CRITICISMS AND REFLECTIONS.
The military collapse of the South was sudden and unexpected to the
world without, but by no means so to some within. I happen to know that
one or two of our ablest and most trusted generals concurred with me in
opinion that the failure at Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg in
July, 1863, should have taught the Confederate Government and people the
necessity of estimating the chances for defeat; but soldiers in the
field can not give utterance to such opinions unless expressly solicited
by the civil head of their government, and even then are liable to
misconstruction.
Of many of the important battles of the civil war I have written, and
desire to dwell somewhat on Shiloh, but will first say a few words about
Gettysburg, because of recent publications there-anent.
Some facts concerning this battle are established beyond dispute. In the
first day's fighting a part of Lee's army defeated a part of Meade's.
Intending to continue the contest on that field, a commander not smitten
by idiocy would desire to concentrate and push the advantage gained by
previous success and its resultant _morale_. But, instead of attacking
at dawn, Lee's attack was postponed until afternoon of the following
day, in consequence of the absence of Longstreet's corps. Federal
official reports show that some of Meade's corps reached him on the
second day, several hours after sunrise, and one or two late in the
afternoon. It is positively asserted by many officers present, and of
high rank and character, that Longstreet was nearer to Lee on the first
day than Meade's reenforcing corps to their chief, and even nearer than
a division of Ewell's corps, which reached the field in time to share in
the first day's success. Now, it nowhere appears in Lee's report of
Gettysburg that he ordered Longstreet to him or blamed him for
tardiness; but his report admits errors, and quietly takes the
responsibility for them on his own broad shoulders. A recent article in
the public press, signed by General Longstreet, ascribes the failure at
Gettysburg to Lee's mistakes, which he (Longstreet) in vain pointed out
and remonstrated against. That any subject involving the possession and
exercise of intellect should be clear to Longstreet and concealed from
Lee, is a startling proposition to those having knowledge of the two
men. We have Biblical authority for the story that the angel in the path
was visible to the ass, though unseen by the seer his master; but
suppose, instead of smiting the honest, stupid animal, Balaam had
caressed him and then been kicked by him, how would the story read? And
thus much concerning Gettysburg.
Shiloh was a great misfortune. At the moment of his fall Sidney
Johnston, with all the energy of his nature, was pressing on the routed
foe. Crouching under the bank of the Tennessee River, Grant was
helpless. One short hour more of life to Johnston would have completed
his destruction. The second in command, Beauregard, was on another and
distant part of the field, and before he could gather the reins of
direction darkness fell and stopped pursuit. During the night Buell
reached the northern bank of the river and crossed his troops. Wallace,
with a fresh division, got up from below. Together, they advanced in the
morning, found the Confederates rioting in the plunder of captured
camps, and drove them back with loss. But all this was as nothing
compared to the calamity of Johnston's death.
Educated at West Point, Johnston remained for eight years in the army of
the United States, and acquired a thorough knowledge of the details of
military duty. Resigning to aid the cause of the infant Republic of
Texas, he became her Adjutant-General, Senior Brigadier, and Secretary
of War. During our contest with Mexico, he raised a regiment of Texans
to join General Zachary Taylor, and was greatly distinguished in the
fighting around and capture of Monterey. General Taylor, with whom the
early years of his service had been passed, declared him to be the best
soldier he had ever commanded. More than once I have heard General
Zachary Taylor express this opinion. Two cavalry regiments were added to
the United States army in 1854, and to the colonelcy of one of these
Johnston was appointed. Subsequently, a brigadier by brevet, he
commanded the expedition against the Mormons in Utah.
Thus he brought to the Southern cause a civil and military experience
surpassing that of any other leader. Born in Kentucky, descended from an
honorable colonial race, connected by marriage with influential families
in the West, where his life had been passed, he was peculiarly fitted to
command western armies. With him at the helm, there would have been no
Vicksburg, no Missionary Ridge, no Atlanta. His character was lofty and
pure, his presence and demeanor dignified and courteous, with the
simplicity of a child; and he at once inspired the respect and gained
the confidence of cultivated gentlemen and rugged frontiersmen.
Besides, he had passed through the furnace of ignorant newspapers,
hotter than that of the Babylonian tyrant. Commanding some raw,
unequipped forces at Bowling Green, Kentucky, the habitual American
exaggeration represented him as at the head of a vast army prepared and
eager for conquest. Before time was given him to organize and train his
men, the absurdly constructed works on his left flank were captured. At
Fort Donelson on the Cumberland were certain political generals, who,
with a self-abnegation worthy of Plutarch's heroes, were anxious to get
away and leave the glory and renown of defense to others. Johnston was
in no sense responsible for the construction of the forts, nor the
assignment to their command of these self-denying warriors; but his line
of communication was uncovered by their fall, and he was compelled to
retire to the southern bank of the Tennessee River. From the
enlighteners of public opinion a howl of wrath came forth, and Johnston,
who had just been Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Napoleon, was now a
miserable dastard and traitor, unfit to command a corporal's guard.
President Davis sought to console him, and some of the noblest lines
ever penned by man were written by Johnston in reply. They even wrung
tears of repentance from the pachyderms who had attacked him, and will
be a text and consolation to future commanders, who serve a country
tolerant of an ignorant and licentious press. Like pure gold, he came
forth from the furnace above the reach of slander, the foremost man of
all the South; and had it been possible for one heart, one mind, and one
arm to save her cause, she lost them when Albert Sidney Johnston fell on
the field of Shiloh.
As soon after the war as she was permitted, the Commonwealth of Texas
removed his remains from New Orleans, to inter them in a land he had
long and faithfully served. I was honored by a request to accompany the
coffin from the cemetery to the steamer; and as I gazed upon it there
arose the feeling of the Theban who, after the downfall of the glory and
independence of his country, stood by the tomb of Epaminondas.
"Amid the clash of arms laws are silent," and so was Confederate
statesmanship; or at least, of its objects, efforts, and expectations
little is known, save the abortive mission of Messrs. Stevens, Hunter,
and Campbell to Fortress Monroe in the last months of the struggle, and
about this there has recently been an unseemly wrangle.
The followers of the Calhoun school, who controlled the Government, held
the right of secession to be too clear for discussion. The adverse
argument of Mr. Webster, approved by a large majority of the Northern
people, was considered to be founded on lust of power, not on reason.
The governments of western Europe, with judgments unclouded by
selfishness, would at once acknowledge it. France, whose policy since
the days of the eleventh Louis had been one of intense centralization,
and Germany and Italy, whose hopes and aspirations were in the same
direction, would admit it, while England would not be restrained by
anti-slavery sentiment. Indeed, the statesmen of these countries had
devoted much time to the study of the Constitution of the United
States, knew that it was a compact, and were in complete harmony with
the opinions of Mr. Calhoun. There was to be no revolution, for this,
though justified by oppression, involved the recognition of some measure
of obligation to the Union, from which the right to secede was manifest.
Hence the haste to manufacture a paper constitution, in which the powers
of different departments were as carefully weighed as are dangerous
drugs by dispensing chemists. Hence two houses of Congress, refuge for
mischievous twaddlers to worry the executive and embarrass the armies.
Hence the Governor Browns, who, reasoning that one State had as much
right to disagree with eleven as eleven with twenty, declared each of
their hamlets of more importance than the cities of others. While the
sections were marching through the streets, with pikes crowned by gory
heads, and clamoring for more, Sieyes had his pockets stuffed with
constitutions and felt that his country was safe. It is not pretended
that these ideas were entertained by the larger part of the Southern
people, or were confessed by the ruling minority; but they existed,
nevertheless, under different forms.
Aggrieved by the action and tendencies of the Federal Government, and
apprehending worse in the future, a majority of the people of the South
approved secession as the only remedy suggested by their leaders. So
travelers enter railway carriages, and are dragged up grades and through
tunnels with utter loss of volition, the motive power, generated by
fierce heat, being far in advance and beyond their control.
We set up a monarch, too, King Cotton, and hedged him with a divinity
surpassing that of earthly potentates. To doubt his royalty and power
was a confession of ignorance or cowardice. This potent spirit, at the
nod of our Prosperos, the cotton-planters, would arrest every loom and
spindle in New England, destroy her wealth, and reduce her population to
beggary. The power of Old England, the growth of eight hundred years,
was to wither as the prophet's gourd unless she obeyed its behests. And
a right "tricksy spirit" it proved indeed. There was a complete mental
derangement on this subject. The Government undertook to own all cotton
that could be exported. Four millions of bales, belonging to many
thousands of individuals, could be disposed of to better advantage by
the Government than by the proprietors; and this was enforced by our
authorities, whose ancestors for generations had been resisting the
intrusion of governments into private business. All cotton, as well as
naval stores, that was in danger of falling into the enemy's possession,
was, by orders based on legislative enactment, to be burned; and this
policy continued to the end. It was fully believed that this destruction
would appall our enemies and convince the world of our earnestness.
Possibly there was a lurking idea that it was necessary to convince
ourselves.
In their long struggle for independence, the Dutch trafficked freely
with the Spaniards, got rich by the trade, paid enormous taxes to
support the war, and achieved their liberty. But the Dutch fought to rid
themselves of a tyrant, while our first care was to set up one, Cotton,
and worship it. Rules of common sense were not applicable to it. The
Grand Monarque could not eat his dinners or take his emetics like
ordinary mortals. Our people were much debauched by it. I write
advisedly, for during the last two and a half years of the war I
commanded in the State of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, the great
producing States. Out-post officers would violate the law, and trade. In
vain were they removed; the temptation was too strong, and their
successors did the same. The influence on the women was dreadful, and in
many cases their appeals were heartrending. Mothers with suffering
children, whose husbands were in the war or already fallen, would
beseech me for permits to take cotton through the lines. It was useless
to explain that it was against law and orders, and that I was without
authority to act. This did not give food and clothing to their children,
and they departed, believing me to be an unfeeling brute. In fact, the
instincts of humanity revolted against this folly.
It is with no pleasure that I have dwelt on the foregoing topics, but
the world can not properly estimate the fortitude of the Southern people
unless it understands and takes account of the difficulties under which
they labored. Yet, great as were their sufferings during the war, they
were as nothing compared to those inflicted upon them after its close.
Extinction of slavery was expected by all and regretted by none,
although loss of slaves destroyed the value of land. Existing since the
earliest colonization of the Southern States, the institution was
interwoven with the thoughts, habits, and daily lives of both races, and
both suffered by the sudden disruption of the accustomed tie. Bank
stocks, bonds, all personal property, all accumulated wealth, had
disappeared. Thousands of houses, farm-buildings, work-animals, flocks
and herds, had been wantonly burned, killed, or carried off. The land
was filled with widows and orphans crying for aid, which the universal
destitution prevented them from receiving. Humanitarians shuddered with
horror and wept with grief for the imaginary woes of Africans; but their
hearts were as adamant to people of their own race and blood. These had
committed the unpardonable sin, had wickedly rebelled against the Lord's
anointed, the majority. Blockaded during the war, and without journals
to guide opinion and correct error, we were unceasingly slandered by our
enemies, who held possession of every avenue to the world's ear.
Famine and pestilence have ever followed war, as if our Mother Earth
resented the defilement of her fair bosom by blood, and generated fatal
diseases to punish humanity for its crimes. But there fell upon the
South a calamity surpassing any recorded in the annals or traditions of
man. An article in the "North American Review," from the pen of Judge
Black, well describes this new curse, the carpet-baggers, as worse than
Attila, scourge of God. He could only destroy existing fruits, while, by
the modern invention of public credit, these caterans stole the labor of
unborn generations. Divines, moralists, orators, and poets throughout
the North commended their thefts and bade them God-speed in spoiling the
Egyptians; and the reign of these harpies is not yet over. Driven from
the outworks, they hold the citadel. The epithet of August, first
applied to the mighty Julius and to his successor Octavius, was
continued, by force of habit, to the slobbering Claudius; and so of the
Senate of the United States, which august body contained in March last
several of these freebooters. Honest men regarded them as monsters,
generated in the foul ooze of a past era, that had escaped destruction
to linger in a wholesomer age; and their speedy extinction was expected,
when another, the most hideous of the species, was admitted. This
specimen had been kept by force of bayonets for four years upon the
necks of an unwilling people, had no title to a seat in the Senate, and
was notoriously despised by every inhabitant of the State which he was
seated to misrepresent. The Senators composing the majority by which
this was done acted under solemn oaths to do the right; but the Jove of
party laughs at vows of politicians. Twelve years of triumph have not
served to abate the hate of the victors in the great war. The last
presidential canvass was but a crusade of vengeance against the South.
The favorite candidate of his party for the nomination, though in the
prime of vigor, had not been in the field, to which his eloquent appeals
sent thousands, but preferred the pleasanter occupation of making money
at home. He had converted the power of his great place, that of Speaker
of the House of Representatives, into lucre, and was exposed. By mingled
chicanery and audacity he obtained possession of his own criminating
letters, flourished them in the face of the House, and, in the Cambyses
vein, called on his people to rally and save the luster of his loyalty
from soil at the hands of rebels; and they came. From all the North
ready acclaims went up, and women shed tears of joy, such as in King
Arthur's day rewarded some peerless deed of Galahad. In truth, it was a
manly thing to hide dishonorable plunder beneath the prostrate body of
the South. The Emperor Commodus, in full panoply, met in the arena
disabled and unarmed gladiators. The servile Romans applauded his easy
victories. Ancient Pistol covers with patches the ignoble scabs of a
corrupt life. The vulgar herd believes them to be wounds received in the
Gallic wars, as it once believed in the virtue and patriotism of Marat
and Barrere.
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Divine Moralist instructed his hearers
to forgive those who had injured them; but He knew too well the malice
of the human heart to expect them to forgive those whom they had
injured. The leaders of the radical masses of the North have inflicted
such countless and cruel wrongs on the Southern people as to forbid any
hope of disposition or ability to forgive their victims; and the land
will have no rest until the last of these persecutors has passed into
oblivion.
During all these years the conduct of the Southern people has been
admirable. Submitting to the inevitable, they have shown fortitude and
dignity, and rarely has one been found base enough to take wages of
shame from the oppressor and maligner of his brethren. Accepting the
harshest conditions and faithfully observing them, they have struggled
in all honorable ways, and for what? For their slaves? Regret for their
loss has neither been felt nor expressed. But they have striven for that
which brought our forefathers to Runnymede, the privilege of exercising
some influence in their own government. Yet we fought for nothing but
slavery, says the world, and the late Vice-President of the Confederacy,
Mr. Alexander Stephens, reechoes the cry, declaring that it was the
corner-stone of his Government.