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Cornell University Library E 470 .2.T83 1888
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The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.
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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026471619
FOUR YEARS
WITH THE
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
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FOUR YEARS
WITH THE
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
BY
REGIS DE TROBRIAND
BREVBT MAJOR-GENERAL, V. a. VOLS.
TRANSLATED BY
GEORGE K. DAUCHY
LATE LIEUTENANT COMMANDING TWELFTH NEW YORK BATTERY LIGHT ARTILLERY, U. S. VOLS.
m,itij ^attrait anli Maps
BOSTON TICKNOR AND COMPANY
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211 STwrnont Stmt ,' '^/ \ '^-' ■■
1889 ', c'-V '^''f'/f^
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Copyright, 1888, By George K. Dauchy.
Electrotyped by
C. J. Peters & Son, Boston,
U. S. A.
PREFACE OF TRANSLATOR.
In preparing this version of General de Trobriand's
" Four Years with the Army of the Potomac," the
' translator has endeavored, so far as possible, faithfully
to preserve the sentiments of the author, and the
very force of the French idioms themselves.
The story was written soon after the war, from notes and a diary, and the lifelike manner in which are therein told incidents of army life, of the bivouac and of the battle, of the camp and of the field, renews to an old soldier of the East the many weary marches in the time of rain and in the time of hot sun, through the mud and dust of Virginia.
It brings to his mind the weeks pleasantly spent along the banks of the Rappahannock, and near Brandy Station, both in summer and in winter, — the many awful and deadly combats through the Wilderness, along the rivers Po, North Anna, and James, around Petersburg, — and, finally, the fierce rush of the last campaign, ending at Appomattox.
It brings back to him the grim face of that indomi- table soldier. Grant, the clear-sighted and tireless Sheridan, the resolute and cautious Meade, the brill- iant Hancock, Reynolds, " Uncle John " Sedgwick, Humphreys, and hosts of able and devoted command- ers of all ranks. And, finally, it cannot fail to sadden him as he thinks of the many friends loved and
iii
IV PREFACE OF TRANSLATOR.
cherished, heroic and patriotic, left behind o"n those blood-stained fields, with hasty sepulture, with hardly time to think of their loss, much less to shed a tear to their memory, never again to meet them in this world.
As we look back, in these days of peace, upon the years which have passed, we can with difficulty realize that those stirring times, which appear to us as of yes- terday, are so far away ; and as we see those who were actors in the drama sO' rapidly " going over to the majority," we feel that soon the survivors of those great scenes will be few indeed.
If this work is one-half as interesting to my old com-, rades of the Army of the Potomac, and especially those of the Third and Second Corps, as it has been to me, I shall be amply repaid for putting it before them in an English dress.
PREFACE.
In France, the facts in regard to the late war in America are very little known. Errors industriously disseminated, political prejudices ably worked upon, have cooperated to disguise its origin, its character, and its results.
We are surprised that public opinion has been so greatly controlled by these influences, considering the opportunities it has had to be better informed. But amongst people with traditional ideas, and under a great governmental mechanism, a party determined to adhere to opinions already formed closes its eyes to the light.
This is what has happened when eminent men, who have made a study of the great republic of the New World, have clearly portrayed the true character of the gigantic struggle from which the American democracy has just emerged triumphant.
However, the world advances ; principles are cleared from their surroundings, prejudices,become feeble, pas- sions subside, and time, that great enlightener, rapidly develops results which must necessarily assure the tri- umph of the truth.
Meanwhile, it has appeared to me that a narration of those events of that war in which I have taken some share might be interesting and useful.
This book, then, is a narrative, and this narrative, as indicated by the title, embraces only the operations of
VI PREFACE.
the Army of the Potomac. I have not treated in extenso of the operations of the other armies.
I have thus limited myself to those things which I have seen, qtuBque ipse vidi. I relate them, not as a Frenchman who has taken part in a foreign war, but as an American who has fought for the country of his adoption and for the institutions of his choice.
My judgments are derived from convictions which I have reached by a long road, and by successive stages, through the teachings of a somewhat wandering life on both sides of the Atlantic. Whatever value the reader may attach to these convictions, I ask him to believe in the sincerity of my judgments and in the scrupulous exactness of my narration of facts.
I tell of events as they have passed under my eyes, and as I wrote them down day by day, in a journal kept without interruption from my entrance into service until the disbanding of the last of my regiments.
Everything I have here related, which I have not myself seen, I have from the evidence of the actors themselves, and by a minute comparison with official documents and depositions in extenso taken before, the congressional committee on the conduct of the war. I have deemed it my duty to avoid as untrustworthy all information derived from individuals, the exactness of which I have not been able to verify.
The reader, then, can follow me in perfect security. He will live the life of the camp ; he will be present at the organization of the Army of the Potomac, at its apprenticeship, at its first efforts ; he will follow it in its marches and in its combats, in the bivouac and on the field of battle ; he will accompany it in its work, in its privations, in its successes and in its reverses. In fine, he will take part in the war, — the war itself, with all its realities, terrible or glorious.
PREFACE. Vll
This will not prevent us from following the march of events outside of the army. -Together we will visit New York and Washington, when the course of events calls us there, and there we shall meet men great in the political field, as in the camp we shall meet men great in military life.
Is it necessary for me to add that this book is written for every one, and that I have abstained from every- thing which might give it a special character }
If it pleases, I shall be glad ; if it is interesting, I shall be happy ; — and if it be useful, I shall have attained the object which I set before myself in writing it.
May, 1867.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Chicago, December 4, 1886. Maj. Gen. Rfeojis de Trobuiand, Washington, D.C.
General, — Having read and enjoyed very much your " Quatre ans k l'Arm6e du Potomac," 1 thought it might be a pleasure to soldiers, especially of our old corps, to read it. I have accordingly translated it, — but before revising it I wish to ask your consent to its publication. Trusting your favorable consideration, I am. Very truly yours,
GEO. K. DAUCHT, Late Commanding Twelfth N. Y. Battery, Third and Second Army Corps.
New Orleans, La., December H, 1886. Mk. George K. Dauchy, Chicago.
Dear Sir, — I feel much gratified with your favorable appreciation of my " Quatre ans de Compagnes k I'Armfe du Potomac," as shown by your translation of the work, in view of the pleasure which the old comrades of the Third and the Second Corps who don't read French may find in reading it in English.
Your asking my consent to Its publication is an act of courtesy which 1 duly appreciate, and to which I can answer only by my thanks and full authorization.
There are two things only to which I beg leave to call your attention : — 1st. To try and keep as much as possible the color and form of the style of the original, by using the equivalent in preference to the literal " mot k mot." 2d. To leave intact, without modification or extenuation, my judgments upon men and things — for, whatever may be otherwise their value, they have at leaat the recommendation in their favor that they are the honest expression of seasoned convictions based upon facta, and which I did not find cause to modify since the book was published.
I need not point out to you the many misprints in the French edition, especially in the spelling of the English names. It was published in Paris while I was in command in Dakota, which made it impossible for me to revise the proofs, so was it that somfe letter or speech of Mr. Lincoln, which I had called " mod^r^," appeared in print as " mtSdiocre," quite another thing.
With hope that your publication will be successful in every respect, and that I will hear from you again,
I remain, my dear sir,
Very truly yours,
E. DE TEOBKIAND.
ix
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR.
The question of slavery — The Missouri Compromise — First attempt at secession by South Carolina — Abolition of slavery in the Eng- lish colonies — Its effect in the United States — First Abolition candidate for the Presidency — Annexation of Texas — War with Mexico — Increased agitation — Wilmot Proviso — Van Buren, the anti-slavery candidate — Disorganization of the Whig party — Compromise of 1850 — Fugitive Slave Law — Kansas-Nebraska bill — Civil war in Kansas — Birth of the Republican party — Elec- tion of Buchanan — Affair of Harper's Ferry — The irrepressible conflict I
CHAPTER II.
THE MANNER OF SECESSION.
Electoral campaign of i860 — Direct menaces of secession — Violent scenes in Congress — Charleston convention — Baltimore conven- tion — Chicago convention — Second Baltimore convention — Elec- tion of Lincoln to the Presidency — The Southern States take up arms — Passive complicity of Buchanan — Treason in the Cabinet — Secession of South Carolina — Last attempts at compromise — Se- cession of Mississippi — Of Florida — Of Alabama — Of Louisiana — Of Georgia — The first shot — Organization of the Southern Confederacy — Inauguration of President Lincoln 31
CHAPTER III.
THE CALL TO ARMS.
Capitulation of Fort Sumter — Call for seventy-five thousand men —
Four States refuse to furnish their quota — First regitnent en rmte
I for Washington — Bloody riot in Baltimore — No news — Secession
of Virginia — New call for eighty-three thousand volunteers — Seces-
XU CONTENTS.
sion of Arkansas — Occupation of Alexandria by the Federals — Men, but no army — School of the battalion — First successes in Western Virginia — General G. B. McCIellan — Battle of Buh Run ... -53
CHAPTER IV.
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON. The Guard Lafayette, Fifty-fifth New York militia — Camp at Staten Island — Departure for Washington — Collision — At Philadelphia — Through Baltimore — Arrival at the capital — Five hundred thousand men and five hundred million dollars — Tents — Organiza- tion of regiments of infantry — Composition of the Fifty-fifth — The insignia of rank, and the uniforms in the American army ... 70
CHAPTER V.
THE FORMATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
The brigade of General Peck— Surroundings at Washington — Regi- ments of cavalry — Batteries of artillery — Grand review — The Orleans princes — Lincoln and McCIellan — Summer storm — Gen- eral Buell — Inspections — The defences to the south of the Potomac
— Arlington, and the Lee family — General Wadsworth at Upton Hill — Blenker's division — Movements of the enemy upon the upper Potomac . . . . 84
CHAPTER VI.
WINTER QUARTERS.
Settled down at Tenallytown — Moonlight — Pay-day — A case of de- lirium tremens — Court-martial — General Keyes — Unfortunate af- fair of Ball's Bluff — Arrangements for waiter — Officers' mess — Flag presentation — President Lincoln at the table of the Fifty-fifth
— Effects of the war around Washington 109
CHAPTER VII.
MEN AND THINGS AT WASHINGTON.
Congress — The population of V/^ashington — The lobby and the specta- tors— The contractors for the army — The faint-hearted — The gen- eral-in-chief — General Seth Williams — Tlie Count de Paris — The Duke de Chartres — The diplomatic corps. — Its partiality for the South — Why? — Receptions at the White House — Mr. Stanton
— Mr. Seward — President Lincoln ^. . 133
CONTENTS. XI 11
CHAPTER VIII. commencement' of the campaign.
Opening of the campaign of 1862 -^Disagreements at Washington — Adoption of McClellan's plan — Military excursion in Virginia — Organization of army corps — Embarking for Fortress Monroe — Fight of the Monitor and the Merrimac — Disembarking at Hampton
— The surrounding country — Newport News — March upon York- town — The beseeching Virginians 152
CHAPTER IX. APPRENTICESHIP OF THE WAR. Siege of Yorktown — Attack on Lee's mill — The Harwood farm — Amongst the sharpshooters — The man hmit — Visit of the general- in-chie£ — Faults of administration — A black snake mayonnaise — Marching-out of the Confederate troops — The enemy abandons his positions — Evacuation of Yorktown . . . . . 174
CHAPTER X. THE FIRST BATTLE — WILLIAMSBURG.
Pursuit — The enemy attacked at Williamsburg — He attacks Hooker's division — Peck's brigade the first to receive it — The Fifty-fifth under fire — Critical moment — Attack repulsed — Reenforcements arrive — Engagement of General Hancock — General McClellan's report — Advice of General Couch — A walk on the field of battle — Burial of the dead — Visit to the wounded — The amputated — The prediction of a Georgia captain . . 190
CHAPTER XL DAYS OF SUFFERING.
Forwara march — Engagement at West Point — Subject for discontent
— Dinner at Headquarters — Fight of a new kind — The bull and the Newfoundland dog — The death of Bianco — Virginia plantations — Marsh fever — The Turner house — Delirium — Manna in the desert
— Anxieties — Battle of Fair Oaks — First days of convalescence — Departure for the North .. 213
CHAPTER XII.
THE SANITARY COMMISSION.
The victims of the Chickahominy — The army railroad — Peregrinations of a friend in search of me — Hospital tents — Agreeable surprise —
XIV CONTENTS.
%
Origin of the Sanitary Commission — Difficulties thrown in the way
— Services rendered — The commission transports — Herculean la- bors — Strifes — The loads of sick humanity — Horrible realities — The miracles of charity 235
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SEVEN DAYS' BATTLE.
Contrasts — New York — The Newport steamer — Boston — Success of Stonewall Jackson — Stuart's raid — Return to Fortress Monroe — Interview with General Dix — Evacuation of West Point — Arrival at Harrison's Landing — The work of McClellan — A characteristic despatch — Battle of Mechanicsville — of Gaines' Mill — of Savage Station — of White Oak Swamp — of Glendale — of Malvern Hill — The port of refuge •. . . 261
CHAPTER XIV.
FROM CHARYBDIS TO SCYLLA.
Miserable condition of the army — Desertions — Military bravado and political manifesto of McClellan — Reconnoissances — Order to evac- uate the Peninsula — Delay after delay — Pope on the Rappahan- nock — Delay at Alexandria — Night march — Fairfax Court House
— Death of Kearney — Retreat on Washington — Pope and Mc- Clellan .... ... ... 283
CHAPTER XV. BETTER TIMES.
Invasion of Maryland by the Confederates — Passage of the Fifty-fifth through Tenallytown — Advance posts on the Monocacy — Transfer to the Third Corps — Appearance of Washington — A legacy from Kearney — General Birney — How Harper's Ferry surrendered to the enemy — Battles on South Mountain — Condition of the two armies — Battle of Antietam — Attacks in detail — Incomplete Re- sult— McClellan's hesitations — Lee returns to Virginia . . . 308
CHAPTER XVI.
INTERLUDE.
General Berry — Volunteer recruiting— Antipathy of the people to the conscription — New regiments — Three hundred thousand men raised for nine months — The Fifty-fifth reorganized in seven companies — Raid of General Stuart into Maryland — The Third Corps at
CONTENTS. XV
Edwards Ferry — General Stoneman — Colonel Du£fi^ — General Mc- Clellan's inaction — Correspondence with the President — The army returns to Virginia — The different classes of farmers — Forward march
— General McClellan relieved of his command 328
CHAPTER XVII.
FREDERIf:KSBURG.
Ambrose Bumside, general commanding — Organization of grand di- visions— Mrs. L.'s honey — State elections — General Burnside's plan — The delay of the pontoons — Effect of snow — Passage of the Rappahannock — Doctor C.'s nerves — Battle/ of Fredericksburg — Attack of the enemy's positions on the left — Tragical episode — Whose fault was it ? — Disasters on the right — General Burnside's obstinacy — Dead and wounded — Return to our camp . . . 351
CHAPTER XVIII. EMANCIPATION.
Military balance-sheet for the year 1862 — The emancipation question
— The inaugural address of Mr. Lincoln — Reserve of the President and of Congress — General Fremont — Abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia — Proposition for gradual emancipation^ — Gen- eral Hunter — Confiscation act — Progress of emancipation — Letter of Mr. Lincoln — Religious deputation — Last scruples — Prepara- tory dispositions — Definite proclamation of emancipation . . 380
CHAPTER , XIX. LAST EFFORTS OF BURNSIDE.
The Fifty-fifth New York consolidated with the Thirty-eighth — New Year's day in camp — Abuse of strong liquor in the army — New projects of General Bumside — Plan of a cavalry expedition by Gen- eral Averill — Intervention of the President — Bumside at Washing- ton— General Newton and General Cochrane — Complications — The army in motion — A gloomy night — The army buried in the mud
— Retum to camp — General order No. 8 — How General Bumside came to be relieved of the command of the army 397
CHAPTER XX.
HOOKER COMMANDING THE ARMY.
General Hooker's character — Improvements in the army — How pro- motions were made — Intrigues and rivalries — Political preferences
XVI CONTENTS.
— Brigadier-generals' report — Special marks to designate the differ- ent army corps — Poverty of Virginia country people — A pastor with- out a flock — Marriage under a tent — Camp fetes — Preparations for moving — Combined march on Chancellorsville — Brilliant commence- ment of a brilliant conception 413
CHAPTER XXI.
CHANCELLORSVILLE.
First encounter With the enemy — Capital fault — Defensive position of the army — Advance position of the Third Corps — Engagement of Bir- ney's division — Jackson's attack on the right — Rout of the Eleventh Corps — Counter charge of Berry's division — Death of Major Kee- nan — Artillery saved by General Pleasonton — Night encounter — Episodes — Death of Stonewall Jackson — Renewal of the battle — Accident to General Hooker^ Remarks on the position — Bayonet charge — Movement backward — Sedgwick carries Fredericksburg Heights — Combat at Salem — The Sixth Corps at Banks Ford — General retreat 435
CHAPTER XXII.
INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Position of Hooker after Chancellorsville — The President's letter — Lee's army in motion — March on Manassas and Centreville — Gue- rillas — Cavalry engagements — Entrance into Maryland — Welcome by the peopl e — The enemy in Pennsylvania — Hooker relieved o£ his command — Meade appointed general commanding — Convent of St. Joseph at Emmittsburg — Bloody contest near Gettysburg — Death of General Reynolds — Report of General Hancock — Concen- tration of the two armies 471
CHAPTER XXIII.
GETTYSBURG.
Position of the two armies — Dangerous advance of the Third Corps — First attack on the extreme left — The fight of the Third Brigade — Double assault on the summit of Little Round Top — Caldwell's division in line — The enemy driven back — Graham in the peach orchard — General Humphreys — The left line driven in from one end to the other — Offensive return — The position recovered — Ewell's attack on the extreme right — Night spent in position — Renewal of the battle at Gulp Hill — Interval — The scene of the action — Everything staked on one bltjw by the rebels — Account taken — Trophies of the Second Corps 492
CONTENTS. XVll
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE PURSUIT.
The field of battle by moonlight — The wounded and the dead — Pursuit of the enemy — French's division added to the Third Corps — Politi- cal intrusions — Difficult position of General Meade — Council ef war — General disappointment — The war carried again into Virginia — Battle of Manassas Gap — Lost opportunity — General French — Once more on the Rappahannock 512
CHAPTER XXV.
OPERATIONS DURING THE LATTER PART OF 1863.
White Sulphur Springs — The Vallandigham affair — Plots of the Cop- perheads — Bloody riots in New York — Attitude of Governor Horatio Seymour — Western regiments sent to enforce the law — Reenforcements hurried to Tennessee — Advance on Culpeper — The Sharpshooters — Movement to the rear — The engagement at Auburn — Battle of Bristoe Station — Remarks — Visit of General Sickles — Battle at Rappahannock Station — Engagement at Kelly's Ford — March in line of battle — Mr. John Minor Botts between two racks — Mine Run affair — Death labels — Raid on Rich- mond ^32
CHAPTER XXVI.
ULYSSES S. GRANTj LIEUTENANT-GENERAL.
Condition of the rebellion at the beginning of 1864 — General Grant in the West, — The capture of Vicksburg — Capitulation of Port Hud- son — Victory of Missionary Ridge — Grant appointed lieutenant- general — His portrait — His stay at Washington — Reorganization of the Army of the Potomac — Official statement of the land forces of the United States — How I came to be appointed to the com- mand of the garrison and defences of New York 557
CHAPTER XXVII. BATTLE AFTER BATTLE.
Battle of the Wilderness — Volleys <J outrance in the thickets — The diverse fortunes — Death of General Wadsworth — Fight in the midst of the flames — Result — Battle of Spottsylvania — Death of General Sedgwick — Attack on the intrenchments — Success of the Second Corps — Twenty hours of conflict — Night movements — Continued battles — Engagement on the North Anna — Cavalry expedition — Sheridan under the walls of Richmond — Death of
XVIU CONTENTS.
General' Stuart — Battle of Cold Harbor — Account rendered of one month of campaign 570
CHAPTER XXVIII.
IN FRONT OF PETERSBURG.
Passage of the James — First attack on Petersburg — My return to the army — City Point — General Ingalls — A night at headquarters — General Hancock — Losses of my brigade during two months' cam- paign— Losses of the Second Corps — Fortnight of extra duty — The colored troops — Early's expedition against Washington — Between the cup and the lip there is room for: a hanging — First Deep Bottom expedition — Hurried return 5^9
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE MINE.
Universality of Yankee genius — The mine dug by Colonel Pleasants — Project of assault — General Burnside's plan — Unfortunate modifica- tions — Lots drawn — Last preparations — The match goes out — The explosion — The crater — Terrible fiasco — The double investiga- tion — Different conclusions — The true cause of the want of suc- cess 608
CHAPTER XXX.
SUMMER HARVESTS.
General theory of the siege of Petersburg — The pick and the musket — Second expedition to Deep Bottom — Death of Colonel Chaplain — The trials of a regiment — The mark of death — Presentiments — Return to the trenches — Contest for the Weldon railroad — General Warren's success — Unfortunate affair of General Hancock at.Ream's Station — Fort Hell — Origin of the name — Nocturnal coup de main — Muskets, cannons, and mortars — Southern deserters — Victories of Sheridan, Sherman, and Farragut 625
CHAPTER XXXI.
OCTOBER VINTAGE.
General Butler's success north of the James — Line advanced to the Peeble's house — Return to Fort Hell — Misfortunes of a Virginian family — General Birney's death — Arrival of recruits at the army — Dearth of officers — Political prejudices — Too free talk — Expedi- tion to Hatcher's Run — Battle of October 27 — Line broken — How the break was repaired — Cavalry on foot — Night retreat — The wounded — General Hancock leaves the army ... . 650
CONTENTS. XIX
CHAPTER XXXII. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. Presidential campaign of 1864 — Cleveland convention — Baltimore convention — Platforms — Nomination of Mr. Lincoln — Chicago convention — Democratic profession of faith — The question of pris- oners of war — Barbarities of the rebel government — Nomination of General McClellan — Desperate manoeuvres — Election — The army vote — Counter-stroke by the Confederates — Thanksgiving. . 671
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE LAST WINTER. General Humphreys — A raid to the south of Virginia — Cloth pontoons — How a railroad is destroyed — A winter's night — Exodus of negroes — Murder punished by fire — Military executions — Renewed operations on Hatcher's Run — Last extension of our lines — General Grant's chessboard — Sherman's march — Victories in Tennessee — Cavalry raids — Capture of Fort Fisher — Schofield in North Carolina — Sherman's arrival at Goldsborough — Sheridan at work — His return to the Army of the Potomac 687
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE GREAT STROKE. Ca'frture and.recapture of Fort Steadman — Desperate combats along the lines of rifle-pits— General MacAUister — The conscripts under fire — The One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York and the Fifty-ninth Alabama — General Lee's plans — General Grant's instructions — Opinions in the army — First movements — The battle of White Oak road — The battle of Fivle Forks — Warren ind Sheridan— A night of engagements — The last assaults — Meeting General Grant— Death of General A. P. Hill. — Venit summa dies 705
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE DENOUEMENT. Evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond — The pursuit — Arrival at Jetersville — The Confederates at Amelia Court House— Engage- ments of the rearguard— Fight at Deatonsville— Captures and trophies — A great cast of the net — Death of General Read — Opin- ion of a Confederate sergeant — The baggage — Meeting General Sheridan — High Bridge — The last battle of the Second Corps — Communications between Grant and Lee — The coup de grace— The Confederate army lays down its arms — Final tableau .... 731
Chapter y^i.-^-^\— Conclusion 754
LIST OF MAPS.
Page
Williamsburg 200
Fredericksburg , . . ,60
Chancellorsville 440
Gettysburg ^oo
BoYDTON Road ggo
General Map of Virginia . . . At the end of the text.
FOUR nm IITH THE AMY OF THE POTOMAC.
CHAPTER I.
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR.
The question of slavery — The Missouri Compromise — First attempt at secession by South Carolina — Abolition of slavery in the English colonies — Its effect in the United States — First Abolition candi- date for the Presidency — Annexation of Texas — War with Mexico — Increased agitation — Wilmot Proviso — Van Buren, the anti- slavery candidate — Disorganization of the Whig party — Com- promise of 1850 — Fugitive Slave Law — Kansas-Nebraska bill — Civil war in Kansas — Birth of the Republican party — Election of Buchanan — Affair of Harper's Ferry — The irrepressible conflict.
The great American rebellion of 1861 had for its cause the maintenance and the perpetuation of slavery. From whatever point of view we study the develop- ment of the facts and the march of events which cul- minated in this great conflict, we find at bottom the question of slavery ; all else is merely subsidiary.
This question, pregnant with storms, dated from the very establishment of the Republic. The wise men who drew up the Constitution were, in principle, op- posed to slavery, and could not logically sanction a right of property of man over man, when they proclaimed " Equality and the inalienable right to liberty " of all mem- bers of the human family. In their minds, slavery was condemned ; but, constrained to respect great interests, they left to time, and to the progressive march of civil- ization, the care of adjusting these transitory interests to permanent principles.
2 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
Antagonism between freedom and slavery was devel- oped rapidly by the voluntary extinction of slavery in the New England States, in New York, and in Pennsyl- vania. The opposing forces beginning at that time to be equalized, an active struggle began when the crea- tion of new States and the expansion of free labor tended to cause the balance to fall on the side of emancipation.
The whole political history of the United States turns upon this strife, in which the statesmen of the country, for a half-century, expended their strength in vain. Their mistake consisted in believing in the effi- cacy of compromises, a poor expedient to reconcile irrec- oncilable differences ; puerile efforts, which, in pres- ence of the results, inevitably call to mind the image of the dikes of sand which children sometimes, for their amusement, raise along the shore, to stop the rising tide.
The most astonishing of these childish freaks was the invention of an imaginary line across the American continent, to limit forever the domain of liberty and the domain of slavery, to give to each its part : this to civ- ilization, that to barbarism.
This compromise line was, as is well known, the re- sult of the first great battle fought by the democratic and emancipating spirit of the North, against the oli- garchic and pro-slavery principles of the South.
During the session of Congress in 1818 to 1819, Missouri had asked admission into the Union, but the House of Representatives attached to this a,dmission the condition that slavery should cease to exist in the new State. The Senate refused to sanction this con- dition, and the unsettled question was reserved for the decision of the next Congress. By both sides, advan- tage was taken of this delay, to inflame the passions
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 3
and envenom the strife. The agitation, deep and vio- lent, developed a startling difference between the North, which ardently sustained the condition im- posed by the House of Representatives, and the South, which obstinately declared it unconstitutional.
Matters had come to such a pass that Congress was frightened at probable consequences, and drew back before the responsibility of a solution by force of arms, in case a solution was not reached by ballot. Could the young Republic, which had existed less than half a century, stand the terrible ordeal of a civil war, and would not the dismemberment of the Union lead to such results that both parties would be engulfed, in one common ruin ?
Such was, in fact, the determining cause of the " Missouri Compromise," which was not, nor could be, a solution. The danger was postponed, slavery had ob- tained a respite ; the respite of the condemned.
It is difficult to suppose that the statesmen of that period could really have trusted in the permanency of their dike of sand, and that the American people could in good faith have believed in the efficacy of a geo- graphic fiction to stop indefinitely the advance of lib- erty. But the hostile parties accepted the compromise as a truce by which each might profit in recuperating its strength and in subsequently resuming the contest with greater advantage. As for the mass of the peo- ple, preoccupied by their material interests, absorbed in business, they would naturally favor every respite from those exciting agitations, which, to the loss of im- mediate profit, interrupted them in their commercial, industrial, and agricultural enterprises.
In democratic governments, the active minorities have, in all "times, led in their train the passive majori- ties. So, in the " sphere miUtant " of the slavery ques-
4 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
tion, from the instant the vanguard laid down its arms, the great bulk of the army celebrated the peace of the day, without troubling itself as to whether the war would not break out more furiously on the morrow. Thus slavery was tolerated in the new State, but forever for- bidden north of the line of 36° 30' north latitude, — . and quiet was restored throughout the whole country by the adoption of the Missouri Compromise.
For ten years, nothing occurred to trouble this peace- ful quiet except the temporary excitement incident to the two elections, which raised John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson to the Presidency. The question of slavery was not brought forward, and it still slept when, in 1830, South Carolina began to prepare for its awak- ening by a first aggression against the Federal Union.
Ever since the establishment of the Republic, the prosperous development of the Northern States, their rapid increase of population, their marvellous advance in the paths of commerce, of industry, of- agriculture, left the Southern States more and more in the rear. The cause lay simply in the relative merits of free and slave labor. But the planters of the South would not see it, and their discontent sought for grievances in the tariff of 1828.
When a law wounds any one's prejudices, or con- flicts with his interests, the most specious pretext with which to combat it is to represent it as unconstitutional. On this occasion, South Carolina did not fail in this particular. She found in Mr. Hayne, one of her rep- resentatives in the United States Senate, a strong and eloquent interpreter, and for the first time a voice was raised in Congress to proclaim the doctrine of Seces- sion, to which Daniel Webster's political abilities and oratorical power soon rendered befitting justice.
The history of this dangerous conflict is well known.
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 5
Beaten in the arena of discussion, South Carolina wished to pass from theory to practice. In a convention as- sembled at Columbia, in November, 1832, she adopted and promulgated an act declaring null and void all the acts of Congress imposing duties on foreign importa- tions, rejected the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court upon the constitutionality of these acts, and proclaimed that in case of an attempt at coercion, on the part of the United States, the State would withdraw from the Union and fbrm an independent government.
This act was the supreme effort of the spirit of re- bellion. President Jackson had just been reelected. He replied to the ordinance of nullification, as it was called, by a proclamation which left no doubt as to his determination to resort to force if the rebels did not return promptly to duty. South Carolina, isolated in her attempt at revolt, opened her eyes at last to the urgent necessity of submission. Upon the proposition of Henry Clay, Congress adopted a modification of the tariff of 1828, and it was this plank of safety of which the rebellious State took advantage to repass its Rubicon.
But if the irritating question of slavery remained thus ostensibly foreign to the abortive attempt of South Carolina, on the other hand, the cause of emancipation, at precisely this epoch, made rapid progress in Virginia. After a general agitation amongst the people of the State, the question was brought out and spiritedly dis- cussed in the Legislature. The measures proposed for arriving at the gradual abolition of slavery failed only by a trifling majority ; a fatal check, which, thirty years later, was to precipitate the State into an abyss, from which the change of a few votes at that time would have sufficed to preserve her. •
In 1834, England abolished slavery in its West Indian
6 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
colonies ; and immediately the reaction was felt in the United States, by a redoubling of agitation on the same subject. A propaganda more active than ever was organized, and went to work with a persistent energy, to sow abroad everywhere the idea of liberty, to secretly spread upon the plantations abolition appeals in every form, and to facilitate the flight of slaves by all means.
The South was excited, not without reason, and car- ried the question to Congress, where Mr. Calhoun pro- posed a penal law against postmasters who, in the slave States, should transport or distribute through the mails printed matter, illustrations, or other incendiary arti- cles. The North protested against the ridiculous pre- tence of submitting the mails to the investigations of postal employes, who thereafter were to be held respon- sible for the circulation of such material.
Immediately and simultaneously appeared, from nearly every one of the free States, petitions to Congress in favor of the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- lumbia. In vain did the representatives of the South oppose the reading of these petitions, the style of which was in their eyes a public insult to their con- stituents, as well as to themselves. Respect for the right of petition prevails, and if the measure asked for does not pass, it at least obtains a foothold within the field of discussion, and henceforth will never depart, until its accomplishment shall be the signal for the abolition of slavery in the United States.
From this time, able men could foresee the inevitable consequences of this strife — in a future for which the people of the South were preparing themselves, but to which the people of the North were blind even to the last moment.
" Let the abolitionists," said Henry Clay, in the Sen-
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 7
ate, "succeed in their efforts to unite the inhabitants of the free States, as one man, against the inhabitants of the slave States, then the union of one side will engender the union of the other, and this process of reciprocal consolidation will be accompanied by all the violent prejudices, by all the envenomed passions, by all the implacable animosities which have ever de- graded or deformed human nature. A virtual disso- lution of the Union will have already taken place, while the forms still remain. The most precious elements of union, mutual good-will, sentiments of sympathy, the bonds of fraternity which happily unite us to-day, will have forever ceased to exist. One sec- tion will hold itself in an attitude of menace and hos- tility to the other, and the conflict of opinions will be promptly followed by the shock of arms."
These words of a great statesman and a great orator were a prophecy, since realized, point by point, in the march of events. But where he saw only the dan- gerous intrigues of a party, by viewing from a higher standpoint, he could have recognized the marks of eternal Providence, and the unfailing development of human progress.
The great financial questions which in 1836 served to raise Mr. Van Buren to the presidential chair, as successor to General Jackson ; the reaction, which in 1840 brought the Whig party to power, by the election of its candidate. General Harrison ; the premature death of the latter, calling Mr. Tyler to the White House, — who, vacillating from one party to the other, succeeded only in displeasing Whigs and Democrats alike ; the boundary question, at this time sharply con- tested with England ; the complications brought on by the Canadian rebellion, which threatened to bring on war between the United States and Great Britain, were
8 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
issues powerful enough to cause the question of slavery to be left out of the field of political agitation for sev- eral years. The presidential election of 1844 brought it to the front again, and, from that time, it not only did not retire again to the background, but advanced with the step of a giant, and, in, a few years, came to control all others.
In 1844, for the first time, the abolitionists had a separate candidate, James G. Birney, whose adherents, in separating from the Whig party, took away from Henry Clay enough votes to insure his defeat. They thus contributed effectually to the election of Mr. Polk, the consequences of which were, as is well known, the annexation of Texas, and the war with Mexico, with the conquest of new territory, all which ought apparently to have strengthened the cause of slavery by extending its domain. But " Man prx)poses and God disposes." The supposed reenforcement to the Southern States was a fatal blow to them, from the enormous impulse it gave to the development of abolitionism in the North, and precisely from the annexation of Texas dates the last phase of the con- flict, which, in a few years, was about to end in the grand rebellion, the means terrible, but necessary in the ways of Providence, to cut in a single day the Gordian knot of slavery, which the weak hands of poli- ticians would with difficulty have untied in a century.
In 1846, referring to the. negotiations to conclude peace with Mexico, Mr. Wilmot, a member of Con- gress from Pennsylvania, proposed to pass the bill, putting two millions of dollars at the disposal of the President, but upon the express and fundamental condi- tion "that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should ever exist in any part of any territory which might be acquired from Mexico, in virtue of any
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. g
treaty." Such was, in substance, the famous Wilmot Proviso, which for a time agitated the country so vio- lently. In the House of Representatives, it passed by a strong majority, all the Northern members — except two — having voted in its favor, whichever party they belonged to. In the Senate, the session came to an end while the debate on the question was pending, and before it came to a vote, and the result was the same in the following session. It is well to remark that the discussion, at that time, had to do not with the mainte- nance of slavery where it then existed, but only with its possible establishment where it did not exist. The cause of liberty was still on the defensive.
In 1848, Ex-President Van Buren was the anti- slavery candidate. This fact alone is enough to show the great progress in public opinion during the admin- istration of Mr. Polk. General Taylor was elected, it is true, but the large number of votes cast for Mr. Van Buren gave to the party he represented an importance, which, increasing from day to day, already presaged the part it would play in the near future.
President Taylor died only a few months after his inauguration, and the elevation of Mr. Fillmore to the supreme magistracy necessitated immediately a recon- struction of the Cabinet. From that time began diver- gences, intrigues, discontentments, numerous defections in the Whig party, whose rapid disorganization went to furnish a new element of power to the adversaries of slavery.
The introduction of this system in the free Territories, demanded by the South and resist'ed by the North, was the ground upon which the contest was begun with fierce ardor on both sides. The question arose from the necessity of organizing governments in the territo- ries recently conquered from Mexico, whose permanent
lO FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
possession had just been assured by the treaty of peace. It was henceforth no longer a question of spec- ulative theories ; the country found itself in the face of pressing realities. The conflict entered forcibly into practical politics. Hence, the great interest in the subject, which in a short space of time transformed opinions into enthusiasm, sentiments into passions ; which on one side gave to the general agitation the character of a crusade against the extension of slavery in the Territories, and which, on the other, provoked significant measures, such as the manifesto signed by forty-eight members of Congress, the convention of the South at Nashville, and the menace of secession, for- mulated under every form of defiance. Everything appeared to lead to a decisive crisis, and Mr. Calhoun, the chief of the pro-slavery party, believed he could virtually announce from that time, in a discourse full of prophetic previsions before the Senate, that the Union was approaching its end. But, far from seeking to conjure away the storm, he desired rather to precipitate the explosion. The dissolution of the Union appearing to him inevitable in a short time, his opinion was that the South should hasten the separation before the gigantic and incessant progress of the North had de- stroyed all equilibrium between the two sections, and put in the balance an overwhelming preponderance in its favor.
The reckoning was correct. If there must be neces- sarily an appeal to arms, every delay tended to the ad- vantage of the North, and it cannot be doubted that the South had, at that time, better material ~ chances to establish its independence than when it resolved to make the effort, in 1861. But, at that period, the Northern people did not believe in what was a logical necessity. Blinded by its faith in its institutions, and
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. I I
by its veneration for its government, it never consid- ered secession • possible until the moment when the cannon peal at Fort Sumter awakened it from its illu- sion.
In 1850, as in 1820, the only thought was to find a compromise, which should forever terminate the agita- tion of the question of slavery in the United States. A people which believes in the perpetuity of its constitu- tion, and in ithe unlimited continuance of its govern- ment, may easily confound a temporary delay with a definite solution.
California, upon demanding its admission into the Union as a free State, appeared to open the way to the compromise so eagerly sought for. Mr. Clay was charged to formulate the terms, of which the principal ones were : The admission of California with the con- stitution which she had adopted ; the organization of territorial governments for the conquered country, with- out the intervention of Congress either for or against slavery ; the maintenance of slavery in the District of Columbia, but the abolition of the slave trade in negroes brought within its limits ; the adoption of legislation more efficacious for the arrest and return of fugitive slaves who had sought refuge in the free States or Territories ; finally, the declaration that Congress had not the power to prohibit or hinder the slave trade between the slave States.
This new compromise gave rise to memorable and prolonged debates, during which Daniel Webster and .Henry Clay soared to the greatest heights of parlia- mentary eloquence. They succeeded, at last, in having the compromise adopted by Congress, as the anchor of safety, which would save the ship of State from the rock of disunion. The illusion was of short duration. At the adoption of the compromise, there arose
12 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
amongst the people of the free States a great cry of protestation against the measures assuring the restitution of fugitive slaves. In changing its ground the agitation only became the more intense, and the oppo- sition the more violent. In fact, it was no longer the question of deciding upon the condition of the distant and almost desert Territories : henceforth the jurisdic- tion of the free States themselves even in their own limits was called in question. They were compelled to submit in their own boundaries to the application of a right of property which they did not recognize as property, which their laws proscribed, and against which the public conscience revolted.
The law was not new, it is true, since it dated back to 1793. But its action had been restricted more and more, as slavery disappeared successively from the Northern States, and it had become a dead letter, not less by the reprobation of the people than by the acts of the Legislatures. Its revival, in order to make it obligatory, was to pour oil upon a fire under pretence of extinguishing it.
It became necessary to recognize this fact, when, an occasion of applying the law having occurred, the peo- ple of Massachusetts were seen to rise against even the decision of the Supreme Court of the State, and, every recourse of legal procedure being exhausted, to resist violently the reclaiming of a fugitive slave by his old master. Blood flowed, and the federal officers were as- sailed and given up to popular execration, and never after were able, except on peril of their lives, to attempt to return a slave to servitude. The last attempt of this kind was sufficient to set the whole North on fire against the " Southern aggressions," rallying words of all the opponents of slavery.
Thus the waves of abolitionism rose higher and
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR, 13
higher in proportion as the effort was made to oppose new dikes against them.
From this time the popularity of Mr. Webster was engulfed. It foundered under the weight of the con- demnation of the very State he represented, and of the censures which were poured out upon his head from the whole North. Mr. Calhoun died before the end of the session, as if crushed by the powerlessness of his efforts for the cause of the South. Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster were destined to follow him within two years. Thus, those three statesmen, rivajs in eloquence and in popularity, were about to disappear from the scene, their eyes already opened to the weakness of their work of compromise.
Nevertheless, in 1852, the two great political parties into which the country was divided still existed, and for the last time the contest in the presidential election was between the Whig and the Democratic parties.
The question of slavery, however, was no longer pushed to one side in their platforms. On the con- trary, it was given great prominence in the electoral campaign, and, though ostensibly the compromise of 1850 was approved in both platforms, in reality General Scott, put in nomination by the Whig party, was the anti-slavery candidate, to whom rallied the abolition forces. The Democratic party, on the contrary, placed itself squarely in favor of slavery, and, by uniting upon this ground the whole South and a portion of the North, it assured the success of General Pierce ; a sterile triumph, which was destined rather to hasten than retard the march of events. The first session of Congress under the new administration had hardly opened when Mr. Douglas proposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, under the form of a bill since become famous under the name of the " Kansas-
14 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
Nebraska bill." It must be remembered that the Missouri Compromise had in 1820 established a geo- graphic line separating forever the territorial division assigned on one side to free labor and on the other side to slave labor. The work, which was to have been per- manent, lasted thirty-two years, and it was about to be destroyed by the very party whom it was designed to protect. Blinded by the deceitful brilliancy of the electoral victory it had just achieved, the South saw in the barrier which defended its favorite institution only an obstacle to its expansion. It undertook to overthrow it, and it did overthrow it.
Kansas and Nebraska lie to the north of the line 36° 30' of north latitude, and consequently slavery was therein prohibited by the compromise of 1820. In presenting the new bill, as chairman of the committee on Territories in the Senate, Mr. Douglas proposed only to establish the principle that to the population alone belonged the right to choose their local institutions, and of deciding sovereignly upon the question of free or slave labor in the State constitution requisite for their admission into the Union. In supporting the bill with all its forces, the South wished for much more.
It was resolved to secure to itself those rich coun- tries towards which already a current of emigration began to flow. It succeeded only in breaking the clasp of the box of Pandora, and in putting itself in the wrong by a flagrant aggression against the North, and carried the contest to a field upon which, for the first time in the history of the United States, the oppo- nents, henceforth become enemies, were to meet each other with arms in their hands.
The States which had remained stationary in the em- brace of slavery perceived with anger that they were
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 1 5
becoming diminished in comparative importance, and passed by in the marvellous progress made by the States growing in number and increasing in population under the regime of liberty. This led them to the sys- tem of provocations, which could tend only to inflame the discussions and intensify the strife. The return of fugitive slaves had already aroused the resentment of the North, and raised a riot in the streets of Boston. The repeal of the compromise of 1820 was now about to inaugurate the era of civil war in Kansas.
This Territory, connected with the free States by way of Nebraska, almost uninhabited, and the State of Iowa, very thinly peopled, 'appeared to be an easy prey to the South. Slavery could be introduced without effort from all parts of the western portion of Missouri, which State, moreover, interposed its whole breadth as an insurmountable bulwark to the free emigration from Illinois. But, however disadvantageous the conditions of the strife were for the free States, they were not enough to discourage their energy. Massachusetts, vigilant and indefatigable enemy of slavery, set to work the first to organize an emigration society for Kansas ; the other States of New England followed her example ; the movement extended to the States of the Northwest, and, in spite of the vast distances to be traversed, there were soon seen trains of colonists marching from all points towards the contested territory. To that emi- gration of free men the South could not oppose a pro- slavery emigration equal either in numbers or in value. As to number, its population was comparatively too restricted ; as to value, in lieu of agricultural colonists, workingmen, merchants, it could only^^send to Kansas people of the lowest, class, called white trash, who, under the planters' oligarchy, vegetated in degrading misery and abject ignorance. Ferocious by instinct,
1 6 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
disdaining all work, strange to every idea of civilization, this class was fit only for brigandage, and amongst them, in fact, were recruited the Border Ruffians, who, during some years, brought upon Kansas rapine, murder, and fire, to the great shame of the federal executive, who, it must be acknowledged, covered them for a long time with a protection either imbecile or criminal.
In 1854, an association organized in the county of Platte assembled publicly at Weston, Missouri, and adopted some resolutions, by which it declared itself ready, at the first call, to expel from Kansas all the colonists who had settled there under the auspices of the emigration societies of the North. This time, the aggression was formulated by an explicit declaration of war.
The act followed closely after the menace.
At the first election of a territorial delegate to Con- gress, armed bands of Missourians took possession of the polls, driving from them the partisans of free labor, and of 2871 votes deposited in the ballot boxes 1729 were illegal. Some months after (March, 1855), when the election of members of the -Legislature occurred, the same armed invasion returned, and this time of 6218 votes cast only 13 10 were legal. And of these 13 10 votes, in spite of all these acts of violence,-79i were cast for the anti-slavery candidates."
Governor Reeder could not sanction these monstrous frauds. He ordered new elections in six districts, five of which elected anti-slavery representatives, — the sixth district (Leavenworth) remaining, in spite of the Governor, in the hands of the Missourians. But the first act of the Legislature was to expel the five mem- bers, the only real representatives of the inhabitants of
' See the official report o£ the committee of inquiry, appointed at a late date by Congress.
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 1 7
the Territory, and to give their seats to those elected by- fraud and violence, who had been rejected by the Governor, who lost his position by this righteous act. So completely preponderant were the interests of the South at the White House !
Freed in this manner from all opposition, the usurp- ers of legislative power gave themselves full swing. The aiding of a slave to escape, whether to a point within or without the Territory, was declared a capital crime ; giving them asylum, or denying the right of holding slaves in Kansas, or even circulating anti-sla- very publications, became a crime, punishable by from two to five years' hard labof ; to the exercise of the right to vote was attached the condition of agreeing un- der oath to sustain the fugitive-slave law ; and finally the laws of Missouri were en masse made applicable to the Territory of Kansas.
What did the great majority of the inhabitants, im- migrants from the free States, do .' To suppose that they bowed the head humbly under the tyranny of the bowie-knife and the revolver would be to misconceive the courageous energy with which the cause of liberty always inspires its defenders. They assembled in con- vention to protest against the acts of the Legislature, ■appointed ex-Governor Reeder delegate to Congress, and finally framed at Topeka a State constitution for- bidding slavery. Resistance arose everywhere in pro- portion to the aggression ; hatred provoked hatred ; murder responded to murder j and violence reached the point that the city of Lawrence was obliged to arm and prepare to defend, itself against an imminent attack. For several days the place was virtually in a state of siege. But its resolute attitude compelled the Missou- rians, assembled to sack the city, to refrain, and on this occasion they repassed the frontier without delivering
1 8 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
battle. The Topeka constitution was afterwards sub- mitted to the vote of the people and adopted unani- mously, with the exception of forty-five votes, — if- we except. Leavenworth, the headquarters of the bandits of the frontier. The State officers and the State Legisla- ture were elected in consequence, and Charles Robinson was inaugurated Governor the 4th of March, 1856.
Rightfully the question was settled. The emigration from the free States had taken legitimate possession of Kansas, and had pronounced unanimously against slavery. This logical solution would, perhaps, have been accepted from that time, as it was necessarily somewhat later by the South, if the election of Mr. James Buchanan to the Presidency had not directly encouraged them to redouble their efforts to stifle right by force.
The desperate strife which was prevailing in Kansas had from its commencement excited the most intense feeling throughout the country. From this open fire the discord spread to all the States, and each new incident produced its corresponding effect, as well at the North as at the South. Passions were at fever heat "every- where, in Congress as in the State Legislatures. The very floor of the Senate was the scene of a brutal attempt upon the life of Mr. Sumner, senator from Massachusetts, in consequence of an ardent philippic which he had pronounced against the South and against slavery, in reference to affairs in Kansas.
The press, as may be conceived, was no less active than the tribune. The least event took on exaggerated proportions in coming to public notice through the journals, and the universal excitement was supported by books, by pamphlets, by writings of every kind, put forth continually to increase the flame.
The old Whig party disappeared in the tumult. The
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 1 9
new American, or Know-Nothing party, founded upon the principle of opposition to the increasing influence of tnaturalized citizens, had a very short life. The spirit of hostility to slavery and of resistance to the aggressions of the South had thoroughly penetrated all the free States. It dominated everything, and imperi- ously demanded a new organization upon that platform. The Republican party was born.
The time had passed when the adversaries of slavery served only to make up a deficiency or an addition to the parties who disputed among themselves the political power. In the presidential campaign of 1856 they entered the lists, as the only champions of the North, bearing on their banners the name of John C. Fremont. The contest henceforth took on the character well defined by Mr. Seward. It was an " irrepressible con- flict " between the North and the South, between free labor and slave labor. Every other question had irrevo- cably fallen to a relative insignificance.
The popularity of Mr. Fremont was due much more to his venturesome explorations in the Rocky Moun- tains and in California than to any political prominence. That was precisely what determined the choice of the Republican party, too young as yet to burn its vessels by putting forward any of its chiefs noted for radical abolitionism.
To the "Pathfinder" of liberty, the defenders of slavery opposed a political hack grown old under the harness of the Democratic party, "a Northern man with Southern principles," according to the expression first applied to the successor of President Jackson. The savoir-faire of Mr. Buchanan was considered preferable to the servile compliance of Mr. Pierce, or t^e ambition, more ardent than prudent, of Mr. Doug- las, — and, after an electoral campaign conducted on
20 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
both sides with a vehemence without precedent, the last of the pro-slavery Presidents was raised to the chief magistracy of the United States by the vote of nineteen States. The six New England States, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin cast their votes for Mr. Fremont, — Maryland voted for Mr. Fillmore.' Pennsylvania (the State of Mr. Buchanan)^ Indiana, Illinois, and New Jersey decided the election by voting with the South; — an unnatural alliance for a lease of the White House for four years.
The South could not misunderstand the significance of the figures. From that time she prepared actively for the great rebellion for which the next election would furnish the pretext. Nevertheless, as always on the morrow after great commotions, there came a time of respite to the universal agitation. The combatants took breath, and Mr. Buchanan, profiting by the time preceding his inauguration, promised an administration equally opposed to all sectional politics, pledging him- self in advance to repress every aggression, whether it came from the North or the South, taking for a task for his Presidency the reestablishment of good feeling and of good sentiments amongst all the States, and the inauguration of a new era of harmonious prosperity. Promises and engagements cost little in such a situa- tion. The emission of that kind of political paper money is made, unhappily, without guaranty, and its real value is established only when the bills become due. Thus this issue was not generally taken for ready money.
Mr. Buchanan had hardly taken his seat in the presi- dential chair when Congress sent to Kansas a special committee of investigation, oMered to 'find out the real
' Th« popular vote was as follows ; Bucha,nan, 1,838,232 ; Fremont, 1,341,154; Fillmore, 884, 707.
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 21
condition of the Territory. In the official report which was the result of their inquiry, they say : " All the elections have been controlled, not by the actual inhabitants, but by citizens of Missouri ; consequently, all the officials of the Territory, from constable to legis- lators, except those appointed by the President, owe their position to the votes of non-residents. Not one of them has been elected by the inhabitants, and your committee has been unable to discover any political power, however small in importance, which has been exercised by the people of the Territory." Here was a good opportunity for the President to show the imparti- ality which he had promised. This is what happened : a considerable band of armed men, coming from different Southern States, had invaded Kansas, under the com- mand of Major Buford. The United States marshal took them into his pay, and furnished them with gov- ernment muskets. Lawrence was besieged again, and, when, the defenders had surrendered their arms to the sheriff, receiving in return a solemn promise of security for persons and protection for property, it was to see their hotel and Mr.' Robinson's house delivered to the flames, their stores to pillage, and their two printing-houses to a complete destruction. The principal adversaries of slavery were already in flight under an accusation of high treason, and the Governor-elect, Robinson, was a prisoner in the hands of the invaders. In fine, when, in the month of July, the liberal Legislature assembled at Topeka, the troops of the United States dispersed it by force. Mr Buchanan had taken off the mask. Creature of the South, which had elected him to the Presidency, in return he employed in its favor the whole executive power of the government. Assailed by the South, sacrificed by the federal government,' deprived of all
22 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
constitutional protection, what remained to the people of Kansas by which to defend themselves ? The re- course to arms. There had already been an engage- ment at Pottawatomie and at Black Jack, where a Captain Pate of South Carolina had been taken pris- oner, with thirty of his men ; now a fortified camp near Lecompton was attacked and carried, and a band of pro-slavery men, commanded by Colonel Titus, was captured or dispersed. Governor Shannon, having then purchased the liberty of Titus and his men, in exchange for a cannon taken at Lawrence, was re- moved by the President and replaced by Mr. Geary of Pennsylvania. The Territory was declared in a state of rebellion. The Missourians, under the command of Mr. Atchison, formerly a United States senator, took possession of Pottawatomie after a vigorous resistance, invaded Leavenworth on the day of the municipal elec- tion, killed and wounded a number of the inhabitants, burned their houses, and forced a hundred and fifty of them to leave the Territory. But nothing could weaken the vigorous resistance of that population of free men, to the aid of whom, moreover, the North came with reenforcements of men, and with shipments of arms and of munitions of war. For the second time, the Legislature elected in accordance with the Topeka constitution assembled and attempted to organize. Again the marshal of the United States dispersed it, besides arresting the president of the Senate, the speaker of the House, and a dozen of the most influen- tial of the members, whom he conducted as prisoners to Tecumseh. Immediately the pro-slavery Legislature, proceeding from a fraudulent election, in which the inhabitants had taken no part, assembled at Lecomp- ton, and convoked a convention to patch up a State constitution, by the same means to which it owed its
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 23
own existence. At last the patience of the House of Representatives at Washington was tired of the com- plicity of the President in that illegal and violent oppression. It passed a bill declaring the acts of the territorial Legislature null and void, as " cruel and oppressive, and emanating from a legislative body which had not been elected by the legitimate electors of Kansas, but which had been imposed upon them by force and by non-residents." Unhappily, the Senate refused to adopt this bill, as also to confirm Mr. Har- rison, nominated judge of the Federal District Court, at the urgent request of the Governor, in place of a pro-slavery betrayer of his trust, who had made use of his power only to assure impunity to the rufifians of the frontier. Thereupon Governor Geary sent in his res- ignation, and was replaced by Robert J. Walker of Mississippi.
When the election to the convention ordered by the territorial Legislature took place, the people who did not recognize its usurped authority refused to take part in it, and all the efforts of the Missourians could hardly bring forth the vote of a fifth part of the regis- tered electors.
When, on the other hand, the election of territorial officers occurred, the inhabitants, flocking to the polls, elected Mr. Parrot their delegate to Congress by an enormous majority, and twenty-seven representatives to the Legislature out of thirty-nine. On this occasion, a characteristic incident was brought to light. The elec- tion returns of a village of eleven houses, called Oxford, showed a vote of 1624 for the pro-slavery candidates. At the investigation it was discovered that this pre- tended roll of votes was only a list of names copied alphabetically from a Cincinnati directory.
Nevertheless, the South did not abandon its purpose.
V
24 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
The delegates of its two thousand voters drew up a State constitution, declaring slavery an indefeasible right in Kansas, and prohibiting any emancipation act by the Legislature. The Governor protested earnestly against the imposition, and departed for Washington to prevent its acceptance. He arrived too late. Mr. Buchanan had already made haste to approve it oflQ- cially. Like Mr. Geary, Mr. Walker sent in his resig- nation, and Mr. Denver of California was appointed to succeed him. Lost trouble ! This pro-slavery consti- tution, known by the name of the Lecompton constitu- tion, had to be submitted to the vote of the people. It was rejected by a majority of 10,226 votes. A sec- ond submittal, under an order of Congress in August, 1858, had the same result. Then only the pro-slavery Legislature, conquered at last, submitted to the people the question of calling a new convention. The vote was in the affirmative, the election of delegates took place, and the convention assembled at Wyandotte, July S, 1859, and submitted a constitution which, like that of Topeka, prohibited slavery. It was accepted by popu- lar vote on the 4th of October following, and at last the conquest was decided for liberty. The State of Kan- sas was to enter the Union saved from the stain of slavery.
The strife d outrance, of which I have thus given briefly the principal episodes, did not cease for five years to excite the, whole Union to the highest pitch. From the banks of the St. Lawrence to those of the Rio Grande, the noise of the strife had filled the land without intermission. What was it, in reality, but the prelude to that gigantic war for which the South was preparing, and in which the North would not yet be- lieve .' In reality, the skirmishers of the two armies had met together upon the contested territory. There
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 25
they had fought desperately, supported on both sides by reenforcements more numerous on the part of the North, more desperate on the part of the South. And when at last the victory was assured to the defenders of right and to the cause of civilization, as if the events in Kansas were not enough to render the animosities irrec- oncilable and the supreme shock inevitable, a new cause of discord arose suddenly on the borders of Vir- ginia ; a fact as significant as it was strange.
At the confluence of the Shenandoah and the upper Potomac, at the point where the water has forced its passage through the mountains known by the name of Blue Ridge, is situated on the Virginia side the small city of Harper's Ferry, connected with Maryland by a very fine bridge. In 1859 it had about seven thousand inhabitants. The United States government had an arsenal there, with arms enough to equip ninety thou- sand men, and an armory employing two hundred and fifty workmen, capable of manufacturing twenty-five thousand muskets a year.
Now, on the 17th of October of that year, thirteen days after the acceptance of the Wyandotte constitution by the people of Kginsas, the telegraph suddenly an- nounced everywhere the astonishing news that Harper's Ferry had been invaded by an armed band, which had taken possession of the arsenal. Where did it come from .' What was its force .■" With what object was this incredible attack made ? That was unknown, but it was generally believed that there was an outbreak of the workingmen, but ori the next day it was learned with astonishment that it was an invasion of Abolitionists calling the slaves to liberty. Incredible as it appeared, and extraordinary as were the circumstances, the news was not less true. There were twenty-two men, — sev- enteen white and five black, — who had undertaken to
26 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
arm all the slaves whom they could collect, and to cut a passage with them across Maryland into Pennsylvania, where they would disperse in order to escape pursuit.- The author and chief of the enterprise was John Brown, a man sixty years of age, but still of youthful vigor, a character imbued with radical abolitionism, and exas- perated to fanaticism by the persecutions of which he had been the victim in Kansas. Two years before he had been compelled to abandon with his family the village of Ossawatomie, where he lived and where he was remarkable as one of the most intrepid champions of free labor. Burning with implacable resentment against the pro-slavery oligarchy, with the idea of strik- ing at its heart, he had exhausted his means in vain efforts, when at last, tired of projects impossible to be carried out, he resolved to attempt a stroke hazardous even to folly.
Perhaps he was not entirely mistaken as to the re- sults. Perhaps this inflexible old man believed that the blood of martyrs fertilized the soil of revolutions ; perhaps, in sacrificing his own life and that of his three sons, he saw in the near future the day when our liber- ating regiments would march to th« conflict, singing : —
John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, But his soul is marching on — '
However that may be, he had rented a small farm eight miles from Harper's Ferry. There he had se- cretly provided the necessary arms and munitions, and from there he started, at nightfall on Sunday, to attack, with his twenty-one men, the government of'the United States and the State of Virginia.
The onset was so unexpected that at first he was
' Le corps de John Brown git pourrissant dans la poussi^re, mais son ime marche en avant —
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 27
successful. About ten o'clock in the evening, the city was invaded, the arsenal captured without resist- ance, and a score of employes and workingmen were made prisoners, together with some prominent citizens, intended, doubtless, to serve as hostages.
Day appeared, but the slaves did not move. Instead of that, the first one on whom they laid their hands thought only of flying, and was killed by a gunshot.
Sentinels had been posted at the principal doors. The first white man who appeared outside was armed with a rifle. To the call, " Who comes there ? " he re- plied by firing, and fell dead, struck by several balls. A former officer in the army and the mayor of the city, having afterwards advanced to find out the character and force of the invaders, met with the same fate. There were no more precautions to take. A company of militia assembled in haste, attacked and carried by assault a building defended by five men, four of whom were killed on the spot, and the fifth was taken prisoner. Four of the conspirators, seeing things turning for the worse, had fled at daybreak, and had regained the moun- tains. There remained with John Brown only twelve men.
At their head he fought as did Charles XII. at Ben- der. Barricaded, with his prisoners and a few negroes, in the fire-engine room of the arsenal, he was attacked there by the railroad workmen, who burst in the door and killed two men, but were repulsed with a loss of seven wounded. The small band found itself reduced to eleven combatants.
During the day a thousand armed men had arrived at Harper4 Ferry ; but they hesitated before a determined assault, through fear of compromising the lives of the prisoners. The besieged then endeavored to send out two men with a flag of truce ; one of them was badly
28 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
wounded, the other was taken prisoner. There re- mained nine.
In the evening, a hundred marines arrived from Washington with two pieces of artillery. On Tues- day, at daybreak, the garrison was summoned to sur- render. They refused. If they must die, the bayonet was better than hanging. The marines then threw themselves against the door and broke it in by a heavy ladder ; the first who entered fell dead near the threshold. John Brown was struck down by a sabre stroke on the head, and wounded with three bayonet thrusts. His companions fell around him, killed or wounded, except two negroes, who were made prisoners unhurt. The survivors, even those who had escaped the evening before, were taken and were all executed.
John Brown lost the game ; he paid the forfeit with- out a murmur. He was brought before the judge, with his head and body swathed in bandages, upon a bloody mattress. He passed through his trial without boast- ing or feebleness, and on December 2 went to his death, with a calm eye and a smiling face. This was in 1859. In 1865, when I was shown the place where the forlorn sentinel of abolitionism had been hanged, there remained no longer a single slave on the Ameri- can continent.
Although this attempt was inspired by abolition doc- trines, and was, thus far, connected with events in Kansas, in which, besides, its chief actor had taken part, the insane attack on Harper's Ferry was, in reality, an individual and isolated event. But it was immediately made the most of, throughout the South, as a flagrant aggression on the part of the North. On the other hand, the abolitionist societies redoubled their activity and their energy, and drew the Repub-
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 29
lican party more and more to their views. Tiie irri- tation* reached the point that Mr. Seward, its principal teacher at this time, stated, in a powerful speech, the following dilemma : " Either the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina and the sugar plantations of Louisi- ana will finally be cultivated by free labor, and Charles- ton and New Orleans will become markets open only to legitimate merchandise ; or the rye and wheat fields of Massachusetts and New York will be surrendered to slave culture and to the production of slaves, and Boston and New York will become markets delivered over to the traffic in the bodies and souls of men." The position could not be more clearly stated ; but it must be borne in mind that, as yet, the North wished only to conquer constitutionally the place in the Union to which its preponderance in population clearly gave it the right in a democratic government, while the South, from this time on, marched openly towards secession.
The pro-slavery leaders played an open game. One of them said to me, at this time, " If the Republican can- didate is elected, we will leave the Union, we will estab- lish a confederation of the South With a government to our liking ; we will place a cordon of troops upon the
frontier, and will hang all d d abolitionists who may
put foot upon our soil. Then we will have peace at home." " Then you will have war," I replied. " War t ' You do not know this race of traders. Their sole idea is to make money and to humbug the people, at whose expense they get rich. War will touch them on the place they hold most dear, their purse. They will not fight." In vain I tried to make him see his error on this point. " You are a Frenchman by birth, and the French fight for much less than that; but you cannot comprehend the nature of thi« people. The Yankees.
30 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
will let us go, and will not fight." The Northern men, to whom I predicted civil war as the inevitable "conse- quence of the slavery question, said to me precisely the conlirary. " Civil war .■■ Impossible ! " they replied. " The fire-eaters are agitators, who make more noise than there is any call for. For years they have cried secession ; but when it comes to seriously breaking up the Union, that is a different matter. They will not dare attempt it."
Is it not curious that, in the midst of their political furor upon the slavery question, the Americans of the North, fascinated by the patriotic worship of their institutions, would not see whither they were tend- ing .-• Always F6nelon's saying : " Man acts, but God leads him."
CHAPTER II.
, THE MANNER OF SECESSION.
Electoral campaign of i860 — Direct menaces of secession — Violent scenes in Congress — Charleston convention — Baltimore conven- tion — Chicago convention — Second Baltimore convention — Elec- tion of Lincoln to the Presidency — The Southern States take up arms — Passive complicity of Buchanan — Treason in the Cabinet — Secession of South Carolina — Last attempts at compromise — Se- cession of Mississippi — Of Florida — Of Alabama — Of Louisiana — Of Georgia — The first shot — Organization of the Southern Confederacy — Inauguration of President Lincoln.
The question of slavery in the United States, of which I have indicated the successive phases and irresistible developments during forty years, was the only question at issue in the presidential campaign of i860. For or against slavery — that was the dilemma — the rest was nothing. The preludes to the strife were stormy in the extreme, sometimes even bloody, as at Baltimore, where in the local elections several citizens lost their lives. The first official menace of secession came from Louisiana. In the month of January the Legislature of the State adopted resolutions declaring that the election of a Black-Republican to the Presidency of the United States would be a sufficient cause for the dissolution of the Union, and for the calling of a convention of the Southern States, to which Louisiana fixed in advance the number of its representatives at six delegates. The country, however, was not as yet stirred by that decla- ration. The more immediate interest was concentrated at that time upon the contest in which the election of Speaker of the House of Representatives was con-
31
32 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
cerned. The parties were divided so equally as to pro- long the contest for more than eight weeks — from December 5 to February i. But the Republicans finally prevailed, and their candidate, Mr. Pennington, was chosen on the forty-fifth ballot.
As an encouragement to the adversaries of slavery, this victory had the effect of stimulating their efforts. For the first time Mr. Lincoln appeared in New York. He was known there only by the report of his cele- brated debate with Mr. Douglas, with whom he had contended, in Illinois, for a seat in the United States Senate.
A vast meeting was organized to hear him, and there the platform of the party was expounded and dis- cussed by him with a success which commanded atten- tion, but yet without menace as regarded the slave States. On that side, however, the horizon grew darker and darker, and the Legislature of South Caro- lina, following the example of Louisiana, recommended the appointment of delegates to a Southern con- vention.
Then it was that Mr. Seward, to calm the uneasiness of feeling which was manifesting itself in public opinion, delivered before the Senate an oration which did more honor to his imagination than to his foresight. Accord- ing to him, there was no reason to apprehend any actual result from the menaces of disunion so many times insinuated, formulated, repeated. It was a scare- crow designed simply to influence the elections, etc. Was Mr. Seward in reality as optimistic as he wished to appear ? Was he not working somewhat for his own interest ? The result would appear to indicate it, since, adopting his views, public opinion considered him from that time the destined candidate of the Republican party for the Presidency. The threatening declarations
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 33
of the Southern States thus remained without effect upon the ideas and actions of the Northern States, where the adversaries of slavery triumphed everywhere in the spring elections.
Grave symptoms of hostility appeared under the form of conflicts of jurisdiction between the federal government and some of the free States. Thus, in Massachusetts, a refractory witness in the affair of Harper's Ferry, arrested by order of the Senate at his < residence in Concord, was immediately set at liberty by the intervention of the local justice, supported by the people.
And again at Racine, in Wisconsin, a man arrested for having aided in the escape of a slave was taken by the people, out of the hands of the federal officials, powerless to execute their orders. In the Northwest, as in the Northeast, the hatred of slavery was the same, and produced the same resistance. It occasioned violent outbursts even within the halls of Congress.
On the Sth of April, in the House of Representa- tives, Mr. Lovejoy of Illinois became its interpreter to the House of Representatives. "Slavery," cried he, " has been justly called the source of all crimes. Put in a moral crucible all the crimes, all the vices of human nature, and the result will be slavery. It exhibits the violence of robbery, the sanguinary fury of piracy, the brutal lust of polygamy," etc. One can imagine the immediate effect of this furious outburst. A Southern representative rushes out with a cane to chastise the orator ; Northern representatives hurry forward to protect him. A member from Kentucky, armed with a loftg bowie-knife, ostentatiously cleans his nails with it, watching for the moment to use it for some other purpose. Curses, threats are heard on all sides ; and the presiding officer, powerless to calm the
34 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
tempest, can only declare the sitting adjourned, in the midst of frightful confusion.
In the heat of this universal excitement, in the North as well as South, in Congress as well as amongst the people, in the press as well as on the rostrum, the pres- idential campaign was opened by the Democratic con- vention assembled at Charleston in the latter part of April. Its object was to formulate a declaration of principles and to nominate a candidate for the Pres- idency.
Upon these two points a divergence of opinion was manifested from the first — a result nearly inevitable from the diverse elements which composed the conven- tion, and from their disproportion to the interests they represented. Let me explain.
All the States in the Union, North as well as South, were represented at Charleston in proportion to their respective population, and consequently by the number of their representatives in Congress. Now, the free States, being nearly all assured to the Republican can- didate, could furnish few electoral votes to the Dem- ocratic party ; nevertheless, they had 366 out of 604 delegates to Charieston, while the Southern States, which, on the contrary, would give their suffrages nearly unanimously to the party, had only 238 members. A radical fault. The majority belonged to those who could do nothing for the success of the ticket, certain beforehand of a defeat in the States which they were chosen to represent.
Another cause of division — the candidate proposed by the Democrats of the North was Mr. Douglas, more than distasteful to the Democrats of the South by his doctrines in favor of leaving to the inhabitants of the Territories the liberty of choosing their local institu- tions, without interference on the part of Congress.
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 35
Put in practice in Kansas, these doctrines had produced a result which was far from being regarded with favor by the South. However, Mr. Douglas was the only man who might yet turn the issue in favor of the party. Should he be nominated at Charleston, the chances of the contest might yet be favorable. But that was precisely what the separatists did not desire. Determined to attempt secession, prepared already to support it by arms, they were resolved to reject every overture toward conciliation, which in their eyes was only a temporary delay, prejudicial to their cause.
The election of a Republican candidate to the Pres- idency would furnish them the occasion or rather the pretext desired. They concluded then to hasten the issue by the defeat of Mr. Douglas.
For form's sake, they submitted to the constitutional trial of a vote ; in reality they were arming themselves for the revolutionary trial of rebellion. They consented to play the game, but with the reservation that if they lost they would not pay the stake.
Their first work in the Charleston convention was consequently the presentation of a political programme in formal opposition to the system of Mr. Douglas. In it they demanded the direct intervention of Congress in the government of the Territories, to protect and sup- port the importation of slaves, the rigorous execu- tion of the law in reference to fugitive sla,ves, in spite of all opposition of the State Legislature, etc. The glove was thus thrown down to the Northern fraction of the Democracy, which took it up, and, being in a majority, substituted for it a declaration by which the party .simply left everything in reference to the con- tested subjects to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. Thereupon the delegations of seven Southern States withdrew with much parade, re-
36 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
fusing any longer to take part in the acts of the con- vention.
This withdrawal was with the evident object of vitiating the nomination of Mr. Douglas, which ap- peared to be assured. The two-thirds necessary for a nomination was thus reduced to 165 votes. But, to parry the blow, the convention decided that the num- ber necessary should remain the same as if there had been no withdrawal, that is to say, 202. This decision rendered any nomination impossible. Mr. Douglas obtained one hundred and fifty votes, and after fifty- five ballots the convention adjourned to assemble at Baltimore on the i8th of June following. About six weeks were left to the Democracy of the North and the Democracy of the South in which to reconcile their irreconcilable differences.
However, the moderate men who had foreseen these differences and had no faith in their adjustment had been at work for several months to build up a mixed party, a sort of juste milieu between the two ex- tremes, neither flesh nor fish, being careful neither to walk upon the burning soil of abolitionism nor to swim in the boiling springs of slavery, content to fly the banner, already somewhat torn, of the Union for itself.
The unionist party assembled in convention at Baltimore on the 9th of May. Its platform was most honorable, but of the vaguest sort. It was limited to this laconic formula, " The Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the laws." There were only two quiet sessions needed to put forth the following presidential ticket : For Presi- dent, John Bell of Tennessee ; for Vice-President, Edward Everett of Massachusetts. The colorless con- vention then separated, doubtless with the inoffensive
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 37
illusion of having found an anchor of safety for the drifting Republic.
In its turn, the Republican convention assembled May 16 at Chicago. What a contrast with the Democratic convention of Charleston ! Here only four Southern States were represented: Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and Texas. \ The compact phalanx of delegates, like a disciplined \army marching to vic- tory, went to work immediately with that spirit, at once intelligent and practical, which goes right to the point, without allowing itself to be distracted by secondary interests or to be led 'astray by danger- ous dissensions. The platform was known in advance. It recognized slavery as a local institution whose abolition could proceed only from the States in which it existed.
But it demanded liberty in the Territories to arrest its extension. As to the candidate, Mr. Seward was really the leader recognized by the party, but, as shown in the preliminary ballot, he was considered as having been too much compromised, and as jeop- ardizing the success of the ticket. The convention nominated Mr. Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for Pres- ident, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice-Pres- ident. In nominating Mr. Lincoln, the Republican party considered that by his indefatigable activity he would assure to the cause the doubtful State of Illinois, and the delegates recognized in him that intelligent moderation, that practical good-sense, which were soon to characterize his administration in the midst of the most terrible trials.
As ever in parties in disorder, who are joined to a hopeless cause, the example of the Republicans was without effect upon the Democrats. The quar- rels between them became more bitter, and in the
38 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
Senate Mr. Pugh of Ohio, replying to an attack by Mr. Benjamin of Louisiana, against Mr. Douglas, had declared, without paraphrase, that the North would not submit to the dictation of the South, in regard to its principles or its candidates, — an explicit dec- laration which foretold clearly the fate of the sec- ond Democratic convention at Baltimore. It assem- bled, in fact, on the day appointed, and the first question was that of the rival claims of disputed delegations from the South.
It will Jje remembered that at Charleston the del- egations of seven Southern States withdrew from the convention, on account of the adoption of a platform contrary to their views. These delegations presented themselves again at Baltimore. But dur- ing the interval other delegations had been appointed, with titles more or less doubtful, from the same States, and demanded the exclusive right to repre- sent them in the convention. A new cause of divis- ion. The convention, which bore ill-will to the dis- turbers of Charleston, pronounced against them and admitted their competitors. Now the dissension was worse than ever. A second convention met and organized in opposition to the first one. One rep- resented the Northern fraction and the other the Southern fraction, and from this irreconcilable antag- onism two tickets were immediately put in the field. One put forth for popular suffrage, for President, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois ; for Vice-President, Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia. The other an- nounced as candidates, — for President, John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky ; for Vice-President, Jo- seph Lane of Oregon. Twenty-five States, mostly Republican, were represented in the first ; eighteen States, nearly all pro-slavery. Democratic, assembled
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 39
in the second, expressed much more fully their con- victions and their tendencies.
Thus the secessionists of the South accomplished their object. In thus irrevocably cutting the Dem- ocratic party in two, and separating from their Northern allies, they had deliberately assured the triumph of the anti-slavery candidate. Certain hence- forth of the result, they awaited with impatience the signal of open rebellion, hastening besides to com- plete the preparations for it with a redoubled ac- tivity.
The party leaders set to work everywhere to preach secession with an indefatigable ardor, and to use every effort to excite hatred against the North. Frequent and unaccounted-for incendiary fires occurred in Texas. They were represented as the work of abo- litionists sent from New England. Were adulterated liquors introduced clandestinely by innkeepers, on being discovered and seized, they were transformed in the journals to bottles of strychnine, sent to the slaves to poison the whites en masse.
At the North, the attempts at accommodation ended in nothing, antagonized as they were by their own rivalries. Mr. Breckenridge attacked Mr. Douglas in Kentucky, and he, on the other hand, denounced Ws adversary wherever he conducted his electoral cam- paign throughout the North, and also in the South. Amongst the Republicans, on the contrary, there were neither divisions nor clashing. ' Mr. Seward went through the Western States, supporting with every effort of his eloquence the candidacy of Mr. Lincoln. In the political meetings the violent language of the second-rate speakers aroused, here and there, serious tumults. At Philadelphia a "unionist" meeting was attacked by the Republicans ; at Hannibal, in Missouri,
40 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
on the contrary, the Republicans were attacked by the Democrats. Even in New York, there was almost a riot at the passage of a procession of " Wide Awakes," a Republican association, before the' New York Hotel, the Democratic headquarters.
In the month of October the agitation was at its height, when some of the local elections took place in parts of the Northern States. The results of these elections had, for a long time, been recognized as pres- aging the result of the presidential election. On this occasion, the victory of the Republicans was complete, and Pennsylvania, formerly Democratic, ranged itself decidedly under the Republican banner.
When every illusion was thus dissipated before the evidence, three distinct plans of secession were for- mulated and discussed publicly in the South : —
1. On the morrow after the election of Mr. Lincoln, the Legislature of South Carolina, called together in special session, should pass an act, in the name of the sovereign State, dismissing the federal officers, direct- ing the seizure of the money in the federal sub-treas- ury, etc. In case of an attempt at coercion, the assist- ance of the other States would be invoked.
2. The Governors of the States should call together their Legislatures by proclamation, as soon as the elec- tion of Mr. Lincoln should be assured ; they should declare the Union dissolved, and proclaim Mr. Breck- enridge President of the Southern Confederation.
3. They must await the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln without opposition, and the proposition in Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia would be for the representatives of fifteen Southern States the signal to retire en masse and proclaim se- cession. It will be seen that the question of separation was no longer even considered doubtful, the discussion
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 4 1
bore simply upon the manner of proceeding. This is so true that at this epoch overtures were made to the French government in the name of the future confed- eration.
The great day at last arrived, — the day of the pres- idential election — Tuesday, the 6th of November, i860, — date forever memorable, not only in the history of the United States, but also in the history of the civilized world. The vote was cast everywhere with a calm that was solemn, — the momentary calm which in the moral as in the physical world often precedes the immediate unchaining of the tempest. On the evening of the day of election, it was known that the State of New York, the last hope of the pro-slavery men, had given a majority of more than fort^ thousand for Abraham Lincoln. The result was as follows : Lin- coln and Hamlin, 1 80 electoral votes ; Breckenridge and Lane, seventy-two electoral votes ; Bell and Everett, thirty-nine electoral votes ; Douglas and Johnson, twelve electoral votes.
Lincoln's majority over all his rivals was sixty-seven electoral votes. On the popular vote, he had five hundred thousand more than the highest of any of his competitors.
Immediately upon the election of Mr. Lincoln, action took the place of menace. On the next morning (November 7), the Legislature of South Carolina passed resolutions to call a State convention ; then it voted the immediate arming of the people, and the raising of a million of dollars, and different war meas- ures.
At the same time, military organizations were formed on all sides. Secession meetings succeeded each other everywhere. The fever for separation seized all the cotton States, and even in Virginia the militia were
42 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
furnished with arms. The flag of the Union disap- peared — to give place in South Carolina to the palmetto, in Georgia to the old federal standard. In fine, as if to complicate matters still more, new troubles broke out in Kansas, on account of the delay made by Con- gress in the formal admission of the new State.
To thesd direct and multiplied attacks against the federal government, Mr. Buchanan opposed only the inertia of a senile imbecility, or the hypocrisy of latent treason. At the opening of the Thirty-sixth Congress, which took place on the 3d of December, his presiden- tial message was without force, without inspiration, and did not rise above the narrow and shuffling forms of a technical discussion. Mr. Buchanan had formerly said of Mr. Wfebster, " He is a remarkable statesman, but he is no politician." To which Mr. Webster had replied, " Mr. Buchanan is a good politician, but he will never be a statesman." The last acts of his political career proved that he fell even much below that appre- ciation.
One word of Mr. Seward characterizes perfectly the wretched document addressed to Congress. " The President," said the senator from New York, "has demonstrated two things : i. That no State has the right to withdraw from the Union, unless it desires so to do. 2. That it is the duty of the President to en- force the laws, unless somebody opposes it."
In addition, treason sat in the very councils of the small-minded President. Mr. Cobb, Secretary of the Treasury ; Mr. Thompson, Secretary of the Interior ; Mr. Floyd, Secretary of War, belonged to the South, and actively favored secession. In order to drive them out of their influential positions in the administration which they defiled, the discovery of gigantic thefts in the Department of the Interior was necessary, thefts in
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 43
which Mr. Floyd was found to be directly implicated, by his signature placed upon fraudulent Indian bonds. This was not, however, before the powers of the Secretary of War had been used to expedite to the South, under vari- ous pretexts, considerable quantities of arms, which must aid the rebellion. Mr. Buchanan himself did not clear himself from all suspicion of complicity in these ship- ments, as shown when a popular riot in Pittsburg had stopped the despatch to the South of guns and artillery equipments which had been hurried forward by his orders. See into what hands the government of the Re- public had fallen, and to what men the care for its safety must remain intrusted for yet some months. Isolated from the nation by general distrust, they had around them only a group of intriguers, sharp for the spoils, even to the end, hurrying to get the last favors from the power still remaining, et quasi apud senemfestinantes. On December 20, South Carolina assembled in con- vention, declared the Union dissolved, and resolved it- self into an independent republic. The scene was sol- emn. The delegates, each in his turn, gave in their votes as their names were called. They were 169. There was not one who pronounced against that revo- lutionary measure. An ordinance prescribed the turn- ing of the custom revenue into the State treasury ; the Governor was invested with all the powers formerly exercised by the President, and an executive council of four members was appointed to assist him. Secession was henceforth an accomplished fact in South Carolina. A fatal example, which could not fail to be promptly fol- lowed, especially in presence of the persistent inertia of the federal government. Already, in fact, the conven- tions of five other States were called for the month of January, and the armament of volunteers proceeded un- ceasingly.
44 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
To conjure away the evil, Mr. Buchanan could not think of anything better than to appoint a day of public prayers. Not knowing what saint to invoke, he issued a proclamation in form of an order, to invoke the inter- vention of Providence, at the special date of January 4, 1861. The inspiration did not appear to be that of the Holy Spirit, to a people whose practical maxim in mat- ters of religion is, " Help thyself and Heaven will help thee." And it does not appear that the Orate fratres of the Rev. James Buchanan had any greater success with Providence, for whom secession was the means to ac- complish the final and radical abolition of slavery.
In Congress, the Southern representatives claimed boldly the right of separation, which the Northern rep- resentatives absolutely denied. Vain discussion, it seems to me. Of what avail is right without force } A fiction. In the circumstances in which the United States found themselves, what was absolute right } Where could it be found .' Arguments were not want- ing on either side. It was with the Constitution in poli- tics as it is with the Bible in religion : every one inter- preted it to suit himself, and everybody found there what suited him. The Constitution, said the South, recognizes slavery, which is the base of our social and political organization. You do violence to the Constitu- tion in attacking our peculiar institution. — No, cried the North, the Constitution, it is true, tolerates slavery and we tolerate it in the States where it exists ; but we contend against introducing it in the Territories which are free, and which will remain free in virtue of the powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. — The federal agreement being violated, said the South, it ceases to be obligatory. Our fathers founded a Union of sovereign States, based upon the fundamental prin- ciple of self-government, upon the equality of rights in
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 45
common interests, and upon the equal division of iniiu- ence in the central power. To-day the interests have become incompatible, the equality of power illusory, and, in virtue of the same principle of self-government, we make use of our right, and we dissolve the Union. — The federal agreement is not violated, replied the North, and remains obligatory. The Union founded by our fathers is based upon the formal and perpetual renunciation by the States of certain rights of sover- eignty. The common interest governs and prevails over whatever local interests come in conflict with it ; the division of power is in proportion to the number of the governed, a logical sequence in democratic institutions. You have no right to dissolve the Union. — Above all, proclaimed the South, we owe allegiance to the sover- eignty of our respective States. — Above all, proclaimed the North, we owe allegiance to the sovereignty of the federal government. Such were, upon the whole, the questions debated at great oratorical length.
Let us come to the root of the matter, and see what there was real under this tumultuous flood of argument. For me, who at that time watched the working of af- fairs behind the curtain of journalism, I could find only this : in spite of the increasing preponderance of the North, the South, by its unity of action and the supe- riority of its political men, had governed the Union up to that time. From the moment when the power was taken away from it, it fell to a relative inferiority, which was without remedy. Unhappily for the South, the disproportion created by its state of comparative stagna- tion, in contrast with the gigantic progress of the North, was due to a cause which, outside of the development of material interests, had dug betwe.en them an abyss which nothing could fill. I speak of slavery. The question always returns to that. The spirit of liberty.
4-6 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
which produced such marvels in the North, could no longer act in harmony with the old institutions, which, in its progressive march, interdicted its access to those rich countries, to that fine climate reserved to the forced labor of the blacks. In the free States the hatred to slavery had increased with the development of civil- ization. Thence came that strife of more than forty years' duration, which had morally cut the Union in two, and which could end only in war, that decisive and irrefutable argument.
In such a case, why these long discussions ? The men of the South gave themselves up to them only to gain time, and to secure to themselves the best possi- ble chance in the trial by battle. But the time which they so well employed was by the North, on the con- trary, only frittered away in puerile attempts at reconciliation.
Mr. Crittenden, the Nestor of the old Whig party, the colleague of the Clays and the Websters, believed that the Union could still be saved by a return, pure and simple, to the Missouri Compromise. A few of the representatives of the frontier States grouped around him ; but, to realize his proposition, two-thirds of Con- gress would have been necessary, and the House of Representatives refused even to hear it read. The committees appointed in th.e Senate and the House of Representatives for the especial consideration of the state of the Union proposed nothing. In despair as to how matters were tending, a general " Peace " con- vention was called at Washington, upon the initiative of Virginia, yet undecided and unquiet at finding herself between the hammer and the anvil. But thirteen States — seven free and six slave — were represented in it. It is useless to add that the peace conferences in which the central States alone took part accomplished nothing.
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 47
While they were talking in the North, what had been done in the South ?
The month of January had witnessed the secession,, successively, of five States — Mississippi, Florida, Ala- bama, , Louisiana, and Georgia.
Mississippi transformed the federal post of Vicks- burg into a fortress, commanding the navigation of the river. Florida seized Pensacola, Georgia seized Forts Pulaski and Jackson and the arsenals of Savannah and Augusta ; Louisiana, all the forts and arsenals in the State ; Alabama, the same.
Outside of the States formally separated, North Car- olina had , acted beforehand in occupying the fortifica- tions of Beaufort and Wilmington, and the arsenal of Fayetteville ; Arkansas taking possession of Little Rock, containing nine thousand muskets and forty pieces of artillery ; finally, Tennessee fortified Memphis, and the treason of General Twiggs delivered to the enemy the forts, the war material, and part of the troops which were in Texas. The first cannon shot had even been fired in South Carolina, always eager to push matters to the extreme.
When, in December, the South Carolina convention had passed the act of secession, the United States government had at Charleston only about a hundred soldiers, quartered at Fort Moultrie, under the com- mand of Major Anderson. This officer, of memorable loyalty, understood immediately that, with his handful of men, he was there at the mercy of the enemy. Fort Sumter, surrounded by water at the entrance of the bay which it commanded, offered to him a post much more advantageous. He hastened to transfer his com- mand to it. There, at least, he was protected against a coup de main. But his position was not less precari- ous. The Carolinians occupied all the forts around the
48 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
bay, which they proceeded to arm, with great activity, and, in addition, they built on several points new bat- teries, whose lines of fire converged upon Fort Sumter. Major Anderson reported to the War Department the progress of these menacing works. Fort Sumter was not, in point of fact, in a' proper state of repair. It was short of men, short of munitions of war, short of provisions. It was urgent to revictual it and to reen- force the garrison. After weary delays and hesitations, it was determined, at last, to send the steamer Star of the West, carrying two hundred and fifty men, and provisions. It was already too late. The transport, arriving in the bay, with flag flying, was there received by cannon shot, fired from a battery on Morris Island. The vessel was a merchant ship hired by government. She had to retire without accomplishing her mission. Anderson and his little faithful troop were left, aban- doned to their fate, and, under the effect of such an insult to the national flag, Mr. Buchanan humiliated himself to promise to send no more men nor munitions of war nor provisions to that handful of brave men, who had displayed and defended the flag of the United States, in face of the rebels of South Carolina. If that is gentleness only, what, then, is cowardice ?
The national pride was indignant at such shameful feebleness, but the people resigned itself to wait pa- tiently. The debased administration had but a few weeks more of existence. Public opinion found at least some consolation in the knowledge that there was one man in the Cabinet whose heart showed neither treason nor feebleness, when General Dix, the new Secretary of the Treasury, sent to the commander of one of the custom house vessels the peremptory order, " If any man attempt to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot."
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. _ 49
He was the only member of this emasculated govern- ment who gave any sign of virility. The general-in- chief, Winfield Scott, was no longer equal to the occasion. His glorious reputation belonged to the past. Enfeebled morally and physically by years, the old candidate for the Presidency saw but one issue to the strife already entered on, the division of the Union into four confederations. — The conqueror of Mexico could no longer organize or lead an army. And, in the meanwhile, the capital began to be menaced, and, with its population impregnated with the Southern sentiment, some adventurer might attempt to take it by a coup de main.
In the beginning of February, disdaining even to assist the inauguration of the President-elect, and prof- iting by the passive complicity of the President still in office, the six seceding States organized a provis- ional government at Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was designated as Presi- dent, and Mr. Alexander Stephens of Georgia, Vice- President. The constitution of the new confederation was copied from that of the United States, except a few variations to agree with circumstances.
Mr. Davis was known as one of the extreme chiefs of the secession movement. Born in Kentucky, in 1806, he was at that time fifty-five years old. An old gradu- ate of West Point, he had followed the military career for some time, and had distinguished himself in the Indian wars. Retired upon a plantation in 1835, where he devoted himself for some years to the cotton cult- ure, he had taken up arms again in 1846 to fight in Mexico, as colonel of a regiment of Mississippi volun- teers. Peace having restored him to civil life, he had been elected senator, had occupied the position of Secretary of War during the Presidency of Mr. Pierce,
50 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
and had afterward retaken his seat in the Senate, which the secession of the State which he represented caused him to abandon. In spite of his education, he was more statesman than soldier ; with a firm will, an indefatigable energy, he marched toward his goal with the persistence of absolute conviction or of an ambition without scruple.
Mr. Stephens, on the contrary, had been one of the last Unionists of Georgia. He had at first resisted the revolutionary movement, and risked his popularity by exposing the dangers, the obstacles, and the catastro- phes inseparable from the sundering of the Union, with a broadness of view and a justness of observation which were remarkable. But, this duty accomplished, he had accepted his part of the calamities foreseen, and fol- lowed the fortunes of his State, which, in his opinion, had greater right to his allegiance than the federal gov- ernment. In giving to him the second place of impor- tance in the Confederacy, the convention had acted wisely. It assured to itself the active cooperation of an eminent statesman, whose influence must rally around it many undecided consciences and wavering characters.
When, then, Mr. Lincoln came to power, he found confronting him a confederation organized in the South, and already on a war footing. From Springfield to Washington his journey through a part of the free States had been marked by a series of ovations ; but in order to reach the capital he must pass through Mary- land, a slave State, which, with the South, had voted against him. Information well authenticated had been received of a plot against his life, so that he was com- pelled to separate from his suite at Harrisburg, and, passing through Baltimore under the strictest incognito, he reached the end of his journey. He was inaugurated
THE MANNER OF SECESSION. 5 1
on the 4th of March, the date assigned. His inaugural address was sparing in pledges, exempt from menaces, but firm and explicit upon one point, the duty of recov- ering by force all the federal property taken from the government by the States in rebellion, and his deter- mination to accomplish it. The time of cowardly sub- terfuge was past, the hour of action had arrived.
For that terrible trial, in which the fate of the Republic was to be determined upon the field of battle, Mr. Lincoln surrounded himself immediately with men devoted to the national cause, and resolved to give force to the will of the people. They were :. Mr. Seward of New York, designated beforehand for Secre- tary of State ; Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury ; Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Secre- tary of War ; Gideon Welles of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy ; Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior, etc. But everything was to be done, everything to be created.
On relinquishing power to steal away from public con- tempt into the obscurity of private life, Mr. Buchanan left to his successor the Union dismembered, a rebel confederation' of six States, to which was about to be added in a few days a seventh, Texas, six other States in revolt against the federal authority, and really belonging already to the Southern Confederacy. Against this formidable rising there was no army ; 653 men, including officers, in the capital; empty arsenals ; forts without garrison and without arma- ment ; a navy scattered about, hardly sufficing for the protection of commerce in time of peace ; a treasury nearly empty ; — in fine, the North yet inert, distracted in its immobility by differences of opinion, betrayed by personal interests, sending to the South clandestinely the product of individual manufactories of arms.
52 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
Such was the situation. Many considered it desper- ate, but they did not know the immense resources a free people can find in the outpouring of its patriotism, and what prodigies it can accomplish to save at the same time its existence and its institutions. America was about to present this grand spectacle to the world. She awaited only the signal of the cannon of Fort Sum- ter, and she had not long to wait.
CHAPTER III.
THE CALL TO ARMS.
Capitulation of Fort Sumter — Call for seventy-five thousand men — Four States refuse to furnish their quota — First regiment en route for Washington — Bloody riot in Baltimore — No news — Secession of Virginia — New call for eighty-three thousand volunteers — Seces- sion of Arkansas — Occupation of Alexandria by the Federals — Men, but no army — School of the battalion — First successes in Western Virginia — General G. B. McClellan — Battle of Bull Run.
The month of March was devoted to organizing the new administration, and preparing the succor necessary for the few forts in the South still preserved to the federal government by the fidelity of their command- ants. The first fleet was despatched from New York on the 7th of April. It was composed of eighteen ves- sels of different sizes, and six transports. Its destina- tion was kept secret, but it had scarcely got to sea when General Beauregard, commanding at Charleston, notified Major Anderson, shut up in Fort Sumter, that all communication with the city was thereafter forbid- den to him. That meant the cutting off of supplies from the little garrison, which, up to that time, had been able to subsist from day to day, in virtue of ar- rangements niade by the commandant under his per- sonal responsibility. On the nth, Anderson was sum- moned to surrender the fort. He refused. " I shall wait for the first cannon shot," he wrote. " If you do not reduce the fort, we shall be compelled by famine to surrender in a few days." That was no news to the enemy, but it might induce him to delay the attack, and
S3
54 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
the chance of receiving aid in time might thus be pro- longed. Such, however, was not the case. On the next morning, — Friday, April 12, — at four o'clock, all the rebel batteries opened fire. The fort held a garri- son of only eighty-one men, and was in no state for defence. In the casemates, about forty embrasures, in course of construction, presented to the view only a gaping void, scarcely disguised by curtains of planks a few inches thick. Nevertheless, they replied as well as they could to the hail of projectiles, which did not cease during the day. Red-hot shot set fire to the barracks built inside the fort. The garrison had to abandon the service of the guns to put out the fire, which, notwith- standing, destroyed the buildings. A few ships were in view, in the offing; but it was soon seen that one of them had grounded on the bar, and that the others could not follow the channel with any chance of reaching the fort. The commandant could hold out but two days longer with what remained to him of provisions in the storehouse. He preferred to spare the lives of his men, by shortening a useless resistance, and he capitulated on Saturday, in the afternoon. The defenders of Fort Sumter were treated with the honors of war, and allowed to set sail for the North, where, a few days later, they must have been agreeably surprised to see themselves transformed into heroes.
They had done their duty, nothing more. Left to themselves, in a hopeless position, they had undergone a bombardment of two days, which injured only the walls, though they wished it to be well understood that they yielded to force only ; after which, they had packed their baggage and surrendered the place. With the best will in the world, it seemed impossible to find anything heroic in it. And yet, to see the ovations given to them, to read the dithyrambs composed in
THE CALL TO ARMS. 55
their honor, it would appear that Anderson and his eighty men had renewed for America, at Fort Sumter, what, in ancient times, Leonidas and his three hundred had done for Greece, at Thermopylae. The reason was that in those few days everything had changed its ap- pearance in the free States. Slow as they had been heretofore in preparing for war, so much the more ready were they now to rush to arms. The last illu- sion was dissipated with the smoke of the cannon of South Carolina.
On the 15th of April, two days after the surrender of Fort Sumter, the President issued a proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand men for three months' service. The number was entirely insufficient, and could not be considered a remedy proportioned to the evil ; but, at least, it had the good result to stir up the blood of the men of the North and to kindle in their breasts the battle fever. Nothing which could con- tribute effectually to this end was neglected, and so the; defence of Fort Sumter, insignificant, considered by itself, was exalted to the proportions of an exploit, as much to stimulate popular enthusiasm as to honor faithful loyalty, at the time.when defections were dis- honoring the roll of officers of the army, and turning against . the government the services of nearly all the officers coming from the South.
After the popular ovations came the promotions for ' these happy defeated, whom defeat profited more than any victory. The title of hero was at that time easily obtained, and the American press long held it very cheaply, before the correct value was established by the trial of blood and fire.
North Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee refused to furnish their quota to repress the rebellion. This was virtual separation from the Union. In return.
56 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
most of the free States offered many more men than the number asked for. Pennsylvania and Massachu- setts each offered a hundred thousand volunteers. The Governor of New York, a practical man and not in- clined to exaggeration, promised thirty thousand men, armed and equipped, and set himself immediately at work to make good his word.
Whoever saw New York in those days of patriotic infection can never forget the grandeur and the strange- ness of the sight : the feverish excitement of the peo- ple, the busy swarming at the approaches to the militia armories, the stream of humanity crowding the streets toward the recruiting ofifices, the immense meetings where the people, coming together en masse, were tossed about like angry waves under the passionate speech of an improvised orator. An inspiration of fire had passed over the multitude, carrying along every- thing in its course — ^ everything, even to the allies of the South, who for a few days renounced publicly their known sympathies, or at least covered them hypocriti- cally with the mantle of an affected patriotism.
It was not, however, the Empire State which, in the midst of the universal outburst, had the honor first to reply to the call of the threatened government. She was preceded by Massachusetts, to whom only forty- eight hours were necessary, after the proclamation of the President, to forward six hundred and forty men by sea to Fortress Monroe, and a regiment of eight hundred men by land, destined for Washington. On the i8th of April, the Sixth Massachusetts passed through New York, drums beating, flags flying, in the midst of accla- mations of the population assembled to greet on its passage through the city the advance guard of the national army.
Mingled with the crowd, I admired the fine bearing
THE CALL TO ARMS. 57
of the volunteers, studied the double character of bra- very and intelligence imprinted upon their faces, and clapped my hands to the last company. Supernumera- ries, without arms and without uniforms, would not be left behind, and followed the regiment, ready to take the place of the killed, and to relieve the wounded in the front. Their light baggage, wrapped in handker- chiefs, hung from their shoulders like haversacks, and they marched to glory or death, sure in either case of having done their duty as citizens and as soldiers.
And I thought, in spite of myself, of the familiar spec- tacles of my early childhood, when the French battal- ions defiled before the starry epaulets of my father; and I asked myself vaguely if the destiny which had deprived me in France of the heritage of his sword had not in reserve for me in America some compensa- tion, in the ranks of these volunteers, marching to fight for a cause which had immortalized Lafayette.
The Sixth Massachusetts' was followed almost im- mediately by the Eighth and by the First of Rhode Island. Their passage through the city roused the emu- lation of the New Yorkfers, and hastened the departure of the Seventh, the finest of their militia regiments, which followed after an interval of twenty-four hours. These twenty-four hours were marked by an event which carried the excitement to its height. The rail- road did not at this time furnish a continuous line from New York to Washington. Both at Philadelphia and Baltimore, one was compelled to cross the city either in a carriage or in wagons drawn by horses, in passing from one station to the other. At Philadelphia, the passage of the Sixth Massachusetts was marked by the acclamations of the people. At Baltimore, a city de- voted to the Southern cause, the people raised a riot to stop the passage of the Yankee regiment. It went
58 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
through, notwithstanding, but. at the cost of a bloody combat, in which several lives were lost on both sides. Some Philadelphia volunteers who were on the way toward the capital, poorly armed and equipped, were compelled to turn back.
This was an event of great importance, for the reason that it directly menaced the communications with the free States of the federal capital enclosed within Mary- land. The peril was greater because it was unex- pected ; it must be averted at whatever cost. The Seventh New York departed immediately, greeted at its departure with the enthusiastic plaudits of the imperial city. It was quickly followed by the Twelfth, the Sev- enty-first, the Eighth, the Sixty-ninth, and others, the list of which would be too long.
They departed ; but days and nights of anxiety passed before any news could be received of them. The telegraph wires had been cut on all sides in Mary- land, and it was difficult even to follow the movements of the troops as far as Baltimore. Beyond that every- thing was uncertain. In the absence of facts, rumors had free course, and they were generally of a sinister character. People ran together in the streets, and called from house to house, to relate what they heard here and there. For nearly everything resolved itself into rumor. The morning papers, whose extras were eagerly sought for until noon, the evening journals, whose successive editions were exhausted as soon as they appeared, published everything, all the information they could get, without certifying to its correctness : unless, however, some bold correspondent, who had been able to cross the zone of isolation around Wash- ington, brought his precious information to the extreme point of open communication. New York breathed again on learning from authentic sources that its regi-
THE CALL TO ARMS. 59
ments had not been cut to pieces, that the President had not been assassinated, that Washington had not been deUvered to the flames, as Southern sympathizers reported twenty times a day.
There was a telegraph station in the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Every evening the spacious hall was invaded by a compact multitude of the inhabitants of that ele- gant quarter. They conversed together with great animation while waiting for the news. As soon as a despatch arrived, an operator, mounted upon a table, read it in a loud voice, before hanging it up on the bulletin board, open to every one's inspection. Dur- ing the interval, speakers addressed the audience, if the absence of news caused the conversation to languish, and the crowd dispersed only when the late hour of the night promised to add nothing more to the information awaited with so much anxiety in the family circle.
The day at last came when General Butler Qccupied Baltimore. Communications were reestablished. The situation could be understood. Really it offered noth- ing very encouraging, but, at least, one knew what to believe. That was a great gain. Harper's Ferry and its manufactory of arms had fallen into the power of the Virginians, who had likewise taken possession of Norfolk, where the navy yard had been delivered to the flames. At Richmond the custom house and postal service had been taken possession of by the rebel authorities, proceedings which promptly followed the formal secession of the State. In consequence, the ports of Virginia and of North Carolina were de- clared blockaded; That was all that could be done for the moment.
Virginia was very much behind the extreme South. At the bottom she was opposed to separation, and until the last moment had made every effort for a peaceful
6o FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
compromise. At the presidential election she had voted for Bell and Everett, the Union candidates. She had afterwards taken the initiative in the peace conven- tion at Washington to rally the central States around Mr. Crittenden in a conservative resistance to the passions of the extreme parties. The interests of the cotton States were not the same as hers. Slavery had no hold in all the mountainous portion of her territory, to the west of the Shenandoah ; on the contrary, devo- tion to the Union flourished there with energetic vitality. Even in the eastern portion of the State, servile labor was only an obstacle to the prosperity of the country, whose climate, soil, methods of culture, and industry had everything to gain from free labor. On that account, there was a general tendency towards emancipation, against which the planters had to strive in order to protect a shameful kind of speculation, which enriched them while it impoverished the State. I speak of the raising of human cattle and the breeding of negroes for the consumption of the cotton States. To meet the wants of this trade, the common practice upon the Virginia plantations was to keep up an estab- lishment in the manner most calculated to increase the product as much as possible. This was the only interest the State had in the question of slavery. The oligarchy of slaveholders monopolized the profits, but the poorer class did not profit by it either directly or indirectly. Something besides the interest of the slave-breeders was necessary then to lead Virginia into the perilous paths of secession. A bait to her vanity accomplished the task. Richmond, the capital of the Southern Confederacy, — that was the will-o'-the-wisp which was put before her eyes. She followed it, and was lost in the quagmires.
How true it is that man is led not by reason, as the philosophers pretend, but by the passions which the
THE CALL TO ARMS. 6 1
politicians employ. Becoming a participator in the rebellion, Virginia became necessarily the great battle- field of the war. In every way, and at all points, she was about to be trampled over, pillaged, ruined by the hostile armies, and, however the war should end, she was devoted to fire and sword. Faithful to the Union, on the contrary, she would have been covered by the protecting arm of the federal soldiers> whose oper- ' ations, in that event, would have been carried on in North Carolina. There would have been the shock of battalions, there would the war have made its terrible devastations, and the fate of Virginia would have been that of Maryland, which, on account of having remained in the Union, suffered only the ravages of a few skir- mishes and the shock of one battle upon the verge of her territory, fought almost immediately after inva- sion. Virginia proved in this circumstance that, if, according to Mr. Thiers' definition, " a free nation is a being which is obliged to reflect before acting," her reflections only led her to commit the greatest follies. She did not appear to understand that, in alluring her by the perfidious bait, the extreme South sacrificed her deliberately to its own security. The object was, above all, to confine hostilities to the Border States, that is, to the country bordering on the free States. Behind this bulwark, the heart of the Confederacy believed itself safe from attack, but it was counting without Grant and Sherman.
The federal government, however, could no longer deceive itself as to the greatness of the task which devolved upon it. The call for seventy-five thousand militia was like calling for a pail of water to put out a fire. The President made a new call for eighty-three thousand men, namely forty thousand volunteers for three years, twenty-five thousand men for the regular army for five
62 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
years, and eighteen thousand sailors. The total of the two calls was thus raised to one hundred and fifty-eight thousand men ; but seventy-five thousand would return home at the end of three months. They were, there- fore, not to be taken into account.
On the other side, the Confederacy was in motion. Reenforced by the secession of Arkansas, and by strong contingents from Kentucky and Tennessee, her forces were actually in Virginia. Her skirmishers were seen upon the right bank of the Potomac, even in sight of the dome of the Capitol. At any moment they could possess themselves of Alexandria, nearly in front of Washington. It was determined to forestall them. On the 24th of May, the city was occupied, and put as quickly as possible in a state of defence by six regi- ments of New York troops, a brigade from New Jersey, and one from Michigan. It was in this advance move- ment that Colonel Ellsworth, commanding a regiment of Zouaves, was assassinated, at the moment when he had himself hauled down the rebel flag, floating over the principal hotel of the city. His death, avenged on the spot, made a great sensation. He was the first officer killed. They were not as yet accustomed to see colonels fall by the dozen at a time.
The Confederate army was distant only twenty miles, established at Manassas, in a well chosen position. Its front was covered with field works along the crest of steep banks, following the windings of a water-course, before unknown, since celebrated — Bull Run. Thither flocked the Southern recruits, as the Northern to Washington.
About the ist of June, the forces assembled around the capital amounted to no more than thirty-four thousand men, of whom twenty-one thousand were near the city, and thirteen thousand on the other side
THE CALL TO ARMS. 63
of the Potomac. But an average of about a thousand arrived every day.
The eagerness for enlisting continued. Men were abundant ; but they must be armed and equipped, and, in the absence of armories made ready beforehand, the State had everything to create. Private industry, to which it was necessary to have recourse, sufficed but imperfectly to fill orders. While awaiting the arms, usually inferior, which the government had purchased in Europe, and those which the American factories could deliver only at times more or less distant, uni- forms, shoes, equipments were manufactured in haste, nearly everything of detestable quality, although paid for very dearly. In order to encourage enlistment, each new military organization was at liberty to choose its uniform, and it may be imagined what latitude was taken. The Zouaves were the most in favor ; but what Zouaves !
Each regiment in course of formation had its sep- arate camp. The outskirts of the cities were cov- ered with them ; I might say infested, for discipline did not as yet repress the turbulent and pillaging instincts of those rude novices, as little accustomed to obedi- ence as were their officers to command. The latter, in military matters, were as ignorant as the rest. The Governors had no choice, giving the commissions to those who brought the men. On this account, old soldiers were very much sought after, for they alone knew how to act as instructors, and to teach the recruits, after a fashion, how to march, and to load and fire a gun. They were appointed sergeants without dis- pute, and if they could instruct in the movements of the platoon they were almost assured of the rank of commissioned officer.
Besides the ordinary enlistments, open to every one.
64 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
there were organized in New York a few "schools of the battalion," whose members paid their own expenses for uniform, instruction, and so forth. The organization was composed only of persons in easy circumstances, generally educated men. Such was the regiment of " New York Rifles." The day was always devoted to business, but every night, after dinner, we assembled at the armory, to devote ourselves, until a late hour of the night, with the greatest ardor, to the " school of the soldier," and the " school of the platoon." When the weather was fine, we marched out with beating drums, to practise the school of the battalion, in some one of the large squares of New York, where, if we had no moonlight, the gas was enough to light us in our evolutions.
These schools of instruction furnished a certain number of capable officers to the army, but at first the greatest number came from the nursery of the militia regiments. Thus the Seventh New York, which returned June i, after a campaign of forty days, if not bloody, at least harassing, could count in a few months more than three hundred officers of volunteers coming from its ranks. One of them. Major Winthrop, aid of General Butler, was the first superior officer killed on the field of battle, in the unfortunate affair of Big Bethel.
In this manner the month of June passed on both sides, collecting together the armies, and organizing them as much as possible. There were only a few skirmishes without consequence at Fairfax Court House, at Bayley's Crossroads, and on the Arlington Heights, that is to say, on the line of defence, where they began to cover Washington by a line of detached forts. The only movement of any importance was an advance of General McClellan in Western Virginia,
THE CALL TO ARMS. 65
which, in connection with the presence of a body of troops of Pennsylvanians at Chambersburg, under the orders of General Patterson, had for result the evacua- tion of Harper's Ferry by the Confederates, who fell back to Winchester. For the Confederates, in fact, the fidelity to the Union of the inhabitants of these parts added sensibly to the risk of a position too advanced. A regiment of federal volunteers raised at Wheeling had already gone out to Grafton to meet General McClellan, and there the loyal manifestations of the Virginians of the West could not be restrained. On the i8th of June, they assembled in convention at Wheeling, to declare null and void all the ordinances and measures voted by the Richmond convention.' This done, they proceeded to the organization of a provisional government, from which came the constitution of a new State, sanctioned at a later date by Congress in a formal manner.
The month of July, great in events, was at first marked only by the assembling of the Thirty-seventh Congress in extra session, and by a first victory of General McClellan at Laurel Hill. As this successful contest was the immediate cause of his surprising fort- une, it will be interesting to pause an instant and relate the incident.
General McClellan, born at Philadelphia in 1826, was a West Point scholar, from which he graduated in 1846, standing second in his class. He was immedi- ately sent as second lieutenant of engineers to Mexico, where his brilliant services procured for him succes- sively the commissions of first lieutenant and captain. In 1852 he took part in an exploring expedition along the Red River, and was afterwards sent as hydrograph- ical engineer to Texas. The work of exploring the route for the railroad to the Pacific, across the western deserts, was intrusted to him, and procured for him the
66 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
official congratulations of Mr. Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War. In 1855 we find him studying, along with Majors Delafield and Mordecai, the organ- ization of the European armies, and present at a part of the operations of the Crimean war. That part of the report which was drawn up by him, published sep- arately at Philadelphia, did credit to his military knowl- edge and to the cultivation of his mind. However, the military career in the United States promised to be very unsatisfactory to his ambition. Promotion by sen- iority only was desperately slow, and active service iti time of peace was limited to distant explorations through deserts, or the life of a savage in the scattered posts of the new Territories. Captain McClellan did as did so many others. In 1857 he left the service for the more agreeable and more lucrative position of gen- eral superintendent of the Ohio & Mississippi Rail- road, and of president of the eastern part of that line.
In 1 861 the war recalled him under the flag. The Governor of Ohio had at first intrusted to him the command of the State troops ; but soon the federal government extended his command to that of the mili- tary department composed of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and a part of Pennsylvania and Virginia. His troops entered upon the campaign June i. On the 3d, the head of the column surprised and overthrew a detach- ment of rebels at Philippi. McClellan was still at Cincinnati. He joined his little army on the i8th, at Grafton, and a month rolled away before the re- sumption of operations, which had begun in so encour- aging a manner. At last, in the middle of July, he determined to send forward General Rosecrans, at the head of four regiments, three from Indiana and one from Ohio. Rosecrans encountered in the mountains the army commanded by Colonel Pegram. He attacked
1^^ \cAAi/i^vot^
THE CALL TO ARMS. 67
resolutely and beat him in a sharp engagement, in which he inflicted upon him a loss of three hundred men and two pieces of artillery.
Pegram retired in disorder upon Beverly, where he hoped he could await the arrival of another Confederate detachment, commanded by General Garnett, with which he had not been able to effect a junction at Lau- rel Hill. But McClellan anticipated him, and awaited Garnett in a strong position, who, seeing he had been preceded, fell back immediately without a combat. McClellan had still a part of his forces in reserve, un- der the command of General T. A. Morris. General Morris, notified promptly, rapidly crossed the mountain, pursued Garnett, came up with him the next day at Carrick's Ford, near St. George, and beat him as Rose- crans had beaten Pegram. Garnett was himself killed in the affair.
This operation, very well conducted by General Mc- Clellan, gave him as trophies six guns, of which one was rifled, ten wagons, a number of tents, and some provisions. It is very well known of what value this victory was to him soon after. The immediate result was to free that part of the country of all rebel forces.
In the North this first victory was received with triumphant acclamations. Imaginations were inflamed. McClellan had advanced with a few thousand men, and the rebellion had disappeared from Western Virginia. Let McDowell advance with his army, and the rebellion would disappear from the rest of the State. And, with that idea, a universal cry was raised, " On to Rich- mond ! " Popular pressure from all sides forced the government to attack the enemy.
General Irwin McDowell, who commanded the army of the Potomac, could scarcely join in that blind confi- dence. His military education had been begun in
68 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
France, and completed at West Point. He had been through the Mexican war, on the staff of General Wool, and had been a professor at the military academy. He was a well informed and experienced officer, who knew much better than the journalists and politicians what were the risks of an attack made with recruits hardly organized, against a numerous enemy fortified in a strong position. In reality, his army was not an army. The regiments of which it was composed had nothing of the soldier as yet, but the arms and the uniforms. However brave the men might be, they had had no discipline, nor had they been exercised in the most elementary manoeuvres. The officers were nearly all incompetent. A regiment which had had any practice in firing was an exception, as was a colonel knowing how to command. As to evolutions in line, they were not so much as thought of. But upon the news of McClellan's success any longer delay became impossi- ble, and the order was given for a general movement in advance.
The defeat of Bull Run had the effect only of giving to the strife more formidable proportions. That defeat was not surprising. The attack was badly executed, because, with an army such as I have described, it was impossible for troops to act together or to move with any precision. Some regiments fought well, others fought very little, others did not fight at all. The Confederates had every advantage. Strongly estab- lished in a good position, protected by complete lines of works, they had only to defend themselves with vigor, which they did. They had the good fortune, moreover, of being strongly reenforced at the commencement of the battle by the army of General Johnston, whom the deplorable inaction of General Patterson permitted to hasten from Winchester without opposition.
THE CALL TO ARMS. 69
*
With troops without discipline and without experi- ence, an unsuccessful attack is easily changed into a rout. In this case the overthrow was complete. The soldiers fled, throwing down their arms, teamsters leav- ing their wagons, and canntJheers their guns. The draught animals served only to hasten the flight of those who could get hold of them, and the spectator who had come from Washington to witness the victory thought himself very fortunate if he lost only his carriage in his flight. Thus that horde of men and animals fled far from the field of battle in the greatest confusion.
They stopped only in Washington, after having put the Potomac between themselves and the enemy, who did not pursue. The Confederates lost there their fin- est opportunity. If they had followed up the fugitives, they might have entered Washington at their heels, and probably without striking a blow. In war, a lost oppor- tunity rarely presents itself over again. This was no exception to the rule.
The battle was fought on Sunday, July 21. On the 22d, General McClellan was called to the command of the army in place of General McDowell.
CHAPTER IV.
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON.
The Guard Lafayette, Fifty-fifth New York militia — Camp at Staten Island — Departure for Washington — Collision — At Philadelphia — Through Baltimore — Arrival at the capital — Five hundred thousand men and five hundred million dollars — Tents — Organiza- tion of regiments of infantry — Composition of the Fifty-fifth — The insignia of rank, and the uniforms in the American army.
The Fifty-fifth New York militia, more generally known then as the Guard Lafayette, was a French regiment. It wore as a distinguishing costume the red pantaloon and cap. It was small in numbers, scarcely exceeding three hundred and twenty men, the mini- mum required for a militia regiment. It was not on war footing — far from it ; but the number sufficed for parade, marchings, and funerals, nearly the only re- quirements of service in time of peace.
When, in the month of April, the President made his first call for seventy-five thousand men, nobody in New York doubted but that the Fifty-fifth would be one of the first to respond. There was to be fighting, how could a French regiment fail to be on hand .' Volun- teers hurried in multitudes to enroll themselves in the ranks ; the companies were filled up rapidly, bringing their effective force up to a hundred men each. A subscription, opened among the French residents, to arm and equip the new regiments without delay, had ' been immediately covered with signatures, and had pro- vided abundantly for the military chest. — And yet, in spite of all that, the Fifty-fifth did not start.
70
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON. 7 1
One day, the regiment had received an order to en- camp on the Battery, a public park along the bay, at the point of junction of the East and North Rivers. Two companies reported there, but the next day a counter-order relieved them, to give place to another regiment. Public opinion was astonished at these marchings to and fro without result, and at these delays without satisfactory explanations. The colonel threw the responsibility upon higher authorities ; but the officers attributed the fault directly to the colonel, who, they said, endeavored, with all his power, to dis- courage enlistments and impede the departure of the regiment. Weary of these goings-on, and of the re- criminations, the volunteers went away as fast as they had come. Some formed a company in the Sixty-sec- ond New York (Anderson Zouaves) ; others in one of the regiments of General Sickles' brigade (Excelsior Brigade). One day, a whole company had marched over, with drums beating, and joined the Fourteenth of Brooklyn. Lastly, a large part of the Lafayette Guards had connected themselves singly in different military organizations, where they found compatriots and friends. The officers of the Fifty-fifth, who wished to fight, and saw their recruits leaving them, were an- noyed at the false position in which they were placed, and at the remarks, far from flattering, which were made about them in public. To get out of the dilemma, they had recourse to a united demand that the colonel should substitute, in place of a short leave of absence, 'for which he had asked, a final resignation, which was accepted.
Several weeks passed away in the search for a new commander, without success, when my name was pre- sented, for the first time, by a lieutenant, who had served in France, and the only one of the officers who
72 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
was personally known to me. Some days after, a com- mittee, composed of the major and three captains, came to see me on the matter. It was not difficult for us to agree. The condition made to me, as a candi- date, was that I should lead the regiment to the front. The condition I made, on accepting the command, was that the regiment should follow me to the front. The officers were called together to choose a colonel on the 2 1 St of July, the evening before the battle of Bull Run. I was elected unanimously.
On the 23d, the morning of the battle, a telegraphic despatch from the War Department announced to me that the services of my regiment were accepted, and, one week after, we were encamped on Staten Island, across the bay from New York, — the men in barracks, the staff only in tents.
The first business was to recruit, and fill up the ranks, depleted during the two months that had elapsed. A recruiting office was opened immediately, at the regimental armory. Those of the old members who had not made engagements elsewhere returned to us. New recruits came in squads to our camp ; in four weeks our effective force was increased by more than four hundred men.
It was no longer the time when the crowd flowed towards Lafayette HalL Three months of continual recruiting had absorbed already a great deal of the food for powder. But the hour of the mercenary had not yet arrived. All the enlistments were without bounty, and, on leaving for the army, I was proud at leading only unbought volunteers. Not one of my men had received a bounty.
On the 28th of August the regiment had become strong enough to enter upon the campaign. It was fully armed and equipped, and better drilled in the
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON. 73
manual exercise than most of the other regiments of volunteers. The officers were all acquainted with this duty, which was strictly performed. Among them and among the sergeants were found a number of old soldiers, good instructors to form the recruits. Some had seen service in Algiers, others in the Crimea or in Italy, and duty in the field was familiar to them. Each one, besides, had his heart in the work. The long sum- mer days were devoted to the drill, and a part of the nights to the theoretical study. The French regi- ment must make a good appearance on arriving at Washington.
Before departing, some vacancies were filled for the last time by election in the companies, a system tolera- ble in the militia in time of peace, but inadmissible for volunteers in time of war, and the Fifty-fifth militia was about to be transformed into the Fifty-fifth volun- teers. It was thenceforth enrolled in the service of the United States for three years, or during the war, if the war lasted less than three years, which appeared to be beyond question.
On the morning of the 31st of August, the regiment formed in line of battle, knapsacks strapped, and at order arms. I took a long look at that double line of brave men, gayly marching to meet the hazards of the field of battle, where many must shed their blood and many lose their lives, of which not one of them appeared to think for a moment. At the command, Forward ! March ! the noise of the drums was for an instant drowned by a rousing hurrah ! The die was cast, the Fifty-fifth was on the road to the front.
I took with me nine companies only, the tenth was to join us later at Washington.
A railroad train stopping at a short distance from camp was in waiting to take us to the steamer, which
74 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY,
should carry us to Amboy. The steamer was not ready. Arms were stacked upon the quay. The men had two hours more time to prolong their adieux with. New York friends. The embarking on board the Paul Potter was done in good order and in military style. When the ropes were cast off, there was a long ex- change of hurrahs between the shore and the steamer, which threw her flags and streamers to the breeze. On the quay the sun glistened upon a multitude of hats thrown in the air, of handkerchiefs waved continu- ously, of ladies' dresses shaken by the wind. Soon the hurrahs ceased, objects disappeared in the distance. Would we ever meet again ? Adieu ! " The common port is eternity," said Chateaubriand.
At Amboy we took the railroad again ; we had advanced but a few miles when the train stopped with a violent shock. It was a collision. A freight train, fortunately nearly empty, was coming towards us, con- cealed by the bends of the road. When seen, it was too late to prevent a collision. Two engines disabled, a few cars broken up. It is a frequent occurrence in the United States. Only in this instance superstitious minds might be affected by it as a baleful presage. But as our train was heavier, and was moving with the greater velocity, and the train coming from the south suffered nearly all the damage, the favorable interpreta- tion prevailed, and it was considered as foreshown that the only prophetic signification of the accident was the triumph of the North and the discomfiture of the South. Nevertheless, it was necessary to return to Amboy, by the aid of a fresh locomotive, to wait until evening, while the road was being cleared. At day- light the regiment reached Philadelphia.
In those days of patriotic enthusiasm, the great cities of the North made it a duty to come to the aid
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON. 75
of the government in every possible manner. So that those cities which were on the route usually taken by the troops going to Washington had organized immense free eating-houses, where the regiments were served on their way. Philadelphia had one of the best organized establishments of this kind. The Fifty-fifth there received a generous hospitality. Nothing was want- ing. Abundance of provisions for the men ; separate table, well supplied, for the officers. Then en route for Baltimore.
There the scene changed. We entered an enemy's country. No more welcomes, no more acclamations, no handkerchiefs in the air, with " God bless you ! " as in Philadelphia ; but a sad silence, hostile looks, murmurs scarcely repressed. It was well to take a few precau- tions. Before reaching there each man received a dozen cartridges. It was the Sabbath ; the sun was warm, the weather superb. The women showed themselves at the doors and at the windows ; the men thronged the streets. At the news of the arrival of the French regiment from New York, the people crowded around the station, and along the road usually taken from one railroad to the other through the centre of the city. We evidently called forth more curiosity than sympathy.
The regiment had scarcely formed in line, after dis- embarking from the cars, than the first command was to load, the second to fix bayonets, which was done in a manner that no one could fail to see. Then the regi- ment moved at the sound of the drums vigorously beat- ing the French march. No one followed us. Every one looked on as we passed. Here and there a few remarks were made in French : " What are you going to do in Washington } — The war does not concern you ! — You had better remain at home. — You are going to get killed for the Americans! — Merci ! —
76 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
What have the people of the South done to you ? " The men did not reply ; discipline forbids talking while in the ranks. They recompensed themselves by mocking airs and gestures more expressive than polite. The march was finished without other dem- onstration, and that evening, at nightfall, we were in Washington.
Everything there breathed war. Fortifications com- menced showed here and there their broken profiles ; the fires in every direction marked the places of the camps, and along the railroad the sentinels, posted for the night, leaning on their arms, watched us passing. Near the station the massive Capitol, surmounted by an immense dome, stretched towards heaven, gloomy, dark, and silent. Soldiers at the station, soldiers in 'the streets, soldiers everywhere. The train stopped in front of a barrack, constructed to shelter temporarily the regiments on their arrival. That was our lodging- place for the night. The vast room was floored with boards. We slept there, covered with our blankets, — after receiving a Spartan supper, composed of a piece of bread, a slice of salt pork, and a cup of water, more or less clear. The volunteers were not treated at Washington as at Philadelphia. There generous hos- pitality ; here the regular commissary fare.
Every one, to-day, knows what Washington is. An imposing city, as yet in a state of expectation : a magnifi- cent plan marked out on unoccupied land ; in reality, a monumental village, of which Pennsylvania Avenue is the principal artery, with straight streets and broad avenues running through fields within a few steps of this inhabited line connecting the Capitol with the White House. A port without wharves and without ships, formed by the widening of the Potomac, and ter- minated by a bridge remarkable for nothing but its
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON. 77
length, — a mile and a quarter from one bank to the other. Nature appeared to have provided there every- thing necessary for a city of Babylonian dimensions. The founders of the Republic were deceived. They believed that the political centre was sufficient to bring to the Capitol a flow of population increasing in pro- portion to the universal prosperity. It was not the case. In a country such as America, men go where their interests call them. The great agglomerations are determined by the sum of advantages offered to the development of commercial, industrial, or agricul- tural riches. Therefore, these villages of yesterday are the great cities of to-day ; New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Boston, etc., and, more recently, Cincin- nati, St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco. These ad- vantages are not met with at Washington ; the expected population did not come. The streets re- mained vacant, and around the monuments erected by the government for the administration of affairs were grouped only the residences, more comfortable than luxurious, of the clerks residing there for a sea- son, the hotels frequented by agents and transient poli- ticians, and the shabby buildings necessary for the business of every kind supported by this official world. The active season in Washington is always regulated by the sessions of Congress, — if we except the five years of a feverish vitality produced by the war and extinct with it.
In the month of September, 1861, Washington was half city and half camp. The wide extent of vacant lots, where scarcely a house was to be seen, was occu- pied by the tents of the infantry, stretching like an outer girdle upon all the neighboring heights. There was artillery everywhere. The wagon trains were con- centrated within a smaller radius. And, finally, the
78 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
Commissary Department had its quarters in the cen- tre of the city, where the uniform was supreme.
The extra session of Congress, commencing July 5, had closed August 5. Its principal results were to give to the President five hundred thousand men and five hundred million dollars, and to authorize the issue of bonds to the amount of two hundred and fifty million dollars. The strength of the regular army was raised to forty thousand men. Without serious opposition, the tariff had been raised in rates, direct tax voted, and the confiscation of the property of the insurgents, including slaves. The power of the executive had been increased. Finally, everything had been provided, that the President might act without hindrance in the re- pression of the rebellion, until the next session of Con- gress, in the early days of December.
The army then was supreme in Washington, so much the more that the sound of the enemy's cannon could be distinctly heard there, and that from the top of the dome of the Capitol the rebel flag could be seen float- ing from Munson's Hill.
The morning, after our arrival, an officer was sent from the War Department to conduct us to the place of our temporary encampment. A recent order had been issued, that the regiments should march directly to their camping grounds, without passing along Penn- sylvania Avenue, where the continuous and daily march- ing of troops had at last become tiresome. However, the fine bearing of the Fifty-fifth procured it the honor of an exception, and it took the via sacra on its route to Meridian Hill, where suitable camping ground was still unoccupied.
The administration of the war was not yet well enough organized successfully to attend to the great increase of labor which the concentration of a powerful army at
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON. 79
Washington imposed upon it. It is not very astonish- ing, then, that we were left at Meridian Hill twenty-four hours without rations, without tents, and without wood. Happily for us, we had still with us some rations, brought from New York. Besides, the weather was warm, and that first night passed away easily enough, d la belle itoile. The following day the tents and provisions came to hand.
The government gave out tents with a profusion im- possible during a campaign, as we shall see later on. They were of two kinds ;. for the officers, wall tents, ten feet square, with perpendicular side walls three feet high, having the form of a little house ; for the non- commissioned officers and men, wedge tents, six feet deep by six feet front on the ground, issued in the pro- portion of one for four men ; so that for a regiment of one thousand men there were two tents for the colo- nel, two for the lieutenant-colonel, two for the major, two for the adjutant and his office, two for the two surgeons, one for each captain, one for the two lieu- tenants of each company ; total, thirty-two wall tents .and two hundred and fifty wedge tents, besides two hospital tents, fourteen feet by fifteen.
However, the style was not uniform, and a number of the regiments were furnished with Sibley tents, so called from the inventor, who had procured their adop- tion for the regular army. They were great cloth cones, capped by a movable cape, raised up to air the interior, and to let out the smoke from a stove during the winter. Sixteen men could sleep in one with their heads against the walls, and their feet converging to the centre. They were never used during a campaign. The only tent which took the place of all others, and was used uni- formly by the soldiers during the war, was the shelter tent, whose model we have seen in France.
8o FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
The regiment of American infantry differing entirely from the French regiment, it may be well to give in a few words its organization as it was fixed by an act of Congress, dated July 22, 1861, and unchanged during the war.
The regiment is, really, merely a battalion of ten com- panies. The staff is composed of a colonel, a lieutenant- colonel, a major, an adjutant, a quartermaster, two sur- geons, with the right to add a chaplain. The major is not, as he is in France, an administrative officer, he is the deputy of the lieutenantTColonel, as the latter is the deputy of the colonel. Whether at drill or under fire, he more specially has charge of the left of the regiment, as the lieutenant-colonel has of the right, both looking out for the prompt execution of orders.
The adjutant keeps the regimental books, prepares the reports, files away the orders of the superior offi- cers, countersigns those of the colonel, and receives the official communications of the subaltern officers, which must be addressed to him. In the military hierarchy, it is the rule that every communication of an inferior to a superior must pass through the hands of the ad- jutant.
The quartermaster has charge of the transportation, the camp equipage, and furniture and requirements, of which ha keeps the accounts and makes the reports. Under him the administration of the subsistence is represented in the regiment by a commissary sergeant. He is, moreover, assisted by a quartermaster sergeant, as the adjutant is by the sergeant-major.
Each company is composed of one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, five sergeants, eight corporals, two drummers or fifers, one teamster, and from sixty-four to eighty-two privates. The whole num- ber of men in a regiment is, therefore : officers, thirty-
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON. 8 1
seven ; non-commissioned officers and soldiers, from 805 (minimum) to 985 (maximum).
This was the organization of the Fifty-fifth New York. Its composition was of a very mixed kind. The recruiting had opened its ranks to men of all nationali- ties. The French were a majority in six companies. The sojourn in a strange land had not altered their character. Their merits and their defects were the same in America as in France. Only they were less subject to discipline, and the performance of what was required of them in service depended less upon their sense of duty than upon the national vanity which led them to exalt themselves and to underrate others. In reviews and in brigade drills, where they attracted attention, they made a fine appearance, and manoeuvred together and with precision. Under fire, where nobody saw them, they did neither better nor worse than the others.
After the French, the Germans were the more nu- merous in the Fifty-fifth. Nearly all the companies had more or less of theni in their ranks. Company H was entirely composed of them. Good soldiers, prompt in obedience, animated with good-will, and conspicuous for their fine bearing, they always did their duty well upon the field of battle as in camp.
Company K was composed entirely of Irishmen, com- manded by three American officers, drawn from the nursery of the Seventh New York militia. The Irish have two prevailing faults, uncleanliness and a tendency to drunkenness. On inspection, their uniforms were seldom without spots or their bearing without fault. When whiskey was introduced into the camp clandes- tinely, it'was in the Irish quarter that the officer of the guard first found it. The most severe punishments availed nothing. But, on the other hand, they were
82 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
fine fighters. When they were under fire, the spots on their uniforms disappeared under powder or blood ; — good fellows, after all, indefatigable, enthusiastic, and always ready for a joke or a fight.
I had, besides, in my regiment a small number of Spaniards, young men, intelligent, sober, reserved,, of fine bearing and of good conduct ; and a few Italians, poor soldiers.
Finally, the tenth company, which had not yet joined us, was composed of Americans. Recruited at random, poorly commanded, not disciplined, very little drilled, we found it much behind the others. We had to fur- nish it with instructors ; both officers and non-commis- sioned officers needed instructors as much as the soldiers, and the company never emerged from its rela- tive inferiority. This is, however, a special instance, which is of no value for judging the American sol- dier. Experience has proved that he was not infe- rior to any other, and in certain respects he has shown himself superior to many, having accomplished the greatest results, without enjoying the advantages which are reserved to military nations, to whom peace never ceases to be a preparation for war. If the United States had had in i860 a regular army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, the rebellion would not prob- ably have lasted six months.
To complete the sketch of the Fifty-fifth, I must men- tion here an anomaly, which had come to us from the militia service, and from which we could not be freed until after a campaign. I mean a company of Zouaves in the regiment. Their uniform was precisely that of the French Zouaves, and of which they presented besides all the characteristics. I do not know whether'I should attribute this peculiarity to the soldierly traditions which had crossed the Atlantic during the Crimean and
FROM NEW YORK TO WASHINGTON. 83
Italian wars, to the spirit of imitation, or to the influ- ence of the uniform. The nationality had nothing to do with it, the company being a strange mixture of French, Germans, Americans, and Irish, of which no one ele- ment predominated to any great extent. However this might be, they were always thoroughly Zouaves. Their commander was a young captain, born in the barracks, raised in the regiment, became afterward a non-commissioned officer, had made the campaign of the Crimea, and owed his present position to his efficiency as instructor, as well as to his knowledge of the service.
The Zouaves of the Fifty-fifth remained Zouaves dur- ing the life of one uniform, that is the space of one cam- paign. The State had furnished their red caps, their laced jackets, their close vests, their large red breeches, their leather shoes, and the regimental chest their blue waistbands. When the clothing had to be re- newed, the government very wisely sent us the regula- tion uniform. It was the same, with the red cap, the red pantaloons, and the blue coat. But for nearly a year the Fifty-fifth had to wear its special uniform.
The regulation uniform was the same for the whole army, with the insignia to designate the different arms of the service, and the rank.
The great variety of uniforms which marks the Euro- pean armies is really more pleasant to look at than it is useful. It pleases the eye, and adds to the brilliancy of public ceremonies in time of peace, but in time of war of what use is it .' The time will come when the military authorities will free themselves from all that medley and economize on the expense.
In the United States we have carried on an arduous war without shakos, without helmets, without bearskin hats, without breastplates, without lace, and it seems to me that we have nevertheless succeeded.
CHAPTER V.
THE FORMATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
The brigade of General Peck — Surroundings at Washington — Regi- ments of cavalry — Batteries of artillery — Grand review — The Orleans princes — Lincoln and McClellan — Summer storm — Gen- eral Buell — Inspections — The defences to the south of the Potomac — Arlington, and the Lee family — General Wadsworth at Upton Hill — Blenker's division — Movements of the enemy upon the upper Potomac.
The regiments, which were arriving continually at Washington, were not yet in condition to put into the field against the enemy. They might do very well for defending the capital behind intrenchments, but a very small part of them were fit to enter at once upon a campaign. Recruited in haste, dressed in the same way, they were hurried on as soon as they reached the regimental number. They had everything to learn, drill, marchings, service, discipline, and very few non- commissioned officers to instruct them, even supposing the officers capable of doing it, which was rarely the case. Such was the principal cause of the inaction in which the months of autumn and winter passed away. There were a great many men, but few soldiers. The affair of Bull Run had served as a lesson. Before re- suming offensive operations, a real army must be formed. That, in fact, was what we endeavored to do.
We were not far from the enemy. The stimulant was not wanting, and we were continually on the alert.
The regimental camp was scarcely formed, and camp duty commenced, than we had a night alarm. Every one was asleep, except the guard and the sentinels,
84
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. 85
when suddenly the long roll, the American alarm, was heard at a distance. This alarm signal, promptly re- peated, came nearer and nearer. In a moment we were under arms, the regiment in line of battle in front of the flag, the first sergeants lantern in hand, the officers with revolver in belt. We were conscious, in the silence, that there was a great swarming of men ; lights moved about in the darkness, and we heard the hurried gallop of the orderlies as they passed and re- passed over the road. We awaited orders ; time went on, and the orders did not come. Finally, we learned the cause of all the stir. Two Wisconsin regiments, encamped in the neighborhood, had_ just been sent to Chain Bridge, a bridge crossing the Potomac above Georgetown, where some reports had been received of the concentration of the enemy. That did not concern us ; we returned to our tents to resume our broken sleep. These alarms were renewed from time to time, showing more zeal than experience.
A few days after the incident above mentioned, we were attached to a brigade organized under the com- mand of General Peck. It was composed of four regi- ments, — the Fifty-fifth and Sixty-second New York, the Sixth New Jersey, and the Thirteenth Pennsyl- vania,— forming a force of about three thousand five hundred men.
General Peck had served in the Mexican War as an officer, after which he had abandoned a military career, to follow a business and political life. This was the case as to the greater part of our generals. On putting on the uniform again, he found it necessary to brush up his military knowledge. A capable com- mander, and, moreover, a conscientiousi man, so en- tirely free from all pretence that when he came for the first time to assist at the drilling of my regiment
86 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
he himself wished to wait a little, " to pick himself up," he said, adding in a loud voice, before the men, that he had not given a command for more than ten years. Most men would have thought the disclosure undesirable.
The colonel commanding the Sixty-second was a New York lawyer without any idea of the duties of his new position. He was lacking in the most ele- mentary knowledge of them, and he did not seem to take the trouble to acquire them. His regiment was encamped on the grounds of an elegant villa, where he had installed himself unceremoniously. He was a hand- some man, and passed the most of his time at Wash- ington, where his tall figure displayed well his uniform and the spread eagles of his shoulder-straps. He left the care of drill to a special instructor. As to disci- pline, he had ideas quite peculiar, declaring himself, on principle, opposed to punishment, because, said he, " punishment degrades a soldier."
One can easily imagine the result of such a system. Insubordination reigned amongst the men, discord amongst the officers, the regimental government was full of intriguing, and the regiment, which, in other hands, would have been as good as any, was left to look out for itself. A bad neighborhood, which sub- jected our sentinels, more than once, to insults which it was necessary to punish ourselves, or see them go unpunished. I cite these facts, to show what obsta- cles had to be surmounted to reach a good organi- zation of the army. We reached that point, but it took time.
The Thirteenth Pennsylvania had more' than the maximum number of men, so that it was deprived of two supplementary companies. It was in good relative condition, under the command of an influential politi-
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. 87
cian of Pittsburg, a boon companion, round-faced and large in girth, who had no objection to exposing himself to fire, but who was not yet ashamed to protect him- self from the showers from heaven, by an umbrella, under which I found him, one day, going around camp, caring nothing for what any one might say.
The Sixth New Jersey did not remain in the brigade, its place being taken by the Ninety-third Pennsylvania.
The first care of General Peck, on taking command, was to establish uniformity of drill, and to fix the time at six hours a day : in the morning the company and the platoon drill ; in the afternoon battalion drill and field duty. This was nothing new to the Fifty-fifth, but it was very different with the other regiments. A French lieutenant, belonging to a Wisconsin regiment, told me that they had not a captain capable of com- manding a company, and that the colonel looked on naively at the platoon drill, book in hand, in order to understand the meaning of the commands. This did not prevent his being sent across the Potomac, a few days later. The question was asked what could he do in face of the enemy. Moreover, we were not so far away at Meridian Hill that we could not hear dis- tinctly the sound of the cannon. Very often we were drilling to the sound of the artillery.
This proximity to the enemy could not fail to cause those who remarked it to see in what a strange man- ner camp duty was performed, or, rather, was not per- formed. One incident will give a good idea of it.
On September 20, the command of the grand guard of the brigade devolved upon the major of the Fifty- fifth, an officer zealous in all the details of the service, which he had learned in the ranks of the Na- tional Guard at Strasbourg. The lieutenant of the company of Zouaves was sent, during the night, to
88 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY,
make the grand rounds, and he stated in his report, the next morning, that he had entered the camps of twelve regiments, without heing stopped, or even challenged, walkiag around freely everywhere with his men. In the Sixty-second New York, he had found seven senti- nels asleep, rolled up in their blankets. Finally, what seems hardly credible, he went into the deserted tent of the colonel of the Nineteenth Indiana, whence he carried off the flag of the regiment, without any one's being present to oppose it. The flag was sent to Gen- eral Peck, to be returned to the regiment, which, per- haps, had not noticed its absence. I trust matters went on differently on the other side of the Potomac. If not, it must be acknowledged that at that period the secu- rity of the capital depended less upon the protection of its defenders than upon the unskilfulness of the assailants.
On our side of the river, near the camp covering Georgetown and Washington, not an enemy was seen. This portion of the country is the most picturesque that one can imagine. The landscape is charming, full of variety, abounding in agreeable surprises. Great woods crown the summits of steep slopes, concealing the ravines under their thick «hade, leaning over the brawling waters of Rock Creek, which falls into the Potomac, a little farther down. Here a mill, con- cealed in a narrow valley, there a bridge thrown boldly across the torrent from one rock to another. Farther along, a farm, with its fowls cackling, its fields of maize yellow in the sunjight ; or a villa, with its green lawn, its orchards full of fruit, its gardens full of flowers. Everywhere, nature fruitful, calm, smiling, in full sight of camps formed for destruction, noisy, menacing. A thrilling contrast, an elegant protest of peace against the war so roughly invading its domain.
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. 89
Under the great trees . along the roads, the white tents showed the cavalry camps, with wider intervals than those of the infantry, and distributed over a greater extent of country. Most of the regiments were yet in process of formation. The men, who were to be armed, equipped, and mounted at Washington, ar- rived there, sometimes, without even uniforms. It is evident that the greater portion of them were not horsemen, and knew nothing about taking care of a horse. Many of their officers knew scarcely more. They had obtained their commission by contributing freely from their purses for the recruiting of their companies. That was a good enough title. Nothing more could be asked.
I knew a retired merchant of New York, filled with the vanity of wearing the uniform, who spent twenty thousand dollars to raise a regiment of cavalry, of which he was, of course, commissioned colonel. His camp was near us ; he was never there. On the other hand, he displayed his uniform continually on the sidewalks of Pennsylvania Avenue and in the bar- rooms of the great hotels. He was present at all the receptions at the White House, at all the evening par- ties of .the ministers, always most attentive to the wives of the high officials and of the senators. Radi- cally incapable of commanding his regiment, much less of leading it into battle, but sustained by the double power of money and of political influence, he was nom- inated brigadier-general, and appointed afterwards to guard some empty barracks, in a post evacuated by the enemy. This was his share of glory, and, without ever having drawn his sabre from the scabbard, he returned home, to enjoy in peace the delight of being able to write the title of " General " upon his visiting-cards.
These pasteboard colonels generally took good care
90 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
to have a real lieutenant-colonel, to whom, in fact, fell the command of the regiment, and if the major was also a capable officer there was not much to complain of. But, if a regiment of infantry can be quickly pre- pared for the field, it is far otherwise with the cavalry. Cavalry cannot be improvised. Our experience already proved that. In the very beginning of the war, the organization of that arm met with a serious obstacle in the mkrked desire of General Scott to do without it. The commander-in-chief, who could no longer mount a horse, and who at that time arranged everything in his cabinet, had formed his own theory in that respect. Injurious delays arose from that cause.
The enemy, on the contrary, favored in every way the formation of bodies of cavalry. The rich young men of the South themselves provided the expense of their equipments. They brought to the army excellent horses, which they already knew how to manage, and they did not disdain to enter the ranks, followed often by a negro servant, who took his master's place in the disagreeable duties of the business.
These detachments, well mounted and equipped, composed of young men alert and brave, were very use- ful to the Confederate army. They acted as advance parties and scputs, and gathered exact information as to our movements. They protected their convoys, and carried off our wagons. They covered their own lines, and captured our pickets, appearing where they were least expected, disappearing before their retreat could be cut off, seldom returning without booty or without prisoners. It is well known what good service the enemy's cavalry rendered him in more important oper- ations, in the bold raids which gave renown to the name of Stuart and others. This superiority lasted nearly two years, — as long as the men and the horses
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. 9 1
— and until the day when our horsemen, inured to war, and better commanded, were able to conquer where the chances were equal, and, as veterans, to defeat everywhere the adversaries against whom, as novices, they had not been able to hold their ground.
The cavalry regiments consisted of four or six squad- rons. Each squadron consisted of two companies, each having three officers and ninety-two non-commis- sioned officers and men.
Besides the drill, a certain number of infantry regi- ments were employed in constructing detached re- doubts, the system of fortification adopted to defend the federal capital, especially to the north of the Po- tomac, where the enemy could with difficulty find his way. Under the direction of engineer officers, the men performed this duty very well.
The first occasion which was offered to me to appreciate, with any correctness, what progress the organization of the army had already made, was a grand review of cavalry and artillery, by General McClellan. It took place on the 24th of September, in the field east of Washington, behind the Capitol. At that time we were not yet blas^ on military parades, which became more and more frequent as the troops became better prepared to figure in them to advantage, by their bearing and by their instruction in the evolu- tions of the line. For the present, manoeuvring was not yet on the programme. The movements were con- fined to passing in review and defiling.
The weather was magnificent. The people thronged .upon the drill grounds, and admired, without reserve, nine batteries of artillery, each having six pieces, fifty- four guns of different models, mostly new, everything in perfect order. The men appeared as well as the
92 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
"material," each one at his post, irreproachable in bearing.
Three thousand cavalry were in line, well dressed, not so well mounted, betraying their inexperience in the formation in column, and defiling.
Quite a large number of superior officers had ob- tained permission to witness the review, and received invitations to join the staff of the general-in-chief. Amidst these uniforms without embroidery, but se- verely military, three horsemen in civil dress naturally drew to themselves the attention of all. These three privileged citizens, whose names were asked, were the Prince de Joinville and his two nephews, the Count de Paris and the Duke de Chartres, scions of a dethroned royalty. The young princes came to offer their ser- vices to the federal government, and to follow in a republican army the career of arms which had already led one of them to the field of battle in Italy. The calling of a soldier is the inalienable apanage of French princes, the only one of which revolutions cannot de- prive them.
The men of my generation who have roamed about the world have witnessed strange reverses of fortune. As a child I was rocked to sleep to the recital of the great imperial epic ; I had seen Charles X. in all the splendor of royalty, of divine right ; the Duchess of Angoul6me, whose sad features appeared to bear the indelible imprint of the misfortunes of her infancy ; the Duchess de Berry, the youth and joy of that aging court ; and the Duke of Bordeaux, the hope of the dy- nasty, to whom I had been presented in the midst of his playthings, as a future defender of his throne. But the throne had crumbled away before I was old enough to hold a sword.
As a young man I had seen the king, Louis Philippe,
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. 93
the crowned choice of the bourgeoisie, pass in review the national guard of his good city of Paris, surrounded by a family numerous and brilliant, destined, as it seemed then, to protect and perpetuate the new mon- archy. But a stroke of the paw of the lion populace had precipitated the citizen king into exile, as it had done before the legitimate king.
One day, passing along the foot of the walls of the castle of Ham, I sought to discover upon the walls the silhouette of Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who was then a captive within. "A head without a brain," the wise ones of that time said.
A man grown, I witnessed during the space of three months the melodrama played in France in 1848, hiss- ing the bad actors, who struggled upon the shaking boards of power until the curtain fell upon a bloody ending, to rise upon a parody of military dictatorship.
From that abortive dictatorship I had witnessed the birth of the empire, and the captive of Ham, crowned by universal suffrage, seat himself in triumph upon the throne once more restored.
All those great shipwrecks have scattered their d^- -bris throughout the world. I have met many of them in my wandering life. I have deciphered the epitaph of Charles X. upon an obscure flagstone in a Francis- can convent in G5ritz. I have paid homage to the ill- fortune of the Count de Chambord, the disinherited heir of the kings of France, in that old castle of Frohsdorff, where the daughter of Louis XVI. con- tinued to seek in prayer a relief to the bitterness of undeserved sorrow. I have been the guest of the Duchess de Berry, that princess with heroic inspira- tions, the woman with charming disposition, whose quiet serenity neither age nor misfortunes ever altered. And near her, have I not seen at Venice that Arch-
94 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY,
duchess of Austria who was the mother of the king of Rome, and who had shared the finest throne in the world with the greatest captain of the century, still peevishly complaining at her ill-fortune. In England I have been received by the prince who would have been, regent of France, under the roof where Louis Philippe died.
Amongst these great waifs of the revolutions, how many celebrities eclipsed, how many powerful fallen ones have I met, "eating the bitter bread of the stranger!" And now, in this distant land where the Duke of Orleans had wandered a proscribed man, I found again his grandsons, proscribed as he had been. In former days I had been presented to the Prince de Joinville, at the time when he visited New York on the Belle Poule, which he commanded. We were young then. Tempora mutantur. — The times change, and we change with them.
At this review, where I saw for the first time the young prince, there was seen a very simple open car- riage, mingling on terms of democratic equality with the other carriages loaded with spectators. And yet it carried Mr. Lincoln and his family. It was to be ob- served that the eyes of the people were not upon the President of the Republic. . The man upon whom more than upon any other depended the safety or the ruin of the country at that hour of supreme peril, upon whom weighed the highest responsibility, remained unnoticed in the crowd, except by those in his immediate vicinity, without guard and without attendants. All the atten- tion was turned upon that young general, with the calm eye, with the satisfied air, who moved around, followed by an immense staff, to the clanking of sabres and the acclamations of the spectators.
Oh, the vanity of popular enthusiasm ! On account
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. 95
of one fortunate battle, fought at the head of a few thousand men, General McClellan was raised to the highest position. He was the idol of the moment. The popular voice called him the second Napoleon. He who by his political falterings and his military inca- pacity was destined to aggravate the dangers, prolong the trials, make heavy the sacrifices of the burdened country, — to him was decreed in advance an apotheo- sis. To him who was destined to lead the nation to its triumph with an immovable patriotism, with unwav- ering devotion to the best interests of the Union, — who, his task accomplished, was to give his life to his country and die a martyr to liberty, — to him the passer-by forgot to raise his hat in salute.
On the morning of the 26th of September the regiment broke camp in obedience to an order received the even- ing before. The brigade was sent three or four miles to the front, in the neighborhood of Tenallytown. The road was good and pleasant. It followed the meander- ings of Rock Creek, in the shade of the willows and poplars, then passed through the forest to reach Swartz' farm, where we pitched our new camp. The men kept step, while singing the Marseillaise, or the Chant des Girondin's, hymns unknown to the echoes of those parts, which repeated them for the first time, and prob- ably for the last.
Our camping-ground was not so good as that at Meridian Hill. The ground was hilly, uneven, with abrupt slopes. We made the best arrangements pos- sible, and the camp was established before night. It was well for us that we did so.
The sun had set behind a curtain of black clouds slowly creeping over the horizon. On the extinction of the fires, and when the lights were put out in camp, the lightning flashed out in the heavens ; when the
96 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
drums 'became silent the thunder began to roll. The days directly after the equinox had passed, but we lost nothing by waiting. The first messengers of the storm were sudden gusts of wind, sweeping impetuously through the ravines, bounding along the hills, threaten- ing to uproot the trees and to carry away our tents. Those asleep were quickly awakened. To the roar- ings which filled the air, to the tearful moanings of the forest, to the snapping of the tent flies, the clear sound of the picket pins, struck with hurried blows to strengthen our frail shelter of cloth, replied promptly.
We hurried still more eagerly to the task, when the heavens appeared to burst over our heads, as if the bottom of a vast reservoir had suddenly given way. A perfect sheet of water fell upon us. Every one dis- appeared immediately under his tent. The sentinels alone continued upon their beats, regarding the heavens, contemplating the storm, and directing their attention to protecting the locks of their guns with the skirts of their cloaks. We had, as yet, but uncertain notions as to the strength of the tents, and each one asked himself if they would be thrown to the ground under the weight of the deluge, or be driven away by the force of the wind.
I said that the ground was uneven and hilly. In a few minutes the streams began to run in all directions, increasing, as we looked at them, and rushing in small torrents through all the windings and upon all the slopes of the ground. The tempest, which had threat- ened our tents from the top only, now invaded them from beneath. Every one was compelled to defend himself the best he could against this new form of attack. There were dikes raised by hand, in default of spades, and ditches dug with the bayonet, instead of
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. 97
with the pick. Thus, by the flashes of the lightning, the workmen appeared one by one or two by two, according to the urgency of the case, but this time with naked feet, stripped to the waist, and consoling themselves, over a forced bath, by defying the storm to reach their garments.
The night was rough, but left us nearly unharmed, with the exception, however, of the second surgeon of the regiment. The whirlwind appeared to be particu- larly directed towards his tent. He defended it ob- stinately, stopping up all the openings, repairing the breaches, tightening the cords, striving with the energy of one who fights pro aris et focis. Unhappily, the rain soaked the earth, and the picket pins, shaken fu- riously without any intermission, were moved further and further in their sockets of mud. The moment came when everything - gave way. The doctor was conquered, but exasperated. He had not been able to keep his tent standing, he resolved to defend it fallen. He could be perceived, by the flash of the lightning, with uncovered head, hair streaming, dis- daining to call for reenforcements, plunging into the cloth, like a sailor taking a reef in his sail, covering his trunk and his camp-bed, holding it there with both feet and hands, and defying the heavens, which, doubt- less, to render homage to so heroic a resistance, closed at last their sluice-gates, and calmed the unchained winds. «
The sun shone brightly the next morning, and the atmosphere was clear. But, instructed by experience, the soldiers nevertheless finished carefully the works begun during the night for the protection of the camp.
At Camp Holt (the name given to the new encamp- ment of the brigade, I do not know why), the service
98 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
began to be performed with more uniformity and regu- larity. We were there connected with two other bri- gades to form a division under the command of General Buell, who was soon after appointed to command an army in Kentucky, and, in the month of April follow- ing, to play at Shiloh, in favor of Grant, the part that Bliicher played at Waterloo, in favor of Wellington. In September, 1861, he was yet only a brigadier-gen- eral of volunteers. In the regular army he held the rank of major, and, before the war, performed the duties of assistant adjutant-general. He was a valuable officer for the government in the present circumstances. Perfectly conversant with all the details of the ser- vice, very strict in discipline, he caused the organiza- tion of the new troops and the instruction of the soldier to advance with rapid steps. He established his head- quarters a little apart, in the midst of a field surrounded by woods. He slept there under a tent, giving his offi- cers the example of habits of activity and frugality, most suitable to a soldier's life. As he liked to look out for everything for himself, it was not unusual to see him coming unexpectedly into our regiments, followed by an orderly only, seeing whether every one did his duty and whether his orders were strictly obeyed. No negligence escaped his inquisitive eye, and everything was required to be done according to orders. Cleanli- ness of camp was as necessary as punctuality on drill, the bearing of the officers was considered as well as the vigilance of the sentinels.
The division of Buell was covered by a line of pickets whose duty was performed as if with the enemy in front. The picket line described an irregular curve through the woods and fields, across the roads and the water-courses, in the midst of a picturesque coun- try, of which those who have seen only that part of
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. 99
Maryland crossed by the railroad from Washington to the Susquehanna can form very little idea. The pretty country-houses, scattered over the hills, varied the landscape. But they all appeared to be deserted. The disagreeable proximity of the troops, always bring- ing with it some robbing of the kitchen gardens, and exciting exaggerated fears, had driven the inhabi- tants away. We met occasionally a few farm laborers, generally negroes, left behind to take care of the furni- ture. In the fields, we met no one except our advance posts, who added very little to the animation of the landscape. The vedettes passed back and forth with their guns on their shoulders. The rest of the soldiers slept, or conversed tranquilly around the camp-fires, to provide which they had plenty of wood right at hand. Others, smoking silently, dreamed — of what .-' — Of their families, doubtless, of their chances of seeing them again, of the hazards of war, of its probable dura- tion. But this was much the smaller number. The soldier is no dreamer. The activity of his life does not leave hira the time. The sensibility is quickly dulled in a life left to chance, day by day, and where the evening, often, has no morrow. His unconcern arises from the uselessness of foresight. He knows not his fate, and so enjoys the present, as well as possible, not disquieting himself as to the hour to come.
Near our camp, back of the Swartz farm, some forti- fications had been commenced, which we supposed we were to finish. But it was not to be. The usual drills were suspended only for reviews, and inspections be- came more and more frequent. One of them was the occasion of a very flattering mention of the Fifty-fifth.
Colonel Marcy, chief of staff of the general-in-chief, had been ordered to inspect all the volunteer forces
lOO FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
encamped north of the Potomac. The Count de Paris and the Duke de Chartres, attached as captains to the staff of General McClellan, accompanied him. Their national amour propre did not suffer on account of the appearance of the French regiment. " The regiment," say the journals, quoting the report of the inspection, " deserves a special mention. Nearly all the oflficers are French. Many have served in Europe. The men are principally French, and, in bearing and instruction, as in discipline, have no superiors, even amongst our regu- lar troops."
After the inspection and the review, which is the usual conclusion, General Peck, Colonel Marcy, and the princes assembled under my tent, where champagne prolonged the visit. At that time, a basket of cham- pagne might yet be found under the camp-bed of a colonel.
Our proximity to Washington, the good condition of the roads, the beauty of the landscape caused our camp to be the favorite resort of visitors. So we did not want for company. There were high officials, politicians, members of Congress or of the diplomatic corps, for- eign officers come to offer their services or simply to study the formation of our army, newspaper corre- spondents, and all of them not infrequently accompanied by ladies curious to witness our drills or our reviews.
It was altogether different to the south of the Po- tomac, where the enemy was found. The bridges were guarded, and no one could cross them without a special permit. On that side, our line of defence formed an arc of a circle, resting its two extremities upon the river ; one extremity at Alexandria, a few miles below Washington, the other covering Chain Bridge, a few miles abore. It was composed of a chain of detached works, more important and better armed
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. Id
than the redoubts raised on the northern side of the river. These forts were on the summits of a series of heights presenting great natural advantages. A few months before, they were generally covered with mag- nificent forests, of which the axe had already made immense abatis, a very efficacious breakwater against the human wave of a regular attack. Within a nearer radius, other works were thrown up, defending the heights of Arlington, opposite the city, and covering the bridge-head which protected Long Bridge.
The estate of Arlington, at that time, belonged to General Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate army. The Lee family is historical in the United States, and was not without distinction in England. The first of the name who went to America was Richard Lee, who emigrated in the time of Charles L, a strong par- tisan, and devoted to the Stuarts, like the greater part of the Virginians of his time, and against whom Cromwell had to send an expedition, which did not reduce the royalist colony to submission. The de- scendants of Richard Lee, who had preserved after him an influential position, played an important part in the War of the Revolution, and brought to their name a consideration higher than ever in the American Repub- lic, although the instincts of their race were much more aristocratic than democratic.
In 1 86 1, Robert E. Lee was a colonel in the regular army of the United States. A son of General Henry Lee, he was attached to the engineers, on graduating from West Point, and had served in the Mexican War with a distinction rewarded by several promotions. Afterwards he was put in command of the military school. Finally, in the month of April, 1861, he had resigned to attach himself to the fortunes of the South- ern Confederacy.
I02 FOUR YEARS WITH THE POTOMAC ARMY.
Arlington, where he usually resided, has a lordly appearance. A great park, shaded by magnificent trees, surrounded the residence, whose style of archi- tecture had a prestige of age, much respected in America, where it is so rarely found. Each one of the two fronts is adorned with a wide veranda, whose high columns support the projecting roof. From the northern one the view is admirable. The majestic course of the Potomac through the plain is lost from view in the gray horizon of Alexandria ; then, the whole city of Washington, with its great monuments and its small houses ; Georgetown, rising toward the left, like an amphitheatre ; lastly, as a frame to the panorama, the line of blue hills cut through at the right by the immense dome of the Capitol, raising toward heaven the statue of armed Liberty.
On September 29, when I visited Arlington for the first time, the imprint of the war had already altered its aspect. The dwelling of Lee had become the head- quarters of General McDowell, now commanding a division in the army of which he had been general-in- chief, the army corps not being yet organized. The horses of the mounted or-derlies, saddled and bridled, impatiently pawed the ground around the trees to which they were hitched. The tents of the guard and of the servants of the staff were set up in the gardens, trampled over everywhere by men and animals. The park roads were deeply furrowed by the continual pas- sage of artillery and ammunition wagons. Through the broken-down fences, the hedges dug up in the fields, in the woods, and upon the turf, a number of abandoned camps, where the fires still smoked, showed by a thousand remains the place where the regiments had been, and which they had left early in the morning.
FORMATION OF THE POTOMAC ARMY. IO3
A Strong division of twelve thousand men had in fact moved in advance, in consequence of a retrograde movement of the enemy, who had the evening before evacuated his advanced positions at Upton Hill and Munson Hill. It did not take us long to reach the principal column. It followed a narrow and hilly road, sometimes sunk between high slopes, sometimes cross- ing swampy places on an embankment. The artillery wagons at times encumbered the road, stopped by some obstacle or by some accident. The men marched on the sides of the roads, hurrying to close up the inter- vals in the ranks.
A squadron of cavalry halted in a field marked the place where General Keyes had established his head- quarters in a covered cart, from which he sent his or- ders and watched the movements of his troops. Every one was in good spirits ; no one remained behind.
When I reached Upton Hill, the brigade of General Wadsworth had already taken possession. General Wadswortb did not belong to the regular army. He had not served before, except on