HISTORY

OF THE

 

BUCKTAILS.

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

An astute observer, even fifty years before the outbreak of the Civil War, could have certified to its inevitableness. The thoughts and ideas of the inhabitants of the sections termed respectively the North and the South were at variance. The fact that they were under one Government made it necessary that, sooner or later, the aspirations of one must to a greater or lesser extent become the guiding influence of the other. The climate, the mode of life and hereditary influences of the South­erners, all prepossessed them towards a system whose founda­tion was that of service rendered by men held in bondage; a negro slavery which, directed by the intelligence of the virile white race,.should develop the resources of the country. The Northerners, descended from different lines of ancestors, felt such service to be, not only repulsive to their sense of justice, but inimical to the true interests of the Republic. The assertion of the "Rights of Man" in the Constitution, made the retention of slaves by States subscribing to it impossible, excepting by a quibble, and the disputes in the Constitutional Convention bear witness to the ancientness of the controversy. Later, as the Southern States came to believe more and more firmly in the necessity of slave labor as a necessary factor to their future

 

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development, the dispute increased in intensity. Men like Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, in an endeavor to reduce friction and to insure the retention of unity, resorted to the expedient of compromise; and beneath the spell of their eloquence, guided by their intellectuality, Congress, in 1821, fathered the "Missouri Compromise." With a line established north of which slavery could not exist, the Northerners were content to wait till the inevitable progress of the world should result in the abolition of slavery in the territory south of it. But the Northern States increased in prosperity more rapidly than those in the South, and the latter, fearing that they would be dominated by a section holding views hostile to their beliefs, strove to increase the territory in which they could put into practice the views they held. The doctrine of nullification, or State rights, added fuel to the fire. Led by Calhoun, the paramount sovereignty of the individual States was proclaimed, and the right of such States to annul laws passed by the National Government, if against their interest, asserted. Upon this ground, in I83a, South Carolina made preparations to resist the lawful enactments of Congress, and it became neces­sary for President Jackson to order United States troops to move to that State to enforce the laws.

These two subjects of controversy, slavery and State sov­ereignty, grew in the public interest. Regarding themselves as individual States, linked together by a treaty for mutual advan­tages, the Southern States believed it to be their right to with­draw from the Union, should such union at any time become obnoxious to them, or work to their disadvantage.

The annexation of Texas afforded an opportunity to increase the slave area, and the Mexican War, inspired by the same view, quickly followed. Emboldened by these successes, the Sou: ' ern States, regardless of previously accepted com-

 

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promises, persevered in their agitation for an increase in the land open to slave holders, till, in I850, Congress passed another ineffectual compromise.

Then the country, throughout its length and breadth, became aware of the crisis with which it was confronted. While in the North the abolitionists declaimed in fiery periods, their statesmen labored to prevent the impending conflict. The Southerners, proudly and honestly believing in the justice of their position, sought out of the turmoil to extract some-advan­tage. With the attempted enforcement of the Fugitive Slave law, and the decision in the Dred Scott case, the breach between the two sections widened and reconciliation became impossible.

Kansas, torn by the contending parties who struggled on her soil, became virtually the seat of civil war. John Brown marched calmly to his death, confident of the ultimate victory of his cause. Lincoln, candidate of the Republican party, was elected, and through this victory at the polls of the Northern people, the crisis became imminent. Governor Gist, of South Carolina, without waiting for the inauguration of the man who, though the choice of the people, held views hostile to both State supremacy and the traffic in slaves, issued his famous proclamation that it might become the duty of his State to resist force by force, and advocated the organization of the State militia. On December 17th the State legislature met and formally passed a resolution dissolving the Union, till then "subsisting between South Carolina and other States under the "name of United States of America." Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas followed with similar resolutions, and early in February sent delegates to a convention which formed a new confederacy, with Jefferson Davis as President. Thus between the election of Lincoln and his

 

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inauguration, while Buchanan still held office, seven states had openly announced their secession.

President Lincoln was inaugurated upon March 4th, 1861. In his address he stated firmly that the doctrine of the right to secede was erroneous and could not be entertained. That it was his duty "to administer the present Government as it came "into his hands, and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his "successor." Yet the Southern States, possessing the majority of the military officers graduated from the nation's military schools, armed with muskets obtained from the Northern arsenals, and proud in their belief of the justness of their cause, hastened to throw down the gauntlet. Claiming that they now constituted a new nation, and that the presence of United States troops in Fort Sumter was a military occupation of territory, belonging to the new confederation, by a foreign power, they demanded that the Fort be evacuated. Meeting with refusal, they commenced a bombardment on April 12th, which forced the Fort to capitulate two days later.

The question was no longer confined to the extension or restriction of slavery. Throughout the North the people rose as a unit to resent the attack upon the flag which was their glory; to save, with their life's blood if necessary, the integrity of the Union, and to assert with such power that it should never again be questioned, the supremacy of the Nation over the individual States within the limits of the Constitution.