Nothing of interest doing here. The news is not encouraging. Grant has burned Jackson and evacuated the place, falling back toward Vicksburg. It is also reported that a portion of his army has gone to New Orleans, destined for Mobile. Bragg is at Chattanooga, and the Federal army all over Middle Tennessee and North Alabama. Lee is falling back slowly from Pennsylvania.
SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 281
WASHINGTON, March
16, 1861.
Every day affords
proof of the absence of any settled policy or harmonious concert of action in
the administration. Seward, Bates and Cameron form one wing; Chase, Miller,
Blair, the opposite wing; Smith is on both sides, and Lincoln sometimes on one
and sometimes on the other. There has been agreement in nothing. Lincoln, it is
complained in the streets, has undertaken to distribute the whole patronage,
small and great, leaving nothing to the chiefs of departments. Growls about
Scott's "imbecility" are frequent The Republicans are beginning to
think that a monstrous blunder was made in the tariff bill, and that it will
cut off the trade of New York, build up New Orleans and the Southern ports, and
leave the government no revenue; they see before them the prospect of some
being without money and without credit. But with all this it is certain that
Anderson will be withdrawn.
SOURCE: Lyon
Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p.
636
[ST. LOUIS, MO.]
My visit South was
in every sense agreeable. My old friends in Alexandria did all they could to
make us welcome, and I was not allowed to pay a cent on steamboat, at the
hotel, or anywhere. I visited several plantations and saw negroes at work for
wages, and seemingly as free and as conscious of their freedom as the blacks of
Ohio. Boyd was perfectly grateful for the books you sent him, which were in the
library and marked with your name. I found my own portrait, in full uniform, in
the main hall, and in the library many books on our side of the war. Boyd asked
me for army and navy registers, post surveys, and railroad surveys, and other
national books that I have and will send him. Of course they have their old
prejudices, and labor to prevent their cause from sinking into one of pure
malignity, but as to the future, he promised me to teach his pupils to love and
honor the whole country. He preserves all my old letters, and we looked over
many, in every one of which I took the highest national grounds and predicted
the ruin of their country.
The marble tablet
which was built over the main door on which was cut the inscription "By
the liberality of the general government. The Union - esto perpetua," was
taken out and was found broken in pieces. I saw the deposition to that effect
in Boyd's possession, but he could not say if Vallas did it of himself, or on
the order of the board of supervisors.
You remember
attention was called to that inscription by my original letter of resignation,
and it is probable the rebels made Vallas take it out; anyhow Boyd has ordered
an iron casting of same size and same inscription, and promised me to place it
over the door in lieu of the marble, too much broken up to be replaced.
In New Orleans I was
cautioned against going to Alexandria, which was burned down at the time of the
Banks expedition, but I never received more marked attention by all classes,
and not a word or look reached me but what was most respectful and gratifying.
In like manner I had the most pressing invitations to stop at Jackson and
Canton, Miss., both of which places were destroyed by me. I do think some
political power might be given to the young men who served in the rebel army
for they are a better class than the adventurers who have gone South purely for
office.
SOURCE: Rachel
Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between
General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 327-8
Speech of Jefferson Davis before the State Democratic Convention held in Jackson Mississippi January 3, 1844, for the purpose of sending delegates to the National Convention of the party and for the selection of presidential electors.*
(From The Mississippian, January 12, 1844.)
Mr. Davis remarked in substance—Though instructed by the delegation from Warren to cast the vote of our county, in this convention, for Mr. Van Buren, as the presidential candidate, I hope I will be excused for availing myself of the nomination of Mr. Calhoun, to express some of my opinions, as an individual, in relation to the comparative claims these gentlemen have upon us. I would here premise, that I wish nothing which I may say to be referred to a willingness to depreciate the high, just, and often-acknowledged claims of Mr. Van Buren; a democrat who long and severely tried, has never been found wanting—a democrat, than whom there is none I have more implicit confidence—none to whom I would more freely confide in times of difficulty, of danger, and of personal temptation, the safe keeping of the constitution; and in proof of the correctness of this opinion, I will refer to but a single instance: When the "independent treasury" was opposed by a prejudice so fixed and wide-spread among our people, that it was apparent if one had risen from the dead to bear testimony to its merits, he would not have been believed, still did Mr. Van Buren give it his open, decided and unwavering support. Surely it will not now be contended by those who attribute to him so much political shrewdness as to attach to him the name of magician, that he was ignorant of the danger to which an adherence to this measure exposed his political fortune. Upon us, however, it forces itself as conclusive evidence, that he valued truth and the good of his country above power and place, and the conscientious discharge of his duty above personal advancement.
Mr. President, it is not my purpose to attempt an eulogy of Mr. Calhoun. I should be inadequate to the task, and should deem the labor superfluous in the hand of the most able—a long public life of virtue and intelligence, of active and patriotic devotion to the best interest of his country, having shed around his name a halo which it is not in the power of language to brighten. Neither, sir, is it my intention to review the political principles of that great statesman; for in comparing him with Mr. Van Buren, I find no exception to that proud and generally just boast of the democracy, that the principles of our party are the same throughout the Union. The points of my preference for Mr. Calhoun will be merely indicated to you; because, resting as they do upon basis so well understood by you, any elucidation of them is uncalled for. First, I will mention "free trade," by which is meant, as I understand it, the most liberal principles of commerce, and from which we may anticipate as a consequence, the freest exchange of the products of different soils and climates, the largest amount of comforts for a given amount of labor. Again, as incident to the freest national intercourse, we may expect the extension of amicable relations, until our canvas-winged doves shall bear us across every sea, olive branches from every land. In addressing Mississippians, who rely upon a foreign market for the disposal of their products, an argument in support of unrestricted commerce is surely unnecessary, and I will close the consideration of this point by saying I consider Mr. Calhoun its exponent.
The annexation of the republic of Texas to our Union, is another point of vital importance to the south, and demanding, by every consideration, prompt action. Daily are we becoming relatively weaker, and with equal step is the advance of that fanatical spirit which has for years been battering in breach the defences with which the federal constitution surrounds our institutions.
Would Mr. Calhoun have less zeal than one less intimately connected with the south, or would he support this measure with less ability? I would answer not less but more. The ardent, able and honest support which he gives to all measures having his entire approbation, enables him more successfully than any one I have ever known, to combat prejudice and error; and I would add that among the many I have known who had enjoyed his intercourse, I recollect not one who had not imbibed some of his opinions.
Again, I believe that Mr. Calhoun could reduce the various divisions of the executive department at Washington to such order, and introduce a system of such prompt accountability, by the various agents, that defalcation could seldom reach that point which would result in loss to the government. That he possesses this ability, I conceive to be demonstrated by his administration of the war department; considered, I believe, of the various departments, that which is most difficult and complex in its disbursements. He found it in great confusion—he reduced it to an organization so perfect, that it has received but slight modifications down to the present time, and has been that department which has afforded but few examples of unfaithful depositories of the public money.
With the experience he acquired then, and the knowledge he has acquired since, may we not expect all that I claim for him on this point?
I will, Mr. President, tax the patience of the convention with but one point more, and that is one nearly affecting us: it is the defence of the southern Atlantic and gulf coasts. We have been treated ungenerously and unjustly, in that the majority has, through a long course of years, refused to us, the minority, that protection which it was the duty of the federal government to give us. Having made such appropriations for the benefit of other portions of the Union, inability has not been the cause of this failure in duty towards us—a failure which is aggravated by the recollection that throughout the whole period of our federal existence, we have contributed, as consumers, to the revenue, in a higher ratio than that of our representation in the halls of legislation, (by the number of our unrepresented slave population,) and therefore our claim to a share of those appropriations to which we are all entitled, is something stronger than our representative rate. Sir, if we institute a comparison as to the importance, in a national point of view, between the objects for which we require appropriations and those for which we have been neglected, still do we find nothing to justify the treatment we have received. Whilst the northern harbors and cities have been surveyed, and as far as the ability of the treasury would allow, fortified—whilst navy yards have been erected along the northern coast—whilst surveys have been made of the sinuosities of our northern lakes, sometimes where it required the perspective eye of the engineer to see a harbor, and millions expended year after year, for these joint purposes, there stand the cape and keys of Florida unprotected, though by them flows the whole commerce of the south and west, and though they overlook the straits through which, in peace or war, is the only maritime communication between the different portions of our Union, and around which sweeps a wide curve of circumvallation, extending from the Oronoko to the banks of the Bahama, from various points of which, within signal distance, from the batteries of Great Britain.
Looking further westward, which brings us nearer home here upon our own coast lie, wholly unprotected, the islands upon which the British fleet found a safe anchorage and harbor; where British troops debarked for the attack on New Orleans, an event which, though it brought glory to the American arms, and made this day an American festival, does not the less enforce itself as a warning on our government, and should have proved sufficient reason to all who loved their country more than sectional interest, to have guarded against the recurrence of such contingency.
Mr. President, the South has a delicate and daily increasing interest in the navy. She needs her own sons in the navy to represent that interest; she therefore needs in her own waters navy yards, and squadrons at home, on her own waters, to develope the nautical feeling of our youth. A survey made of the Tortugas, by the recommendation of that great man who directed the glorious event to which I but just now alluded as connected with the day on which we are assembled, exhibits a harbor admirably adapted to the purposes of a navy yard. At Pensacola, we have another favorable point, so recognized by our government in building a dock and giving it the name of "navy yard;" and they both have this great advantage over any northern harbor, they are convenient to "live oak," our most important ship timber.
Sir, I will not detain the Convention farther than to urge upon their consideration the necessity we have for a Southern President to advance these measures. The South has borne long; let her be true to herself, that justice may be done.
Jefferson Davis, of Warren, offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted.
Resolved, That our
delegates to the national convention, in the event of any contingency which
shall defeat the purpose for which they are appointed, viz., the nominations of
Martin Van Buren for president, and James K. Polk for vice president, that they
shall consider as our second choice, John C. Calhoun for president, and Levi
Woodbury for vice-president.
* This speech brought Mr. Davis into statewide notice and marked the beginning of his political career. As a delegate from Warren county he favored John C. Calhoun for the presidency.
ST. LOUIS, Sunday,
Dec. 30, 1866.
Dear Brother: I came
up from New Orleans right through the country that I had been the means of
raiding so thoroughly, and did not know but I should hear some things that
would not be pleasant, but, on the contrary, many people met me all along the
road in the most friendly spirit. I spent a whole day at Jackson, where chimney
stacks and broken railroads marked the presence of Sherman's army. But all
sorts of people pressed to see me, and evinced their natural curiosity, nothing
more. . . .
I expect to have two
Indian wars on my hands, and have no time for other things. The Sioux and
Cheyennes are now so circumscribed that I suppose they must be exterminated,
for they cannot and will not settle down, and our people will force us to it.
It will also call for all possible prudence to keep us from war with the
Mormons, for there are people that yearn for the farms and property the Mormons
have created in the wilderness.
I have a despatch
from Mr. Stanton, saying that my action in the delicate mission to Mexico meets
the approval of the President, the Cabinet, and himself, so I got out of that
scrape easily. I do not want to come to Washington, but to stay here quietly as
long as possible. When Grant goes to Europe, then I shall be forced to come.
The longer that is deferred the better for me. Affectionately,
W. T. SHERMAN.
SOURCE: Rachel
Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between
General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 287
NEW ORLEANS, Feb.
23, 1861.
DEAR MR. BOYD: I
fear from our experience here the cadets did not have a good time of it last
night. It rained here a part of the day and night and now we are having a sort
of postscript in a heavy shower. I have had a good deal of running about to do
to-day, because I got here on Thursday after bank hours, and yesterday being a
holiday it was closed, and this morning on application I found the book which I
had sent down a week ago by mail only got here this morning. So I did not get
it till 2:30 p.m. and Dr. Smith wanted to go to Baton Rouge at 5 p.m. so we
gave it but a rapid examination, but there being a balance in bank larger than
I claimed Dr. Smith was on the safe side in passing it. I have been with him to
the boat, and he is off for Baton Rouge, and I have naught to do but be off for
home. I shall start to-morrow, Sunday, for St. Louis to reach there Monday
evening.
Tell St. Ange that I
found Madame Lefevre and got the books entered, though I was bothered by the
deputy collector. Still I think he will soon receive the books. I made the
custom-house oath without seeing the list invoice of books. I know you will
expect me to tell you some general political news. All here is secession on the
streets. Indoors they are more reasonable and some have said to me that even
yet if the North will give guarantees, this state would return. More than one
have said that the leaders were afraid to leave it to a vote of the people.
Congress can do nothing. The Peace Conference may report. I don't see what
Lincoln or any man can do, when sections are arrayed against each other and
will not believe each other.
I still adhere to my
old notion that we have to fear anarchy more than a direct conflict on the
slavery issue. If any of the Southern States become dissatisfied with the
tariff policy of the new combination and I have myself heard merchants talk
pretty plainly of the tariff already imposed on northern goods, they will
secede a second time and so on to the end of the chapter.
I have seen a good
deal of Bragg who goes on quietly but steadily, organizing two regiments of
regulars and mark my word when a time of strife comes he will be prepared.
He tells me there is
an officer at West Point whose name I now forget, who wants to be your superintendent.
But the governor has advertised for one to apply before April 6 — so that no
choice will take place till then. In the mean time Dr. Smith has the check book
and can draw for money. I really do hope you may have a clever fellow, for your
social position is one of isolation and those who are so banished should have
respect and even fondness for each other. There is no pleasure or satisfaction
in life when one's associate is devoid of feeling, sense, or judgment. With
these and a few companions I have never cared much whether my abode was in Wall
St., San Francisco, in the Desert, in Kansas, or Ohio.
But the truth is I
have socially been too much isolated from my children, and now that they are at
an age when for good or ill we should be together I must try and allay that
feeling of change and venture that has made me a wanderer. If possible I will
settle down – fast and positive. Of a summer eve with my little Minnie and
Willy and the rascal Tom I can live over again my Florida life, my ventures in
California, and my short sojourn in the pine woods of Louisiana, and I will
teach them that there are kind good people everywhere, that a great God made
all the world, that He slighted no part, that to some He assigned the rock and
fir – with clear babbling brooks but cold and bitter winters, to others the
grassy plain and fertile soil, to others the rich alluvium and burning sun to
ripen the orange and sugar cane, but everywhere He gave the same firmament, the
same gentle moon, and to the inhabitants the same attributes for good and evil.
What a beautiful
task in theory, which may all explode the first moment of its realization but
still one to dream of – and I know you will believe me sincere when I hope, in
that little group, wherever it may be, you will some day drop in and try my
hospitality. I assure you.
About the 20th of
February, having turned over all property, records, and money, on hand, to
Major Smith, and taking with me the necessary documents to make the final
settlement with Dr. S. A. Smith, at the bank in New Orleans, where the funds of
the institution were deposited to my credit, I took passage from Alexandria for
that city, and arrived there, I think, on the 23d.1 Dr. Smith met
me, and we went to the bank, where I turned over to him the balance, got him to
audit all my accounts, certify that they were correct and just, and that there
remained not one cent of balance in my hands. I charged in my account current
for my salary up to the end of February, at the rate of four thousand dollars a
year, and for the five hundred dollars due me as superintendent of the Central
Arsenal, all of which was due and had been fairly earned, and then I stood free
and discharged of any and every obligation, honorary or business, that was due
by me to the State of Louisiana, or to any corporation or individual in the
state.
This business
occupied two or three days, during which I staid at the St. Louis Hotel. I
usually sat at table with Colonel and Mrs. Bragg, and an officer who wore the
uniform of the State of Louisiana, and was addressed as captain. Bragg wore a
colonel's uniform, and explained to me that he was a colonel in the state
service, a colonel of artillery, and that some companies of his regiment
garrisoned Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and the arsenal at Baton Rouge.
Beauregard at the
time had two sons at the Seminary of Learning. I had given them some of my
personal care at the father's request, and, wanting to tell him of their
condition and progress, I went to his usual office in the Custom-House Building,
and found him in the act of starting for Montgomery, Alabama. Bragg said
afterward that Beauregard had been sent for by Jefferson Davis, and that it was
rumored that he had been made a brigadier-general, of which fact he seemed
jealous, because in the old army Bragg was the senior.
. . . I recall a
conversation at the tea-table, one evening, at the St. Louis Hotel. When Bragg
was speaking of Beauregard's promotion, Mrs. Bragg, turning to me, said, “You
know that my husband is not a favorite with the new president.” My mind was
resting on Mr. Lincoln as the new president, and I said I did not know that
Bragg had ever met Mr. Lincoln, when Mrs. Bragg said, quite pointedly, “I
didn't mean your president, but our president.” I knew Bragg hated Davis
bitterly, and that he had resigned from the army in 1855, or 1856, because
Davis, as secretary of war, had ordered him, with his battery, from Jefferson
Barracks, Missouri, to Fort Smith or Fort Washita, in the Indian country, as
Bragg expressed it, “to chase Indians with six-pounders.”
I visited the
quartermaster, Colonel A. C. Myers, who had resigned from the army, January 28,
1861, and had accepted service under the new régime. His office was in the same
old room in the Lafayette Square Building, which he had in 1853, when I was
there a commissary, with the same pictures on the wall, and the letters “U.S.”
on every thing, including his desk, papers, etc. I asked him if he did not feel
funny. “No, not at all. The thing was inevitable, secession was a complete
success; there would be no war, but the two governments would settle all
matters of business in a friendly spirit, and each would go on in its allotted
sphere, without further confusion.”
I walked the streets
of New Orleans, and found business going along as usual. Ships were strung for
miles along the lower levee, and steamboats above, all discharging or receiving
cargo. The Pelican flag of Louisiana was flying over the Custom House, Mint,
City Hall, and everywhere. At the levee ships carried every flag on earth
except that of the United States, and I was told that during a procession on
the 22d of February, celebrating their emancipation from the despotism of the
United States government, only one national flag was shown from a house, and
that the house of Cuthbert Bullitt, on Lafayette Square. He was commanded to take
it down, but he refused and defended it with his pistol.
The only officer of
the army that I can recall, as being there at the time, who was faithful, was
Colonel C. L. Kilburn, of the Commissary Department, and he was preparing to
escape north.
Everybody regarded
the change of government as final; that Louisiana, by a mere declaration,
was a free and independent state, and could enter into any new alliance or
combination she chose.
1 The 22nd. — ED.
2 Sherman went first to St. Louis, where he
stopped for a few days before going on to Ohio. - Ed.
ALEXANDRIA, Jan. 16,
1861.
DEAR GENERAL: It was
my purpose to wait patiently for the development of events, with my mind firmly
resolved to do no act hostile to the United States. I had given full notice of
such resolution to Dr. Smith and Governor Moore. The seizure of the forts, and
worse still the capture of the company of U.S. soldiers at Baton Rouge, where
they were stationed by invitation of the state authority for the protection of
the arms and munitions of war placed there for the safety of the state, are
regarded by me as acts of war and a breach of common decency. I forthwith repaired
to Alexandria and notified Dr. Smith of my opinion and that my longer stay here
was wrong. He thinks Governor Moore had reasons for his conduct not known to
the public and as he is on the point of going to Baton Rouge he asked me to
forbear till he could consult, and see what is to be done. He says he has
consulted with many, and that all understand my opinions, that as I am
entrusted with the moneys and management of the institution he cannot arrange
for my relief till time is given to provide a successor. He is unwilling that
Vallas should succeed to my power as superintendent — or that any one else to
the care of the moneys. But he pledged me his word that I should in no wise be
compromised in any act of hostility to the general government.
If I had in view any
occupation, by which I could maintain my family I would not stay, but as I have
no such employment in view, and as I cannot receive the compensation fixed by
law for me as superintendent of the central arsenal, and as I have laid by
little or nothing I have consented to await awhile, to allow the legislature to
appropriate the five hundred dollars due for last year* and for a little salary
to accumulate to give me the means of retiring to Ohio, and cast around for
some means of support.
* For the salary of
superintendent of the Arsenal. - Ed.
SEMINARY, Jan. 20,
1861.
Here is another
Sunday. I have written you often enough of late to keep you in a perfect state
of uneasiness, but it does seem that each day brings forth something new. I now
have official notice that three thousand three hundred muskets, seventy
thousand cartridges, etc., are sent here from Baton Rouge, which must be a part
of those seized by the state or otherwise stolen, and I must make provision for
their storage. I must move to the new house in order to afford room for them in
my present quarters.
But my stay here
much longer is impossible. My opinions and feelings are so radically opposed to
those in power that this cannot last long. I send you a copy of a letter I
wrote to Governor Moore on the 18th, on the receipt of which he will be forced
to act. I hate to lose that five hundred dollars but I guess it can't be
helped. I know all about the forms of reports, returns, money accounts, etc.,
and no one here does, and I know of no one in the state that Moore can find.
Still I think he will feel bound to place the custody of these arms in the
hands of one more faithful to Louisiana than I profess to be.
I shall expect a
definite answer in a week, when I propose to go to New Orleans and settle the
bank account. I would then ship in some Cincinnati boat such traps as would not
bear railroad transportation and thence by railroad to Cincinnati, so that it
is not impossible I may be in Lancaster early in February. I must leave here
with a clean record, and this can only be done in the manner I have pointed out
to Governor Moore. He may endeavor to throw obstacles in my way, but I think
not. He is too fair a man.
I feel no desire to
follow an army necessarily engaged in Civil War, and as we could start out of
debt, it may be we can keep so.
Those now in debt
will suffer most, or least, for they will likely repudiate all debts. Down here
they think they are going to have fine times. New Orleans a free port whereby
she can import goods without limit or duties and sell to the up-river
countries. But Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore will never consent
that New Orleans should be a free port and they subject to duties. The most
probable result will be that New Orleans will be shut off from all trade, and
the South having no money* and no sailors cannot raise a blockade without
assistance from England, and that she will never receive.
I have letters from
General Graham and others who have given up all hope of stemming the tide. All
they now hope for is as peaceable a secession as can be effected. I heard Mr.
Clay's speech in 1850 on the subject of secession and if he deemed a peaceable
secession then as an absurd impossibility, much more so is it now when the
commercial interests of the North are so much more influential. . .
* So written but
probably Navy is meant.—ED.
ALEXANDRIA, Nov. 23, 1860.
We are having a cold raw day and I avail myself of it to do a good deal of indoor work. I was out for some hours directing the making of the fence around our new house, but the work within proceeds very slowly indeed. Our house is all plastered and the carpenters are putting in the doors, windows, and casings. Also the painter is tinkering around, but at present rate the building will not be ready before Christ
I now have all arrangements made for your coming down about that time, but prudence dictates some caution as political events do seem portentous.
I have a letter from the cashier that he sent you the first of exchange, the second I now enclose to you for two hundred ninety dollars. But by the very mail which brought it came the rumor that the banks are refusing exchange on the North, which cannot be true; also that goods were being destroyed on the levee at New Orleans and that the Custom House was closed. I also notice that many gentlemen who were heretofore moderate in their opinions now begin to fall into the popular current and go with the mad foolish crowd that seems bent on a dissolution of this confederacy.
The extremists in this quarter took the first news of the election of Lincoln so coolly, that I took it for granted all would quietly await the issue; but I have no doubt that politicians have so embittered the feelings of the people that they think that the Republican Party is bent on abolitionism, and they cease to reason or think of consequences.
We are so retired up here, so much out of the way of news, that we hear nothing but stale exaggerations; but I feel that a change is threatened and I will wait patiently for a while. My opinions are not changed.
If the South is bent on disunion of course I will not ally our fate with theirs, because by dissolution they do not escape the very danger at which they grow so frantically mad. Slavery is in their midst and must continue, but the interest of slavery is much weaker in Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland than down here. Should the Ohio River become a boundary between the two new combinations, there will begin a new change. The extreme South will look on Kentucky and Tennessee as the North, and in a very few years the same confusion and disorder will arise, and a new dissolution, till each state and maybe each county will claim separate independence.
If South Carolina precipitate this Revolution it will be because she thinks by delay Lincoln's friends will kind of reconcile the middle, wavering states, whereas now they may raise the cry of abolition and unite all the Slave States. I had no idea that this would actually begin so soon, but the news from that quarter does look as though she certainly would secede, and that Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Texas would soon follow. All these might go and still leave a strong, rich confederated government, but then come Mississippi and Louisiana. As these rest on the Mississippi and control its mouth I know that the other states north will not submit to any molestation of the navigation by foreign states. If these two states go and Arkansas follows suit then there must be war, fighting, and that will continue until one or the other party is subdued.
If Louisiana call a convention I will not move, but if that convention resolve to secede on a contingency that I can foresee, then I must of course quit. It is not to be expected that the state would consent to trust me with arms and command if I did not go with them full length. I don't believe Louisiana would of herself do anything; but if South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas resolve no longer to wait, then Louisiana will do likewise. Then of course you will be safer where you are. As to myself I might have to go to California or some foreign country, where I could earn the means of living for you and myself. I see no chance in Ohio
A man is never a prophet in his own land and it does seem that nature for some wise purpose, maybe to settle wild lands, does ordain that man shall migrate, clear out from the place of his birth.
I did not intend to write so much, but the day is gloomy, and the last news from New Orleans decidedly so, if true. Among ourselves it is known that I am opposed to disunion in any manner or form. Prof. Smith ditto, unless Lincoln should actually encourage abolitionism after installed in office. Mr. Boyd thinks the denial to the southern people of access to new territories is an insult to which they cannot submit with honor and should not, let the consequences be what they may. Dr. Clarke is simply willing to follow the fortunes of the South, be what they may. Vallas and St. Ange, foreigners, don't care, but will follow their immediate self interests.
Thus we stand, about a fair sample of a mixed crowd; but 'tis now said all over the South the issue is made, and better secession now when they can than wait till it is too late. This is a most unfortunate condition of things for us, and I hardly know how to act with decency and firmness, and like most undecided men will wait awhile to see what others do; if feeling in South Carolina continues they must do something, else they will be the laughing stock of the world, and that is what they dread. For of all the states they can least afford to secede, as comparatively she is a weak and poor state. This on the contrary is destined to be a rich and powerful one. . .
ALEXANDRIA, Nov. 26, 1860.
. . . I commenced writing a letter last night to Minnie, but a friend sent us out a newspaper of New Orleans, November 22 which had come up from New Orleans in a boat. For some reason the papers come to us very irregularly. The stage whenever it has passengers leaves behind the paper mail and only brings the bags when there are few or no passengers. Well, of late though letters come about as usual our papers come along very straggling. This newspaper so received brings intelligence, how true I know not, of a panic in New York, Baltimore, Virginia, and everywhere. Of course panics are the necessary consequence of the mammoth credit system, the habit of borrowing which pervades our country, and though panics transfer losses to the wrong shoulders still they do good.
But along with this comes the cause, the assertion that South Carolina will secede certain. Georgia ditto. And Alabama. Mississippi will of course, and with her Arkansas and Texas. This will leave Louisiana no choice. If these premises be true then indeed is there abundant cause for panic, disorder, confusion, ruin and Civil War. I am determined not to believe it till to withhold belief would be stupidity. The paper also announces that Governor Moore has called the legislature together for December 10, and specially to consider the crisis of the country and to call a convention. You know that the theory of our government is, as construed by the southern politicians, that a state, one or more, may withdraw from the Union without molestation, and unless excitement abates Louisiana will follow the lead of her neighbors.
You will hear by telegraph the actions of the conventions of South Carolina and Alabama. Should they assert their right to secede and initiate measures to that end, then you may infer that I will countermand my heretofore preparations for a move. Then it would be unsafe for you even to come south. For myself I will not go with the South in a disunion movement, and as my position at the head of a State Military College would necessarily infer fidelity and allegiance to the state, my duty will be on the first positive act of disunion to give notice of my purpose.
December 10 the legislature meets. It is hardly possible a convention will be called before January and until the convention acts the state is not committed. Still I think the tone of feeling in the legislature will give me a clew [sic] to the future. I confess I feel uneasy from these events, and more so from the fact that the intelligence comes so piecemeal and unsatisfactory. . .
ALEXANDRIA, Nov. 29, 1860.
. . . This is a holiday, thanksgiving and prayer, but holidays and Sundays are my worst days, as then the cadets are idle and mischievous.
Governor Moore has issued his proclamation calling the legislature together for December 10, and the proclamation is couched in ugly language, different from his usual more conservative tone. It is manifest to me now that the leading politicians of the state have conferred together and have agreed to go out of the Union, or at all events to favor the new doctrine of secession. The legislature will determine the call of a convention, and the convention will decide very much according to the other events that may occur in the meantime. This imposes on us a change of purpose, and it will not do for you or any one to come south unless the state of feeling changes. I know the governor and believe him an excellent thermometer of the political atmosphere of Louisiana. I hear that business is dead in New Orleans, all of which is evidence that the abolitionists have succeeded in bringing on the “Inevitable Conflict.”
I am sick of this everlasting subject. The truth has nothing to do with this world. Here they know that all you have to do in Ohio is to steal niggers, and in Ohio though the people are quiescent yet they believe that the South are determined to enlarge the area of niggers. Like Burton in Toodles I say, Damn the niggers. I wish they were anywhere or be kept at their work.
I observe more signs of a loosened discipline here. Boys are careless and last night because the supper did not please them they smashed the crockery and made a riot generally. Pistols were fired, which scared Joe very much — his education has been neglected, but I think he will get used to it. We have dismissed five cadets and others must share their fate. I fear the institution is in danger from causes which arose after I left last summer. The alterations made after I left were
in principle, causing General Graham to resign, and since then he will take no interest in our affairs. Governor Moore is intent on politics, same of Dr. Smith, so we are left to the chances of the caprices of a parcel of wild boys. Still this is a small matter susceptible of remedy, but the secession movement underlies the very safety of everything. . .
SEMINARY, June 28,
1860.
. . . Last week I
dismissed summarily two cadets of good families and large connexions. One has
appealed to the Board of Supervisors who may be weak enough to yield to such
influence. And if they do it will severely weaken my power and influence and
may shake my faith in my hold on their confidence. They meet on Saturday. This
is Thursday and I will then see whether I am to govern here or be governed by
the cast off boys of rich planters.
So well impressed
are all gentlemen here of the necessity of some restraint on the boys, who have
been indulged at home to an unlimited extent, that I doubt not they will
approve my acts, but like all deliberative bodies they may take some half way
course and recommend me to receive them back on their promising reformation. I
will not do so unless they command me, which they have a right to do.
We will celebrate
the 4th of July by a cadet oration and Declaration of Independence, etc., and
our examination July 30 and 31 will be celebrated by a large attendance.
The weather has been
warm but never as warm as at St. Louis or in Ohio. The summers here are long,
but the proximity to the sea gives us the same air as we felt off Cuba which I
think perfect. Indeed I don't object to the summers here. All are well and
healthy and there is no apprehension of epidemic. These always originate in New
Orleans and spread by the steamboats so that here they always have full warning
and can take due precaution. Take the year all round this must be a healthy
place.
The only drawbacks
and they are serious are servants and marketing. All here own their slaves and
there are properly speaking no servants for hire. White girls or boys will not
come from New Orleans though in time they may. All groceries and meats must
come from New Orleans – the grass is so poor that sheep and cattle are
skeletons and milk exceedingly scarce. Goat milk will be better. This year the
drought has been unbearable destroying all gardens, but the season is so long
that they can plant two or three times. The soil on the river bottom is very
perfect, here in the pine hills as poor as poverty itself. Still by care we can
make lettuce, potatoes sweet and Irish, beans, peas and such things when the
season favors. There are no market gardens; the negro slaves have small patches
which they are allowed to cultivate and sell off – but these are all on the
other side of the river. . .
Hot and dry, and the famine continues.
The Secretary of War intimated on Saturday that if the clerks of the bureaus would raise a fund and send an agent South to buy provisions, he would insure them transportation, etc. To-day he denies that he made the promise, and refuses to aid them.
The government now proposes to increase its schedule of prices from 300 to 500 per cent., thus depreciating its own credit. Before harvest the impressing agents allowed about $40 per barrel for flour; now, that we have a good harvest, about $130 will be paid, thus raising the price everywhere. The transportation is the expensive item.
A dispatch from Gen. Johnston, at Atlanta, says the enemy having flanked him with his cavalry, he has fallen back across the Chattahoochee.
Dispatches from Gen. S. D. Lee, Tupelo, state that a column of the enemy, 20,000 strong, is about marching from New Orleans against Mobile, and he fears he cannot spare men to resist them. The reserve class is not ready. Also that 15,000 of the enemy are marching from Lagrange, and he will have to dismount some of Forrest's cavalry. Gen. E. K. Smith will not cross the Mississippi to assist in repelling the foe without orders. Orders have been sent from the Secretary of War I fear too late !
Northern papers of the 8th inst. indicate a state of high excitement. Some there believe we have an army of 60,000 pouring into Pennsylvania. Gold was $2.65 for one.
There is some commotion in Grant's army, and it is believed by some that he is about to retire down the river.
It is rumored that the prisoners heretofore confined at Point Lookout have been removed by the Federal Government.
At 7 P.M. we had a gentle shower, lasting more than an hour.
The week has been one of interesting incidents, incessant occupation. Admiral Farragut came a week since and called on me. After half an hour or more of conversation on affairs connected with his command, the capture of Mobile, and matters generally, I went with him to the President. In the evening, he, with Mrs. F. and Captain Drayton, spent the evening with us.
Much speculation has been had concerning the dismissal of General Butler. It was anticipated that, being a favorite with the extremists, his dismissal would create a great excitement, but it has passed off without irritation, almost without sensation. The quidnuncs and, indeed, most of the public impute his dismissal from the Army of the James to the Wilmington failure; but it will soon be known that General Grant desired to get rid of him. Butler's greater intellect overshadowed Grant, and annoyed and embarrassed the General-in-Chief.
General Butler's farewell to his army is in many respects skillful and adroit, but in some respects will prove a failure. He does not conceal his chagrin but has hardly discovered whom to strike.
The New York Tribune has striven to warp and torture facts to help Butler, regardless of others and of stern truth. But the Tribune is unsupported. Of course the Rebels and Copperheads will be gratified, and do not conceal their joy. They have some cause for their hate, for he has been a severe, perhaps in some cases an oppressive, governor.
I cannot forget, while glad he is withdrawn from the Fort Fisher command, which he was unfitted to fill, the service which he rendered at Baltimore and in Maryland early in the War, nor his administrative ability at New Orleans, with some infirmities it is true, but which was in many respects valuable to the country. Not a merit which he has should be obscured. I am not his admirer, and should lament to see him in any responsible position without a superior. He has inordinate and irrepressible ambition, and would scruple at nothing to gratify it and his avarice.
The Committee on the Conduct of the War have summoned him to Washington. There was mischief in this. He had been ordered by the President to Lowell. The President yielded. It was well, perhaps, for Butler was off duty. But in Washington he will help the mischief-makers make trouble and stimulate intrigue and faction. Allied with Wade and Chandler and H. Winter Davis, he will not only aid but breed mischief. This is intended.
Seward fears him. There is no love between them, and yet S. would prefer to avoid a conflict. Butler has the reckless audacity attributed to the worst revolutionists of France, in the worst of times, but is deficient in personal courage. He is a suitable idol for Greeley, a profound philanthropist, being the opposite of G. in almost everything except love of notoriety.
The discoveries and disclosures in the Philadelphia Navy Yard are astounding. Some twenty or more arrests have been made, and many of the parties confess their criminality. Some of the worst have not, but the proof against them is strong.
As these men, with scarcely an exception, are friends of the Pennsylvania delegation and appointees of the Administration, extraordinary efforts will be made in their behalf. The Representatives in Congress have, however, thus far behaved pretty well. Kelley protests that he will stand by no culprit, yet several he pronounces to be among the honestest men in Philadelphia, — wants them released and restored.
In Boston the trial of Smith Brothers is brought to a close. It has been on hand some three months. This P.M. (Saturday) Senator Sumner and Representative Hooper called on me with a telegram from the counsel of Smith objecting to the court for the next trial. F. W. Smith's trial is ended; Ben is assigned for next week. The counsel request Sumner to call upon me, and, if I will not grant their request, to go to the President. I told them I was not disposed to consider the subject, and Sumner said he was not inclined to call on the President.
Contentions and rivalries in the Washington Navy Yard give annoyance. Twenty per cent of the workmen are dismissed by order of the Department, and the Senators and Representatives from Maryland object that any Marylander should be of the number dismissed. These strifes among the men and the combinations among the rogues and their friends in the different cities are exciting and drawing out attacks and intrigues against me. The interference of Members of Congress is injurious.
Cloudy——rained in the afternoon.
This is the anniversary of the first gun of the war, fired at Fort Sumter.
It is still said and believed that Gen. Lee will take the initiative, and attack Grant. The following shows that we have had another success:
MobiLE, April 11th, 1864.
TO GEN. S. COOPER, A. & H. GENERAL.
The following report was received at Baton Rouge, on the 3d inst., from the Surgeon-General of Banks's army: “We met the enemy near Shreveport. Union force repulsed with great loss. How many can you accommodate in hospitals at Baton Rouge 7 Steamer Essex, or Benton, destroyed by torpedoes in Red River, and a transport captured by Confederates.”
Farragut reported preparing to attack Mobile. Six monitors coming to him. The garrisons of New Orleans and Baton Rouge were very much reduced for the purpose of increasing Banks's forces.
D. H. MAURY, Major-General Commanding.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 185-6
[Pensacola, Florida, March 11, 1861.]
My dear Wife: We left New Orleans on Friday. Saturday night at 12 o'clock we reached here, after a stage ride of 48 miles from this side of Mobile Bay over a very bad road.
According to my notions things here are in a most deplorable condition, and that was the reason for sending me; you know it has been my fate all through life to build up for somebody else. Our troops are raw volunteers, without officers, and without discipline, each man with an idea that he can whip the world, and believing that nothing is necessary but to go it and take Fort Pickens and all the navy. All this will give way, I hope, to good counsel, and good sense, but it will require great firmness and management. Some of the privates are men of large means and high position; two of them are just from Washington—Members of Congress. Unless the United States troops attack us, no fighting can occur here for a long time, as we are totally unprepared for anything of the sort, and if they are sensible they will keep us so. Fort Pickens cannot be taken without a regular siege, and we have no means to carry that on, and cannot get any without their Navy will allow it to pass it.
You will be surprised to hear of the very cordial messages I have received from our old friend President Davis. He says with such men as Beauregard and Bragg at Charleston and Pensacola he feels easy. I hope he may have no cause to change his mind.
BRAXTON BRAGG.
