THE PEOPLE DECEIVED BY DEMAGOGUES. 341 talks with the Cabinet," had assured Davis and his associates that his party would "stand by the South at all hazards," and that there would be such a "divided North," that war would be impossible. Thus surrounded by an atmosphere of sophistry and adulation, which conveyed to their ears few accents of truth or reason; confident of the support of kings, and queens, and emperors of the Old World, who would rejoice if a great calamity should overtake the menacing Republic of the West, and sitting complacently at the feet of "King Cotton," "The mightiest monarch of all," these men received the President's Proclamation with "derisive laughter," and for the moment treated the whole affair as a solemn farce.1 The press in the so-called "Confederate States," inspired by the key-note at Montgomery, in dissonance with which they dared not be heard, more vehemently than ever, and without stint ridiculed the "Yankees," as they called the people of the Free-labor States. They were spoken of as cowards, ingrates, fawning sycophants; a race unworthy of a place in the society of "Southern gentlemen;" infidels to God, religion, and morality; mercenary to the last degree, and so lacking in personal and moral courage, that "one Southron could whip five of them easily, and ten of them at a pinch.' The 995 1 Montgomery Correspondence of the Charleston Mercury, April 10, 1861. To impress his new political associates with exalted ideas of his power as a North, Sanders sent, by telegraph, the following pompous dispatch to his political friends in New York: "To Mayor WoOD, DEAN RICHMOND, and AUGUSTE BELMONT: Democratic leader" in the "MONTGOMERY, April 14. "A hundred thousand mercenary soldiers cannot occupy and hold Pensacola. The entire South are under arms, and the negroes strengthen the military. Peace must come quickly, or it must be conquered. Northern Democrats standing by the South will not be held responsible for Lincoln's acts, unless indorsing them. State Sovereignty must be fully recognized. Protect your social and commercial ties by resisting Republican Federal aggression. Philadelphia should repudiate the war action of the Pennsylvania Legislature. The commerce of Rhode Island and New Jersey is safe, when distinguished. Hoist your flag! "Davis's answer is rough and curt- "GEORGE N. SANDERS." This man, as we shall observe hereafter, was a conspicuous actor in the most infamous work of the conspirators during the war that ensued. 3 First Year of the War: by E. A. Pollard, page 59. 4 The following advertisement is copied from the first inside business column of the Mobile Advertiser of April 16, now before me: "75,000 COFFINS WANTED. "Proposals will be received to supply the Confederacy with 75,000 BLACK COFFINS. No proposals will be entertained coming north of Mason and Dixon's Line. Direct to "JEFF. DAVIS, Montgomery, Ala. Ap. 16, 1t." This was intended as an intimation that the 75,000 men called for by President Lincoln would each need a coffin. It has been alleged, by competent authority, that Davis, in the folly of his madness, sanctioned the publication of this advertisement, to show contempt for the National Government. The Mobile Advertiser, one of the ablest and most respectable of the Southern newspapers, held the following language:- The Northern soldiers' are men who prefer enlisting to starvation; scurvy fellows from the back slums of cities, whom Falstaff would not have marched through Coventry with. But these are not soldiers-least of all to meet the hot-blooded, thoroughbred, impetuous men of the South. Trencher soldiers, who enlisted to war upon their rations, not on men. They are such as marched through Baltimore [the Massachusetts Sixth, admirably clothed, equipped, and disciplined, and composed of some of the best young men of New England], squalid, wretched, ragged, and half-naked, as the newspapers of that city report them. Fellows who do not know the breech of a musket from its muzzle, and had rather filch a handkerchief than fight an enemy in manly combat. White slaves, peddling wretches, small-change knaves and vagrants, the dregs and offscourings of the populace; these are the levied 'forces' whom Lincoln suddenly arrays as candidates for the honor of being slaughtered by gentlemen-such as Mobile sends to battle. Let them come South, and we will put our negroes to the dirty work of killing them. But they will not come South. Not a wretch of them will live on this side of the border longer than it will take us to reach the ground and drive them off.” 342 BOASTINGS OF LOYAL NEWSPAPERS. most absurd stories were told concerning starvation, riots, and anarchy in the Free-labor States, by the brawling politicians, the newspapers, and the men in public office who were under the absolute control of the conspirators;' and every thing calculated to inflame the prejudices and passions and inflate the pride of the people-inspire an overweening confidence in their own. prowess and the resources of their so-called government-and to fill them with contempt and hatred for "the North," was used with great prodigality. A military despotism was suddenly erected. It was supreme in power and inexorable in practice; more withering to true manhood and more destructive of national prosperity than any written about by historians. It prevailed from this time until the close of the terrible war that ensued. It took the place of civil government everywhere, permitting only the skeleton of the latter to exist. Press, pulpit, courts of law, were all overshadowed by its black wing; and its fiat produced that "united South" about which the conspirators and their friends prated continually. It raised great armies, that fought great battles so valiantly, that American citizens everywhere contemplate with honest pride their courage and endurance, while loathing the usurpers who, by force and fraud, compelled the many to combat for wrong for the benefit of the few. The foolish boastings of the newspaper press in the Slave-labor States were imitated by many of the leading journals in the Free-labor States. "The nations of Europe," said one," may rest assured that Jeff. Davis & Co. will be swinging from the battlements at Washington at least by the 4th of July. We spit upon a later and longer deferred justice."—"Let us make quick work," said another. "The 'rebellion,' as some people desig nate it, is an unborn tadpole. Let us not fall into the delusion, noted by Hallam, of mistaking a 'local commotion' for a revolution. A strong, active 'pull together' will do our work effectually in thirty days." Another said that "no man of sense could for a moment doubt that this much-ado-aboutnothing would end in a month," and declared that "the Northern people are simply invincible. The rebels-a mere band of ragamuffins-will fly like chaff before the wind on our approach." A Chicago newspaper" said :-"Let the East get out of the way; this is a war of the West. We can fight the battle, and successfully, within two or three months at the furthest. Illinois can whip the South by herself. We insist on the matter being turned over to us." Another in the West said:- The rebellion will be crushed out before the assemblage of Congress." 66 There were misapprehensions, fatal misapprehensions, in both sections. Neither believed that the other would fight. It was a sad mistake. Each 1 A contributor to De Bow's Review for February, 1861, wrote as follows: "Our enemies, the stupid, sensual, ignorant masses of the North, who are foolish as they are depraved, could not read the signs of the times, did not dream of disunion, but rushed on as heedlessly as a greedy drove of hungry hogs at the call of their owners. They were promised plunder, and find a famine; promised ‘bread, and were given a stone.' Our enemies are starving and disorganized. The cold, naked, hungry masses are at war with their leaders. They are mute, paralyzed, panic-stricken, and have no plan of action for the future. Winter has set in, which will aggravate their sufferings, and prevent any raid into or invasion of the South. They who deluded them must take care of them. The public lands will neither feed nor clothe them; they cannot plunder the South, and are cut off by their own wicked folly from the trade of the South, which alone could relieve and sustain them." And so the readers of this magazine were wickedly deceived. 2 New York Tribune. 3 New York Times. Philadelphia Press. Cincinnati Commercial. UPRISING OF THE LOYAL PEOPLE. 343 appealed to the Almighty to witness the rectitude of its intentions, and each was quick to discover coincident omens of Heaven's approval. "God and justice are with us," said the loyalists, "for we contend for union, nationality, and universal freedom."-" God is equally with us," said the insurgents, "for we contend for rightful separation, the supreme sovereignty of our respective States, and the perpetuation of the Divine institution of Slavery." And when, on the Sunday after the promulgation of the President's summons for troops to put down rising rebellion, the first Lesson in the Morning Service of the Protestant Episcopal Churches of the land was found to contain this battle-call of the Prophet:-"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong," the loyalists said: "See how Revelation summons us to the conflict!" and the insurgents answered, "It is equally a call for us;" adding, "See how specially we are promised victory in another Lesson of the same Church!—' I will remove far off from you the Northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the Fear not, O land! be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things."" In this temper multitudes of the people of the Republic, filled with intelligent convictions of the righteousness of the cause they had respectively espoused, left their peaceful pursuits in the pleasant springtime, and the alluring ease of abounding prosperity, and prepared for war, with a feeling that it would be short, and little more than an exciting though somewhat dangerous holiday pastime. No one seemed to think that it was the beginning of a sanguinary war that might cost the Nation a vast amount of blood and treasure. utmost sea. The uprising of the people of the Free-labor States in defense of Nationality was a sublime spectacle. Nothing like it had been seen on the earth since the preaching of Peter the Hermit and of Pope Urban the Second filled all Christian Europe with religious zeal, and sent armed hosts, with the cry of "God wills it! God wills it!" to rescue the sepulcher of Jesus from the hands of the infidel. Men, women, and children felt the enthusiasm alike; and, as if by concerted arrangement, the National flag was everywhere displayed, even from the spires of churches and cathedrals. In cities, in villages, and by wayside taverns all over the country, it was unfurled from lofty poles in the presence of large assemblages of the people, who were addressed frequently by some of the most eminent orators in the land. It adorned the halls of justice and the sanctuaries of religion; and the "Red, White, and Blue," the colors of the flag in combination, became a common ornament of women and a token of the loyalty of men. Every thing that might indicate attachment to the Union was employed; and in less than a fortnight after the President's Proclamation went forth, the post-offices were made gay with letter envelopes bearing every kind of device, in brilliant colors, illustrative of love of country and hatred of rebellion. The use of these became a passion. It was a phenomenon of the times. Not less than 1 Joel iii. 9, 10. 2 Joel ii. 20, 21. Letter of W. T. Walthall, of Mobile, to the editor of the Church Journal, May 17, 1861. 344 UPRISING OF THE DISLOYAL PEOPLE. four thousand different kinds of Union envelopes were produced in the Sets of these now find a careful depository in the course of a few weeks. The uprising in the Slave-labor States at this time, though less general and enthusiastic, was nevertheless marvelous. The heresy of State Supremacy, which Calhoun and his followers adroitly called State rights, because the latter is a sacred thing cherished by all, was a political tenet generally accepted as orthodox. It had been inculcated in every conceivable. form and on every conceivable occasion; and men who loved the Union and deprecated secession were in agreement with the conspirators on that point. Hence it was that in the tornado of passion then sweeping over the South, where reason was discarded, thousands of intelligent men, deceived by the grossest misrepresentations respecting the temper, character, and intentions of the people of the Free-labor States, flew to arms, well satisfied that they were in the right, because resisting what they believed to be usurpation, and an unconstitutional attempt at the subjugation of a free people, on the part of the National Government. The writer was in New Orleans at the time of the attack on Fort Sumter, in quest of knowledge respecting the stirring military events that occurred in that vicinity at the close of the year 1814 and the beginning of 1815. He was accompanied by a young kins woman. We arrived there on April, the 10th, having traveled all night on the railway from Grand Junction, in Tennessee. At Oxford, Canton, Jackson, and other places, we heard rumors of an expected attack on the fort. These were brought to us by a physician, who had been a member of the Secession Con 1861. 1 This specimen of the Union envelopes has been chosen from several hundreds of different kinds in possession of the author, because it contains, in its design and words, a remarkable prophecy. The leaders of the rebellion in the more Southern States comforted their people with the assurance, when it was seen that war was inevitable, that it could not reach their homes, for in the Border Slave-labor States, and especially in Virginia, would be the battle-fields. It was indeed so, until in the last year of the war; and "Poor Old Virginia," as Governor Pickens predicted, had to bear the brunt. She was the Mother of Disunion, and the hand of retributive justice was laid heavily upon her. 2 See note 1, page 63. EXCITEMENT IN NEW ORLEANS. 345 vention of Mississippi-a man of sense, moderation, and courtesy, who was our pleasant traveling companion from Decatur, in Northern Alabama, to Magnolia, in Mississippi, where we parted with him at breakfast. In the same car we met a Doctor Billings, of Vicksburg, who had been for several years a surgeon in the Mexican army, and was then returning to the city of Mexico, to carry out the preliminaries of a scheme of leading men in the Southwest for seizing some of the richest portions of Mexico. Wine or something stronger had put his caution asleep, and he communicated his plans. freely. He was a Knight of the Golden Circle, and was charged with the duty of procuring from the Mexican Congress permission for American citizens to construct a railway from the Rio Grande, through Chihuahua and Sonora, to the Gulf of California. He intended to get permission to commence the work immediately, with five thousand men, armed ostensibly for defense against the Indians. Once in the country, these men would seize and hold possession of those States until sufficiently re-enforced to make the occupation permanent. This was to be the end of the railway enterprise. It was to be a movement, in co-operation with the secessionists of Texas, to open the way for the extension toward Central America of that grand empire to be established on the foundation of Slavery, whose political nucleus was at Montgomery.' Billings left New Orleans for Mexico a few days afterward. His scheme failed. We found much excitement in New Orleans. The politicians were giving out ominous hints of great events near at hand. Ben. McCulloch was at the St. Charles Hotel, having arrived on the 6th, and was much of the time in consultation with the leading secessionists. Howell Cobb3 was also there. I called on some of the active politicians for local information, but found them too intently engaged in matters of immediate and pressing importance to listen or reply to many questions. On the following morning, intelligence that Fort Sumter had been attacked was brought by the telegraph. The absorbing occupation of the politicians was explained. They foreknew the event. day long the spaces around the bulletin-boards were crowded by an excited multitude, as dispatch after dispatch came announcing the progress of the conflict. All WASHINGTON ARTILLERY. At an early hour on Saturday, we left the city in a barouche for Jackson's battle-field below. We passed the head-quarters of the celebrated Washington Artillery, who were afterward in the battle at Bull's Run. They were on parade, in the uniform in which they afterward appeared on the field. We rode down the levee as far as Villere's, where Pakenham and other British officers had their head-quarters in 1815; and returning, stopped to visit and sketch the remains of the famous old battle 1 See page 187. 2 See page 267. 3 See page 44. * See page 181. |