> + <li>John Marshall and the Constitution<br> by Edward Samuel Corwin</li> + <li>The Fight for a Free Sea<br> by Ralph Delahaye Paine</li> + <li>Pioneers of the Old Southwest<br> by Constance Lindsay Skinner</li> + <li>The Old Northwest<br> by Frederic Austin Ogg</li> + <li>The Reign of Andrew Jackson<br> by Frederic Austin Ogg</li> + <li>The Paths of Inland Commerce<br> by Archer Butler Hulbert</li> + <li>Adventurers of Oregon<br> by Constance Lindsay Skinner</li> + <li>The Spanish Borderlands<br> by Herbert Eugene Bolton</li> + <li>Texas and the Mexican War<br> by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</li> + <li>The Forty-Niners<br> by Stewart Edward White</li> + <li>The Passing of the Frontier<br> by Emerson Hough</li> + <li>The Cotton Kingdom<br> by William E. Dodd</li> + <li>The Anti-Slavery Crusade<br> by Jesse Macy</li> + <li>Abraham Lincoln and the Union<br> by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</li> + <li><span class="smcap">The Day of the Confederacy<br> + by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</span></li> + <li>Captains of the Civil War<br> by William Charles Henry Wood</li> + <li>The Sequel of Appomattox<br> by Walter Lynwood Fleming</li> + <li>The American Spirit in Education<br> by Edwin E. Slosson</li> + <li>The American Spirit in Literature<br> by Bliss Perry</li> + <li>Our Foreigners<br> by Samuel Peter Orth</li> + <li>The Old Merchant Marine<br> by Ralph Delahaye Paine</li> + <li>The Age of Invention<br> by Holland Thompson</li> + <li>The Railroad Builders<br> by John Moody</li> + <li>The Age of Big Business<br> by Burton Jesse Hendrick</li> + <li>The Armies of Labor<br> by Samuel Peter Orth</li> + <li>The Masters of Capital<br> by John Moody</li> + <li>The New South<br> by Holland Thompson</li> + <li>The Boss and the Machine<br> by Samuel Peter Orth</li> + <li>The Cleveland Era<br> by Henry Jones Ford</li> + <li>The Agrarian Crusade<br> by Solon Justus Buck</li> + <li>The Path of Empire<br> by Carl Russell Fish</li> + <li>Theodore Roosevelt and His Times<br> by Harold Howland</li> + <li>Woodrow Wilson and the World War<br> by Charles Seymour</li> + <li>The Canadian Dominion<br> by Oscar D. Skelton</li> + <li>The Hispanic Nations of the New World<br> by William R. Shepherd</li> + </ol> + + + + <hr> + <div class="chapterhead"> + <br> + <br><br><br> + <h2>Transcriber's Notes</h2> + <p><br></p> + <h3>Introduction:</h3> + </div> + <p> +The Chronicles of America Series has two similar editions of each volume in +the series. One version is the Abraham Lincoln edition of the series, a +premium version which includes full-page pictures. A textbook edition was also +produced, which does not contain the pictures and captions associated with +the pictures, but is otherwise the same book. This book was produced to +match the textbook edition of the book. +</p> + + + + + <hr> + <div class="boilerplate"> + +<p class="boilerplate bold double-space-top"> +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAY OF THE CONFEDERACY *** +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate double=space-top"> +***** This file should be named 3035-h.htm or 30350-h.zip ***** +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate double-space-top"> +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/3/3035/ +</p> + + +<p class="boilerplate double-space-top"> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions +will be renamed. +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +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™ electronic works to +protect the <span class="smcap">Project Gutenberg™</span> +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away—you may do +practically <em>anything</em> with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate bold center double-space-top"> +*** START: FULL LICENSE ***</p> + +<p class="boilerplate bold">THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</p> + +<p class="boilerplate">To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg™ License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license).</p> + +<p class="boilerplate bold double-space-top"> +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge with others.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed:</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +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.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg ™ License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg™ License.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg™ +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided +that</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> + * You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> + * You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg ™ works.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> + * You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> + * You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate">1.F.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg™ +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES: Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. <i>You agree that you have no remedies for negligence, strict +liability, breach of warranty or breach of contract except those +provided in Paragraph F3. You agree that the Foundation, the +trademark owner, and any distributor under this agreement will not be +liable to you for actual, direct, indirect, consequential, punitive or +incidental damages even if you give notice of the possibility of such +damage. </i> +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND: If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', <em>with no other +warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to +warranties of merchantibility or fitness for any purpose.</em> +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +1.F.6. INDEMNITY: You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate bold double-space-top"> +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Project Gutenberg ™ is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg's™ +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate bold double-space-top"> +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +For additional contact information:</p> +<p class="boilerplate left-margin3em"> +Dr. Gregory B. Newby<br > +Chief Executive and Director<br > +gbnewby@pglaf.org<br > +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate bold double-space-top"> +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +<em>send donations</em> or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate bold double-space-top"> +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic +works.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg™ +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:</p> + +<p class="boilerplate center"> +https://www.gutenberg.org +</p> + +<p class="boilerplate"> +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg™, +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.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + </body> +</html> diff --git a/3035-h/images/cover.jpg b/3035-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5220c6d --- /dev/null +++ b/3035-h/images/cover.jpg |
