Part 34 (1/2)
SECESSION AND FORMATION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
The hope was general that the South would not carry out her threat of seceding from the Union, and, but for South Carolina, she would not have done so; but that pugnacious State soon gave proof of her terrible earnestness. Her Convention a.s.sembled in Charleston, and pa.s.sed an ordinance of secession, December 20, 1860, declaring ”That the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America is dissolved.” The other Southern States, although reluctant to give up the Union, felt it their duty to stand by the pioneer in the movement against it, and pa.s.sed ordinances of secession, as follows: Mississippi, January 9, 1861; Florida, January 10th; Alabama, January 11th; Georgia, January 19th; Louisiana, January 26th; and Texas, February 23d.
In the hope of averting civil war numerous peace meetings were held in the North, and Virginia called for a ”peace conference,” which a.s.sembled in Was.h.i.+ngton, February 4th. The States represented included most of those in the North, and Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. Ex-President Tyler, of Virginia, was made president of the conference. The proposed terms of settlement were rejected by the Virginia and North Carolina delegates and refused by Congress, which, since the withdrawal of the Southern members, was controlled by the Republicans.
The next step of the Southern conventions was to send delegates to Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed ”The Confederate States of America,” with Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. A const.i.tution and flag, both resembling those of the United States, were adopted and all departments of the government organized.
As the various States adopted ordinances of secession they seized the government property within their limits. In most cases, the Southern United States officers resigned and accepted commissions in the service of the Confederacy. The only forts saved were those near Key West, Fort Pickens at Pensacola, and Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. The South Carolina authorities began preparations to attack Sumter, and when the steamer _Star of the West_ attempted to deliver supplies to the fort, it was fired upon, January 9th, and driven off. Thus matters stood at the close of Buchanan's administration, March 4, 1861.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.]
CHAPTER XV.
ADMINISTRATION OF LINCOLN, 1861-1865.
THE WAR FOR THE UNION, 1861.
Abraham Lincoln--Major Anderson's Trying Position--Jefferson Davis--Inauguration of President Lincoln--Bombardment of Fort Sumter--War Preparations North and South--Attack on Union Troops in Baltimore--Situation of the Border States--Unfriendliness of England and France--Friends.h.i.+p of Russia--The States that Composed the Southern Confederacy--Union Disaster at Big Bethel--Success of the Union Campaign in Western Virginia--General George B. McClellan--First Battle of Bull Run--General McClellan Called to the Command of the Army of the Potomac--Union Disaster at Ball's Bluff--Military Operations in Missouri--Battle of Wilson's Creek--Defeat of Colonel Mulligan at Lexington, Mo.--Supersedure of Fremont--Operations on the Coast--The Trent Affair--Summary of the Year's Operations.
Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President, ranks among the greatest that has ever presided over the destinies of our country. He was born in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky, February 12, 1809, but when seven years old his parents removed to Indiana, making their home near the present town of Gentryville.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
(1809-1865.) Two terms (died in office), 1861-1865.]
His early life was one of extreme poverty, and his whole schooling did not amount to more than a year; but, possessing a studious mind, he improved every spare hour in the study of instructive books. At the age of sixteen the tall, awkward, but powerful boy was earning a living by managing a ferry across the Ohio. He remained for some time after reaching manhood with his parents, who removed to Illinois in 1830, and built a log-cabin on the north fork of the Sangamon. He was able to give valuable help in clearing the ground and in splitting rails. With the aid of a few friends he constructed a flat-boat, with which he took produce to New Orleans. Selling both goods and boat, he returned to his home and still a.s.sisted his father on the farm. In the Black Hawk War he was elected captain of a company, but did not see active service.
By this time his ability had attracted the notice of friends, and at the age of twenty-five he was elected to the Illinois Legislature, in which he served for four terms. Meanwhile he had studied law as opportunity presented, and was sent to Congress in 1846. He opposed the war with Mexico, but, among such giants as Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, and others, he could not make any distinctive mark; but his powerful common sense, his clear logic, his una.s.sailable integrity, his statesmans.h.i.+p and grasp of public questions, and his quaint humor, often approaching the keenest wit, carried him rapidly to the front and made him the leader of the newly formed Republican party. In 1858 he stumped Illinois for United States senator against Stephen A. Douglas, his valued friend.
His speeches attracted national attention as masterpieces of eloquence, wit, and forceful presentation of the great issues which were then agitating the country. He was defeated by Douglas, but the remarkable manner in which he acquitted himself made him the successful candidate of the Republican party in the autumn of 1860.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FROM LOG-CABIN TO THE WHITE HOUSE.]
Lincoln was tall and ungainly, his height being six feet four inches.
His countenance was rugged and homely, his strength as great as that of Was.h.i.+ngton, while his wit has become proverbial. His integrity, which his bitterest opponent never questioned, won for him the name of ”Honest Abe.” He was one of the most kind-hearted of men, and his rule of life was ”malice toward none and charity for all”. He grew with the demands of the tremendous responsibilities placed upon him, and the reputation he won as patriot, statesman, and leader has been surpa.s.sed by no previous President and becomes greater with the pa.s.sing years.
MAJOR ANDERSON AND FORT SUMTER.
All eyes were turned toward Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. It was the strongest of the defenses. Major Robert Anderson, learning that the Confederates intended to take possession of it, secretly removed his garrison from Fort Moultrie on the night of December 26, 1860. Anderson was in a trying position, for the secretary of war, Floyd, and the adjutant-general of the army, Cooper, to whom he was obliged to report, were secessionists, and not only refused to give him help, but threw every obstacle in his way. President Buchanan was surrounded by secessionists, and most of the time was bewildered as to his course of duty. He resented, however, the demand of Secretary Floyd for the removal of Anderson because of the change he had made from Moultrie to Sumter. Floyd resigned and was succeeded by Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, an uncompromising Unionist, who did all he could to hold up the President in his tottering position of a friend of the Union. The latter grew stronger as he noted the awakening sentiment of loyalty throughout the North. An admirable act was the appointment of Edwin M. Stanton as attorney-general, for he was a man of great ability and a relentless enemy of secession.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
[Ill.u.s.tration: JEFFERSON DAVIS.]
Jefferson Davis, who had been chosen President of the Southern Confederacy that was formed at Montgomery, Alabama, early in February, was born in Kentucky, June 3, 1808. Thus he and President Lincoln were natives of the same State, with less than a year's difference in their ages. Davis was graduated at West Point in 1828, and served on the northwest frontier, in the Black Hawk War. He was also a lieutenant of cavalry in the operations against the Comanches and Apaches. He resigned from the army and became a cotton-planter in Mississippi, which State he represented in Congress in 1845-46, but resigned to a.s.sume the colonelcy of the First Mississippi regiment.