Lincoln's opposition to Douglas, 141; claims to the Presidency, 161,
166; Secretary of the Treasury, 201-2; his successful administration of
finance, 254; regarded as Radical leader, intrigues against Lincoln and
causes difficulty in Cabinet, 328-9; continues troublesome, desires
Presidency, resigns, 406-8; appointed Chief Justice, 429-30; other
references, 208, 311, 415.
Chatham, 20, 234.
Chattanooga: 226-7, 339-40, 342-3, 359-60, 387-8, 394.
Chicago: Republican Convention there, 166-9; deputation of clergy, 323;
Democratic Convention, 411-4.
Choate, Joseph H.: 106, 156.
Civil Service: 50.
Civil War. _See_ War.
Clary's Grove: 64, 66.
Clay, Henry: 41; his character and career, 42, 48; compromise of 1850
originated by him, 99; his death, 100; Lincoln on him, 101, 122.
Cobb: 185.
Cobden, Richard: 257-8.
Cock-fighting: 63, 69.
Collamer, Senator: 167.
Colonies. _See_ America.
Colonisation. _See_ Negroes.
Columbia, South Carolina: 435.
Columbia, District of: 94, 319.
Columbia River: 28.
Columbus, Georgia: 226-7.
Compulsory Service. _See_ Conscription.
Confederacy, Confederates; _see also_ South; Confederacy of six States
formed and Constitution adopted at Montgomery and claims of these
States to Federal Government's forts, etc., or their soil taken over,
199-201; commencement of war by Confederacy, 212-3; area of its country
and difficulty of conquest, 214-6; character of population, 216; spirit
of independence animating Confederacy, 218-9; other conditions telling
against or for its success in the war, 214-27; original Confederate
States, viz., South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Florida, joined subsequently by Texas, and on outbreak of war by
Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, 228-9; capital moved
to Richmond, 242; for course of war, _see_ War; for political course of
Confederacy, _see_ J. Davis and Congress of Confederacy; attitude of
foreign Governments to Confederacy, 256, 261, 302, 313; refusal of
Lincoln to treat with Confederacy as an independent state, 403, 432-3;
refusal of Davis to negotiate on other terms, 428, 432-3; ultimate
surrender of Confederate forces and dispersion of its Government, 445-8.
Congregationalists: 17, 19.
Congress of original American Confederation: 20, 38.
Congress of U.S.A. under the Constitution: distinguished from
Parliament by the severance between it and the executive government, by
the limitation of its functions to strictly Federal matters, and by its
subjection to provisions of Constitution, 23-4, _see also_ 371, 377-9,
402, 429; for certain Acts of Congress, _see_ Slavery; attempts at
pacification during progress of Secession, 192-3; action of and
discussions in Congress during Civil War, 246, 253, 263, 265-6, 269,
271, 276, 288, 316-9, 321-3, 324-7, 333-6, 351, 369-70, 379, 380, 382,
388, 389, 400-1, 434.
Congress of Confederacy: 200, 366-7, 431.
Conscription: in South; 366-7; in North, 364-5, 369-70; superior on
grounds of moral principle to voluntary system, 366.
_Conservative_, the: 119.
Conservatives: 245, 267-8, 328.
Constitution, British: 20, 23, 377.
Constitution of United States: 22-5, 41. _See also_ Amendment of
Constitution.
Contraband: 268, 409.
Cooper Institute; 144, 155.
Copperheads: 382.
Corinth: 283, 338-9.
Cotton: 39, 259-60, 313.
Cow Island: 331.
Cowper, William: 11.
Crittenden: 192-5.
Cuba: 145, 159.
Cumberland River: 226, 277, 280-1.
Curtis, B. R., Justice; 114.
Darwin, Charles: 138, 259.
Davis, David, Justice: 167, 379.
Davis, Henry Winter: 388, 401.
Davis, Jefferson: his rise as an extreme Southern leader, 101, 138,
150; inclined to favour slave trade, 145; his-argument for right of
Secession, 176; his part in Secession, 198-200; President of
Confederacy, 200; vetoes Bill against slave trade as inadequate and
fraudulent, 200; orders attack on Fort Sumter, 212; criticisms upon his
military policy, 217-8, 387-8; his part in the war, 246, 355, 387-8,
395, 431, 433, 446; his determination to hold out and his attitude to
peace, 403-4, 431-4; as to prisoners of war, 330, 399; escape from
Richmond and last public action, 446; his capture, and his emotions on
Lincoln's assassination, 452-3; his memoirs, 453, 460.
Dayton, Senator: 167.
Declaration of Independence: meaning of its principles, 32-5; how
slave-holders signed it, 35-9; Lincoln's interpretation of it, 123; his
great speech upon it, 184.
Delaware: 17, 198, 318, 334.
Democracy: fundamental ideas in it, 32-9, 123; development of extreme
form and of certain abuses of it in America, 47-50; its institutions
and practices still in an early stage of development, 50; a foolish
perversion of it in the Northern States, 59, 218; Lincoln sees a decay
of worthy and honest democratic feeling, 117; the Civil War regarded by
Lincoln and many in North as a test whether democratic government could
maintain itself, 183-4, 362-3, 425; the sense in which Lincoln was a
great democrat, 455-6.
Democratic Party: traces descent from Jefferson, 30; originated or
started anew by Jackson, its principles, 47-8; general subservience of
its leaders to Southern interests, 91, 110, 140, _see also_ Mexico,
Pierce, Douglas, Buchanan; breach between Northern and Southern
Democrats, 141, 148-50, 157-9; Northern Democrats loyal to Union,
172-4, 177, 188, 231; progress of Democratic opposition to Lincoln,
267, 316, 374-5, 381-5, 401, 411-5; Lincoln's appeal after defeating
them, 425.
Dickens, Charles: 31, 32, 41, 259.
Disraeli, Benjamin: 74, 260.
Dough-Faces: 40.
Douglas, Stephen: rival to Lincoln in Illinois Legislature, 71;
possibly also in love, 81, 87; his rise, influence, and character, 101,
110-1; repeals Missouri Compromise, 110-1; supports rights of Kansas,
115, 140; Lincoln's contest with him, 121-2, 132-7, 140-9; gist of
Lincoln's objection to his principles, 130, 142-5; unsuccessful
candidate for Presidency, 159, 168-9; attitude to Secession, 188;
relations with Lincoln after Secession, 206, 210, 231; death, 231.
Douglass, Frederick: 332.
Drink: 63, 76-7, 353, 423.
Dundreary: 451.
Early, General: 394, 395, 438.
Eaton, John: 330-2, 347, 416, 461.
Edmonds. _See_ Wood and Edmonds.
Edwards, Mrs. Ninian: 81.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: 60, 152, 426.
Episcopalians: 85, 351, 440.
Equality. _See_ Declaration of Independence.
Euclid: 104, 132.
Everett, Edward: 159, 362.
Farragut, David, Admiral: 231, 283, 349, 388, 395, 412, 424, 435.
Federalism: 22.
Federalist Party: 30, 173.
Filibustering: (1) in sense of piracy: 194. (2) in sense of
obstruction: 333.
Fillmore, Millard: 99, 112, 114, 133.
Finance: 67-8, 254.
Florida: 16, 26, 199, 251, 453.
Fort Donelson: 280-1.
Fort Fisher: 436.
Fort Henry: 281.
Fort Monroe: 268, 292.
Fort Sumter: 187-90, 201, 208, 210, 212-3, 228, 449.
Fox, Gustavus V.: 202, 252-3, 264.
France: influence of French Revolution, 31; Louisiana territory
acquired from France, 26; French settlers, 27; slavery in Louisiana
State, 39-40; relations with America during Civil War, 211, 256, 262,
313, 388, 404, 420.
Frankfort, Kentucky: 340.
Franklin, Benjamin: 37.
Franklin, Tennessee: 396-7.
Free-Soil Party: 111.
Free Trade: 45, 258.
Frémont, John: 112, 133, 269-70, 274, 277, 296-7, 316, 409-10.
Fry, J. B., General: 370.
Garrison, William Lloyd: 50-2, 336.
Gentryville: 4, 6, 7.
Gettysburg, Lincoln's speech at: 363.
Georgia: 36, 56, 199, 226, 396-7.
George II.: 353.
Gibbon, Edward: 67.
Gilmer: 194.
Gladstone, W. E.: 258.
Goldsborough: 437, 444.
Governors of States: 20, 161, 222, 299, 343-5, 362.
Graham, Mentor: 63, 64, 68.
Grant, Ulysses S., General: previous disappointing career and return to
Army, earlier success in Civil War, 280; captures Fort Henry and Fort
Donelson, surprised but successful at Shiloh, 280-4; negro refugees
with his army, 330; kept idle as Halleck's second in command, and on
his departure left on defensive near Corinth, 339, 342; his reputation
now and his real greatness of character, 345-8; Vicksburg campaigns,
348-55; Lincoln's relations with him from the first, 352-3; Chattanooga
campaign, 359-60; appointed Lieutenant General, meeting with Lincoln,
parting from Sherman, 389-90; plans for final stages of war, 390;
unsuccessful attempts to crush Lee in the open field and movement to
City Point for siege of Petersburg and Richmond in which first
operations fail, 391-2; sends Sheridan to Shenandoah Valley, 393-4;
unnecessary anxiety as to Thomas, 397; siege of Petersburg and Richmond
continued, 398; attempts to get him to run for Presidency, 410-11; his
loyalty to Lincoln, 416-7; his wish to promote peace, 433; further
progress of siege, 436, 437-8; Lincoln's visit to him at City Point,
443-5; forbidden to treat with Lee on political questions, 445; fall of
Richmond, 445-6; Lee forced to surrender, 446-8; last interview with
Lincoln, 449-50; Memoirs, 459.
Granville, Earl: 260.
Gray, Asa: 138.
Great Britain and Ireland: early relations with U.S.A., 16-20; relative
progress of the two countries at different periods, 32, 33, 38; English
views of American Revolution, 21, _see_ Constitution of Great Britain
and U.S.A.; war in 1812-14 with U.S.A., 42, 46, 273; comparisons of
English and American Government, 49, 50; relations of the two countries
in the Civil War, 211, 256-65, 313; voluntary system of recruiting in
the two countries and its result in each, 364-6, 370; Lincoln's fame in
England, 454.
Greeley, Horace: 137, 143, 245, 322-3, 404.
Greene, Bowline: 79.
Greensborough: 437, 452.
Grigsby, Reuben, and family: 6, 11, 12.
Grimes, Senator: 194.
Halleck, Henry W., General: 274, 277-84, 297-8, 301-2, 306, 309,
338-43, 349, 356, 395.
Hamilton, Alexander: his greatness, 29; his origin and career, he
brings the Union Government into successful operation, his beautiful
and heroic character, 29-30; original source of Monroe doctrine, 385;
other references, 34, 37; his view on construction of Statutes, 377-8.
Hampton Roads: 433.
Hanks, Dennis: 4, 6, 420.
Hanks, John: 4, 6, 14, 166.
Hanks, Joseph: 4.
Harcourt, Lady: 417.
Hardin: 90.
Harper's Ferry: 151, 239.
Harrison, William Henry: 72.
Harrison's Landing: 298-302.
Harvard: 59, 330, 444.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: 101.
Hay, John: 235, 419, 458, 461.
Hayne, Senator: 45.
Henderson, Colonel: 221.
Herndon, William: 66, 79, 87, 94, 102-3, 105, 119, 126, 142, 147, 165.
Hood, John B., General: 394, 396-7.
Hooker, Joseph, General: 309-11, 355-6, 360, 362.
House of Commons. _See_ Parliament.
House of Lords: 33.
House of Representatives. _See_ Congress of U.S.A.
Houston, Governor: 199.
Hugo, Victor: 152.
Hunter, General: 321, 395.
Hymns: 11, 440.
Illinois, 27, 38, Chapters I., III., IV., 1 and 3, and V., 1, 3, and 5;
344, 350.
Inaugural Address: Lincoln's first, 206-7; his second, 441-3; Jefferson
Davis', 200-1.
Inaugural Ceremony: Lincoln's first, 206; Lincoln's second, 438.
Independence. _See_ Declaration of Independence.
Independents. _See_ Congregationalists.
Indiana: 4, 9, 27, 38, 345.
Indians, North American: 3, 65.
Iowa; 27, 194.
Ironclads: 252.
Jackson, Andrew: his opinion of Calhoun, 43; frustrates movement for
nullification, 46; his character, 46; revives party and promotes growth
of party machinery, and adopts "spoils system," 46-49; other
references, 66, 173, 209, 409.
Jackson, Thomas J., called "Stonewall," General: his acknowledged
genius, 217, 220; goes with State of Virginia, 229; his character, 230;
Shenandoah Valley campaign and movement to outflank McClellan, 295-8;
Antietam campaign, 305; killed during victory of Chancellorsville, 311;
Lee's estimate of his loss, 357.
James, Henry: 461.
James River: 292, 298, 392-3, 438, 447.
Jefferson, Thomas: curious and displeasing character, 30; great and
lasting influence on American life, 30-2; practical achievements in
statesmanship, 32; real sense and value of his doctrine, 32-5; opinion
and action as to slavery, 37-8; other references, 28, 46, 56, 179.
Jiggers: 331.
Johnson, Andrew: 400, 411, 451, 453.
Johnson, Samuel: 33, 35.
Johnston, Albert Sidney, General: 276-7, 281-2.
Johnston, John: 4, 6, 14.
Johnston, Joseph, General; 218, 247-8, 287-8, 295, 354-5, 378, 387,
390, 394, 436-7, 452.
Kansas: 110-2, 115, 117, 126, 128, 139-40, 162-3.
Kentucky: 2-5, 9, 26, 81, 192, 197, 225, 229, 270, 334, 339-43.
Kipling, Rudyard: 88.
Kirkham's Grammar: 63.
"Know-Nothings." _See_ American Party.
Knoxville: 226, 275, 359.
Law, Lincoln's law study and practice, 10, 67, 68, 106-8, 271-2, 423.
Lee, Robert E., General: his acknowledged genius, 217, 220; goes with
State of Virginia, 229, 239, 376; his character, 230; cautious military
advice at first, 246; opinion of McClellan, 285; operations against
McClellan, Pope, Burnside, and Hooker, 297, 311; invasion of
Pennsylvania and retreat, 355-8, 386-7; resistance to Grant, _see_
Grant, 391-2, 398; appointed General in Chief, 431; abstains always
from political action, 431-2; final effort, surrender and later life,
445-6.
Lincoln, Abraham, President: his career and policy up to his
Presidency, _see_ in Table of Contents; his military administration and
policy, 273-9, 302, 308, 345, _and see_ McClellan; his administration
generally, 250-5; his foreign policy, 261-5; his policy generally,
265-72, _and see_ Slavery, Negotiations for Peace, Reconstruction;
development of his abilities and character, 7-15, 62, 73-7, 87-8,
103-6, 134-6, 153-5, 163-6, 233-9, 337, 418-24, 439-41; his fame
to-day, 454-6.
Lodge, Senator: 261.
Logan, General: 350, 397.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth: 53, 60, 61, 137, 152.
Longstreet, General: 357, 359-60, 387.
Louisiana Purchase: 26, 32, 39-40.
Louisiana State: 26, 39-40, 199, 283, 334, 400, 448-9.
Louisville: 116, 339-41.
Love joy: 76.
Lowell, James Russell, and references to his writings: 19, 92, 138,
172, 209, 237, 261, 264.
Lundy: 50.
Lynchburg: 438.
Lyon, Nathaniel: 244-5, 269.
Lyons, Lord: 236, 237, 264.
McDowell, General: 247-8, 290, 293-7.
Machine, in politics: 48-9, 167-8.
McClellan, George B., General: practical help to Douglas, 134;
successes in West Virginia, 243; put in command of Army of Potomac and
later of all armies, 272; his strategic views at outset of war, 274-5,
276, 280; his career and character, 284-6; Lincoln's problem about him,
286-7; procrastination and friction before he moved, 287-91;
preliminaries to campaign in Peninsula, 291-3; relieved of command over
Western armies, 293; campaign in Peninsula, 293-5, 298-302; his recall
and failure to support Pope, 302-4; army of Potomac restored to him,
305; battle of Antietam and subsequent delays, 305-7; his final
dismissal and its cause, 307-9; his political career, 300, 308, 374,
413-5, 416, 424; resigns from Army, 437; Seward's judgment on him, 427.
McClernand, General: 350-2.
McLean, Justice: 114, 167.
Madison, James: 37.
Maine: 16, 40.
Malplaquet: 364.
Marcy: 49.
Marshall, John: 41.
Martial Law: 376-81. _See also_ 265-7, 269-70, 313, 321, 335-6, 451.
Martineau, Harriet: 43.
Maryland: 197, 225, 240-2, 304-7, 333-4.
Mason: 263.
Massachusetts: 16, 19, 172-3, 239-40, 296, 409.
Mathematics: 67. _And see_ Euclid.
Maximilian, Archduke and Emperor: 388.
_Mayflower_: 150.
Meade, George, General: 356-8, 391, 447.
Memphis: 226, 275, 349, 389.
Meridian: 227, 389.
Merrimac: 292-3.
Methodists: 150.
Mexico: 28, 90; war with, 91-3; later relations, 211, 256, 388-9, 404,
420.
Mexico, Gulf of: 27, 208.
Michigan: 38, 172.
Militia: 228, 246, 369.
Mill, John Stuart: 260.
Milligan, case of, in Supreme Court: 378.
Minnesota: 27.
Mississippi River: 7, 8, 13, 26, 56, 198, 226, 275, 281, 283, 348-55.
Mississippi State: 26, 175, 179, 199, 227. _And see_ Meridian and
Vicksburg.
Missouri Compromise: 39-40; repealed, 109-12; question whether
unconstitutional, 112-5.
Missouri River: 26.
Missouri State: 27, 39-40, 113, 197, 225, 229, 244-5, 269-70, 333-4,
400.
Mobile: 227, 388, 395, 412.
Moltke: 217.
Monroe Doctrine: 388.
Montana: 26.
Montgomery: 199-200, 225.
Mormons: 99, 130.
Motley, John Lathrop: 138, 237, 238, 417.
Napoleon I.: 26, 215.
Napoleon III.: 256, 313, 388.
Nashville: 339, 396.
National Bank: 42, 47, 65.
Nebraska: 110, 113.
Negotiations for peace, impossible demand for them: 402-5, 428, 431-4.
Negroes: Lincoln on notion of equality as applied to them, 124;
Stephens on great moral truth of their inferiority, 179; their good
conduct during the war and their valour as soldiers, 330; Lincoln's
human sympathy with them, and the right attitude in face of the bar
between the two races, 330-3; mistaken precipitancy in giving them the
suffrage, 334-5, 430; the Confederacy ultimately enlists negroes, 431;
negro bodyguard at Lincoln's second Inauguration, 435; projects for
colonisation of negroes, 42, 317, 331, 332. _See also_ Slavery.
Neuse River: 437.
Nevada: 95.
New Berne: 437.
New England: 17, 173, 241, 326.
New Hampshire: 100.
New Jersey: 17.
New Mexico: 96, 99, 145, 194.
New Orleans; 4, 13-4, 46, 198, 226, 283.
New Salem: 4, 63-9, 78-80.
New York City: 29, 49, 144, 155-6, 205, 241, 254, 384.
New York State: 16, 17, 29.
Niagara: 105, 139, 404.
Nicolay, John: 211, 235, 419, 458, 460.
North: original characteristics and gradual divergence from South, in
America and South; advantages and disadvantages in the war, 214-9;
divisions in the North, _see_ Democrats and Radicals; magnitude of
effort and endurance shown by the North, 363-6, 426-7.
North Anna River: 392.
North Carolina: 26, 27, 194; secedes with Virginia, 229, 435-7, 452.
North-West Territory: 38.
Northcote, Sir Stafford: 260.
Novels: 67.
Nueces River: 92.
Oberlin, 150.
Officers: 220, 223-4, 350.
Ohio River: 4, 8, 26, 117, 226, 243, 280.
Ohio State: 38, 161, 172, 340-2, 344, 359, 381-3.
Olmsted, Frederick Law: 53, 57, 460.
Oratory in America: 34, 41, 133, 136, 138, 155, 159, 362.
Oregon, Territory and State: 28, 92, 96, 112.
Orsini: 152.
Owens, Mary: 80-1.
Paine, Tom: 69.
Palmerston: 234, 260, 313.
Pardon of offenders by Lincoln; 420-1.
Parliament: relation to Colonies, 19; contrast with Congress, 20, 23.
Parliamentarians under Charles I.: 33.
Party and Parties: 46-50, 374-5, 385. _And see_ American, Federalist,
Free-Soil, Democratic, Republican and Whig.
Patterson, General: 247.
Pemberton, General: 354-5.
Pennsylvania: 17, 202, 355-8.
Peoria: 72, 135, 142.
Petersburg. _See_ Richmond.
Philadelphia: 184, 356.
Pierce, Franklin: 100, 111, 138, 218.
Pilgrim's Progress: 10.
Pitt, William, the younger: 376.
Polk, President: 91-3.
Polk, Bishop and General, 350.
Pope, General: 283, 301, 302-3.
Port Hudson: 343, 354-5.
Porter, Admiral: 349, 353, 388, 435-6, 444.
Post of Arkansas: 351.
Potomac: 225, 243, 249, 288, 306, 358.
Presbyterian: 77, 439.
Prince Consort: 263.
Prisoners of War: 398.
Protection: 42, 45, 65, 68, 202.
Public Works; 42, 65, 71.
Puritans: 17.
Quakers: 17, 50, 153.
Radicals: 232-3, 245, 267-70, 328, 398-400, 410, 430.
Railways: 7, 27, 226-7, 276, 339, 388, 396, 397, 447.
Raleigh: 437, 452.
Rapidan: 288, 311, 358, 391.
Rappahannock: 309, 311, 355, 358.
Rathbone, Major: 450-1.
Raymond: 414. _And see_ 404.
Reconstruction: 326-8, 333-5, 398-401, 434-5, 448-50.
Red River: 388.
Republican Party: (1) Party of this name which followed Jefferson and
of which leading members were afterwards Democrats, 30, 31; (2) New
party formed in 1854 to resist extension of slavery in Territories,
111; runs Frémont for Presidency, 112; embarrassed by Dred Scott
judgment, 112, 115; possibility of differences underlying its simple
principles, 122; disposition among its leaders to support Douglas after
Kansas scandal, 141-3; consistency of thought and action supplied to it
by Lincoln, 122, 145-6; nomination and election of Lincoln, 160-2,
166-9; sections in the party during war, 267-71; increasing divergence
between Lincoln and the leading men in the party, 321, 326-9, 401-2,
409-14, 430, 434-5, 450.
Reuben, First Chronicles of: 11-2.
Revolution, American: 20-2.
Revolution, French: 31.
Rhodes, Cecil: 335.
Rhodes, James Ford: 418, 459.
Richmond: 225-7, 242, 245, 275, 302, 392; siege of Petersburg and
Richmond, _see_ Lee or Grant; feeling in Richmond towards end, 431-2;
Lincoln's visit to it, 447.
Roberts, F. M. Earl: 364.
Robinson Crusoe: 10.
Rollin: 67.
Romilly, Samuel: 32.
Rosecrans, General: 342-3, 351, 359-60.
Russell, Lord John: 260, 263, 313.
Russia: 118, 211, 256.
Rutledge, Ann: 78.
St. Gaudens, Augustus: 330.
St. Louis: 116, 244.
Salisbury, Marquess of: 258, 259.
Sangamon: 64-5, 166.
Savannah: 398, 435.
Schofield, General: 397, 436-7.
Schools, Lincoln's: 10.
Schurz, Carl: 235, 421.
Scott, Dred, and his case; 112-5, 144.
Scott, William: 421-2.
Scott, Winfield, General: 93, 100, 205, 208, 231, 246-9, 274-5, 388,
453.
Secession. _See_ South and Confederacy.
Seward, William: opponent of compromise of 1850 and rising Republican
leader, 101, 137, 152; against opposing Douglas, 141; speaks well of
John Brown, 152; expected to be Republican candidate for Presidency,
rejected partly for his unworthy associates, more for his supposed
strong opinions, 161-8; supports Lincoln in election, 169; action
during progress of Secession, 193-5, 204; on First Inaugural, 206;
action during crisis of Fort Sumter, 208-10; vain attempt to master
Lincoln and generous acceptance of defeat, 210-1, 250; his part in
foreign policy, 262-5, 387; wise advice to postpone Emancipation, 320;
retained by Lincoln in spite of intrigues against him, 328-30;
administration of martial law, 376; his usefulness and great loyalty,
406; his judgment on McClellan, 426; attempt to assassinate him, 451;
certifies ratification of 13th amendment, 336.
Seymour, Horatio: 381, 383-5, 413.
Sigel, General: 394.
Shakespeare: 103, 108, 423, 448.
Shaw, Robert Gould: 330.
Shenandoah Valley; 225, 247, 296, 394, 395-6, 424, 437-8.
Sheridan, Philip, General: 220, 343, 395-6, 424, 437-8, 444.
Sherman, John, Senator: 235, 380.
Sherman, William Tecumseh, General; 52, 220, 224, 249; character and
relations with Grant, 348; failure in first attempt on Vicksburg, 350;
under McClernand, takes Post of Arkansas, 351; with Grant in rest of
Vicksburg campaigns, 353-5; at Chattanooga, 360; at Meridian, 388;
parting with Grant, his fears for him, their concerted plans, 389;
Atlanta campaign, 394-5, 424; detaches Thomas against Hood, 397-8; from
Atlanta to the sea, 397-9; campaigns in the Carolinas, 435-6; meets
Lincoln at City Point, 444-5; Lincoln's dream about him, 449;
Johnston's surrender to him, 452.
Shields, Colonel: 85.
Slave Trade: how treated by Constitution of U.S.A., 24; prohibition of
it in American colonies vetoed, 36; prohibited by several American
States, by United Kingdom, and by Union, 38; movement to revive it in
Southern States, 145, 150; prohibited by Confederate Constitution and
inadequate Bill against it vetoed by J. Davis, 200; treaty between
United Kingdom and U.S.A., for its more effectual prevention, and first
actual execution of a slave-trader in U.S.A., 317.
Slavery: compromise about it in Constitution, 25; opinion and action of
the "Fathers" in regard to it, 35-9; becomes more firmly rooted in
South, 39; disputes as to it temporarily settled by Missouri
Compromise, 39-40; its real character in America, 52-5; its political
and social effect on the South, 43-5, 55-9; Abolition movement, _see_
Abolition; its increasing influence on Southern policy; _see_ South;
repeal of Missouri Compromise, and dicta of Supreme Court in favour of
slavery, 109-15; Lincoln's attitude from first in regard to it, 14, 76,
94; his principles as to it, 121-131, 144; slavery the sole cause of
Secession, 178-9; the progress of actual Emancipation, 313-37; already
coming to an end in the South before the end of the war, 429, 431.
_See also_ Negroes.
Slidell: 263.
Smith, Baldwin, General: 308.
Smith, Caleb: 167, 202, 405.
Smith, Kirby, General: 339-42, 453.
South: original difference of character and interest between Northern
and Southern States becoming more marked concurrently with growth of
Union, 17-8, 36, 39-40, 43-5; slavery and Southern society, 52-9;
growing power of a Southern policy for slavery to which the North
generally is subservient, 91-2, 98-100, 117, 138-41; rise of resistance
to this, _see_ Republican Party; causes of Secession and prevailing
feeling in South about it, 170-88; history of Secession and War, _see_
Confederacy and War; Southern spirit in the war, 216, 218-20; heroism
of struggle, 397; memory of the war a common inheritance to North and
South, 455.
South Carolina: 26-7, 36, 44-6, 57-8, 173, 179-80, 182, 185-90, 200-1,
208, 253, 321, 386, 435.
Spain: 16, 26, 90, 211.
Speed, James: 405.
Speed, Joshua: 70, 81, 87, 116-8, 405, 440.
Spoils System: 49-50, 95, 254-5.
Springfield: Lincoln's life there, 70-7, 81-7, 101-9; his farewell
speech there, 203; his funeral there, 453.
Stanton, Edwin: rude to Lincoln in law case, services in Buchanan's
Cabinet, denounces Lincoln's administration, made Secretary of War,
272; great mistake as to recruiting, 299, 368; Conservative hostility
to him, 328-9; services in War Department and loyalty to Lincoln, 272,
290, 329, 389, 406, 419-20; at Lincoln's death-bed, 453.
States: relations to Federal Government and during secession to
Confederacy, 24, 221-3.
Stephens, Alexander: 179, 199-200, 432-4.
Stevenson, Robert Louis: 87.
Stowe, Mrs. Beecher: 51, 54, 110.
Submarines: 251.
Sumner, Charles: 101, 138-9, 418, 429, 448.
Supreme Court: 41, 112-5, 144, 378, 382.
Swedish colonists: 17.
Swett, Leonard: 13.
Talleyrand: 29.
Taney, Roger: 112-5, 144, 206, 242, 429.
Taylor, Zachary: 92-3, 95, 98.
Tennessee River: 226, 280, 339.
Tennessee State: 27, 199, 226, 229, 275-7, 279-84, 338-40, 342-3,
393-4, 397, 408.
Tennyson, Alfred: 259.
Territories: their position under Constitution, 25; expansion and
settlement, 26-8; cessions of Territories by States to Union, 38;
conflict as to slavery in them, _see_ Slavery.
Terry, General; 433.
Texas: 28, 91, 198, 199, 388, 453.
Thomas, George H., General: 231, 280, 341, 343, 369, 388, 396-7.
Todd, Mary. _See_ Lincoln, Mrs.
Trumbull, Lyman: 120.
Tyler, John: 72, 91, 200.
"Underground Railway": 150.
Union and United States. _See_ America.
Union men: letter of Lincoln to great meeting of, 384-5.
Urbana: 291-2.
Usher: 405.
Utah: 99.
Vallandigham, Clement: 379, 381-3, 413.
Van Buren, Martin: 47, 49, 66.
Vandalia: 72.
Vermont: 16, 38.
Vicksburg: 226, 282, 339, 348-55, 449.
Victoria, Queen: 263, 451.
Virginia: 3, 27, 37, 38, 39, 47, 54, 69, 98, 197-200, 209, 213, 217,
228; and for stages of war in Virginia _see_ McClellan, Lee and
Shenandoah Valley.
Volney: 69.
Voltaire: 69.
Voluntary enlistment in the North, 221-2; results here and in U.S.A.,
364-5; its fundamental immorality when used on a large scale, 366.
Wad, Senator: 194, 400.
Walker, Governor: 140.
Wallace, General: 393.
War, Civil, in U.S.A.: general conditions and strategic aspects of the
war, 214-27, 273-8; preliminary struggles in border States, 228-45;
first Battle of Bull Run, 245-50; blockade of South and naval
operations generally, 251-3; war in West to occupation of Corinth and
taking of New Orleans, 279-84; _Merrimac_ and _Monitor_, 292-3;
beginning of Peninsula campaign, 290-5; "Stonewall" Jackson's Valley
campaign, 295-7; end of Peninsula campaign, 298-302; second Battle of
Bull Run, 303-4; Lee's invasion of Maryland and Antietam, 304-7;
Fredericksburg, 309; Chancellorsville, 311; Buell's operations in
autumn of 1863, Confederate invasion of Kentucky, and Murfreesborough,
338-43; Vicksburg campaigns and completion of, conquest of Mississippi,
348-55; Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania, Gettysburg, and Meade's
campaign in Virginia, 355-8; campaigns of Chickamauga, Eastern
Tennessee, and Chattanooga, 358-64; certain minor operations, 386-8;
military situation at beginning of 1864 and Grant's plans, 386, 389;
Grant's campaign against Lee to beginning of siege of Petersburg,
390-2; Early's Shenandoah campaign, 394; Sherman's Atlanta campaign,
394-5; Farragut at Mobile, 395; Sheridan in Lower Shenandoah Valley,
395-6; Sherman's plans, 396; Hood's invasion of Tennessee, 396-7;
Sherman's march to Savannah, 397-8; Petersburg siege continues, 398;
effect of Sherman's operations, 431; Sherman's advance northward from
Savannah, 435; Porter and Terry take Fort Fisher, 435-6; Petersburg
siege progresses, 436; Sherman in North Carolina, 436-7; Sheridan in
Upper Shenandoah Valley, 437-8; fall of Petersburg and Richmond, and
surrender of Lee, 445-8; surrender of other Confederate forces, 452-3.
Ward, Artemus: 208, 231, 324.
Washington City: its importance and dangers in the war, 225, 239-42,
248, 293-4, 295-7, 302, 304, 355-6, 376, 392-3; its political society,
418.
Washington, George: 10, 21, 37, 76, 203-4, 388.
Watson, William: 460.
Webster, Daniel: his career and services, 41-2; his great speech, 45-6,
173; value of his support to Whigs, 68; Lincoln meets him, 91; his
support of compromise of 1850 and his death, 99-100.
Weed, Thurlow, 193-4, 414, 443.
Weems' Life of Washington: 10.
Welles, Gideon: 202, 252-3, 263, 271, 406.
Wellington: 377.
Wesley, Samuel: 35.
West, the: 7-9, 27-8, 46, 61, 91, 93, 155, 224, 226, 303, 305. _And
see_ War.
West Indies, British: 29, 52.
West Point: 223, 390.
West Virginia: 225, 229, 243, 296, 334, 400.
Whig Party: 48, 66-8, 91-3, 95, 100, 111, 117, 159, 433.
Whites, Poor or Mean: 55, 178.
Whitman, Walt: 61, 237, 238, 418-9.
Whitney, Eli: 39.
Wilmington: 251, 435-6.
Wilmot, David and Wilmot Proviso: 96, 99, 117.
Wilson, President: 45, 54.
Wisconsin: 38, 172.
Wood and Edmonds: 233, 456.
Wood, Fernando: 309.
Wolfe, Sir James: 353.
Wolseley, F. M. Viscount: 217, 218, 229-30, 285.
Yazoo: 350, 352.
Young Men's Lyceum: 69.
Zeruiah, her sons: 445.
MAY WE HELP?
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_Believing that you will be interested in other books of a nature
similar to that which you have just finished reading, the publishers
have reproduced on the following pages a few extracts from other Star
books. These are pages picked at random. Although there is no
continuity, we hope that they will give you some idea of the style in
which the books are written and perhaps the character of the subject
from which you may form an opinion as to its place on your personal
book shelf._
_Reprinted by permission from_
LINCOLN'S OWN STORIES
_told by Anthony Gross_
VI
THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
Delegations from Baltimore called to protest against the "pollution" of
the soil of Maryland by the feet of the soldiers marching across it to
fight against the South. They had no difficulty in understanding the
President's reply:
"We must have troops; and, as they can neither crawl _under_ Maryland
nor fly _over_ it, they must come across it."
When the war had actually begun he delighted in the soldiers' grim
humor in the face of death. He told story after story about the
"boys," laughing, with tears in his gray eyes, at their heroism in
danger. He never laughed at the private soldier, except in the pride
of his hearty patriotism. But he made constant fun of the assumptions
of generals and other high officials. The stories he most enjoyed
telling were of the soldiers' scoffing at rank and pretension. He
delighted in the following:
A picket challenged a tug going up Broad River, South Carolina, with:
"Who goes there?"
"The Secretary of War and Major-General Foster," was the pompous reply.
"Aw! We've got major-generals enough up here--why don't you bring us
up some hardtack?"
On another occasion a friend burst into his room to tell him that a
brigadier-general and twelve army mules had been carried off by a
Confederate raid.
"How unfortunate! Those mules cost us two hundred dollars apiece!" was
the President's only reply.
Mr. Lincoln was a very abstemious man, ate very little and drank
nothing but water, not from principle, but because he did not like wine
or spirits. Once, in rather dark days early in the war, a temperance
committee came to him and said that the reason we did not win was
because our army drank so much whisky as to bring the curse of the Lord
upon them. He said, in reply, that it was rather unfair on the part of
the aforesaid curse, as the other side drank more and worse whisky than
ours did.
Some one urged President Lincoln to place General Frémont in command of
some station. While the President did not want to offend his friend at
a rather critical time of the war, he pushed him gently and firmly
aside in this wise: He said he did not know where to place General
Frémont, and it reminded him of an old man who advised his son to take
a wife, to which the young man responded, "Whose wife shall I take?"
On one occasion, exasperated at the discrepancy between the aggregate
of troops forwarded to McClellan and the number of men the General
reported as having received, Lincoln exclaimed, "Sending men to that
army is like shoveling fleas across a barnyard--half of them never get
there."
Lincoln's orders to his generals are filled with the kindly courtesy,
the direct argument, and the dry humor which are so characteristic of
the man. To Grant, who had telegraphed, "If the thing is pressed, I
think that Lee will surrender," Lincoln replied, "Let the thing be
pressed."
To McClellan, gently chiding him for his inactivity: "I have just read
your despatch about sore tongue and fatigued horse. Will you pardon me
for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of
Antietam that fatigues anything?"
Referring to General McClellan's inactivity, President Lincoln once
expressed his impatience by saying, "McClellan is a pleasant and
scholarly gentleman; he is an admirable engineer, but he seems to have
a special talent for stationary engineering."
After a long period of inaction on the part of the Union forces a
telegram from Cumberland Gap reached Mr. Lincoln, saying that firing
was heard in the direction of Knoxville. The President simply remarked
that he was glad of it. As General Burnside was in a perilous position
in Tennessee at that time, those present were greatly surprised at
Lincoln's calm view of the case. "You see," said the President, "it
reminds me of Mistress Sallie Ward, a neighbor of mine, who had a very
large family. Occasionally one of her numerous progeny would be heard
crying in some out-of-the-way place, upon which Mrs. Ward would
exclaim, 'There's one of my children not dead yet!'"
Writing to Hooker, who succeeded Burnside, Lincoln said:
"I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier, which, of course, I
like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in
which you are right. You have confidence in yourself, which is a
valuable, if not indispensable, quality. You are ambitious, which
within reasonable bounds does good rather than harm; but I think that
during General Burnside's command of the army you have taken counsel
with your ambition, and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you
did a great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious and
honorable brother-officer. I have heard, in such a way as to believe
it, of your recently saying that both the army and the government
needed a dictator. Of course, it is not for this, but in spite of it,
that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain
successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military
success, and I will risk the dictatorship."
General Fry, who was Provost-Marshal of the War Department and received
daily instructions from the President in regard to the draft for
troops, which was one of the most embarrassing and perplexing questions
that arose during the war, illustrates this peculiar trait by an
anecdote. He says:
"Upon one occasion the Governor of a State came to my office bristling
with complaints in relation to the number of troops required from his
State, the details of drafting the men, and the plan of compulsory
service in general. I found it impossible to satisfy his demands, and
accompanied him to the Secretary of War's office, whence, after a
stormy interview with Stanton, he went alone to press his ultimatum
upon the highest authority. After I had waited anxiously for some
hours, expecting important orders or decisions from the President, or
at least a summons to the White House for explanation, the Governor
returned, and said, with a pleasant smile, that he was going home by
the next train, and merely dropping in _en route_ to say good-by.
Neither the business he came upon nor his interview with the President
was alluded to.
"As soon as I could see Lincoln I said: 'Mr. President, I am very
anxious to learn how you disposed of Governor ----. He went to your
office from the War Department in a towering rage. I suppose you found
it necessary to make large concessions to him, as he returned from you
entirely satisfied.'
"'Oh no,' he replied, 'I did not concede anything. You know how that
Illinois farmer managed the big log that lay in the middle of the
field? To the inquiries of his neighbors, one Sunday, he announced
that he had got rid of the big log. "Got rid of it!" said they. "How
did you do it? It was too big to haul out, too knotty to split, and
too wet and soggy to burn; what did you do?" "Well, now, boys,"
replied the farmer, "if you won't divulge the secret, I'll tell you how
I got rid of it. I _plowed around_ it." Now,' said Lincoln, 'don't
tell anybody, but that's the way I got rid of Governor ----. I _plowed
around_ him, but it took me three mortal hours to do it, and I was
afraid every moment he'd see what I was at.'"
Commenting on Jeb Stuart's raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania and his
complete circuit of McClellan's army and his return over the river
unharmed despite McClellan's attempt to head him off, Lincoln remarked:
"When I was a boy we used to play a game, three times round and out.
Stuart has been round twice; if he goes round him once more, gentlemen,
McClellan will be out."
The General ascribed Stuart's success to his lack of horses, and
telegraphed that unless the army got more horses there would be similar
expeditions. To this Halleck telegraphed:
"The President has read your telegram, and
[Transcriber's note: end of this extract.]
The following
is reprinted by permission from
RECOLLECTIONS AND LETTERS
OF ROBERT E. LEE
by his son Captain Robert E. Lee
LEE'S OPINION UPON THE LATE WAR
envelope in which they were inclosed was the following indorsement in
General Lee's handwriting:
"LONDON, July 31, 1866.
"Herbert C. Saunders asks permission to publish his conversation with
me. August 22d--Refused."
"3 BOLTON GARDENS, SOUTH KENSINGTON,
"LONDON, July 31, 1866.
"_My Dear General Lee_: Presuming on the acquaintance with you which I
had the honour and pleasure of making last November at Lexington, while
travelling in Virginia, I venture now to write to you under these
circumstances. You may remember that, at the time I presented to you
my letter of introduction, I told you that two other Englishmen,
friends of mine, who had come with me to America, were then making a
tour through Georgia, the Carolinas, and some other Southern States.
One of them, Mr. Kennaway, was so much interested with all he saw, and
the people at home have appreciated his letters descriptive of it so
well, that he is intending to publish a short account of his visit.
Not having, however, had an introduction to yourself, he is anxious to
avail himself of the somewhat full accounts I wrote home at the time,
descriptive of my most interesting interview with you, and, with this
view, he has asked me to put into the shape of a letter all those more
prominent points which occur to me as gathered from my letters and my
recollection, and which are likely to interest and instruct the English
public. I have, after some hesitation, acceded to the request--a
hesitation caused mainly by the fact that at the time I saw you I
neither prepared my notes with a view to publication nor did I inform
you that there was any chance of what you told me being repeated. I
may add that I never until a month or two ago had the slightest thought
of publishing anything, and, in fact, have constantly resisted the many
applications by my friends that I should let my letters see the light.
My object in now writing to you is to know whether you have any
objection to my giving my friend the inclosed short account of our
interview, as it would, I am convinced, add greatly to the interest of
the narrative. If you have no objection to this, perhaps you would
kindly correct any statements put into your mouth which are not quite
accurate, or expunge anything which might prejudice you with the public
either of the North or the South, if unluckily anything of this nature
should have crept in. My letters were written a day or two after the
conversation, but you had so much of interest and new to tell me that I
do not feel sure that I may not have confused names of battles, etc.,
in some instances. It will be necessary for me to deliver my part of
the performance early in September to the publishers, and, therefore, I
should feel much obliged by your sending me an answer at your earliest
convenience. There will be a mail due here about the first of that
month, leaving the United States on Wednesday, the 22d., and I shall,
therefore, wait till its arrival before sending my letter to Mr.
Kennaway; but should I not hear from you then I shall consider you have
no objections to make or alterations to suggest, and act accordingly.
If you have any new facts which you think it desirable should be known
by the public, it will give me much pleasure to be the medium of their
communication.
"I am sure I need scarcely tell you with what keen interest I have read
all the accounts from your continent of the proceedings in Congress and
elsewhere in connection with the reconstruction of the South. I do
sincerely trust it may be eventually effected in a way satisfactory to
the South, and I most deeply deplore the steps taken by the Radical
side of the House to set the two (North and South) by the ears again.
President Johnson's policy seems to me to be that which, if pursued,
would be most likely to contribute to the consolidation of the country;
but I am both surprised and pained to find how little power the
Executive has against so strong a faction as the Radicals, who, while
they claim to represent the North, do, in fact, but misrepresent the
country. I am sure you will believe that I say with sincerity that I
always take great interest in anything I hear said or that I read of
yourself, and I am happy to say that, even with all the rancour of the
Northern Radicals against the South, it is little they find of ill to
say of you.
"Hoping you will not think I am doing wrong in the course I propose to
take, and that your answer may be satisfactory, I remain, my dear
General Lee,
"Yours very sincerely, HERBERT C. SAUNDERS.
"GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE."
"LEXINGTON, Virginia, August 22, 1866.
"MR. HERBERT C. SAUNDERS,
"3 Bolton Gardens,
"South Kensington, London, England.
"_My Dear Mr. Saunders_: I received to-day your letter of the 31st ult.
What I stated to you in conversation, during the visit which you did me
the honour to pay me in November last, was entirely for your own
information, and was in no way intended for publication. My only
object was to gratify the interest which you apparently evinced on the
several topics which were introduced, and to point to facts which you
might investigate, if you so desired, in your own way. I have an
objection to the publication of my private conversations, which are
never intended but for those to whom they are addressed. I cannot,
therefore, without an entire disregard of the rule which I have
followed in other cases, and in violation of my own sense of propriety,
assent to what you propose. I hope, therefore, you will excuse me.
What you may think proper to publish I hope will be the result of your
own observations and convictions, and not on my authority. In the
hasty perusal which I have been obliged to give the manuscript inclosed
to me, I perceive many inaccuracies, resulting as much, perhaps, from
my imperfect narration as from misapprehension on your part. Though
fully appreciating your kind wish to correct certain erroneous
statements as regards myself, I prefer remaining silent to doing
anything that might excite angry discussion at this time, when strong
efforts are being made by conservative men, North and South, to sustain
President Johnson in his policy, which, I think, offers the only means
of healing the lamentable divisions of the country, and which the
result of the late convention at Philadelphia gives great promise of
doing. Thanking you for the opportunity afforded me of expressing my
opinion before executing your purpose, I am, etc.,
"R. E. LEE."
The following is Mr. Saunders' account of the interview:
"On only one subject would he talk at any length about his own conduct,
and that was with reference to the treatment of the Federal prisoners
who had fallen into his hands. He seemed to feel deeply the backhanded
stigma cast upon him by his having been included by name in the first
indictment framed against Wirz, though he was afterward omitted from
the new charges. He explained to me the circumstances under which he
had arranged with McClellan for the exchange of prisoners; how he had,
after the battles of Manassas, Fredericksburg, and (I think)
Chancellorsville, sent all the wounded over to the enemy on the
engagement of their generals to parole them. He also told me that on
several occasions his commissary generals had come to him after a
battle and represented that he had not rations enough both for
prisoners and the army when the former had to be sent several days'
march to their place of confinement, and he had always given orders
that the wants of the prisoners should be first attended to, as from
their position they could not save themselves from starvation by
foraging or otherwise, as the army could when in straits for
provisions. The General also explained how every effort had always
been made by the Confederates to do away with the necessity of
retaining prisoners by offering every facility for exchange, till at
last, when all exchange was refused, they found themselves with 30,000
prisoners for whom they were quite unable to do as much as they wished
in the way of food. He stated, furthermore, that many of their
hardships arose from the necessity of constantly changing the prisons
to prevent recapture. With the management of the prisons he assured me
he had no more to do than I had, and did not even know that Wirz was in
charge of Andersonville prison (at least, I think he asserted this)
till after the war was over. I could quite sympathise with him in his
feeling of pain under which his generous nature evidently suffered that
the authorities at Washington should have included him and others
similarly circumstanced in this charge of cruelty at the time that
letters written by himself (General Lee), taken in Richmond when
captured, complaining that the troops in his army had actually been for
days together on several occasions without an ounce of meat, were in
possession of the military authorities.
"When discussing the state of feeling in England with regard to the
war, he assured me that it had all along given him the greatest
pleasure to feel that the Southern cause had the sympathies of so many
in the 'old country,' to which he looked as a second home; but, in
answer to my questions, he replied that he had never expected us to
give them material aid, and added that he thought all governments were
right in studying only the interests of their own people and in not
going to war for an 'idea' when they had no distinct cause of quarrel.
"On the subject of slavery, he assured me that he had always been in
favour of the emancipation of the negroes, and that in Virginia the
feeling had been strongly inclining in the same direction, till the
ill-judged enthusiasm (amounting to rancour) of the abolitionists in
the North had turned the Southern tide of feeling in the other
direction. In Virginia, about thirty years ago, an ordinance for the
emancipation of the slaves had been rejected by only a small majority,
and every one fully expected at the next convention it would have been
carried, but for the above cause. He went on to say that there was
scarcely a Virginian now who was not glad that the subject had been
definitely settled, though nearly all regretted that they had not been
wise enough to do it themselves the first year of the war. Allusion
was made by him to a conversation he had with a distinguished
countryman of mine. He had been visiting a large slave plantation
(Shirley) on the James River. The Englishman had told him that the
working population were better cared for there than in any country he
had ever visited, but that he must never expect an approval of the
institution of slavery by England, or aid from her in any cause in
which that question was involved. Taking these facts and the
well-known antipathy of the mass of the English to the institution into
consideration, he said he had never expected help from England. The
people 'at the South' (as the expression is), in the main, though
scarcely unanimously, seem to hold much the same language as General
Lee with reference to our neutrality, and to be much less bitter than
Northerners generally--who, I must confess, in my own opinion, have
much less cause to complain of our interpretation of the laws of
neutrality than the South. I may mention here, by way of parenthesis,
that I was, on two separate occasions (once in Washington and once in
Lexington), told that there were many people in the country who wished
that General Washington had never lived and that they were still
subjects of Queen Victoria; but I should certainly say as a rule the
Americans are much too well satisfied with themselves for this feeling
to be at all common. General Lee, in the course of this to me most
interesting evening's _séance_, gave me many details of the war too
long to put on paper, but, with reference to the small result of their
numerous victories, accounted for it in this way: the force which the
Confederates brought to bear was so often inferior in numbers to that
of the Yankees that the more they followed up the victory against one
portion of the enemy's line the more did they lay themselves open to
being surrounded by the remainder of the enemy. He likened the
operation to a man breasting a wave of the sea, who, as rapidly as he
clears a way before him, is enveloped by the very water he has
displaced. He spoke of the final surrender as inevitable owing to the
superiority in numbers of the enemy. His own army had, during the last
few weeks, suffered materially from defection in its ranks, and,
discouraged by failures and worn out by hardships, had at the time of
the surrender only 7,892 men under arms, and this little army was
almost surrounded by one of 100,000. They might, the General said with
an air piteous to behold, have cut their way out as they had done
before, but, looking upon the struggle as hopeless, I was not surprised
to hear him say that he thought it cruel to prolong it. In two other
battles he named (Sharpsburg and Chancellorsville, I think he said),
the Confederates were to the Federals in point of numbers as 35,000 to
120,000 and as 45,000 to 155,000 respectively, so that the mere
disparity of numbers was not sufficient to convince him of the
necessity of surrender; but feeling that his own army was persuaded of
the ultimate hopelessness of the contest as evidenced by their
defection, he took the course of surrendering his army in lieu of
reserving it for utter annihilation.
"Turning to the political bearing of the important question at issue,
the great Southern general gave me, at some length, his feelings with
regard to the abstract right of secession. This right, he told me, was
held as a constitutional maxim at the South. As to its exercise at the
time on the part of the South, he was distinctly opposed, and it was
not until Lincoln issued a proclamation for 75,000 men to invade the
South, which was deemed clearly unconstitutional, that Virginia
withdrew from the United States.
"We discussed a variety of other topics, and, at eleven o'clock when I
rose to go, he begged me to stay on, as he found the nights full long.
His son, General Custis Lee, who had distinguished himself much during
the war, but whom I had not the good fortune of meeting, is the only
one of his family at present with him at Lexington, where he occupies
the position of a professor in the Military Institute of Virginia.
This college had 250 cadets in it when the war broke out, General
'Stonewall' Jackson being one of the professors. At one moment in the
war, when the Federals were advancing steadily up the Shenandoah
Valley, these youths (from 16 to 22 years of age) were marched to join
the Confederate Army, and did good service. In one battle at
Newmarket, of which I shall have occasion to speak later in my letters,
they distinguished themselves in a conspicuous way under the leadership
of Colonel Shipp, who is still their commandant. By a brilliant
charge, they contributed, in a great measure, to turn the tide of
affairs, losing nine of their number killed and more than forty
wounded. General Hunter, on a subsequent occasion, when occupying
Lexington with a body of Federal troops, quartered his men in the
Military Institute for several days, and, on leaving, had the
building--a very handsome and extensive one--fired in numerous places,
completely destroying all but the external walls, which now stand. The
professors' houses stood in detached positions, and these, too, with
the house of Mr. Letcher, a former governor of the State, he also burnt
to the ground. The Washington College, the presidency of which General
Lee now holds, they also ransacked, destroying everything it contained,
and were preparing it for the flames, to which they were with
difficulty restrained from devoting it by earnest representations of
its strictly educational nature."