Our Campaigns

 

CHAPTER 1

 

THE GREAT REBELLION

 

MANY men of discernment, who had watched the politics of the country for years past, and the gradual but steady molding of public opinion in the North and South, had long foreseen the ap­proaching storm, that was to test the great question of the stability of the Government and institutions established by our fathers, and many pure patriots of both sections, guided by the light of history in their judgments, foreseeing the fearful consequences that would in­evitably follow, sought to avoid or at least postpone the calamity by concessions and compromises, while others, equally patriotic and sincere, deemed it best to bear the bosom to the storm and suffer the consequences at once, rather than by delay, permit the nation to be bound hand and foot to the car of Southern institutions.

Under the Government of the United States, which Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice-President of the "Southern Confederacy," in November, 1860, pronounced "the most beneficent Government of which history gives us any account," and which Jefferson Davis, the President in the session of 1860-61 said was "the best Government ever instituted by man, unexceptionably administered, and under which the people have been prosperous beyond comparison with any other people whose career has been recorded in history," the citizens of all sections of the country and of every class felt only its power and influence to protect and prosper. Possessing a continent under one Government and one flag, free from the evils of standing armies and expensive fleets, free from imposts and export duties among themselves, free from export duties to foreign countries and inter-

 

2          - OUR CAMPAIGNS -

 

nal revenue taxes, being one people in fact with a substantial com­munity of origin, language, belief and law, (the great ties that hold society together,) having struggled, suffered and triumphed together, with their glories and defeats in common, with a Constitution springing from the free consent of all with ample provisions for its peaceful alteration or modification, with one section a commercial and manufacturing, another grain and stock growing, and a third whose great staple was cotton and tobacco, they of all people on God's earth should have lived in peace and contentment. But the South saw that in wealth and prosperity the North was far outstripping her, and alas, instead of seeking for the cause and trying to remedy the fault, they affected to despise the superior industry and energy of the North, preferring a system of labor that gave wealth and luxuriant ease to the few, at the expense of the prosperity and elevation of the masses, and the degradation of labor.

Fearing that slavery would become isolated they sought to maintain the balance of power in the Senate by the extension of slave territory, and the creation of slave States which their population and resources did not warrant. Nor did they confine themselves to the territorial limits of the United States. Already had the Gov­ernment purchased for them the territories now forming the slave States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Florida, and already had it engaged in a war with a sister Republic to annex and open to them the vast State of Texas. And more than this, the Government underhandedly favored the filibustering expeditions of the marauders, Lopez and Walker, for the conquest of Cuba, Lower California and Central America, that they might be annexed to the Union and opened to slavery. With these, Mexico, and the Southern States, the Southern dream of a mighty empire, enabled to secure the good offices and favors of mercenary and monarchical Europe, and to bid defiance to Republican America, arose in golden visions before their eyes, and ambitious men were willing to destroy the Government and constitution of their country, and wade through seas of blood to power and position. Yet they were anxious to remain in the Union and enjoy all the advantages of it, as long as they could continue to control its councils, which they had done from the foundation of the Government.

As early as 1820, the Missouri Compromise was passed, which was the first and most respected of all. In admitting Missouri as a slave State, it stipulated that slavery should no be introduced north of the line of thirty-six, thirty degrees of latitude, its southern boundary, but that limit so long accepted, the South complained of, and Mr. Douglas introduced a bill annulling the same, and substituting

 

THE GREAT REBELLION     3

 

"squatter sovereignty," which drew from Congress the right to inter­fere in the question of slavery in the territories. The South soon discovered that the superior population and resources of the North enabled them to settle the territories of Kansas and Nebraska with their hardy workmen, who decreed liberty to the land. This unex­pected turn of events, which should have been foreseen, caused them to change their theory, and they invoked the power of Congress to interfere in the slave question in the territories against "squatter sovereignty," and demanded that its decision should be trampled under foot. The miserable and imbecile conduct of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan in permitting a civil war to exist in Kansas for so long a period without making any effort to stay it, is alas too well known to need comment.

It is only necessary to say that the Southerners defeated in their trials of popular vote, force of arms and congressional legisla­tion, although assisted by a powerful and obedient Administration, turned their attention in a new direction and obtained a decision from the Supreme Court of the United States - the Dred Scott de­cree. In the preamble of this celebrated decision of the highest judicial power of the Government, there are proclaimed two principles: first, that there is no difference between a slave and any other kind of property; secondly, that all American citizens may settle everywhere with their property. With the right of property understood in this wise no State had the power either to abolish slavery, or to forbid the introduction of slaves, and, therefore, there was no legal power to prevent a Southerner from settling in a free State with all his slaves. But this is not all that was demanded. The subservient Administration was given up to the will of the Southerners and the mails ceased to carry letters, journals and books, which excited their suspicion.

In 1832, under the leadership of John C. Calhoun, the long dreamed of vision of empire that had haunted the brain of their ambitious and reckless politicians, first made its appearance in the nullification act of the Legislature of South Carolina, but that stern old patriot Andrew Jackson, who declared that "The Union must and shall be preserved," met it with firm resolution, and his demand for the immediate disbanding of the State troops nipped it in the bud. From that time, however, the spirit of disunion had been assiduously disseminated in the South, and every issue that had arisen between the two sections, had been met by them with the threat of secession. The Hall of the august Senate had witnessed the drawing of firearms, and its sanctity had been violated by brutal assaults upon its members, and threats were freely made by the

 

4          - OUR CAMPAIGNS -

 

"fire-eaters" to break up the sessions of Congress in blood. Yet the North submitted to these degradations for the sake of peace, and bowed the head to the demands of the South for the sake of the Union.

At last, in 1860, the two great political parties met to make their nominations for President and establish their platforms. The disunionists first showed their treason by betraying their party and breaking up its convention, because the true democrats would not bow their heads to their will. The seceders then called a convention and nominated John C. Breckinridge, who is now a leader in this infamous rebellion, and declared that the election of Mr. Lincoln, their opponent, would be followed by the dissolution of the Union. The North heard the threat; if they had submissively yielded to it once more, all dignity, self-respect and mental liberty would have been lost. They knew the consequence; secession was rebellion, rebellion was a commercial crisis, was the political weakening of the country, and the unsettling of many fortunes. It was the loss of all Southern trade, the loss of all capital invested in the South, the loss of all debts owed by the South. But the great spirit of the North that had bowed so often to the dictates of a Southern minority for the sake of the Union and peace, arose in its majestic dignity and proclaimed that the will of the majority should be expressed regardless of threats and consequences.

Prior to the election for President, the Governor of South Carolina had recommended both Houses of the Legislature to take measures in advance for the secession of the State in case Mr. Lincoln should be elected; and a special commission was nominated, and held permanent session. In Texas, Senator Wigfall, in speaking of Mr. Breckinridge, did not hesitate to say, "If any other candidate is elected, look for stormy weather. There may be a confederation, indeed, but it will not number more than thirty-three States." Senators Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, and Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana, (Secretary of War of the Confederate States,) held no less explicit language, announcing that at the first electoral defeat of the South, it would set about forming a separate confederation, long since demanded by its true interests. It was even freely proclaimed through their papers "that Mr. Lincoln should not be inaugurated if elected."

The Presidential election took place on the 6th of November, 1860, and resulted in the choice of Abraham Lincoln; Messrs. Bell and Douglas, who were equally exceptionable to the secessionists, receiving a joint vote in almost all the Southern States, larger than that cast for Mr. Breckinridge, who was the embodiment of the se-­

 

THE GREAT REBELLION     5

 

cession principles. Yet in the face of this direct refusal of the major­ity of the Southerners to endorse Mr. Breckinridge and the principles he represented, the unprincipled and ambitious leaders set diligently to work to accomplish their long cherished and diabolical design of destroying the Government of their fathers, that they might rise to power and position. By resolutions of their Legislatures, and unauthorized conventions, studious misrepresentations of their press, and inflammatory appeals to the masses they at last succeeded in "firing the Southern heart," and preparing it for the awful crime of fratricide.

On the 20th of December, a few days after the result of the election was known, the Legislature of South Carolina, a State with a white population of two hundred and seventy-six thousand, or about half that of the city of Philadelphia, passed an ordinance of secession, and declared herself a free and sovereign State. She did in fact the same thing in 1832, but the firm and resolute Andrew Jackson, with a stroke of the pen awed into submission and silence all. Would to God for one month's rule of the old patriot and hero in 1860. This action of South Carolina produced a deep sensation throughout all sections of the country, and the people of the North could not realize the earnestness of the atrocious deed.

But in rapid succession followed other acts, that too plainly showed that madness had usurped the throne of reason, and that "those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad."

On the 3d of January, 1861, Forts Pulaski and Jackson, in the harbor of Savannah, were taken possession of by State troops, by order of the Governor of Georgia, under the pretext of preventing them from falling into the hands of mobs!

On the 9th, the State Convention of Mississippi passed an ordinance of secession by a vote of eighty-four to fifteen.

On the 11th, the State Convention of Alabama passed an ordinance of secession by a vote of sixty-one to thirty-nine and invited the other slaveholding States to send delegates to a Convention to be held on the 4th day of February, in Montgomery, Alabama.

Soon after all the United States forts and arsenals along the Atlantic and Gulf coast and on the Mississippi River, with the mints, custom-houses and other Federal buildings in the South were seized. Batteries were erected on the Mississippi River, and its navigation obstructed. Beside the above States, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas seceded.

On the 4th, a Convention of the seceded States convened at Montgomery, Alabama, and elected Howell Cobb, the late Secretary of the Treasury, President.

 

6          - OUR CAMPAIGNS -

 

On the 9th, the Southern Congress, at Montgomery, Alabama, elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia, Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy

for one year. The Constitution of the United States, with amendments, was adopted.

On the 16th, Mr. Davis, at Montgomery, declared in a speech, that the South will hold her own, and force all who oppose them "to smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel."

During this time, a little over two months only, the most bitter feeling of hatred and animosity was engendered against Northerners residing in the South, and school teachers and mistresses were shipped north, whipped, tarred and feathered, or hung, according to the whims or passions of the mobs. Merchants were robbed, honest men, who had resided among them for years, were notified to leave without time to collect their debts or dispose of their property. Traders on the Mississippi were driven from their barges by lawless mobs, their goods plundered and their lives jeopardized. Yet, while the military force of the United States could be used to drive squatters from their cabins on the Government lands in Kansas in the middle of winter, the right of the Government to use it to protect its own property, sustain the supremacy of its laws, and suppress insurrection, was denied. Such is the deplorable course secession had run during the last days of Mr. Buchanan's Administration, and so far from raising his voice or hand to save our beloved Union from destruction, he encouraged them in their treason by his imbecility and silent acquisition, until at last, in a message to Congress, he actually denied the power of the Govern­ment under the Constitution to coerce the seceding States - i. e., to maintain the supremacy of its own laws.

And what was his Cabinet? The hot-bed of treason and secession! On the 8th of January, Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, resigned his position as Secretary of the Interior, because aid was granted to Major Anderson, at Fort Sumter. The next day the Constitution, the Government organ at Washington attacked Secretary Holt, for sending aid to Major Anderson, and defended Mr. Thompson for resigning, and the United States sub-treasurer refused to pay the salaries to Major Anderson and his command. Howell Cobb, the Secretary of the Treasury, resigned, and was chosen President of the Convention of the seceding States, convened at Montgomery, Alabama. John B. Floyd of Virginia, Secretary of War, after stripping the arsenals of the Northern States of their arms, ordnance, and ammunition, colleagued with Russell, Bailey, and others in stealing over $6,000,000 worth of trust bonds, resigned, and on the 29th of February, the Grand Jury of the District of Columbia presented charges

 

THE GREAT REBELLION     7

 

against him formal-administration in office, and conspiring against the Government. And even Isaac Toucey of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy, had ordered to foreign stations all the available vessels of the navy, leaving at home only the ships in ordinary.

Can any one suppose that these chosen counsellors of the President, who daily debated at the meetings of the Cabinet the great questions that had agitated the country for so long a time, had succeeded in deluding Mr. Buchanan in regard to their real views and intentions? Can any one suppose that the leading statesmen of the South who always had free access to the White House, and were welcomed to the hospitalities of the President, could so utterly deceive him in regard to their designs? Could it be possible that a man of the ability of Mr. Buchanan, with his familiarity with the politics of the country, and long intercourse with the leading men of the nation, could have been blinded as to the intentions of the archtraitors and "fire-eaters" of the South? No! It requires too much credulity and charity to answer in the negative. But let us put the most chari­table construction on his actions that we can, and what shall we say of them? That the poor old dotard was in the traces and could not kick out; that he was bound hand and foot and had not the strength to release himself, and that he quietly acquiesced in their treasonable designs, hoping that the Government would be reconstructed upon a firmer basis by those who had treason in their hearts. The great principle of popular suffrage was to be violated, the broad arena stretching to the Pacific, and far to the south was to be given up to human bondage. The African slave trade, with all its loathsome hor­rors, was to be reopened, and for what? To preserve a dishonorable peace that soon would be broken.

But, thank God, the Administration of Mr. Buchanan was com­ing to a close, and through the dark clouds that empaled the Nation, a bright ray of hope shone upon the horizon as Abraham Lincoln appeared upon the ship of state and seized the helm.

The Nation breathed freer, and patriots felt our Government was a reality, and not a rope of sand.

---