Diary of Henry Greville: Thursday, January 3, 1861

The King of Prussia¹ died yesterday at Sans-Souci.

The American Secession question now occupies public attention more than any other subject. Mr. Motley, who is here, considers it as certain, but does not think the Northern States will thereby lose any of their importance.

Fanny Kemble writes to me, December 9:

'What can I tell you, except that the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency appears to be precipitating the feud between the Northern and Southern States to immediate and most disastrous issues? The Cotton-growing States declare their purpose of at once seceding from the Union—the Slave-growing States depend upon them for their market, but depend still more upon the undisturbed security of the Union for the possibility of raising in safety their human cattle.

‘The Northern States seem at last inclined to let the Southern act upon their long threatened separation from them—the country is in a frightful state of excitement from one end to the other.

'The commercial and financial interests of all the States are already suffering severely from the impending crisis. It is a shame and a grief to all good men to think of the dissolution of this, in some respects, noble and prosperous confederacy of States. It is a horror to contemplate the fate of these insane Southerners if, but for one day, their slaves should rise upon them, when they have ascertained, which they will be quick enough to do, that they are no longer sure of the co-operation of the North in coercing their servile population. In short, there is no point of view from which the present position of this country can be contemplated which is not full of dismay. Conceive the position of the English in India if they had known beforehand of the murderous projected rising of the natives against them and had been without troops, arms, means of escape, or hope of assistance, and you have something like the present position of the Southern planters. God knows how fervently I bless that Providence which turned the worldly loss of my children's property, by their father's unprincipled extravagance, into so great a gain. Their shares were sold more than a year ago, and it will never be their fate to inflict injustice and oppression, or tremble before impending retribution.'

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¹ Frederick William IV.

SOURCE: Alice Countess of Stratford, Leaves from the Diary of Henry Greville: 1857-1861, p. 339-41

Diary of Henry Greville: Saturday, March 30, 1861

In a letter I received a few days ago from Fanny Kemble from New York, she says: I suppose if I had been in Boston, I should have heard something like sorrow and mortification expressed for the present disastrous state of the country, but though there is a good deal of excited curiosity here, and commencement of financial anxiety, there does not appear to me to be one particle of genuine patriotic feeling.

The fact is, the material prosperity of the nation has made the people base. They want, and God will send it to them, the salvation of adversity. Olmsted, whose books, by the bye, are the best, the only good authority about the Slave States, dined with me at Mr. Field's the other day, and said the Southern people were really nothing but a collection of children and savages. He, and indeed everybody, the Southerners themselves, consider the secession, if it produces civil war, as the inevitable ruin of the South, and a good deal of the same conviction has hitherto tempered the anger of the North at the folly of their suicidal proceedings, and though one of the oldest and wealthiest of the Boston merchants said the other day (speaking of the Cotton States), "Thank God they are gone, pray that they may never come back," and so speaking spoke the mind of the majority of Massachusetts men, nobody can doubt what one of the Southern men openly declared in the Peace Convention, that civil war would be utter ruin to them, because of their slaves.

SOURCE: Alice Countess of Stratford, Leaves from the Diary of Henry Greville: 1857-1861, p. 364-5

Northern Sentiment

The following sweet morsel of her fierce defiance and blustering braggadocio appears in the Philadelphia Transcript, under the head of “Crush the Traitors.” It will be perused with more of pity than of anger toward the poor wretches whose ignorance would counsel its indorsement:

The Point has been reached where forbearance is a crime against our country. The seceding States, for five months past, have been perpetrating a continual series of outrages against the Constitution, against the common courtesy of nations and states, against all public decency and right. Whatever may have been their complaints or wrongs, they have resorted, not to any remedy of them, but to disgraceful violence, robbery, murder and treachery. They have spurned all offers of conciliation or adjustment; they have inaugurated wholesale schemes of revolution; they have made war upon the Union, simply because it attempted to victual its starving soldiers, and they have attacked and murdered volunteer troops peacefully marching to defend the capital. Virginia and Maryland are not out of the Union, and yet, instigated and applauded by the Cotton States, they commit monstrous acts of avowed treason. Baltimore has capped the climax by its cowardly assault upon unarmed men, and by its brutal murder of many of them.

Now the time has come to end all this. The slaveholding States must be taught a lesson that will never be forgotten—a lesson of fire and blood. Their threats, bluster, arrogance, and outrages must be forever terminated. They must be made to feel that they cannot and dare not arrest and assault our Union and our flag. They are as weak as they are insolent. The gigantic strength, the superior civilization, and the boundless resources of the free States are able to carry desolation from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. The whole North, from Maine to California, although usually “slow to wrath,” patient and forbearing, is at last fearlessly aroused. The descendants of the heroes of Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Brandywine, Tippecanoe, Chippawa, and Fort Meigs, are flying to arms. Presently the continent will resound under the stern and steady tramp of unprecedented myriads of the free laborers and mechanics of the North.

Let them finish their enterprise. Let them plant the stars, stripes, and eagles of an indissoluble Republic on the steeples of Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans. Let the traitor States be starved out by blockade and given to the swords and bayonets of stalwart freemen. No matter at what cost of treasure, blood and suffering, the slaveholding States must be scourged into decency, good behavior and subjection.

The cannon is now the sacred instrument of union, justice, and liberty. The Union heretofore has been a smiling angel of benignity. Now it must be an angel of death, scattering terror and destruction among its enemies. If necessary, myriads of Southern lives must be taken, Southern bodies given to the buzzards, Southern fields consigned to sterility, and Southern towns surrendered to the flames. Our flag must wave in triumph, though it float over seared and blackened expanses, over the ruins of razed cities. Our Union must be maintained, and our Constitution respected, and the supremacy of Federal law vindicated, if it requires armies of millions of men.

So let no true man shrink or flinch. All duties, all occasions must be postponed, until the cannon and the musket have restored decency to the South, and peace and order to our country.

Our only desire is that just such fellows as the valorous editor of the Transcript may be sent on the above delightful “enterprise.”

SOURCES: “Northern Sentiment,” The Memphis Daily Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, Thursday, May 2, 1861, p. 1; "Specimens of Northern Civilization," Nashville Union and American, Nashville, Tennessee, May 22, 1861, p. 2.

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 12, 1865

Bright, windy, cold, and disagreeable.

There was nothing new at the department this morning. Nothing from below; nothing from South Carolina. Perhaps communications are cut between this and Charleston. All are anxious to hear the result of the anticipated battle with Sherman, for somehow all know that the order to fight him was sent from Richmond more than a week ago.

People's thoughts very naturally now dwell upon the proximate future, and the alternatives likely to be presented in the event of the abandonment of Richmond, and consequently Virginia, by Lee's army. Most of the male population would probably (if permitted) elect to remain at their homes, braving the fate that might await them. But the women are more patriotic, and would brave all in following the fortunes of the Confederate States Government. Is this because they do not participate in the hardships and dangers of the field? But many of our men are weary and worn, and languish for repose. These would probably remain quiescent on parole, submitting to the rule of the conqueror; but hoping still for foreign intervention or Confederate victories, and ultimate independence.

Doubtless Lee could protract the war, and, by concentrating farther South, embarrass the enemy by compelling him to maintain a longer line of communication by land and by sea, and at the same time be enabled to fall upon him, as occasion might offer, in heavier force. No doubt many would fall out of the ranks, if Virginia were abandoned; but Lee could have an army of 100,000 effective men for years.

Still, these dire necessities may not come. The slaveowners, speculators, etc., hitherto contriving to evade the service, may take the alarm at the present aspect of affairs, and both recruit and subsist the army sufficiently for victory over both Grant and Sherman; and then Richmond will be held by us, and Virginia and the Cotton States remain in our possession; and we shall have peace, for exhaustion will manifest itself in the United States.

We have dangerous discussions among our leaders, it is true; and there may be convulsions, and possibly expulsion of the men at the head of civil affairs: but the war will not be affected. Such things occurred in France at a time when the armies achieved their greatest triumphs.

One of the greatest blunders of the war was the abandonment of Norfolk; and the then Secretary of War (Randolph) is now safely in Europe. That blunder brought the enemy to the gates of the capital, and relinquished a fertile source of supplies; however, at this moment Lee is deriving some subsistence from that source by connivance with the enemy, who get our cotton and tobacco.

Another blunder was Hood's campaign into Tennessee, allowing Sherman to raid through Georgia.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 417-9

John Tyler to Colonel David L. Gardiner, January 1, 1861

SHERWOOD FOREST, Jan. 1, 1861.

MY DEAR COLONEL: I am deeply concerned at the condition of public affairs. No ray of light yet appears to dispel the gloom which has settled upon the country. In the meantime the President pursues a wise and statesmanlike course. A blow struck would be the signal for united action with all the slave States, whereas the grain States of the border are sincerely desirous of reconciling matters and thereby preserving the Union. I have for some time thought that a conference between the Border slaveholding and notslaveholding States would result in harmony, if it could obtain. They are so deeply interested in preserving friendly relations that they would agree, if agreement be possible. I see that a movement of that sort has been originated in Washington. A day or two will disclose the result. I like also the movement of New Jersey, which seeks to ascertain through her commissioners the ultimatum of the cotton States, to be submitted to the Northern States. In a short time we shall know the doom of the Union. The low price at which the recent loan for the Government was contracted is of fearful augury. A loss of 37 per cent. on a small loan of 2,500,000 manifests a want of confidence in the stability of the Union of an alarming character. I hope, however, that the kind Providence which has so far protected us will open a way to peace and harmony.

Sincerely yours,

JOHN TYLER.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 578

John Tyler to Wyndham Robertson, January 26, 1861

BROWN'S HOTEL, WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 1861.

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter was duly received, and I thank you for the enclosure. We will talk it over at another time. I have not found it necessary to call in the aid of New Jersey. I resolved to await the results of my first interview with the President before I did so, and that satisfied me that it could all be arranged without the intervention of a third party, and after a manner the most acceptable to me, as it implied a high compliment to the Legislature. He will on Monday send in a special message, communicating to Congress the resolutions, making them the basis of an emphatic recommendation for abstaining from the passage of any measure of a hostile character by that body. The inference, of course, is plain, that what he recommends Congress to do he will do himself. His policy obviously is to throw all responsibility off of his shoulders.

I shall consider myself at full liberty to return home after the message goes in, unless dispatches from the Judge, or something transpiring here, shall require a prolongation of my stay. If the weather is mild I may reach Richmond by the Monday night train.

The sailing of the Brooklyn startled me much, but the President assures me that the orders for her sailing were dispatched before I reached here,—that she is not destined for Charleston, but goes on an errand of mercy and relief. She certainly has troops on board, and I doubt not is designed for Pensacola, the troops for Fort Pickens. Mr. Clay, of Alabama, thinks that there will be no collision until after the 10th February, when the cotton States meet in convention at Montgomery.

I write in haste, but am always most truly your friend,

JOHN TYLER.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 590-1

John Tyler to Robert Tyler, July 22, 1860

VILLA MARGARET,¹ July 22, 1860.

MY DEAR ROBERT: . . . We begin to have more numerous calls by visitors to this region, and I become daily better informed of the status of public opinion. The effort is making in Virginia to concentrate the Democratic vote by running the same ticket for Breckenridge and Douglas, the electors to cast their vote according to the sense of the majority. Breckenridge would lead the ticket by a large majority, and the Democratic ascendency would be secure. Without some such arrangement, the divisions in the Democratic ranks may, and most probably will, lead to conferring on the Bell ticket the plurality vote. I find with many a positive aversion to Douglas,—so great that they denounce all fraternity with him, while similar feelings are ascribed to very many Douglas men. I have much doubt whether any harmony of action can be brought about. There were for the Southrons at Charleston but two courses to pursue, and they adopted neither. The first was to press the nomination of some one whose name would have constituted a platform in itself, or universally to have seceded and proceeded at once to the declaration of their platform and the nomination of candidates. My own feelings ran strongly in favor of Lane, and Bayard of Delaware; the first as the pioneer of the West, the last as coterminous in more than mere residence with New Jersey and Pennsylvania. By splitting up at Charleston they lost the prestige of victory; in other words, they played the game badly by throwing away their trump card.

The consequences of Lincoln's election I cannot foretell. Neither Virginia, nor North Carolina, nor Maryland (to which you may add Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri) will secede for that. My apprehension, however, is that South Carolina and others of the cotton States will do so, and any attempt to coerce such seceding States will most probably be resisted by all the South. When such an issue comes, then comes also the end of the Confederacy. I know the value of the Roman maxim "never to despair of the Republic,” but confess to the gloom which overspreads and enshrouds the country. I can now do nothing more than fold my arms and pray for deliverance of the country from the evils which beset it. Does not every day render the difficulties which assail a confederacy of States in the selection of their chief magistrate more and more conspicuous?

The President, in his late speech, has acquitted himself well. You did right to preserve silence. He has been uniformly polite to you, and for that I thank him; but he is altogether your debtor. No one has been so true to him or rendered him greater service. Heretofore he could not have spared you from your position in Pennsylvania; but now his political days are numbered, and his sand nearly run. He might now reciprocate by rendering you service. Will he volunteer to do it? or, having squeezed the orange, will he throw the rind away? Nous verrons. I may do him injustice in regarding him as a mere politician without heart. I hope I am mistaken.

On Thursday next I propose going to Sherwood Forest, where I may remain for some weeks. Give my devoted affection to all your family.

Your father,

JOHN TYLER.

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¹ Mr. Tyler's summer residence at Hampton, Virginia.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 559-60

Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, January 5, 1861

Frederick William, whom I saw at the wedding of his son and the Princess Royal, after acting as Regent since November, 1858, has mounted the throne, by the death of the old crazy King William IV., under the name of William V. of Prussia. His politics are more liberal than his predecessor's.

Brougham publishes in the Times of to-day his brief correspondence with Redpath, who invites to a consultation how to extinguish slavery in the United States. The poor old trimmer is backing out, and wants to abdicate his chiefdom of Exeter Hall. This is his second or third effort to wriggle himself out of the humiliation consequent upon his fanatical negrophilism at the Statistical Congress.

On Wednesday last the ceremony of again proroguing Parliament took place in the House of Lords. The day appointed for meeting is the 5th of February, but "for despatch of business" was omitted; inadvertently, or by design?

Mr. Motley, the historian, called and spent an hour in chat. I expressed my great delight with his recently issued work, the "Dutch Republic." Told him I had noted two new spellings, Escorial and Burghley; the first he said was unquestionably correct, the second he took from the Lord Treasurer's uniform mode of signing his name, though it was spelled very variously. In the course of conversation he avowed the opinion that Walsingham, not Burghley, was the great Minister of Queen Elizabeth, and he thought that Elizabeth had taken to herself merit and glory which really belonged to the British people generally. We turned over the distressing condition of American politics. He is for saving the Union at almost any sacrifice; but I thought I could perceive that he entertained the theory that, maintaining the name, the flag, and the Constitution, we should be happier and equally great without the cotton States. He is inveterately hostile to slavery. Now that his two volumes are making him famous, he proposes to be presented with his wife and daughter at Court. Of course I shall be proud to gratify his wish in that respect. I think he remembers that the literary fame of Washington Irving made him chargé at this Court and subsequently Minister at Madrid. Lincoln can give me no more acceptable successor. The foundations for such an appointment are more broad, more durable, and in every way more satisfactory than those of mere political partisanship.

SOURCE: George Mifflin Dallas, Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, While United States Minister to Russia 1837 to 1839, and to England 1856 to 1861, Volume 3, p. 425-7

William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, February 1, 1861

February 1, 1861.

. . . It is war to surround Anderson with batteries, and it is shilly-shally for the South to cry “Hands off! No coercion!” It was war and insult to expel the garrison at Baton Rouge, and Uncle Sam had better cry “Cave!” or assert his power. Fort Sumter is not material, save for the principle; but Key West and the Tortugas should be held in force at once, by regulars, if possible, if not, by militia. Quick! They are occupied now, but not in force.

Whilst maintaining the high, strong ground you do, I would not advise you to interpose an objection to securing concessions to the middle and moderate states — Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. Slavery there is local, and even if the world were open to them, its extension would involve no principle. If these states felt the extreme South wrong, a seeming concession would make them committed. The cotton states are gone, I suppose. Of course, their commerce will be hampered. . .

I sent you a copy of my letter to the governor. Here is his answer [see pages 350-351].

This is very handsome, and I do regret this political imbroglio. I do think it was brought about by politicians. The people in the South are evidently unanimous in the opinion that slavery is endangered by the current of events, and it is useless to attempt to alter that opinion. As our government is founded on the will of the people, when that will is fixed, our government is powerless, and the only question is whether to let things slide into general anarchy, or the formation of two or more confederacies, which will be hostile sooner or later. Still, I know that some of the best men of Louisiana think this change may be effected peaceably. But even if the Southern States be allowed to depart in peace, the first question will be revenue.

Now, if the South have free trade, how can you collect revenues in the eastern cities? Freight from New Orleans to St. Louis, Chicago, Louisville, Cincinnati, and even Pittsburg, would be about the same as by rail from New York, and importers at New Orleans, having no duties to pay, would undersell the East if they had to pay duty. Therefore, if the South make good their confederation and their plan, the northern confederacy must do likewise or blockade. Then comes the question of foreign nations. So, look on it in any view, I see no result but war and consequent changes in the form of government. . .

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 357-8

George L. Stearns to Samuel Gridley Howe, December 23, 1860

[December 23, 1860.]

Dear Friend:

Yours of 20th is at hand. I will see the persons you have named and be ready to report as soon as I have returned home. Stone, I have no doubt, will be an acquisition of great value, but we shall want an editor of equal ability. Some persons here say that we must have $10,000 pledged to secure success, and my present plan is to pay a manager and editor each a moderate salary and one-half the profits, the other half to go to the guaranty fund, or be used in extending the paper. To succeed we must play a bold game. Andrew appears as well as usual. We are having a right good time. You will see all the Washington gossip in the papers before this reaches you, and I shall only give the impression it has made on me, which is that if any Republican members vote for concession or compromise they are politically dead. If a majority of the party vote for it, the party is dead. I have to-day seen a number of leading men and all their talk was a resolution for the impeachment of the President.

We are told Lincoln says no friend of his will propose either dissolution or concession. Wilson says: “They meet us with long faces, and we laugh at them and tell them to go.” In the Senate Committee of Thirteen, all the Republicans voted against the compromises; which, as there would be no compromise without them, was understood to be fatal. When they came to the Fugitive Slave Law, Wade told them that, as they were going out of the Union, there was no need of voting on that, for it would then die of itself. If this goes on much further I think we may expect the immediate abolition of slavery, even if it requires an ocean of blood. If war with the Cotton States comes, I am sure of it.

Yours faithfully,

George L. Stearns.

SOURCE: Preston Stearns, The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 237-8

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 15, 1863

Already, as if quite certain that the great Northwest would speedily withdraw from the Eastern United States, our people are discussing the eventualities of such a momentous occurrence. The most vehement opposition to the admission of any of the non-slaveholding States, whose people have invaded our country and shed the blood of our people, into this Confederacy, is quite manifest in this city. But Virginia, “the Old Mother,” would, I think, after due hesitation, take back her erring children, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and perhaps one or two more, if they earnestly desired to return to her parental protection.

Some of the Cotton States might revolt at such a project, and even the cabinet might oppose the scheme of adding several powerful free States to the Confederacy; but it would not all suffice to prevent it, if they desire to join us. It is true, the constitution would have to be modified, for it is not to be supposed that slaves would be held in any of the States referred to; but then slavery would be recognized by its proper term, and ample guarantees would be agreed upon by the great free States which abandon the United States on the issue of emancipation.

Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, added to the thirteen Confederate States, would speedily constitute us a people of sufficient military power to defy the menaces of the arms of the greatest powers of the earth; and the commercial and agricultural prosperity of the country would amaze the world.

I am of the opinion that Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri would form a league of union with Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, even if the rest of the Southern States were to reject the alliance. But who can foresee the future through the smoke of war, and amid the clash of bayonets? Nevertheless, division and subdivision would relieve all of the burden of debt, for they would repudiate the greater part, if not the whole, of the indebtedness of both the present governments, which has been incurred in ravaging the country and cutting each other's throats. The cry will be: “We will not pay the price of blood — for the slaughter of our brothers!”

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 259-60

Diary of Ethan Allen Hitchcock: February 3, 1861

I have been a greatly distressed observer of this movement, though I have made little note of it. The cotton States have passed “ordinances of secession.” Our hopes now rest upon the Northern line of slave States. If they remain in the Union, and no blood be shed, there is a slight hope that something may be done to heal the breach.

SOURCE: W. A. Croffut, Editor, Fifty Years in Camp and Field: Diary of Major-General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, U. S. A., p. 428

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Thursday, March 27, 1862

A wintry morning — snow two or three inches deep, ground frozen; the ninth day since this equinoctial set in. P. M. The sun came out bright and warm about 9 A. M.; the snow melted away, and before night the ground became [began] to dry off so that by night we had a very fair battalion drill.

News of a battle near Winchester in which General Shields was wounded. Union victories. I am gradually drifting to the opinion that this Rebellion can only be crushed finally by either the execution of all the traitors or the abolition of slavery. Crushed, I mean, so as to remove all danger of its breaking out again in the future. Let the border States, in which there is Union sentiment enough to sustain loyal State Governments, dispose of slavery in their own way; abolish it in the premanently disloyal States, in the cotton States — that is, set free the slaves of Rebels. This will come, I hope, if it is found that a stubborn and prolonged resistance is likely to be made in the cotton States. President Lincoln's message recommending the passage of a resolution pledging the aid of the general Government to States which shall adopt schemes of gradual emancipation, seems to me to indicate that the result I look for is anticipated by the Administration. I hope it is so.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 218-9

Edwin Lawrence Godkin: October 26, 1859

The affair has excited profound sensation, and, let me add, profound consternation at the South. The secrecy with which the plot was brought to maturity, the large quantity of arms and ammunition which Brown had collected, the facility with which he surprised the village and seized the armory, the desperate tenacity with which he held it, the resolution displayed by all his followers from first to last, and more than all, Brown's dauntless bearing since his capture, the lofty tone of moral superiority which he assumes over his captors, have made a profound impression on the Southern people. They have long been in the habit of accusing the abolitionists of tampering with the negroes and instigating them to flight or revolt, but it was always supposed to be in an underhand, sneaking way. The popular notion of an abolitionist made him above all things a coward. But here is at least a small taste of servile war, avowedly begun by this detested crew, and what manner of men do they find them to be? Why, 15 of them suffice to raise the whole State of Virginia into wild affright, to call out all its militia, to bring Federal troops from the capital, to seize on an armory, and defend it for two days, and when it was at last stormed by an overwhelming force, 13 of these poltroons are found to have died at their posts, rifle in hand; two only came out alive, these desperately wounded and glorying in their crime. It is no wonder if the South feels that an abyss has opened at their feet.

They first resorted to physical force as a means of extending slavery in Kansas, counting confidently on Northern pusillanimity. But the fighting had not gone on very long before the crust of peaceful habits wore off the Yankees, and the old whining, praying, unconquerable Puritan burst out. The South, as we know, finding they had raised a legion of devils, quitted the field and called for peace; but, when Yankees once begin to fight, it grows on them, and they were not now disposed to cry quits so easily. So the war has been carried into the enemy's territory. The damage done is, to be sure, very trifling. Only half a dozen negroes joined Brown's enterprise, but it is acknowledged that this is mainly to be ascribed to his having chosen a bad scene of action. In that part of Virginia the negroes are few in number, and a large number of them house servants, and the farms comparatively small. Had he thrown himself into the cotton States, amongst the great plantations, where a thousand blacks often toil for a single owner, — tantalized by hard work, exposure, and the overseer's lash, — and offered them arms and bid them follow him, no man dares to say he would have been crushed without untold horrors. The panic his mad effort has spread proves in what horrible insecurity men dwell south of Mason and Dixon's line, what a flaming sword hangs suspended over the whole slave region, and how deeply the white population feels its danger.

I do not defend, and no one can defend, Brown's conduct. His attempt, had it even half succeeded, could only have bred massacre and desolation. If the Southerners had themselves failed to restore order, — and my firm belief is that if a general negro insurrection ever does take place they will fail, — the North would be compelled, if only for humanity's sake, to step in and quell the revolt. If the condition of the blacks is ever to be really improved, it must be peacefully, and gradually. But in spite of all this, no one can see a gray-headed man, who has lost five sons in the cause of freedom, step in, with the last survivor of his family by his side, between the slave and his master, and with his 13 other companions bid defiance to a whole State in the name of the Lord of Hosts, without more or less admiration. There is something grand in the old fellow's madness, and those here at the North who most condemn him, acknowledge him to be well worthy, if not of a better, of a more hopeful cause, and of a happier fate than that which now awaits him.

SOURCE: Rollo Ogden, Editor, Life and Letters of Edwin Lawrence Godkin, Volume 1, p. 190-2

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: January 2,1862

The enemy are making preparations to assail us everywhere. Roanoke Island, Norfolk, Beaufort, and Newbern; Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, Pensacola, and New Orleans are all menaced by numerous fleets on the sea-board, and in the West great numbers of iron-clad floating batteries threaten to force a passage down the Mississippi, while monster armies are concentrating for the invasion of Tennessee and the Cotton States. Will Virginia escape the scourge? Not she; here is the bull's-eye of the mark they aim at.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 103

Count Adam Gurowski to James S. Pike, Thursday [April 26], 1860

Thursday.

Damn Yankee: I lose with you all the cold blood in my veins and all patience. Why misuse, desecrate, the holiest words and conceptions? What for I write books and give to you specially long lectures? Again you speak of the two civilizations. Shame! shame! If you northern wiseacres do not stop such balderdash, I shall be obliged to pitch into you all, and expose your ignorance rivalling that of the South. One of the banditti, Wigfall or Iverson, said in the Senate, “the South will organize a confederacy or government never yet known in the world.” Tell him that he is an ass, as they are all. History knows already, and has recorded a society, community, and government based upon piracy, enslavement, rapine, and slave-traffic. It existed about nineteen hundred years ago for the first time, in Kilikia, or Cilicia, in Asia Minor, and was destroyed by Pompey (not African). Only the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Syrians, representants of civilization at that era, called the Kilikians pirates, and not a different state of civilization. How can you make such confusion and offend the civilized Northern villages, operatives, farmers, mechanics? Atone for it. I suggest to you for the next definition to use the expression, two different and opposed to each other social conditions, as piracy is a social condition after all. How much did T. Weed get for his pacificatory article? The South will be amazed to hear soon the terrible thunder and malediction coming from the other side. Already a forerunner arrived in the London Saturday Review, the best and most independent English weekly, and a Tory. It answers to the menaces made previous to the election. It is splendid, vigorous, and going to the bottom. And what will they say when they learn the fact?

The Saturday Review takes, in the name of civilization (there is only one civilization, recollect that), of Europe and of England, the same ground as did the Tribune of November 28th. Guess who wrote it?

My respectful compliments to Mrs. Pike, and my sincere love to my young great favorite, Miss Mary. You are not worthy to have such a daughter. Tell to Sumner that I regret not to have seen him, but that does not interfere with my hearty friendship. .

Good-by. Stand firm, but believe that the going out of the slave or cotton States will not ruin the country or the principles. Quite the contrary. After one or two years of confusion, unavoidable in every transition, the Free States will take a new start, and more grand and brilliant than was the past. A body, politic or animal, to be healthy, to function normally, must throw out the deleterious poison from its vitals.

This is my deliberate conclusion and creed, based on much philosophizing within myself, and looking from all points of view on the thus called secession. Truth, mankind, liberty, civilization, and manhood will be great winners by secession.

Yours,

Gurowski.

_______________

* This letter is dated only as “Thursday.”  By the fact James S. Pike places this letter between April 16 and May 12, 1860 in his book, and taking into account the speed of the mail, I made an educated guess that the date this letter was written was probably about half way between the two letters mentioned above and Thursday, April 26, 1860 seemed the most appropriate date.  But again it is only a guess on my part, purely for purposes of fitting it into my timeline.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 514-5

John M. Forbes to Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, August 21, 1861

Naushon, August 21,1861.

My Dear Doctor, — I have yours of the 19th. I confess to being one of that average class which constitutes the majority of our people, who as yet hesitate at the dreadful experiment of insurrection; if it comes as a necessity, an alternative to the subversion of republican institutions, we should not hesitate a moment. There seem to me three reasons against it at this time, apart from our natural shrinking from a measure of this sort upon humane grounds.

1st. It may unite the border States against us, and check any tendency to division in the cotton States.

2d. It will, if resorted to from anything but obvious, stern necessity, divide the North.

3d. Its success as a weapon against the South is by no means certain. It is, to my mind, — with the light of the past four months' quiet among the blacks, and of John Brown's experience, — very uncertain unless resorted to under favorable circumstances. At present it seems to me worth more as a weapon to hold in reserve to threaten with, than one to strike with.

If resorted to now it would be in a hesitating, uncertain manner by our administration, and from that, if nothing else, would be likely to fail. Once tried, and failed in, a great source of terror to the South and of confidence to the North is lost.

I go therefore for holding it in reserve until public sentiment, which is the chief motive power behind the administration, drives them to use it decisively. Our people throughout have been ahead of our government, which has followed rather laggingly: — it is not a leading, but a following administration. It does not act, even now, readily when first urged by the popular tide. Nothing but the full force of the current starts it. If we could get a good hurricane to help the tide, it might sweep away some of the weaker materials in the Cabinet, and possibly put a leader in their place who would thenceforward draw after him the Cabinet and the people.

Your suggestion, then, even if it were the best thing, seems to me premature. As to urging on the government to vigor, to making serious war with shot and hemp, there would not, there could not, be two opinions with the people. Governor Andrew could give the hint to our Massachusetts papers, and they would all readily sound the trumpet for vigor and for discipline, and the “Evening Post” and such papers would readily help.

As to anything more, or in the direction you suggest, I want to see the demand come from the people, from the democracy, rather than from either the leaders or the abolitionists!

Perhaps the poverty of the South may soon begin to afflict the slaves, and they may lead off. If they do, the responsibility is not ours.

Very truly yours,

John M. Forbes.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 239-40

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: December 27, 1860

Mrs. Gidiere came in quietly from her marketing to-day, and in her neat, incisive manner exploded this bombshell: “Major Anderson² has moved into Fort Sumter, while Governor Pickens slept serenely." The row is fast and furious now. State after State is taking its forts and fortresses. They say if we had been left out in the cold alone, we might have sulked a while, but back we would have had to go, and would merely have fretted and fumed and quarreled among ourselves. We needed a little wholesome neglect. Anderson has blocked that game, but now our sister States have joined us, and we are strong. I give the condensed essence of the table-talk: “Anderson has united the cotton States. Now for Virginia!” “Anderson has opened the ball.” Those who want a row are in high glee. Those who dread it are glum and thoughtful enough.

A letter from Susan Rutledge: “Captain Humphrey folded the United States Army flag just before dinnertime. Ours was run up in its place. You know the Arsenal is in sight. What is the next move? I pray God to guide us. We stand in need of wise counsel; something more than courage. The talk is: ‘Fort Sumter must be taken; and it is one of the strongest forts.’ How in the name of sense are they to manage? I shudder to think of rash moves.”

_______________

¹ Robert Anderson, Major of the First Artillery, United States Army, who, on November 20,1860, was placed in command of the troops in Charleston harbor. On the night of December 26th, fearing an attack, he had moved his command to Fort Sumter. Anderson was a graduate of West Point and a veteran of the Black Hawk, Florida, and Mexican Wars.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 4-5

Governor Andrew G. Curtin to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, April 30, 1861

Executive Chamber,

Harrisburg. April 30, 1861.

Gentlemen: —

THE PRESENT UNPARALLELED EXIGENCY in the affairs of our country, has induced me to call you together at his time. With an actual and armed rebellion in some of the States of the Union, momentous questions have been thrust upon us which call for your deliberation, and that you should devise means by legislation for the maintenance of the authority of the General Government, the honor and dignity of our State, the protection of our citizens, and the early establishment of peace and order throughout the land.

On the day of my induction into the Executive office, I took occasion to utter the following sentiments:

“No one who knows the history of Pennsylvania, and understands the opinions and feelings of her people, can justly Charge us with hostility to our brethren of other States. We regard them as friends and fellow-countrymen, in whose welfare we feel a kindred interest; and we recognize, in their broadest extent, all our constitutional obligations to them. These we are ready and willing to observe, generously and fraternally in their letter and spirit, with unswerving fidelity.

“Ours is a National Government. It has within the sphere of its action all the attributes of sovereignty, and among these are the right and duty of self preservation. It is based upon a compact to which all the people of the United States are parties. It is the result of mutual concessions, which were made for the purpose of securing reciprocal benefits. It acts directly on the people, and they owe it a personal allegiance. No part of the people, no State nor combination of States, can voluntarily secede from the Union, nor absolve themselves from their obligations to it. To permit a Slate to withdraw at pleasure from the Union, without the consent of the rest, is to confess that our Government is a failure. Pennsylvania can never acquiesce in such a conspiracy, nor assent to a doctrine which involves the destruction of the Government. If the Government is to exist, all the requirements of the Constitution must be obeyed; and it must have power adequate to the enforcement of the supreme law of the land in every State. It is the first duty of the national authorities to stay the progress of anarchy and enforce the laws, and Pennsylvania, with a united People, will give them an honest, faithful and active support. The people mean to preserve the integrity of the national Union, at every hazzard.”

It could scarcely have been anticipated at that time, that we should so soon be called upon for the practical application of these truths in connection with their support and defence by the strong arm of military power.

The unexampled promptness and enthusiasm with which Pennsylvania and the other loyal States have responded to the call of the President, and the entire unanimity with which our people demand that the integrity of the Government shall be preserved, illustrate the duty of the Several State and National Governments with a distinctness that cannot be disregarded. The slaughter of Northern troops in the city of Baltimore, for the pretended offence of marching, at the call of the Federal Government, peaceably, over soil admittedly in the Union, and with the ultimate object of defending our common Capital against an armed and rebellious invasion, together with the obstruction of our Pennsylvania troops when dispatched on the same patriotic mission, imposes new duties and responsibilities upon our State administration. At last advices the General Government had military possession of the route to Washington through Annapolis; but the transit of troops had been greatly endangered and delayed, and the safety of Washington itself imminently threatened. This cannot be submitted to. Whether Maryland may profess to be loyal to the Union or otherwise, there can be permitted no hostile soil, no obstructed thoroughfare, between the States that undoubtedly are loyal and their National seat of government. There is reason to hope that the route through Baltimore may be no longer closed against the peaceable passage of our people armed and in the service of the Federal Government. But we must be fully assured of this, and have the uninterrupted enjoyment of a passage to the Capital by any and every route essential to the purposes of the Government. This must be attained, peaceably if possible, but by force of arms if not accorded.

The time is past for temporizing or forbearing with this rebellion; the most causeless in history. The North has not invaded, nor has she sought to invade a single guarantied right of the South. On the contrary, all political parties, and all administrations, have fully recognized the binding force of every provision of the great compact between the States, and regardless of our views of State policy, our people have respected them. To predicate a rebellion, therefore, upon any alleged wrong, inflicted or sought to be inflicted upon the South, is to offer falsehood as an apology for treason. So will the civilized world and history judge this mad effort to overthrow the most beneficent structure of human government ever devised by man.

The leaders of the rebellion in the Cotton States, which has resulted in the establishment of a provisional organization, assuming to discharge all the functions of governmental power, have mistaken the forbearance of the General Government; they have accepted a fraternal indulgence as an evidence of weakness, and have insanely looked to a united South, and a divided North to give success to the wild ambition that has led to the seizure of our national arsenal and arms, the investment and bombardment of our forts, the plundering of our mints, has invited piracy upon our commerce, and now aims at the possession of the National Capital. The insurrection must now be met by force of arms; and to re-establish the Government upon an enduring basis, by asserting its entire supremacy, to re-possess the forts and other Government property so unlawfully seized and held; to ensure personal freedom and safety to the people and commerce of the Union in every section, the people of the loyal States demand, as with one voice, and will contend for, as with one heart; and a quarter of a million of Pennsylvania's sons will answer the call to arms, if need be, to wrest us from a reign of anarchy and plunder, and secure for themselves and their children, for ages to come, the perpetuity of this Government and its beneficent institutions.

Entertaining these views, and anticipating that more troops would be required than the number originally called for, I continued to receive companies until we had raised twenty-three regiments in Pennsylvania, all of which have been mustered into the service of the United States. In this anticipation I was not mistaken. On Saturday last an additional requisition was made upon me for twenty-five regiments of infantry and one regiment of cavalry; and there have been already more companies tendered than will make up the entire complement.

Before the regiments could be clothed, three of them were ordered by the National Government to proceed from this point to Philadelphia. I cannot too highly commend the patriotism and devotion of the men who, at a moment's warning, and without any preparation, obeyed the order. Three of the regiments, under similar circumstances, by direction of, and accompanied by officers of the United States army, were transported to Cockeysville, near Baltimore, at which point they remained for two days, and until by directions of the General Government they were ordered back and went into camp at York, where there are now five regiments. Three regiments mustered into service are now encamped at Chambersburg, under orders from the General Government; and five regiments are now in camp at this place, and seven have been organized and mustered into service at Philadelphia.

The regiments at this place are still supplied by the Commissary Department of the State. Their quarters are as comfortable as could be expected, their supply of provisions abundant, and, under the instruction of competent officers, they are rapidly improving in military knowledge and skill. I have made arrangements to clothe all our regiments with the utmost dispatch consistent with a proper economy, and am most happy to say that before the close of the present week all our people now under arms will be abundantly supplied with good and appropriate uniforms, blankets and other clothing.

Four hundred and sixty of our volunteers, the first to reach Washington from any of the States, are now at that city; these are now provided for by the General Government; but I design to send them clothing at the earliest possible opportunity. I am glad to be able to state that these men, in their progress to the National Capital, received no bodily injury, although they were subjected to insult in the city of Baltimore, such as should not have been offered to any law-abiding citizen, much less to loyal men, who, at the call of the President, had promptly left their own State in the performance of the highest duty, and in the service of their country.

A large body of unarmed men, who were not at the time organized as a portion of the militia of this Commonwealth, under the command of officers without commissions, attempted under the call of the National Government, as I understand, to reach Washington, and were assaulted by armed men in the city of Baltimore, many of their number were seriously wounded, and four were killed. The larger part of this body returned directly to Philadelphia; but many of them were forcibly detained in Baltimore; some of them were thrust into prison, and others have not yet reached their homes.

I have the honor to say that the officers and men behaved with the utmost gallantry. This body is now organized into a regiment, and the officers are commissioned; they have been accepted into the service, and will go to Washington by any route indicated by the Federal Government.

I have established a camp at Pittsburg, at which the troops from Western Pennsylvania will be mustered into service, and organized and disciplined by skillful and experienced officers.

I communicate to you with great satisfaction, the fact that the banks of the Commonwealth have voluntarily tendered any amount of money that may be necessary for the common defence and general welfare of the State and the nation in this emergency; and the temporary loan of five hundred thousand dollars authorized by the act of the General Assembly of the 17th April, 1861, was promptly taken at par. The money is not yet exhausted; as it has been impossible to have the accounts properly audited and settled with the accounting and paying officers of the Government as required by law, an account of this expenditure can not now be furnished. The Auditor General and State Treasurer have established a system of settlement and payment, of which I entirely approve, that provides amply for the protection of the State, and to which all parties having claims will be obliged to conform.

A much larger sum will be required than has been distinctively appropriated; but I could not receive nor make engagements for money without authority of law, and I have called you together, not only to provide for a complete re-organization of the militia of the State, but also that you may give me authority to pledge the faith of the Commonwealth to borrow such sums of money as you may, in your discretion, deem necessary for these extraordinary requirements.

It is impossible to predict the lengths to which “the madness that rules the hour” in the rebellious States shall lead us, or when the calamities which threaten our hitherto happy country shall terminate. We know that many of our people have already left the State in the service of the General Government, and that many more must follow. We have a long line of border on States seriously disaffected, which should be protected. To furnish ready support to those who have gone out, and to protect our borders, we should have a well regulated military force.

I, therefore recommend the immediate organization, disciplining and arming of at least fifteen regiments of cavalry and infantry, exclusive of those called into the service of the United States; as we have already ample warning of the necessity of being prepared for any sudden exigency that may arise, I cannot too much impress this upon you.

I cannot refrain from alluding to the generous manner in which the people of all parts of the State have, from their private means, provided for the families of those of our citizens who are now under arms. In many parts of the Commonwealth, grand juries, and courts and municipal corporations have recommended the appropriations of moneys from their public funds, for the same commendable purpose. I would recommend the passage of an act legalizing and authorizing such appropriations and expenditures.

It may be expected that, in the present derangement of trade and commerce, and the withdrawal of so much industry from its ordinary and productive channels, the selling value of property generally will be depreciated, and a large portion of our citizens deprived of the ordinary means of meeting engagements. Although much forbearance may be expected from a generous and magnanimous people, yet I feel it my duty to recommend the passage of a judicious law to prevent the sacrifice of property by forced sales in the collection of debts.

You meet together at this special session, surrounded by circumstances involving the most solemn responsibilities; the recollections of the glories of the past, the reflections of the gloomy present, and the uncertainty of the future, all alike call upon you to discharge your duty in a spirit of patriotic courage, comprehensive wisdom and firm resolution. Never in the history of our peace-loving Commonwealth have the hearts of our people been so stirred in their depths as at the present moment. And, I feel, that I need hardly say to you, that in the performance of your duties on this occasion, and in providing the ways and means for the maintenance of our country's glory and our integrity as a nation, you should be inspired by feelings of self-sacrifice, kindred to those which animate the brave men who have devoted their lives to the perils of the battle-field, in defence of our nation's flag.

Gentlemen, I place the honor of the State in your hands. And I pray that the Almighty God who protected our fathers in their efforts to establish this our great constitutional liberty — who has controlled the growth of civilization and Christianity in our midst, may not now forsake us; that He may watch over your counsels, and may, in His providence, lead those who have left path of duty, and are acting in open rebellion to the Government, back again to perfect loyalty, and restore peace, harmony and fraternity to our distracted country.

A. G. CURT1N.

SOURCE: George Edward Reed, Editor, Pennsylvania Archives, Fourth Series, Papers of the Governors, Volume 8, p. 371-9