seized by the Confederate authorities, even before the organization of their government. All this while the local warfare in Kansas had continued; but the Free State party had at last gained the ascendency, and the early admission of the new commonwealth, with two additional Republican senators, was foreseen. Early in January the President made a feeble attempt to reinforce and provision the garrison of Fort Sumter. The steamer Star of the West was sent with men and supplies, but in approaching the harbor of Charleston was fired on by a Confederate battery and compelled to return. Thus in gloom and grief, and the upheavals of revolution, the administration of Buchanan drew to a close. Such was the dreadful condition of affairs that it was deemed prudent for the new President to approach the capital without recognition. For the first time in the history of the nation the chief magistrate of the republic slipped into Washington city by night. CHAPTER LXI. LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION, AND THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, sixteenth President of the United States, was a native of Kentucky, born in the county of Larue, on the 12th of February, 1809. His ancestors had emigrated thither from Rockingham County, Virginia: both father and mother were Virginians by birth. The childhood of the future President was passed in utter obscurity. In 1816 his father removed to Spencer County, Indiana-just then admitted into the Union-and built a cabin in the woods near the present village of Gentryville. Here was the scene of Lincoln's boyhood-a constant struggle with poverty, hardship, and toil. At the age of sixteen we find him managing a ferry across the Ohio, at the mouth of Anderson Creek-a service for which he was paid six dollars per month. In his youth he received in the aggregate about one year of schooling, which was all he ever had in the way of education. In the year of his majority he removed with his father's family to the north fork of the Sangamon, ten miles west of Decatur, Illinois. Here another log-house was built and a small farm cleared and fenced; and here Abraham Lincoln began for himself the hard battle of life. The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil, The iron bark that turns the lumberer's axe, The prairie, hiding the mazed wanderer's tracks, The ambushed Indian, and the prowling bear;- After serving as a flatboatman on the Mississippi, Lincoln returned to New Salem, twenty miles from Springfield, and became a clerk in a country store. Then, as captain of a company of volunteers, he served in the Black Hawk war. From 1833 to 1836 he was engaged in merchandising, but a dissolute partner brought him to bankruptcy. Turning his attention to the practice of the law, for which profession he had always had a liking, he gradually gained the attention of his fellow-men and soon rose to distinction. His peculiar power-manifested at all periods of his life of seizing the most difficult thought and presenting it in such quaint and homely phrase as to make the truth appreciable by all men, made him a natural leader of the people. As candidate for the office of United States senator from Illinois he first revealed to the nation, in his great debates with Senator Douglas, the full scope and originality of his genius. Now, at the age of fifty-two, he found laid upon him such a burden of care and responsibility as had not been borne by any ruler of modern times. On the occasion of his inauguration he delivered a long and thoughtful address, declaring his fixed purpose to uphold the Constitution, enforce the laws, and preserve the integrity of the Union. ton. The new cabinet was organized with William H. Seward of New York as secretary of state. Salmon P. Chase of Ohio was chosen secretary of the treasury, and Simon Cameron secretary of war; but he, in the following January, was succeeded in office by Edwin M. StanThe secretaryship of the navy was conferred on Gideon Welles. In his inaugural address and first official papers the President indicated the policy of the new administration by declaring his purpose to repossess the forts, arsenals and public property which had been seized by the Confederate authorities. It was with this purpose that the first military preparations were made. In the mean time, on the 12th of March, an effort was made by commissioners of the seceded States to obtain from the national government a recognition of their independence; but the negotiations were unsuccessful. Then followed a second attempt on the part of the government to reinforce the garrison of Fort Sumter; and with that came the beginning of actual hostilities. The defences of Charleston Harbor were held by Major Robert Anderson. His entire force amounted to seventy-nine men. Owing to the weakness of his garrison, he deemed it prudent to evacuate Fort Moultrie and retire to Sumter. Meanwhile, Confederate volunteers had flocked to the city, and powerful batteries had been built about the harbor. When it became known that the Federal government would reinforce the forts, the authorities of the Confederate States determined to anticipate the movement by compelling Anderson to surrender. Accordingly, on the 11th of April, General P. T. Beauregard, commandant of Charleston, sent a flag to Fort Sumter, demanding an evacuation. Major Anderson replied that he should hold the fortress and defend his flag. On the following morning, at half-past four o'clock, the first gun was fired from a Confederate battery. A terrific bombardment of thirty-four hours' duration followed; the fort was reduced to ruins, set on fire, and obliged to capitulate. The honors of war were granted to Anderson and his men, who had made a brave and obstinate resistance. Although the cannonade had been long continued and severe, no lives were lost either in the fort or on the shore. Thus the defences of Charleston Harbor were secured by the Confederates. The news of this startling event went through the country like a flame of fire. There had been some expectation of violence, but the actual shock came like a clap of thunder. The people of the towns poured into the streets and the country folk flocked to the villages to gather the tidings and to comment on the coming conflict. Grayhaired men talked gravely of the deed that was done, and prophesied of its consequences. Public opinion in both the North and the South was rapidly consolidated. Three days after the fall of Sumter President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to serve three months in the overthrow of the secession movement. Two days later Virginia seceded from the Union. On May 6th Arkansas followed the example, and then North Carolina on the 20th of the same month. In Tennessee-especially in East Tennessee-there was a powerful opposition to disunion, and it was not until the 8th of June that a secession ordinance could be passed. In Missouri, as will presently be seen, the movement resulted in civil war, while in Kentucky the authorities issued a proclamation of neutrality. The people of Maryland were divided into hostile parties, the disunion sentiment being largely prevalent. On the 19th of April, when the first regiments of Massachusetts volunteers were passing through Baltimore on their way to Washington, they were fired upon by the citizens, and three men killed. This was the first bloodshed of the war. On the day before this event a body of Confederate soldiers advanced against the armory of the United States at Harper's Ferry. The officer in command hastily destroyed a portion of the vast magazine collected there, and then escaped into Pennsylvania. On the 20th of the month another company of Virginians assailed the great navy yard at Norfolk. The officers commanding fired the buildings and ships, spiked the cannon and withdrew their forces. Most of the guns and many of the vessels were afterward recovered by the Confederates, the property thus captured amounting to fully ten millions of dollars. So rapidly was Virginia filled with volunteers and troops from the South that, for a while, Washington city was in danger of being taken. But the capital was soon secured from immediate danger; and on the 3d of May the President issued another call for soldiers. This time the number was set at eighty-three thousand, and the term of service at three years or during the war. Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott was made commander-in-chief. As many war ships as could be provided were sent to blockade the Southern ports. On every side were heard the notes of preparation. In the seceded States there was boundless and incessant activity. Already the Southern Congress had adjourned from Montgomery, to meet on the 20th of July at Richmond, which was chosen as the capital of the Confederacy. To that place had already come Mr. Davis and the officers of his cabinet, for the purpose of directing the affairs of the government and the army. So stood the antagonistic powers in the beginning of June, 1861. It was now evident to all men (how slow they had been to believe it!) that a great war, perhaps the greatest in modern times, was impending over the nation. It is appropriate to look briefly into THE CAUSES of the approaching conflict. THE CHAPTER LXII. CAUSES. HE first and most general cause of the civil war in the United States was the different construction put upon the national Constitution by the people of the North and the South. A difference of opinion had always existed as to how that instrument was to be understood. The question at issue was as to the relation between the States and the general government. One party held that under the Constitution the Union of the States is indissoluble; that the sovereignty of the nation is lodged in the central government; that the States are subordinate; that the acts of Congress, until they are repealed or pronounced unconstitutional by the supreme court, are binding on the States; that the highest allegiance of the citizen is due to the general government, and not to his own State; and that all attempts at nullification and disunion are in their nature disloyal and treasonable. The other party held that the national Constitution is a compact between sovereign States; that for certain reasons the Union may be dissolved; that the sovereignty of the nation is lodged in the individual States, and not in the central government; that Congress can exercise no other than delegated powers; that a State feeling aggrieved may annul an act of Congress; that the highest allegiance of the citizen is due to his own State, and afterward to the general government; and that acts of nullification and disunion are justifiable, revolutionary and honorable. Here was an issue in its consequences the most fearful that ever disturbed a nation. It struck right into the vitals of the government. |