BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION, 1857-1861.
James Buchanan was a native of Pennsylvania, born on the 13th of April,
1791. In 1831 he was appointed Minister to Russia, was afterwards
senator of the United States, and Secretary of State under President
Polk. In 1853 he received the appointment of Minister to Great Britain.
As Secretary of State in the new cabinet, General Lewis Cass of
Michigan was chosen.
[Sidenote: Trouble with the Mormons.]
2. In the first year of Buchanan's administration, serious trouble
occurred with the Mormons concerning the enforcement of the authority
of the United States over Utah. An army was sent to the Territory in
1857 to compel obedience. For awhile the Mormons resisted; but when the
President proclaimed a pardon to all who would submit, they yielded;
and order was restored.
[Illustration: James Buchanan.]
[Sidenote: Admission of Minnesota and Oregon.]
3. The 5th of August, 1858, was noted for the completion of the FIRST
TELEGRAPHIC CABLE across the Atlantic. The success of this great work
was due to the genius of Cyrus W. Field of New York. The cable was
stretched from Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, to Valencia Bay, Ireland.
After successful operation for a few weeks the cable ceased to work.
In 1858 Minnesota was added to the Union. The population of the new
State was a hundred and fifty thousand. In the next year, Oregon, the
thirty-third State, was admitted, with a population of forty-eight
thousand.
[Sidenote: John Brown's Raid.]
4. The slavery question continued to vex the nation. In 1857 the
Supreme Court of the United States, after hearing the cause of Dred
Scott, formerly a slave, decided _that negroes are not and can not
become citizens_. Thereupon, in several of the free States, PERSONAL
LIBERTY BILLS were passed, to defeat the Fugitive Slave Law. In the
fall of 1859, John Brown of Kansas, with a party of twenty-one daring
men, captured the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and held his ground for
two days. The national troops were called out to suppress the revolt.
Thirteen of Brown's men were killed, two made their escape, and the
rest were captured. The leader and his six companions were tried by the
authorities of Virginia, condemned and hanged.
[Sidenote: Election of Abraham Lincoln.]
5. In the presidential canvass of 1860 the candidate of the Republican
party was Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. The distinct principle of
this party was opposition to the extension of slavery. In April the
Democratic convention assembled at Charleston; but the Southern
delegates withdrew from the assembly. The rest adjourned to Baltimore
and chose Douglas as their standard-bearer. There, also, the delegates
from the South reassembled in June, and nominated John C. Breckinridge
of Kentucky. The American party chose as their candidate John Bell of
Tennessee. The contest resulted in the election of Mr. Lincoln.
6. The leaders of the South had declared that the choice of Lincoln
for the presidency would be a just cause for the dissolution of the
Union. A majority of the cabinet, and a large number of senators and
representatives in Congress, were advocates of disunion. It was seen
that all the departments of the government would shortly pass under the
control of the Republican party. President Buchanan was not himself a
disunionist; but he declared himself not armed with the constitutional
power to prevent secession by force.
[Sidenote: The Secession of Southern States.]
7. On the 17th of December, 1860, a convention met at Charleston,
and after three days passed a resolution _that the union hitherto
existing between South Carolina and the other States was dissolved_.
The sentiment of disunion spread with great rapidity. By the first
of February, 1861, six other States--Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas--had all passed ordinances of secession.
Nearly all the senators and representatives of those States resigned
their seats in Congress and gave themselves to the disunion cause.
8. In the secession conventions a few of the speakers denounced
disunion as bad and ruinous. In the convention of Georgia, Alexander
H. Stephens delivered a powerful oration in which he defended the
theory of secession, but urged that _the measure was impolitic, unwise,
disastrous_.
[Sidenote: Confederation of the South.]
9. On the 4th of February, 1861, delegates from six of the seceded
States assembled at Montgomery, Alabama, and formed a new government,
called the CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. On the 8th, the government
was organized by the election of Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, as
provisional President, and Alexander H. Stephens, as Vice-president. A
few days previous a peace conference met at Washington, and proposed
certain amendments to the Constitution. But Congress gave little heed;
and the conference adjourned.
10. The country seemed on the verge of ruin. The army was on remote
frontiers--the fleet in distant seas. With the exception of Forts
Sumter, Moultrie, Pickens, and Monroe, all the important posts in the
seceded States had been seized by the Confederate authorities. Early in
January, the President sent the _Star of the West_ to reinforce Fort
Sumter. But the ship was fired on, and not allowed to land.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.--PART V.
CHAPTER XXIX.
1. Give an account of the inauguration of the first President, and of
the organization of his Cabinet.
2. Outline the important measures of Washington's first and of his
second Administration.
3. Tell about the troubles with the Miami Indians.
4. What difficulty with Great Britain arose during the second
Administration, and how was it adjusted?
CHAPTER XXX.
5. Sketch the Administration of the second President, and give the
relations existing at this time between the United States and France.
6. Tell about the "Alien" and "Sedition" laws.
CHAPTER XXXI.
7. Give an account of the election of Thomas Jefferson, and of the
changes that took place in the early part of his Administration.
8. Give an account of the organization of Indiana Territory, and also
of the Louisiana Purchase.
9. Tell the story of Aaron Burr and his treason.
10. Tell of the British claim to the "right of search," and of the
immediate results in America.
CHAPTER XXXII.
11. Give an account of the election of President Madison, and of our
relations with Great Britain.
12. Follow the Indian war in the Territory of Indiana.
13. Outline the movements, by land and by sea, of the opening campaign
of the war of 1812.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
14. Describe the organization of the American army and the war
movements of 1813.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
15. Give the campaigns of 1814 and their results.
16. Tell about the treaty of peace, also state what had been the causes
of the war, and how the treaty affected the points in dispute.
17. State the condition of monetary affairs in the United States, and
the measures that were adopted in their interest.
CHAPTER XXXV.
18. What characterized the Administration of James Monroe?
19. Give an account of the affairs in Florida, and of the cession of
that territory by Spain to the United States.
20. Tell about the "Missouri Compromise," and the "Monroe Doctrine."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
21. Give the principal features of the peaceful Administration of John
Quincy Adams.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
22. Give an account of President Jackson, and of his treatment of the
nullification doctrines that were brought forward in his time.
23. Tell of the Indian affairs of these years, and of their adjustment.
24. Describe the bank questions that now arose.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
25. Outline the Administration of Martin Van Buren, and especially the
measures adopted to settle the monetary questions.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
26. Sketch the Administrations of Harrison and Tyler.
27. Tell the story of the Mormons.
28. Give an account of the affairs of Texas, and its admission into the
Union as a State.
CHAPTER XL.
29. What was the issue upon which President Polk was elected, and what
were the great events of his term of office?
30. Follow the course of the Mexican war, giving its causes, prominent
generals, leading events, and results.
31. Give an account of the treaty with Mexico.
32. Tell about the affairs in California, and the discovery of gold.
CHAPTER XLI.
33. State how the discussions of the slavery question were reopened by
the admission of California into the Union, and tell of the "Omnibus
Bill."
34. Give an account of the Arctic expeditions of this period.
CHAPTER XLII.
35. Give an account of the leading measures of President Pierce's
Administration, and of the general progress of the nation.
36. What issues were prominent in the election of 1856?
CHAPTER XLIII.
37. Tell of the civil and political affairs of the first three years of
Buchanan's Administration.
38. Give an account of the political campaign of 1860, and the results
of the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency.
PART VI.
THE CIVIL WAR.
1861-1865.
CHAPTER XLIV.
LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION.--THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR.
Abraham Lincoln was a native of Kentucky, born on the 12th of February,
1809. At the age of seven he was taken to southern Indiana, where
his boyhood was passed in poverty and toil. On reaching his majority
he removed to Illinois, where he distinguished himself as a lawyer.
He gained a national reputation in 1858, when, as the competitor of
Stephen A. Douglas, he canvassed Illinois for the United States Senate.
[Illustration: Abraham Lincoln.]
2. The new cabinet was organized with William H. Seward of New York
as Secretary of State. Salmon P. Chase of Ohio was chosen Secretary
of the Treasury, and Simon Cameron, Secretary of War; but he was soon
succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton. The secretaryship of the navy was
conferred on Gideon Welles. In his inaugural address, the President
declared his purpose to repossess the forts and public property which
had been seized by the Confederates. On the 12th of March, a futile
effort was made by the seceded States to obtain recognition from the
national government. Then followed a second attempt to reinforce Fort
Sumter.
[Sidenote: Fort Sumter Fired upon.]
3. The defences of Charleston were held by seventy-nine men under Major
Robert Anderson. With this small force he retired to Fort Sumter.
Confederate volunteers flocked to the city, and batteries were built
about the harbor. The authorities of the Confederate States determined
to anticipate the movement of the government by compelling Anderson to
surrender. On the 11th of April, General P. T. Beauregard, commandant
of Charleston, sent a flag to Sumter, demanding an evacuation. Major
Anderson replied that he should defend the fortress. On the following
morning the first gun was fired from a Confederate battery; and a
bombardment of thirty-four hours' duration followed. The fort was
obliged to capitulate. The honors of war were granted to Anderson and
his men.
[Sidenote: The President calls for Volunteers.]
4. Three days after the fall of Sumter the President issued a call for
seventy-five thousand volunteers to serve three months. Two days later
Virginia seceded from the Union. On the 6th of May, Arkansas followed,
and then North Carolina, on the 20th of the month. In Tennessee there
was a powerful opposition to disunion, and it was not until the 8th
of June that a secession ordinance could be passed. In Missouri the
movement resulted in civil war, while in Kentucky the authorities
issued a proclamation of neutrality. The people of Maryland were
divided into hostile parties.
[Sidenote: Harper's Ferry and Norfolk seized.]
5. On the 19th of April, when the Massachusetts volunteers were passing
through Baltimore, they were fired upon by the citizens and three men
killed. This was the first bloodshed of the war. On the day previous,
a body of Confederate soldiers captured the armory of the United
States at Harper's Ferry. On the 20th of the month another company
obtained possession of the great navy yard at Norfolk. The property
thus captured amounted to fully ten millions of dollars. On the 3d of
May the President issued a call for eighty-three thousand soldiers to
serve for three years or during the war. General Winfield Scott was
made commander-in-chief. War ships were sent to blockade the Southern
ports. In the seceded States there was boundless activity. The Southern
Congress adjourned from Montgomery, to meet on the 20th of July, at
Richmond. There Mr. Davis and the officers of his cabinet had assembled
to direct the affairs of the government. So stood the antagonistic
powers in the beginning of June, 1861. It is appropriate to look
briefly into THE CAUSES of the conflict.
CHAPTER XLV.
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR.
[Sidenote: Meaning of the Constitution.]
The most general cause of the civil war in the United States was _the
different construction put upon the Constitution by the people of the
North and of the South_. A difference of opinion existed as to how that
instrument was to be understood. One party held that the Union of the
States is indissoluble; that the States are subordinate to the central
government; that the acts of Congress are binding on the States; and
that all attempts at nullification and disunion are disloyal and
treasonable. The other party held that the national Constitution is a
compact between sovereign States; that for certain reasons the Union
may be dissolved; that the sovereignty of the nation belongs to the
individual States; that a State may annul an act of Congress; that the
highest allegiance of the citizen is due to his own State; and that
nullification and disunion are justifiable and honorable.
2. This question struck into the very heart of the government. It
threatened to undo the whole civil structure of the United States. In
the earlier history of the country the doctrine of State sovereignty
was most advocated in New England. Afterwards the people of that
section passed over to the advocacy of national sovereignty, while the
people of the South took up the doctrine of State rights. As early as
1831 the right of nullifying an act of Congress was openly advocated in
South Carolina. Thus it happened that the belief in State sovereignty
became more prevalent in the South than in the North.
[Sidenote: Systems of Labor.]
3. A second cause of the civil war was _the different system of labor
in the North and in the South_. In the former section the laborers
were freemen; in the latter, slaves. In the South the theory was that
capital should own labor; in the North that both labor and capital are
free. In the beginning all the colonies had been slaveholding. In the
Eastern and Middle States the system of slave-labor had been abolished.
In the Northwestern Territory slavery was excluded from the beginning.
Thus there came to be a dividing line drawn through the Union. Whenever
the question of slavery was agitated, a sectional division would arise
between the North and the South. The danger arising from this source
was increased by several subordinate causes.
4. The first of these was the invention of the COTTON GIN to replace
hand-labor in separating the fiber from the seeds of the cotton plant.
It was invented in 1793 by Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, and through
its immediate adoption cotton suddenly became the most profitable of
all the staples. In proportion to the increased profitableness of
cotton, slave-labor grew in demand and slavery became an important and
deep-rooted institution.
5. From this time onward, there was constant danger of disunion.
In the MISSOURI AGITATION of 1820-21, threats of dissolving the
Union were freely made in both the North and the South. When the
Missouri Compromise was enacted, it was the hope of Mr. Clay and his
fellow-statesmen to save the Union by removing the slavery question
from politics.
6. Next came the NULLIFICATION ACTS of South Carolina. The Southern
States had become cotton-producing; the Eastern States had given
themselves to manufacturing. The tariff measures favored manufacturers
at the expense of producers. Mr. Calhoun proposed to remedy the evil
by annulling the laws of Congress; and another compromise was found
necessary in order to allay the animosities which had been awakened.
7. The ANNEXATION OF TEXAS led to a renewal of the agitation. Those who
opposed the Mexican War did so because of the fact that thereby slavery
would be extended. Whether the territory acquired should be made into
free or slaveholding States was the question next agitated. This led to
the OMNIBUS BILL, by which the excitement was again allayed.
8. In 1854 the KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL opened the question anew.
Meanwhile, the character of the Northern and the Southern people had
become quite different. In population and wealth the North had far
outgrown the South. In 1860 Mr. Lincoln was elected by the votes of the
Northern States. The people of the South were exasperated at the choice
of a chief-magistrate whom they regarded as hostile to their interests.
[Sidenote: Sectional Estrangement.]
9. The third general cause of the war was _the want of intercourse
between the people of the North and the South_. The great railroads ran
east and west. Between the North and the South there was little travel.
From want of acquaintance the people became estranged, jealous, and
suspicious.
10. A fourth cause was _the publication of sectional books_. During
the twenty years preceding the war, many works were published whose
popularity depended on the animosity existing between the two sections.
In such books the manners and customs of one section were held up to
the contempt of the people of the other section. In the North the
belief was fostered that the South was given up to inhumanity; while in
the South the opinion prevailed that the Northern people were a mean
race of cowardly Yankees.
[Sidenote: Influence of Demagogues.]
11. _The evil influence of demagogues_ may be cited as the fifth
general cause of the war. From 1850 to 1860, American statesmanship
and patriotism were at a low ebb. Ambitious and scheming politicians
had obtained control of the political parties. The welfare of the
country was put aside as of little value. In order to gain power, many
unprincipled men in the South were anxious _to destroy_ the Union,
while others in the North were willing _to abuse_ the Union for the
same purpose.
12. Added to all these causes was _a growing public opinion in the
North against the institution of slavery itself_; a belief that slavery
was wrong and ought to be destroyed. This opinion, comparatively feeble
at the beginning of the war, was rapidly developed, and had much to do
in determining the final character of the conflict.
CHAPTER XLVI.
EVENTS OF 1861.
[Sidenote: Operations in West Virginia.]
On the 24th of May the Union army crossed the Potomac from Washington
to Alexandria. At this time Fortress Monroe was held by twelve thousand
men, under General B. F. Butler. At Bethel Church, in that vicinity,
was stationed a detachment of Confederates. On the 10th of June, a
body of Union troops was sent to dislodge them, but was repulsed with
considerable loss.
[Illustration: Vicinity of Manassas Junction, 1861.]
2. In the last of May, General T. A. Morris moved forward from
Parkersburg to Grafton, West Virginia. On the 3d of June he defeated
a force of Confederates at Phillippi. General George B. McClellan now
took the command, and on the 11th of July gained a victory at Rich
Mountain. On the 10th of August, General Floyd, with a detachment
of Confederates at Carnifex Ferry, was attacked by General William
S. Rosecrans and obliged to retreat. On the 14th of September the
Confederates, under General Robert E. Lee, were beaten in an engagement
at Cheat Mountain.
3. In the beginning of June, General Robert Patterson marched against
Harper's Ferry. On the 11th of the month a division commanded by
Colonel Lewis Wallace made a successful onset upon the Confederates
at Romney. Patterson then crossed the Potomac and pressed back the
Confederate forces to Winchester. Thus far there had been only petty
engagements and skirmishes. The time had now come for the first great
battle of the war.
[Sidenote: First Battle of Bull Run.]
4. The main body of the Confederates, under General Beauregard,
was concentrated at Manassas Junction, twenty-seven miles west of
Alexandria. Another large force, commanded by General Joseph E.
Johnston, was in the Shenandoah Valley. The Union army at Alexandria
was commanded by General Irwin McDowell, while General Patterson was
stationed in front of Johnston. On the 16th of July the national army
moved forward, and on the morning of the 21st came upon the Confederate
army between Bull Run and Manassas Junction. A general battle ensued,
continuing with great severity until noonday. In the crisis of the
conflict General Johnston arrived with nearly six thousand fresh troops
from the Shenandoah Valley; and in a short time McDowell's army was
hurled back in rout and confusion into the defenses of Washington. The
Union loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners amounted to two thousand
nine hundred and fifty-two; that of the Confederates to two thousand
and fifty.
5. Meanwhile, on the 20th of July, the new Confederate government was
organized at Richmond. Jefferson Davis, the President, was a man of
wide experience in the affairs of state, and considerable reputation as
a soldier. He had served in both houses of the national Congress, and
as a member of Pierce's cabinet. His decision of character and advocacy
of State rights had made him a natural leader of the South.
[Sidenote: Operations in Missouri.]
6. The next military movements were made in Missouri. A convention,
called by Governor Jackson in the previous March, had refused to
pass an ordinance of secession. But the disunionists were numerous
and powerful; and the State became a battlefield. Both Federal and
Confederate camps were organized. By capturing the United States
arsenal at Liberty, the Confederates obtained a supply of arms and
ammunition.
7. They hurried up troops, also, from Arkansas and Texas in order to
secure the lead mines in the southwest part of the State. On the 17th
of June Lyon defeated Governor Jackson at Booneville, and on the 5th of
July the Unionists, led by Colonel Franz Sigel, were again successful
in a fight at Carthage. On the 10th of August a hard battle was fought
at Wilson's Creek, near Springfield. General Lyon made a daring attack
on the Confederates under Generals McCulloch and Price. The Federals
at first gained the field, but General Lyon was killed, and his men
retreated.
8. General Price now pressed northward to Lexington, which was defended
by two thousand six hundred Federals, commanded by Colonel Mulligan. A
stubborn defence was made, but Mulligan was obliged to capitulate. On
the 16th of October Lexington was retaken by the Federals. General John
C. Fremont followed the retreating Confederates as far as Springfield,
when he was superseded by General Hunter. The latter retreated to St.
Louis, and Price fell back toward Arkansas.
9. The Confederates captured the town of Columbus in Kentucky, and also
gathered in force at Belmont, on the opposite bank of the Mississippi.
Colonel Ulysses S. Grant, with three thousand Illinois troops, was now
sent into Missouri. On the 7th of November he made a successful attack
on Belmont; but was afterwards obliged to retreat.
[Sidenote: Ball's Bluff.]
10. After the rout at Bull Run, troops were rapidly hurried to
Washington. The aged General Scott retired from active duty, and
General McClellan took command of the Army of the Potomac. By October
his forces had increased to a hundred and fifty thousand men. On the
21st of that month two thousand troops were sent across the Potomac at
Ball's Bluff. Without proper support, the Federals were attacked by a
force of Confederates under General Evans, driven to the river, their
leader, Colonel Baker, killed, and the whole force routed with a loss
of eight hundred men.
[Sidenote: Southern Coast Blockaded.]
11. In the summer of 1861 a naval expedition proceeded to the North
Carolina coast, and on the 29th of August captured the forts at
Hatteras Inlet. On the 7th of November an armament, under Commodore
Samuel F. Du Pont and General Thomas W. Sherman, reached Port Royal,
and captured Forts Walker and Beauregard. The blockade became so
rigorous that communication between the Confederate States and foreign
nations was cut off. In this juncture of affairs, a serious difficulty
arose with Great Britain.
[Illustration: George B. McClellan.]
[Sidenote: Mason and Slidell.]
12. The Confederate government appointed James M. Mason and John
Slidell as ambassadors to France and England. The envoys, escaping from
Charleston, reached Havana in safety. At that port they took passage
on the British steamer _Trent_ for Europe. On the 8th of November
the vessel was overtaken by the United States frigate _San Jacinto_,
commanded by Captain Wilkes. The _Trent_ was hailed and boarded; the
two ambassadors were seized, transferred to the _San Jacinto_, and
carried to Boston. When the _Trent_ reached England, the whole kingdom
burst out in a blaze of wrath.
13. At first the government of the United States was disposed to
defend Captain Wilkes's action. Had such a course been taken, war with
Great Britain would have been inevitable. The country was saved from
the peril by the diplomacy of William H. Seward, the Secretary of
State. When Great Britain demanded reparation for the insult, and the
liberation of the prisoners, he replied in a mild, cautious, and very
able paper. It was conceded that the seizure of Mason and Slidell was
not justifiable according to the law of nations. An apology was made
for the wrong done; the Confederate ambassadors were liberated, put on
board a vessel, and sent to their destination. So ended the first year
of the civil war.
CHAPTER XLVII.
CAMPAIGNS OF 1862.
The Federal forces now numbered about four hundred and fifty thousand
men. Of these nearly two hundred thousand, under General McClellan,
were encamped near Washington. Another army, commanded by General
Buell, was stationed at Louisville, Kentucky.
2. At the beginning of the year the capture of Fort Henry on the
Tennessee and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland, was planned by General
Halleck. Commodore Foote was sent up the Tennessee with a fleet of
gunboats, and General Grant was ordered to move forward against
Fort Henry. Before the land-forces reached that place, the flotilla
compelled the evacuation of the fort, the Confederates escaping to
Donelson.
[Sidenote: Fort Donelson.]
3. The Federal gunboats now dropped down the Tennessee and then
ascended the Cumberland. Grant pressed on from Fort Henry, and began
the siege of Fort Donelson. The defences were manned by ten thousand
Confederates, under General Buckner. Grant's force numbered nearly
thirty thousand. On the 16th of February Buckner was obliged to
surrender. His army became prisoners of war, and all the magazines,
stores, and guns of the fort fell into the hands of the Federals.
[Sidenote: Battle of Shiloh.]
4. General Grant now ascended the Tennessee to Pittsburg Landing. A
camp was established at Shiloh Church, near the river; and here, on
the 6th of April, the Union army was attacked by the Confederates, led
by Generals Albert S. Johnston and Beauregard. All day long the battle
raged with great slaughter on both sides. Night fell on the scene
with the conflict undecided; but in the crisis General Buell arrived
with strong reinforcements. In the morning General Grant assumed the
offensive. General Johnston had been killed, and Beauregard was obliged
to retreat to Corinth. The losses in killed, wounded, and missing were
more than ten thousand on each side.
[Sidenote: Island Number Ten.]
5. After the Confederates evacuated Columbus, Kentucky, they fortified
Island Number Ten in the Mississippi, opposite New Madrid. Against
this place General Pope advanced with a body of Western troops, while
Commodore Foote descended the Mississippi with his gunboats. Pope
captured New Madrid; and for twenty-three days Island Number Ten was
besieged. On the 7th of April the Confederates attempted to escape;
but Pope had cut off the retreat, and the garrison, numbering five
thousand, was captured. On the 6th of June the city of Memphis was
taken by the fleet of Commodore Davis.
6. Early in the year General Curtis pushed forward into Arkansas, and
took position at Pea Ridge, among the mountains. Here he was attacked
on the 6th of March by a Confederate force of twenty thousand men,
which included a large number of Indians from the adjacent Indian
Territory. A hard-fought battle ensued, lasting for two days, in which
the Federals were victorious.
[Sidenote: The Merrimac and the Monitor.]
7. After the destruction of the navy yard at Norfolk, the Confederates
had raised the frigate _Merrimac_, one of the sunken ships, and plated
the sides with iron. The vessel was then sent to attack the Union
fleet at Fortress Monroe. Reaching that place on the 8th of March, the
_Merrimac_ began the work of destruction; and two valuable vessels,
the _Cumberland_ and the _Congress_, were sent to the bottom. During
the night, however, a strange ship, called the _Monitor_, invented by
Captain John Ericsson, arrived from New York; and on the following
morning the two iron-clad monsters turned their enginery upon each
other. After fighting for five hours, the _Merrimac_ was obliged to
retire to Norfolk, badly damaged.
[Illustration: Merrimac and Monitor.]
8. On the 8th of February a Federal squadron attacked the Confederate
fortifications on Roanoke Island. The garrison, nearly three thousand
strong, were taken prisoners. Burnside next proceeded against Newbern,
and on the 14th of March captured the city. Proceeding southward,
he reached the harbor of Beaufort, and on the 25th of April took
possession of the town.
[Sidenote: Capture of New Orleans.]
9. On the 11th of the same month Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of the
Savannah, surrendered to General Gillmore. Early in April, a powerful
squadron, under General Butler and Admiral Farragut, ascended the
Mississippi and attacked Forts Jackson and St. Philip, thirty miles
above the Gulf. From the 18th to the 24th the fight continued without
cessation. At the end of that time Admiral Farragut succeeded in
running past the batteries. On the next day he reached New Orleans,
and captured the city. General Butler became commandant, and the
fortifications were manned with fifteen thousand Federal soldiers.
Three days afterwards, Forts Jackson and St. Philip surrendered to
Admiral Porter.
[Sidenote: Campaign in Kentucky.]
10. The Confederates now invaded Kentucky, in two strong divisions, the
one led by General Kirby Smith and the other by General Bragg. On the
30th of August Smith's army reached Richmond, and routed the Federals
stationed there, with heavy losses. Lexington was taken, and then
Frankfort; and Cincinnati was saved from capture only by the exertions
of General Wallace. Meanwhile, the army of General Bragg advanced from
Chattanooga, and on the 17th of September captured a Federal division
of four thousand five hundred men at Mumfordsville. The Confederate
general pressed on toward Louisville, and would have taken the city but
for the arrival of General Buell. Buell's army was increased to one
hundred thousand men. In October he again took the field, and on the
8th of the month overtook General Bragg at Perryville. Here a severe
but indecisive battle was fought; and the Confederates, laden with
spoils, continued their retreat into east Tennessee.
[Sidenote: Operations in Mississippi.]
11. On the 19th of September a hard battle was fought at Iuka,
between a Federal army, under Generals Rosecrans and Grant, and a
Confederate force, under General Price. The latter was defeated,
losing, in addition to his killed and wounded, nearly a thousand
prisoners. Rosecrans now took post at Corinth with twenty thousand
men; while Grant, with the remainder of the Federal forces, proceeded
to Jackson, Tennessee. Generals Van Dorn and Price turned about to
recapture Corinth. There, on the 3d of October, another severe battle
ensued, which ended, after two days' fighting, in the repulse of the
Confederates.
12. In December General Sherman dropped down the river from Memphis
to the Yazoo. On the 29th of the month he made an unsuccessful attack
on the Confederates at Chickasaw Bayou. The assault was exceedingly
disastrous to the Federals, who lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners
more than three thousand men.
[Sidenote: Battle of Murfreesborough.]
13. General Rosecrans was now transferred to the command of the
Army of the Cumberland, with headquarters at Nashville. General
Bragg, on his retirement from Kentucky, had thrown his forces into
Murfreesborough. Rosecrans moved forward, and on the 30th of December
came upon the Confederates on Stone's River, a short distance northwest
of Murfreesborough. On the following morning a furious battle ensued,
continuing until nightfall. The Union army was brought to the verge
of ruin. But during the night Rosecrans rallied his forces, and at
daybreak was ready to renew the conflict. On that day there was a lull.
On the morning of the 2d of January Bragg's army again rushed to the
onset, gained some successes at first, was then checked, and finally
driven back with heavy losses. Bragg withdrew his shattered columns,
and filed off toward Chattanooga.
[Sidenote: Jackson's Valley Campaign.]
14. In Virginia the first scenes of the year were enacted in the
Shenandoah Valley. General Banks was sent forward with a strong
division, and in the last of March occupied the town of Harrisonburg.
To counteract this movement, Stonewall Jackson was sent with twenty
thousand men to pass the Blue Ridge and cut off Banks's retreat. At
Front Royal, the Confederates fell upon the Federals, routed them, and
captured their guns and stores. Banks succeeded, however, in passing
with his main division to Strasburg and escaping out of the valley.
15. Jackson now found himself in great peril, for General Fremont had
been sent into the valley to intercept the Confederate retreat. But
he succeeded in reaching Cross Keys before Fremont could attack him.
The battle at Cross Keys was not decisive, and Jackson pressed on to
Port Republic, where he attacked and defeated the division of General
Shields.
[Illustration: Vicinity of Richmond, 1862.]
16. On the 10th of March the Army of the Potomac set out from the
camps about Washington to capture the Confederate capital. The advance
proceeded as far as Manassas Junction, where McClellan, changing his
plan, embarked a hundred and twenty thousand of his men for Fortress
Monroe. From that place, on the 4th of April, the Union army advanced
to Yorktown. This place was defended by ten thousand Confederates,
under General Magruder; and here McClellan's advance was delayed for
a month. On the 4th of May, Yorktown was taken and the Federal army
pressed on to West Point. McClellan reached the Chickahominy without
serious resistance, and crossed at Bottom's Bridge.
[Sidenote: The Peninsular Campaign.]
17. On the 10th of May General Wool, the commandant of Fortress Monroe,
led an expedition against Norfolk and captured the town. On the next
day the Confederate iron-clad _Virginia_ was blown up to save her from
capture. The James River was thus opened for the supply-transports of
the Army of the Potomac. On the 31st of May that army was attacked at
a place called Fair Oaks, or Seven Pines. Here for a part of two days
the battle raged with great fury. At last the Confederates were driven
back; but McClellan's victory was by no means decisive. General Joseph
E. Johnston, the commander-in-chief of the Confederates, was severely
wounded; and the command devolved on General Robert E. Lee.
[Illustration: Robert E. Lee.]
18. McClellan now formed the design of retiring to a point on the James
below Richmond. Before the movement fairly began, General Lee, on the
25th of June, struck the right wing of the Union army at Oak Grove,
and a hard-fought battle ensued. On the next day another engagement
occurred at Mechanicsville, and the Federals won the field. On the
following morning Lee renewed the struggle at Gaines's Mill, and came
out victorious. On the 29th McClellan's army was attacked at Savage's
Station and again in the White Oak Swamp--but the Confederates were
kept at bay. On the 30th was fought the desperate battle of Glendale,
or Frazier's Farm. On that night the Federal army reached Malvern Hill,
twelve miles below Richmond. General Lee determined to carry the place
by storm. On the morning of the 1st of July the whole Confederate
army rushed forward to the assault. All day long the struggle for the
possession of the high grounds continued. Not until nine o'clock at
night did Lee's columns fall back exhausted. For seven days the roar
of battle had been heard almost without cessation.
19. On the 2d of July McClellan retired with his army to Harrison's
Landing, a few miles down the river; and the great campaign was at an
end. The Federal army had lost more than fifteen thousand men, and the
losses of the Confederates had been still greater.
[Sidenote: Cedar Mountain.]
20. General Lee now formed the design of capturing the Federal capital.
The Union troops between Richmond and Washington were under command of
General John Pope. Lee moved northward, and, on the 20th of August,
Pope retreated beyond the Rappahannock. Meanwhile, General Banks was
attacked by Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, where nothing but hard
fighting saved the Federals from a rout.
21. Jackson next dashed by with his division, on a flank movement to
Manassas Junction, where he made large captures. Pope then threw his
army between the two divisions of the Confederates. On August 28th and
29th, there was terrible fighting on the old Bull Run battle-ground.
At one time it seemed that Lee's army would be defeated; but Pope's
reinforcements were withheld by General Porter, and on the 31st the
Confederates struck the Union army at Chantilly, winning a complete
victory. Pope withdrew his broken columns as rapidly as possible, and
found safety within the defences of Washington.
[Sidenote: Lee in Maryland.]
22. General Lee crossed the Potomac, and on the 6th of September
captured Frederick. On the 10th Hagerstown was taken, and on the 15th
Stonewall Jackson seized Harper's Ferry, with nearly twelve thousand
prisoners. On the previous day, there was a hard-fought engagement at
South Mountain, in which the Federals were victorious. McClellan's army
was now in the rear of Lee, who fell back to Antietam Creek and took a
strong position near Sharpsburg. Then followed two days of skirmishing,
which terminated on the 17th in one of the great battles of the war.
From morning until night the struggle continued with unabated violence,
and ended in a drawn battle, after a loss of more than ten thousand men
on each side. Lee withdrew his forces from the field and recrossed the
Potomac.
[Sidenote: Fredericksburg.]
23. General McClellan moved forward to Rectortown, Virginia. Here
he was superseded by General Burnside, who changed the plan of the
campaign, and advanced against Fredericksburg. At this place the
two armies were again brought face to face. Burnside's movement was
delayed, and it was not until the 12th of December that a passage
could be effected. Meanwhile, the heights south of the river had been
fortified, and the Union columns were hurled back in several desperate
assaults which cost the assailants more than twelve thousand men. Thus
in disaster to the Federal cause ended the campaigns of 1862.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE EVENTS OF 1863.
The war had now grown to enormous proportions. The Confederate States
were draining every resource of men and means. The superior energies of
the North were greatly taxed. On the day after the battle of Malvern
Hill, President Lincoln issued a call for three hundred thousand
troops. During Pope's retreat from the Rappahannock he sent forth
another call for three hundred thousand, and to that was added a draft
of three hundred thousand more. Most of these demands were promptly
met, and it became evident that in resources the Federal government was
vastly superior to the Confederacy.
[Sidenote: The Emancipation Proclamation.]
2. On the 1st day of January, 1863, the President issued the
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. The war had been begun with no well-defined
intention to free the slaves of the South. But during the progress
of the war the sentiment of abolition had grown with great rapidity;
and when at last it became a military necessity to strike a blow at
the labor-system of the South, the step was taken with but little
opposition. Thus, after an existence of two hundred and forty-four
years, African slavery in the United States was swept away.
3. Early in January General Sherman dispatched an expedition to
capture Arkansas Post, on the Arkansas River. The Union forces reached
their destination on the 10th of the month, fought a battle with
the Confederates and gained a victory. On the next day the post was
surrendered with nearly five thousand prisoners.
4. Soon afterwards the Union forces were concentrated for the capture
of Vicksburg. Three months were spent by General Grant in beating
about the bayous around Vicksburg, in the hope of getting a position
in the rear of the town. A canal was cut across a bend in the river
with a view to opening a passage for the gunboats. But a flood washed
the works away. Then another canal was begun, only to be abandoned.
Finally, it was determined to run the fleet past the Vicksburg
batteries. On the night of the 16th of April the boats dropped down
the river. All of a sudden the guns of the enemy burst forth with shot
and shell, pelting the passing steamers; but they went by with little
damage.
[Sidenote: Operations about Vicksburg.]
5. General Grant now marched his land-forces down the Mississippi and
formed a junction with the squadron. On the 1st day of May he defeated
the Confederates at Port Gibson. The evacuation of Grand Gulf followed
immediately. The Union army now swept around to the rear of Vicksburg.
On the 12th of May a Confederate force was defeated at Raymond. On
the 14th of the month a decisive battle was fought near Jackson; the
Confederates were beaten, and the city captured. General Pemberton,
sallying forth with his forces from Vicksburg, was defeated by Grant
on the 16th at Champion Hills, and again on the 17th at Black River
Bridge. Pemberton then retired within the defences of Vicksburg.
[Illustration: Vicksburg and Vicinity, 1863.]
6. The city was now besieged. On the 19th of May Grant made an assault,
but was repulsed with terrible losses. Three days afterwards the
attempt was renewed with a still greater destruction of life. But
the siege was pressed with ever-increasing severity. Admiral Porter
bombarded the town incessantly. Reinforcements swelled the Union
ranks. Pemberton held out until the 4th of July, and was then driven
to surrender. The defenders of Vicksburg, numbering thirty thousand,
became prisoners of war. Thousands of small arms, hundreds of cannon,
and vast quantities of ammunition and stores were the fruits of the
great victory.
7. Meanwhile, General Banks had been conducting a campaign on the Lower
Mississippi. From Baton Rouge he advanced into Louisiana, and gained a
victory over the Confederates at Bayou Teche. He then moved northward
and besieged Port Hudson, the last fort held by the Confederates on the
Mississippi. The garrison made a brave defence; and it was not until
the 8th of July that the commandant, with his force of six thousand
men, was obliged to capitulate.
[Sidenote: =Operations about Chattanooga.=]
8. In the latter part of June Rosecrans succeeded in crowding General
Bragg out of Tennessee. The Union general followed and took post at
Chattanooga, on the left bank of the Tennessee. During the summer Bragg
was reinforced by the corps of Johnston and Longstreet.
9. On the 19th of September he turned upon the Federals at Chickamauga
Creek, in the northwest angle of Georgia. A hard battle was fought, but
night came with the victory undecided. On the following morning the
fight was renewed. Bragg cut through the Union battle line and drove
the right wing into a rout. General Thomas, with desperate firmness,
held the left until nightfall, and then withdrew into Chattanooga.
The Union loss amounted to nearly nineteen thousand, and that of the
Confederates was even greater.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING STATES IN SECESSION during the CIVIL WAR]
10. General Bragg pressed forward to besiege Chattanooga. But General
Hooker arrived with two corps from the Army of the Potomac, opened the
Tennessee River, and brought relief. At the same time General
Grant assumed the direction of affairs at Chattanooga. General Sherman
arrived with his division, and offensive operations were at once
renewed. On the 24th of November Lookout Mountain, overlooking the
town and river, was stormed by the division of General Hooker. On the
following day, Missionary Ridge was also carried, and Bragg's army fell
back in full retreat toward Ringgold.
[Illustration: A Truce in the Trenches.]
11. On the 1st of September General Burnside arrived with his command
at Knoxville. After the battle of Chickamauga General Longstreet was
sent into East Tennessee, where he arrived and began the siege of
Knoxville. On the 29th of November the Confederates attempted to carry
the town by storm, but were repulsed with heavy losses. General Sherman
soon marched to the relief of Burnside; and Longstreet retreated into
Virginia.
[Sidenote: Events West of the Mississippi.]
12. Early in 1863 the Confederates resumed activity in Arkansas and
southern Missouri. On the 8th of January they attacked Springfield,
but were repulsed. Several other attempts were made with similar
results. On the 13th of August Lawrence, Kansas, was sacked, and a
hundred and forty persons killed, by a band of desperate fellows, led
by a chieftain called Quantrell. On the 10th of September the Federal
general Steele captured Little Rock, Arkansas.
[Sidenote: John Morgan's Raid.]
13. In the summer of this year General John Morgan made a great
raid through Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. He crossed the Ohio at
Brandenburg, and began his march to the north. At Corydon and other
points he was resisted by the home guards and pursued by General
Hobson. Morgan crossed into Ohio, made a circuit north of Cincinnati,
and attempted to recross the river. But the raiders were driven back.
The Confederate leader pressed on until he came near New Lisbon, where
he was captured by the brigade of General Shackelford. After a four
months' imprisonment Morgan escaped and made his way to Richmond.
[Sidenote: Operations Along the Coast.]
14. On the 1st of January General Magruder captured Galveston,
Texas. By this means the Confederates secured a port of entry in
the Southwest. On the 7th of April Admiral Du Pont, with a fleet of
iron-clads, attempted to capture Charleston, but was driven back. In
June the city was besieged by a strong land-force, under General Q. A.
Gillmore, assisted by Admiral Dahlgren's fleet. After the bombardment
had continued for some time, General Gillmore, on the 18th of July,
attempted to carry Fort Wagner by assault, but was repulsed with
severe loss. The siege progressed until the 6th of September, when the
Confederates evacuated the fort and retired to Charleston. Gillmore now
brought his guns to bear on the wharves and buildings in the lower part
of the city. But Charleston still held out; and the only gain of the
Federals was the establishment of a complete blockade.
[Sidenote: =Battle of Chancellorsville.=]
15. After his repulse at Fredericksburg, General Burnside was
superseded by General Joseph Hooker, who, in the latter part of April,
crossed the Rappahannock and reached Chancellorsville. Here, on the
morning of the 2d of May, he was attacked by the Army of Northern
Virginia, led by Lee and Jackson. The latter general, at the head of
twenty-five thousand men, outflanked the Union army, burst upon the
right wing, and swept everything to destruction. But it was the last of
Stonewall Jackson's battles. As night came on the Confederate leader
received a volley _from his own lines_, and fell to rise no more.
[Illustration: Stonewall Jackson.]
16. On the 3d the battle was renewed. General Sedgwick was defeated
and driven across the Rappahannock. The main army was crowded between
Chancellorsville and the river, where it remained until the 5th, when
General Hooker succeeded in withdrawing his forces to the northern
bank. The Union losses amounted in killed, wounded, and prisoners to
about seventeen thousand; that of the Confederates was less by five
thousand.
17. Next followed the cavalry raid of General Stoneman. On the 29th
of April he crossed the Rappahannock with ten thousand men, tore up
the Virginia Central Railroad, cut General Lee's communications,
swept around within a few miles of Richmond, and then recrossed the
Rappahannock in safety.
[Sidenote: Lee Invades Pennsylvania.]
18. General Lee now determined to carry the war into the North. In the
first week of June he crossed the Potomac, and captured Hagerstown. On
the 22d he entered Chambersburg, and then pressed on through Carlisle
to within a few miles of Harrisburg. The militia of Pennsylvania was
called out, and volunteers came pouring in from other States. General
Hooker pushed forward to strike his antagonist. General Lee rapidly
concentrated his forces near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On the eve of
battle the command of the Union army was transferred to General George
G. Meade, who took up a position on the hills around Gettysburg. Here
the two armies, each numbering about eighty thousand men, were brought
face to face.
[Sidenote: Battle of Gettysburg.]
19. On the 1st of July the struggle began, and for three days the
conflict raged. The battle reached its climax on the 3d, when a
Confederate column, three miles long, headed by the Virginians under
General Pickett, made a final charge on the Union center. But the onset
was in vain, and the men who made it were mowed down with terrible
slaughter. The victory remained with the National army, and Lee was
obliged to turn back to the Potomac. The entire Confederate loss was
nearly thirty thousand; that of the Federals twenty-three thousand one
hundred and eighty-six. General Lee withdrew his forces into Virginia,
and the Union army resumed its position on the Potomac.
[Sidenote: Conscription in the North.]
20. The administration of President Lincoln was beset with many
difficulties. The last calls for volunteers had not been fully met. The
anti-war party of the North denounced the measures of the government.
On the 3d of March the CONSCRIPTION ACT was passed by Congress, and
the President ordered a draft of three hundred thousand men. The
measure was bitterly opposed, and in many places the draft-officers
were resisted. On the 13th of July, in the city of New York, a mob rose
in arms, demolished buildings, burned the colored orphan asylum, and
killed about a hundred people. For three days the authorities were set
at defiance; but a force of regulars and volunteers gathered at the
scene, and the riot was suppressed.
21. Only about fifty thousand men were obtained by the draft. But
volunteering was quickened by the measure, and the employment of
substitutes soon filled the ranks. In October the President issued
another call for three hundred thousand men. By these measures the
columns of the Union army were made more powerful than ever. In the
armies of the South, on the other hand, there were already symptoms
of exhaustion. On the 20th of June in this year West Virginia was
separated from the Old Dominion and admitted as the thirty-fifth State
of the Union.
CHAPTER XLIX.
THE CLOSING CONFLICTS.--EVENTS OF 1864 AND 1865.
Early in February, 1864, General Sherman moved from Vicksburg to
Meridian. In this vicinity the railroad tracks were torn up for a
hundred and fifty miles. At Meridian General Sherman expected a force
of Federal cavalry, which had been sent out from Memphis under General
Smith. The latter advanced into Mississippi, but was met by the cavalry
of Forrest, and driven back to Memphis. General Sherman thereupon
retraced his course to Vicksburg. Forrest continued his raid northward
to Paducah, Kentucky, and made an assault on Fort Anderson, but was
repulsed with a severe loss. Turning back into Tennessee, he came upon
Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi, and carried the place by storm.
[Sidenote: The Red River Expedition.]
2. In the spring of 1864, the RED RIVER EXPEDITION was undertaken
by General Banks. The object was to capture Shreveport, the seat of
the Confederate government of Louisiana. On the 14th of March the
Federal advance captured Fort de Russy, on Red River. The Confederates
retreated to Alexandria, which was taken on the 16th by the Federals.
3. At Mansfield, on the 8th of April, the advancing Federals were
attacked by the Confederates, and completely routed. At Pleasant
Hill, on the next day, the main body of the Union army was badly
defeated. The flotilla now descended the river from the direction of
Shreveport. The whole expedition returned as rapidly as possible to the
Mississippi. General Steele had, in the mean time, advanced from Little
Rock to aid in the reduction of Shreveport; but learning of the Federal
defeats, he withdrew after several severe engagements.
4. On the 2d of March, 1864, General Grant was appointed
general-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. Seven hundred
thousand soldiers were now to move at his command. Two great campaigns
were planned for the year. The army of the Potomac, under Meade and the
general-in-chief, was to advance upon Richmond. General Sherman, with
one hundred thousand men, was to march from Chattanooga against Atlanta.
[Sidenote: =Sherman's Advance on Atlanta.=]
5. On the 7th of May General Sherman moved forward. At Dalton he
succeeded in turning General Johnston's flank, and obliged him to fall
back to Resaca. After two hard battles, on the 14th and 15th of May,
this place was carried, and the Confederates retreated to Dallas. Here,
on the 28th, Johnston made a second stand, but was again outflanked,
and compelled to fall back to Lost Mountain. He was forced from
this position on the 17th of June. The next stand was made on Great
and Little Kenesaw Mountains. From this line on the 22d of June the
division of General Hood made a fierce attack, but was repulsed with
heavy losses. Five days afterward, General Sherman attempted to carry
Great Kenesaw by storm; but the assault ended in a dreadful repulse.
Sherman resumed his former tactics, and by the 10th of July the whole
Confederate army had retired to Atlanta.
[Illustration: William T. Sherman.]
6. This stronghold was at once besieged. Here were the machine shops,
foundries, and car works of the Confederacy. At the beginning of the
siege the cautious General Johnston was superseded by the rash General
J. B. Hood. On the 20th, 22d and 28th of July, the latter made three
assaults on the Union lines, but was repulsed with dreadful losses. At
last Hood was obliged to evacuate Atlanta; and on the 2d of September
the Union army marched into the captured city.
[Illustration: Sherman's Campaign, 1864.]
[Sidenote: =Hood's Nashville Campaign.=]
7. General Hood now marched northward through Northern Alabama, and
advanced on Nashville. Meanwhile, General Thomas, with the Army of the
Cumberland, had been detached from Sherman's army and sent northward
to confront Hood. General Schofield, who commanded the Federal forces
in Tennessee, fell back before the Confederates, and took post at
Franklin. Here, on the 30th of November, he was attacked by Hood's
legions, and held them in check until nightfall, when he retreated
within Thomas's defenses at Nashville. Hood followed, but on the 15th
of December General Thomas fell upon the Confederate army, and, routing
it with a loss of twenty-five thousand men, drove it back into Alabama.
[Sidenote: =Sherman's Great March.=]
8. On the 14th of November General Sherman burned Atlanta and began
his MARCH TO THE SEA. His army numbered sixty thousand men. He cut
his communications with the North, abandoned his base of supplies,
and struck out for the sea-coast, two hundred and fifty miles away.
The Union army passed through Macon and Milledgeville, crossed the
Ogeechee, captured Gibson and Waynesborough, and on the 10th of
December arrived in the vicinity of Savannah. On the 13th, Fort
McAllister was carried by storm. On the night of the 20th, General
Hardee, the Confederate commandant, escaped from Savannah and retreated
to Charleston. On the 22d, General Sherman made his headquarters in the
city.
[Illustration: Joseph E. Johnston.]
9. January, 1865, was spent by the Union army at Savannah. On the
1st of February, General Sherman began his march against Columbia,
South Carolina. The Confederates had not sufficient force to stay his
progress. On the 17th of the month, Columbia was surrendered. On the
same night, Hardee, having destroyed the public property of Charleston,
and kindled fires which laid four squares in ashes, evacuated the city;
and on the following morning the national forces entered. From Columbia
General Sherman marched into North Carolina, and on the 11th of March
captured the town of Fayetteville.
[Sidenote: =Surrender of Gen. Johnston.=]
10. General Johnston was now recalled to the command of the Confederate
forces, and the advance of the Union army began to be seriously
opposed. On the 19th of March, General Sherman was attacked by Johnston
near Bentonville; but Johnston was defeated, and on the 21st Sherman
entered Goldsborough. Here he was reinforced by Generals Schofield and
Terry. The Federal army turned to the northwest, and on the 13th of
April entered Raleigh. This was the end of the great march; and here,
on the 26th of the month, General Sherman received the surrender of
Johnston's army.
[Sidenote: Farragut at Mobile.]
11. Meanwhile, important events had occurred on the Gulf. Early in
August, 1864, Admiral Farragut bore down on the defenses of Mobile. The
harbor was defended by a Confederate fleet and the monster iron-clad
_Tennessee_. On the 5th of August, Farragut ran past Forts Morgan
and Gaines into the harbor. In order to direct the movements of his
vessels, the old admiral mounted to the maintop of the _Hartford_,
lashed himself to the rigging, and from that high perch gave his
commands during the battle. One of the Union ships struck a torpedo and
sank. The rest attacked and dispersed the Confederate squadron; but
just as the day seemed won, the _Tennessee_ came down at full speed
to strike the _Hartford_. Then followed one of the fiercest conflicts
of the war. The Union iron-clads closed around their antagonist and
battered her with fifteen-inch bolts of iron until she surrendered.
[Sidenote: Fort Fisher.]
12. Next came the capture of Fort Fisher, at the entrance to Cape
Fear River. In December, Admiral Porter was sent with a powerful
American squadron to besiege and take the fort. General Butler, with
six thousand five hundred men, accompanied the expedition. On the 24th
of the month, the troops were sent ashore with orders to storm the
works. When the generals in command came near enough to reconnoiter,
they decided that an assault could only end in disaster, and the
enterprise was abandoned. Admiral Porter remained before Fort Fisher
with his fleet, and General Butler returned to Fortress Monroe. Early
in January, the siege was renewed, and on the 15th of the month Fort
Fisher was taken by storm.
13. In the previous October, Lieutenant Cushing, with a number of
volunteers, embarked in a small steamer and entered the Roanoke. A
tremendous iron ram, called the _Albemarle_, was discovered lying at
the harbor of Plymouth. Cautiously approaching, the lieutenant sank a
torpedo under the Confederate ship, exploded it, and left the ram a
ruin. The adventure cost the lives or capture of all of Cushing's party
except himself and one other, who made good their escape.
[Sidenote: =Confederate Cruisers.=]
14. During the progress of the war the commerce of the United States
was greatly injured by the Confederate cruisers. The first ship sent
out was the _Savannah_, which was captured on the same day that she
escaped from Charleston. In June of 1861, the _Sumter_, commanded by
Captain Semmes, ran the blockade at New Orleans, and did fearful work
with the Union merchantmen. But in February of 1862, Semmes was chased
into the harbor of Gibraltar, where he was obliged to sell his vessel.
The _Nashville_ ran out from Charleston, and returned with a cargo
worth three millions of dollars. In March of 1863 she was sunk by a
Union iron-clad in the Savannah River.
15. The ports of the Southern States were now closely blockaded. In
this emergency the Confederates turned to the ship-yards of Great
Britain, and began to build cruisers. In the harbor of Liverpool the
_Florida_ was fitted out; and going to sea in the summer of 1862, she
succeeded in running into Mobile Bay. She afterward destroyed fifteen
merchantmen, and was then captured and sunk in Hampton Roads. The
_Georgia_, the _Olustee_, the _Shenandoah_ and the _Chickamauga_, all
built at the ship-yards of Glasgow, Scotland, escaped to sea and made
great havoc with the merchant-ships of the United States.
[Sidenote: =The Alabama.=]
16. Most destructive of all was the _Alabama_, built at Liverpool.
Her commander was Captain Raphael Semmes. A majority of the crew were
British subjects; and her armament was entirely British. In her
whole career, involving the destruction of sixty-six vessels and a
loss of ten million dollars, she never entered a Confederate port. In
the summer of 1864 Semmes was overtaken in the harbor of Cherbourg,
France, by the steamer _Kearsarge_. On the 19th of June, Semmes went
out to give his antagonist battle. After a desperate fight of an hour's
duration, the _Alabama_ was sunk. Semmes was picked up by the English
_Deerhound_ and carried to Southampton.
[Sidenote: Grant's Advance on Richmond.]
17. On the night of the 3d of May, 1864, the national camp at Culpepper
was broken up, and the march on Richmond was begun. On the first day
of the advance, Grant crossed the Rapidan and entered the Wilderness,
a country of oak woods and thickets. He was immediately attacked by
the Confederate army. During the 5th, 6th, and 7th of the month, the
fighting continued incessantly with terrible losses; but the results
were indecisive. Grant next made a flank movement in the direction of
Spottsylvania Courthouse. Here followed, from the 9th until the 12th,
one of the bloodiest struggles of the war. The Federals gained some
ground and captured the division of General Stewart; but the losses of
Lee were less than those of his antagonist.
18. Grant again moved to the left, and came to Cold Harbor, twelve
miles northeast of Richmond. Here, on the 1st of June, he attacked
the Confederates, but was repulsed with heavy losses. On the morning
of the 3d the assault was renewed, and in half an hour nearly ten
thousand Union soldiers fell dead or wounded before the Confederate
intrenchments. The repulse of the Federals was complete, but they held
their lines as firmly as ever.
19. General Grant now changed his base to James River. General Butler
had already taken City Point and Bermuda Hundred. Here, on the 15th of
June, he was joined by General Grant's whole army, and the combined
forces moved forward and began the siege of Petersburg.
[Sidenote: Operations in the Valley.]
20. Meanwhile important movements were taking place on the Shenandoah.
When Grant moved from the Rapidan, General Sigel marched up the valley
to New Market, where he was met and defeated by the Confederate
cavalry, under General Breckinridge. The latter then returned to
Richmond, whereupon the Federals faced about, overtook the Confederates
at Piedmont, and gained a signal victory. From this place Generals
Hunter and Averill advanced against Lynchburg. By this movement the
valley of the Shenandoah was again exposed to invasion.
[Illustration: Philip H. Sheridan.]
21. Lee immediately dispatched General Early to cross the Blue Ridge,
invade Maryland and threaten Washington City. With twenty thousand men
Early began his march, and on the 5th of July crossed the Potomac. On
the 9th he defeated the division of General Wallace on the Monocacy.
But the battle saved Washington and Baltimore from capture.
22. General Wright followed Early as far as Winchester. But the latter
wheeled upon him, and the Union troops were driven across the Potomac.
Early next invaded Pennsylvania and burned Chambersburg. General
Grant now appointed General Philip H. Sheridan to command the army on
the Upper Potomac. The troops placed at his disposal numbered nearly
forty thousand. On the 19th of September, Sheridan marched upon Early
at Winchester, and routed him in a hard-fought battle. On the 22d of
September he gained another complete victory at Fisher's Hill.
[Sidenote: =Sheridan's Ride from Winchester.=]
23. Sheridan next turned about to ravage the valley. The ruinous work
was fearfully well done. Nothing worth fighting for was left between
the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies. Maddened by his defeats, Early
rallied his forces, and again entered the valley. Sheridan had posted
his army on Cedar Creek, and, feeling secure, had gone to Washington.
On the 19th of October, Early surprised the Union camp, captured the
artillery, and sent the routed troops flying in confusion toward
Winchester. The Confederates pursued as far as Middletown, and there
paused to eat and rest. On the previous night, Sheridan had returned to
Winchester, and was now coming to rejoin his army. He rode twelve miles
at full speed, rallied the fugitives, and gained one of the most signal
victories of the war. Early's army was completely ruined.
[Illustration: Operations in Virginia, 1864 and 1865.]
24. All fall and winter General Grant pressed the siege of Petersburg.
On the 30th of July a mine was exploded under one of the forts; but the
assaulting column was repulsed with heavy losses. On the 18th of August
a division of the Union army seized the Weldon Railroad and held it
against several assaults. On the 28th of September, Battery Harrison
was stormed by the Federals, and on the next day General Paine's
brigade carried the redoubt on Spring Hill. On the 27th of October,
there was a battle on the Boydton road; and then the army went into
winter quarters.
[Sidenote: =The Fall of Richmond.=]
25. On the 27th of February, Sheridan gained a victory over Early at
Waynesboro, and then joined the general-in-chief. On the 1st of April,
a severe battle was fought at Five Forks, in which the Confederates
were defeated with a loss of six thousand prisoners. On the next day
Grant ordered a general assault on the lines of Petersburg, and the
works were carried. On that night Lee's army and the Confederate
government fled from Richmond; and on the following morning the Federal
troops entered the city. The warehouses were fired by the retreating
Confederates, and the better part of the city was reduced to ruins.
[Sidenote: =Lee's Surrender.=]
26. General Lee retreated as rapidly as possible to the southwest.
Once the Confederates turned and fought, but were defeated with great
losses. For five days the pursuit was kept up; and then Lee was brought
to bay at Appomattox Courthouse. There, on the 9th of April, 1865, the
work was done. General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia,
and the Confederacy was hopelessly overthrown. General Grant signalized
the end of the strife by granting to his antagonist the most liberal
terms. How the army of General Johnston was surrendered a few days
later has already been narrated. After four dreadful years of bloodshed
and sorrow, THE CIVIL WAR WAS AT AN END.
[Sidenote: =Jefferson Davis Captured.=]
27. The Federal authority was rapidly extended over the South. Mr.
Davis and his cabinet escaped to Danville, and there for a few days
kept up the forms of government. From that place they fled into North
Carolina. The ex-President continued his flight into Georgia, and
encamped near Irwinsville, where, on the 10th of May, he was captured
by General Wilson's cavalry. He was conveyed to Fortress Monroe, and
kept in confinement until May of 1867, when he was taken to Richmond to
be tried for treason. He was admitted to bail; and his case was finally
dismissed.
[Sidenote: Nevada Admitted.]
28. At the presidential election of 1864, Mr. Lincoln was chosen
for a second term. As Vice-president, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee
was elected. In the preceding summer, the people of Nevada framed a
constitution, and on the 31st of October the new commonwealth was
proclaimed as the thirty-sixth State. The gold and silver mines of
Nevada soon surpassed those of California in their yield of precious
metals.
[Sidenote: The Finances of the War.]
29. At the outbreak of the civil war the financial credit of the
United States sank to a very low ebb. Mr. Chase, the Secretary of the
Treasury, first sought relief by issuing TREASURY NOTES, receivable
as money. By the beginning of 1862, the expenses of the government
had risen to more than a million of dollars daily. To meet these
tremendous demands on the government, Congress next provided INTERNAL
REVENUE. This was made up from two general sources: first, _a tax on
manufactures, incomes and salaries_; second, _a stamp-duty on all
legal documents_. The next measure was the issuance of LEGAL TENDER
NOTES of the United States, to be used as money. These are the notes
called _Greenbacks_. The third great measure adopted by the government
was the sale of UNITED STATES BONDS. The interest upon them was fixed
at six per cent., payable semi-annually in gold. In the next place,
Congress passed an act providing for the establishment of NATIONAL
BANKS. National bonds, instead of gold and silver, were used as a basis
of the circulation of these banks; and the redemption of their bills
was guaranteed by the treasury of the United States. At the end of the
conflict, _the national debt had reached nearly three thousand millions
of dollars_.
[Sidenote: =Pres. Lincoln's Assassination.=]
30. On the 4th of March, 1865, President Lincoln was inaugurated for
his second term. Three days after the evacuation of Richmond by Lee's
army, the President made a visit to that city. On the evening of the
14th of April, he, with his wife and a party of friends, attended
Ford's Theater in Washington. As the play drew near its close, an
actor, named John Wilkes Booth, stole into the President's box and shot
him through the brain. Mr. Lincoln lingered in an unconscious state
until morning, and died. It was the greatest tragedy of modern times.
The assassin, after the murder, escaped into the darkness.
[Sidenote: =Secretary Seward Stabbed.=]
31. At the same hour another murderer, named Lewis Payne Powell, burst
into the bed-chamber of Secretary Seward, sprang upon the couch of
the sick man, and stabbed him nigh unto death. The city was wild with
alarm. Troops of cavalry departed in all directions to hunt down the
assassins. On the 26th of April, Booth was found concealed in a barn
south of Fredericksburg. Refusing to surrender, he was shot by Sergeant
Boston Corbett. Powell was caught and hanged. David E. Herrold and Geo.
A. Atzerott, together with Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, at whose house the
plot was formed, were also condemned and executed. Michael O'Laughlin,
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, and Samuel Arnold were sentenced to imprisonment
for life, and Edward Spangler for six years.
32. So ended in darkness, but not in shame, the career of Abraham
Lincoln--one of the most remarkable men of any age or country. He
was prudent, far-sighted, and resolute; thoughtful, calm, and just;
patient, tender-hearted, and great. The manner of his death consecrated
his memory. From city to city, in one vast funeral procession, the
mourning people followed his remains to their last resting-place at
Springfield, Illinois.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.--PART VI.
CHAPTER XLIV.
1. Describe the situation of affairs at the opening of Lincoln's
Administration.
CHAPTER XLV.
2. Give the causes, general and special, of the Civil War.
CHAPTER XLVI.
3. Outline the campaigns of 1861.
4. Tell of the organization of the Confederate Government.
5. State the difficulty that now arose with Great Britain.
CHAPTER XLVII.
6. Give an account of the campaigns along the Cumberland, the
Tennessee, and the Mississippi Rivers.
7. Outline the movements of the year 1862 in and about Virginia.
8. What were the general conditions and prospects of the armies at the
close of 1862?
CHAPTER XLVIII.
9. Tell about the Emancipation Proclamation.
10. Describe the capture of Vicksburg.
11. Sketch the subsequent movements of 1863.
12. Tell of the Conscription Act, and the results from it.
CHAPTER XLIX.
13. Outline the military movements of 1864 under General Sherman.
14. Sketch the campaigns along the Potomac, with the capture of
Richmond, and the retreat and surrender of Lee's army.
15. Tell of the breaking up of the Confederate Government.
16. What was the condition of the National finances, and what measures
had been enacted, from 1862 to 1865, for their relief.
17. Give an account of the assassination of President Lincoln.
PART VII.
THE NATION REUNITED.
A. D. 1865-1891.
CHAPTER L.
JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1865-1869.
On the day after the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, Andrew Johnson
became President of the United States. He was a native of Raleigh,
North Carolina--born in 1808. With no advantages of education, he
passed his boyhood in poverty. In 1828 he removed to Greenville,
Tennessee, where he soon rose to distinction, and was elected to
Congress. As a member of the United States Senate in 1860-61, he
opposed secession with all his powers. In 1862 he was appointed
military governor of Tennessee. This office he held until he was
nominated for the vice-presidency.
[Illustration: Andrew Johnson.]
2. On the 1st of February, 1865, Congress adopted an amendment to the
Constitution by which slavery was abolished throughout the Union. By
the 18th of the following December, the amendment had been ratified by
the legislatures of twenty-seven States, and was duly proclaimed as a
part of the Constitution. The emancipation proclamation had been issued
_as a military necessity_; and the results of the instrument were now
incorporated in the fundamental law of the land.
[Sidenote: =Amnesty Proclamation.=]
3. On the 29th of May, the AMNESTY PROCLAMATION was issued by
the President. By its provisions a pardon was extended to all
persons--except those specified in certain classes--who had taken part
in upholding the Confederacy. During the summer of 1865, the great
armies were disbanded, and the victors and vanquished returned to their
homes to resume the works of peace.
4. The finances of the nation were in an alarming condition. The
war-debt went on increasing until the beginning of 1866. The yearly
interest grew to a hundred and thirty-three million dollars in gold.
The expenses of the government had reached two hundred millions of
dollars annually. But the revenues of the nation proved sufficient to
meet these enormous outlays, and at last the debt began to diminish.
[Sidenote: =The French in Mexico.=]
5. During the civil war, the emperor Napoleon III. succeeded in
setting up a French empire in Mexico. In 1864 the Mexican crown was
conferred on Maximilian of Austria, who sustained his authority with
French and Austrian soldiers. But the Mexican president Juarez headed
a revolution; the government of the United States rebuked France for
her conduct; Napoleon withdrew his army; Maximilian was overthrown; and
eventually, on the 13th of June, 1867, was tried and condemned to be
shot. Six days afterwards the sentence was carried into execution.
[Sidenote: =The Atlantic Cable.=]
6. After a few weeks of successful operation, the first Atlantic
telegraph had ceased to work. But Mr. Field continued to advocate his
measure and to plead for assistance both in Europe and America. He
made fifty voyages across the Atlantic, and finally secured sufficient
capital to lay a second cable. The work began from the coast of Ireland
in the summer of 1865; but the first cable parted and was lost. In July
of 1866 a third cable, two thousand miles in length, was coiled in the
_Great Eastern_, and again the vessel started on its way. This time the
work was completely successful. Mr. Field received a gold medal from
Congress, and the plaudits of all civilized nations.
[Sidenote: =The Territories.=]
7. In March of 1861, the Territory of Dakota, destined after
twenty-eight years to become two great states, was detached from
Nebraska and given a distinct organization. The State of Kansas had
at last, on the 29th of January, 1861, been admitted into the Union,
under a constitution framed at Wyandotte. In February, 1863, Arizona
was separated from New Mexico, and on the 3d of March, in that year,
Idaho was organized out of portions of Dakota, Nebraska, and Washington
Territories. On the 26th of May, 1864, Montana was cut off from Idaho.
On the 1st of March, 1867, Nebraska was admitted into the Union as the
thirty-seventh State. Finally, on the 25th of July, 1868, the Territory
of Wyoming was organized out of portions of Dakota, Idaho, and Utah.
[Sidenote: =Purchase of Alaska.=]
8. The year 1867 was signalized by the PURCHASE OF ALASKA. Two years
previously, the territory had been explored by a corps of scientific
men with a view of establishing telegraphic communication with Asia.
The explorers found that the coast-fisheries were of great value, and
that the forests of white pine and yellow cedar were among the finest
in the world. Negotiations for the purchase were at once opened, and on
the 30th of March, 1867, a treaty was concluded by which, for the sum
of seven million two hundred thousand dollars, Russia ceded Alaska to
the United States. The territory embraced an area of five hundred and
eighty thousand square miles, and a population of twenty-nine thousand
souls.
9. Very soon after his accession, a serious disagreement arose between
the President and Congress. The difficulty grew out of the question of
reorganizing the Southern States. The point in dispute was the relation
which those States had sustained to the Federal Union during the civil
war. The President held that the ordinances of secession were null and
void, and that the seceded States _had never been out of the Union_.
The majority in Congress held that the acts of secession were illegal
and unconstitutional, but that the seceded States had been actually
detached from the Union, and that special legislation was necessary in
order to restore them to their former relations.
[Sidenote: =Reconstruction.=]
10. In 1865, measures of reconstruction were begun by the President.
On the 9th of May, a proclamation was issued for the restoration of
Virginia to the Union. Twenty days later a provisional government was
established over South Carolina; and similar measures were adopted in
respect to the other States of the Confederacy. On the 24th of June,
all restrictions on trade and intercourse with the Southern States
were removed. On the 7th of September a second amnesty proclamation
was issued, by which all persons who had upheld the Confederate
cause--excepting the leaders--were unconditionally pardoned. Meanwhile,
Tennessee had been reorganized, and in 1866 was restored to its place
in the Union. When Congress convened, a committee of fifteen members
was appointed, to which were referred all questions concerning the
reorganization of the Southern States. In accordance with measures
reported by this committee, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida,
Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina were reconstructed, and
in June and July of 1868 readmitted into the Union. Congress had, in
the mean time, passed the CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, by which the privileges of
citizenship were conferred on the freedmen of the South. All of these
congressional enactments were effected over the veto of the President.
[Sidenote: =The Impeachment Trial.=]
11. Meanwhile, a difficulty had arisen in the President's cabinet
which led to his impeachment. On the 21st of February, 1868, he
notified Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, of his dismissal from
office. The act was regarded by Congress as a usurpation of authority
and a violation of law. On the 3d of March, articles of impeachment
were agreed to by the House of Representatives, and the President was
summoned before the Senate for trial. Proceedings began on the 23d
of March and continued until the 26th of May, when the President was
acquitted. Chief-Justice Salmon P. Chase, one of the most eminent of
American statesmen and jurists, presided during the impeachment.
12. The time for another presidential election was already at hand.
General Ulysses S. Grant was nominated by the Republicans, and Horatio
Seymour, of New York, by the Democrats. The canvass was one of great
excitement. The questions most discussed by the political speakers
were those arising out of the civil war. The principles advocated by
the majority in Congress furnished the Republican platform of 1868,
and on that platform General Grant was elected by a large majority. As
Vice-president, Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, was chosen.
CHAPTER LI.
GRANT'S ADMINISTRATION, 1869-1877.
Ulysses S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States, was born
at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. At the age of seventeen he
entered the Military Academy at West Point, and was graduated in 1843.
He served with distinction in the Mexican war; but his first national
reputation was won by the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. From
that time he rapidly rose in rank, and in March, 1864, was appointed
lieutenant-general and general-in-chief of the Union army.
[Illustration: Ulysses S. Grant.]
[Sidenote: =The Pacific Railroad.=]
2. The first great event of the new administration was the completion
of the PACIFIC RAILROAD. The first division of the road extended
from Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, a distance of one thousand and
thirty-two miles. The western division reached from Ogden to San
Francisco, a distance of eight hundred and eighty-two miles. On the
10th of May, 1869, the work was completed with appropriate ceremonies.
3. Before the inauguration of President Grant two additional amendments
to the Constitution had been adopted. The first of these, known as the
Fourteenth Amendment, extended the right of citizenship to all persons
born or naturalized in the United States, and declared the validity of
the public debt. Early in 1869, the Fifteenth Amendment was adopted by
Congress, providing that the right of citizens to vote shall not be
denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude. This clause was proclaimed by the President as a part of the
Constitution on the 30th of March, 1870.
4. In the first three months of the same year, the reorganization of
the Southern States was completed. On the 24th of January, the senators
and representatives of Virginia were readmitted to their seats in
Congress. On the 23d of February a like action was taken in regard to
Mississippi; and on the 30th of March the work was finished by the
readmission of Texas.
[Sidenote: =Growth of the Nation.=]
5. In 1870 was completed the ninth census of the United States.
Notwithstanding the ravages of war, the past ten years had been a
period of growth and progress. During that time the population had
increased to thirty-eight million five hundred and eighty-seven
thousand souls. The national debt was rapidly falling off. The
products of the United States had grown to a vast aggregate. American
manufacturers were competing with those of all nations in the markets
of the world. The Union now embraced thirty-seven States and eleven
Territories. The national domain had spread to the vast area of three
million six hundred and four thousand square miles. Few things have
been more wonderful than the territorial and material growth of the
United States.
[Sidenote: =San Domingo Commission.=]
6. In January of 1871, President Grant appointed Senator Wade of Ohio,
Professor White of New York, and Dr. Samuel Howe of Massachusetts, to
visit San Domingo and report upon the desirability of annexing that
island to the United States. The measure was earnestly favored by the
President. After three months spent abroad, the commissioners returned
and reported in favor of annexation; but the proposal met with
opposition in Congress, and was defeated.
[Sidenote: =Alabama Claims.=]
7. The claim of the United States against the British government
for damages done by Confederate cruisers during the civil war still
remained unsettled. After the war Great Britain grew anxious for an
adjustment of the difficulty. On the 27th of February, 1871, a joint
high commission, composed of five British and five American statesmen,
assembled at Washington City. From the fact that the cruiser _Alabama_
had done most of the injury complained of, the claims of the United
States were called the ALABAMA CLAIMS. After much discussion, the
commissioners framed a treaty, known as the Treaty of Washington. It
was agreed that all claims of either nation against the other should
be submitted to a board of arbitration to be appointed by friendly
nations. Such a court was formed, and in the summer of 1872 convened at
Geneva, Switzerland. The cause of the two nations was heard, and on the
14th of September decided in favor of the United States. Great Britain
was required to pay into the Federal treasury fifteen million five
hundred thousand dollars.
[Sidenote: =The Chicago Fire.=]
8. The year 1871 is noted in American history for the burning of
Chicago. On the evening of the 8th of October a fire broke out in De
Koven street, and was driven by a high wind into the lumber-yards and
wooden houses of the neighborhood. All the next day the flames rolled
on, sweeping into a blackened ruin the most valuable portion of the
city. The area burned over was two thousand one hundred acres, or three
and a third square miles. Nearly two hundred lives were lost, and the
property destroyed amounted to about two hundred millions of dollars.
9. As the first term of President Grant drew to a close, the political
parties made ready for the twenty-second presidential election. Many
parts of the chief magistrate's policy had been made the subjects
of controversy. The congressional plan of reconstruction had been
unfavorably received in the South. The elevation of the negro race to
the rights of citizenship was regarded with apprehension. The military
spirit was still rife in the country, and the issues of the civil war
were rediscussed with much bitterness. On these issues the people
divided in the election of 1872. The Republicans renominated General
Grant for the presidency. For the vice-presidency Mr. Colfax was
succeeded by Henry Wilson of Massachusetts. As the standard-bearer of
the Liberal Republican and Democratic parties, Horace Greeley, editor
of the New York _Tribune_, was nominated. This was the last act in
that remarkable man's career. For more than thirty years he had been
a leader of public opinion in America. The canvass was one of wild
excitement. Mr. Greeley was overwhelmingly defeated, and died in less
than a month after the election.
[Illustration: Horace Greeley.]
[Sidenote: =The Boston Fire.=]
10. On the evening of the 9th of November, a fire broke out on the
corner of Kingston and Summer streets, Boston; spread to the northeast;
and continued with unabated fury until the morning of the 11th. The
best portion of the city, embracing some of the finest blocks in the
United States, was laid in ashes. The burnt district covered an area of
sixty-five acres. Fifteen lives, eight hundred buildings, and property
to the value of eighty million dollars were lost in the conflagration.
[Sidenote: =The Modoc War.=]
11. In the spring of 1872, the Modoc Indians were ordered to remove
from their lands on Lake Klamath, Oregon, to a new reservation. They
refused to go; and in the following November, a body of troops was sent
to force them into compliance. The Modocs resisted, kept up the war
during the winter, and then retreated into a volcanic region called the
lava-beds. Here, in the spring of 1873, the Indians were surrounded. On
the 11th of April, a conference was held between them and six members
of the peace commission; but in the midst of the council the savages
rose upon the kind-hearted men who sat beside them, and murdered
General Canby and Dr. Thomas in cold blood. Mr. Meacham, another member
of the commission, was shot, but escaped with his life. The Modocs were
then besieged in their stronghold; but it was the 1st of June before
Captain Jack and his band were obliged to surrender. The chiefs were
tried by court-martial and executed in the following October.
[Sidenote: =The Credit Mobilier.=]
12. About the beginning of President Grant's second term, the country
was agitated by the CREDIT MOBILIER INVESTIGATION in Congress. The
Credit Mobilier was a joint stock company, organized in 1863 for the
purpose of constructing public works. In 1867, another company, which
had undertaken to build the Pacific Railroad, purchased the charter of
the Credit Mobilier, and the capital was increased to three million
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Owing to the profitableness
of the work, the stock rose in value and large dividends were paid to
the shareholders. In 1872 it became known that much of this stock _was
owned by members of Congress_. A suspicion that those members had voted
corruptly in matters affecting the Pacific Railroad seized the public
mind, and led to a congressional investigation, in the course of which
many scandalous transactions were brought to light.
13. In the autumn of 1873 occurred one of the most disastrous financial
panics ever known in the United States. The alarm was given by the
failure of Jay Cooke & Company of Philadelphia. Other failures followed
in rapid succession. Depositors hurried to the banks and withdrew
their money. Business was paralyzed, and many months elapsed before
confidence was sufficiently restored to enable merchants and bankers to
engage in the usual transactions of trade.
[Sidenote: =The Centennial Exposition.=]
14. With the coming of 1876 the people made ready to celebrate the
CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. The city of Philadelphia was
the central point of interest. There, on the 10th of May, the great
International Exposition was opened with imposing ceremonies. In
Fairmount Park, on the Schuylkill, were erected beautiful buildings
to receive the products of art and industry from all nations. By the
beginning of summer these stately edifices were filled to overflowing
with the richest products, gathered from every clime and country.
On the 4th of July the centennial of the great Declaration was
commemorated in Philadelphia with an impressive oration by William M.
Evarts, of New York, and a National Ode by the poet, Bayard Taylor.
The average daily attendance of visitors at the Exposition was
over sixty-one thousand. The grounds were open for one hundred and
fifty-eight days; and the receipts for admission amounted to more than
three million seven hundred thousand dollars. On the 10th of November,
the Exposition, the most successful of its kind ever held, was formally
closed by the President of the United States.
[Sidenote: =The Sioux War.=]
15. The last year of President Grant's administration was noted for the
WAR WITH THE SIOUX. These fierce savages had, in 1867, made a treaty
with the United States, agreeing to relinquish all of the territory
south of the Niobrara, west of the one hundred and fourth meridian,
and north of the forty-sixth parallel. By this treaty the Sioux were
confined to a large reservation in southwestern Dakota, and upon this
they agreed to retire by the first of January, 1876. But many of the
tribes continued to roam at large through Wyoming and Montana, burning
houses, stealing horses, and murdering whoever opposed them.
[Illustration: Custer's Last Fight.]
16. The Government now undertook to drive the Sioux upon their
reservation. A large force of regulars, under Generals Terry and Crook,
was sent into the mountainous country of the Upper Yellowstone, and the
savages, to the number of several thousand, were crowded back against
the Big Horn Mountains and River. Generals Custer and Reno, who were
sent forward with the Seventh Cavalry to discover the whereabouts of
the Indians, found them on the left bank of the Little Horn.
[Sidenote: =Custer's Defeat on the Little Horn.=]
17. On the 25th of June, General Custer, without waiting for
reinforcements, charged headlong with his division into the Indian
town, and was immediately surrounded. The struggle equaled in
desperation and disaster any other Indian battle ever fought in
America. _General Custer and every man of his command fell in the
fight._ The whole loss of the Seventh Cavalry was two hundred and
sixty-one killed, and fifty-two wounded. General Reno held his
position, on the bluffs of the Little Horn, until General Gibbon
arrived with reinforcements and saved the remnant from destruction.
18. Other divisions of the army were soon hurried forward, and during
the summer and autumn the Indians were beaten in several engagements.
On the 24th of November, the Sioux were decisively defeated by Colonel
McKenzie at a pass in the Big Horn Mountains. On the 5th of January,
the savages were again overtaken and routed by the forces of Colonel
Miles. The remaining bands, under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, being
able to offer no further serious resistance, escaped across the border
into Canada.
19. In August, 1876, Colorado took her place as the thirty-eighth
State of the Union. The population of the "Centennial State" numbered
forty-five thousand.
20. The twenty-third presidential election was one of the most exciting
and critical in the history of the nation. General Rutherford B. Hayes,
of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of New York, were chosen as candidates
by the Republicans; Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A.
Hendricks, of Indiana, by the Democrats. The Independent Greenback
party presented as candidates Peter Cooper, of New York, and Samuel F.
Cary, of Ohio. The canvass began early and with great spirit. The real
contest lay between the Republicans and the Democrats. The election was
held. The general result was uncertain, _and both parties claimed the
victory_! The election was so evenly balanced; there had been so much
irregularity in the elections in South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana,
and Oregon; and the power of Congress over the electoral proceedings
was so poorly defined, that no certain result could be announced. For
the first time in the history of the country, there was _a disputed
presidency_.
[Sidenote: =The Electoral Commission.=]
21. When Congress convened in December, the whole question came before
that body for adjustment. After much debating it was agreed that the
disputed election returns should be referred for decision to a JOINT
HIGH COMMISSION, consisting of five members chosen from the United
States Senate, five from the House of Representatives, and five from
the Supreme Court. The Commission was accordingly constituted. The
returns of the disputed States were referred to the tribunal; and on
the 2d of March a result was reached. The Republican candidates were
declared elected. One hundred and eighty-five electoral votes were cast
for Hayes and Wheeler, and one hundred and eighty-four for Tilden and
Hendricks.
CHAPTER LII.
HAYES'S ADMINISTRATION, 1877-1881.
Rutherford B. Hayes, nineteenth President of the United States, was
born in Delaware, Ohio, on the 4th of October, 1822. His ancestors
were soldiers of the Revolution. His primary education was received
in the public schools. At the age of twenty, he was graduated from
Kenyon College. In 1845 he completed his legal studies, and began the
practice of his profession, first at Marietta, then at Fremont, and
finally as city solicitor, in Cincinnati. During the Civil War he
performed much honorable service in the Union cause, rose to the rank
of major-general, and in 1864, while still in the field, was elected
to Congress. Three years later, he was chosen governor of his native
State, and was reelected in 1869, and again in 1875.
[Illustration: Rutherford B. Hayes.]
[Sidenote: =Great Railroad Strike.=]
2. In the summer of 1877, in consequence of a threatened reduction in
the wages of railway employes, occurred what is known as the GREAT
RAILROAD STRIKE. On the 16th of July, the workmen of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad left their posts and gathered such strength in Baltimore
and at Martinsburg, West Virginia, as to prevent the running of
trains. The militia was called out by Governor Matthews, but was soon
dispersed by the strikers. The President then ordered General French
to the scene with a body of regulars, and the blockade of the road was
raised.
3. Meanwhile, the trains had been stopped on all the important roads
between the Hudson and the Mississippi, and business was paralyzed. In
Pittsburgh the strikers, rioters, and dangerous classes, gathering in
a mob to the number of twenty thousand, held, for two days, a reign of
terror unparalleled in the history of the country. The insurrection
was finally suppressed by the regular troops and the Pennsylvania
militia, but not until nearly one hundred lives, and property to the
value of more than three millions of dollars, had been lost. Riots also
occurred, or were threatened, at Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco,
Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne. By the
close of the month, the alarming insurrection was at an end.
[Sidenote: =Nez Percé War.=]
4. In the spring of 1877 a war broke out with the Nez Percé Indians of
Idaho. The national authorities in 1854 purchased a part of the Nez
Percé territory, large reservations being made in northwestern Idaho
and northeastern Oregon, but some of the chiefs refused to ratify the
compact, and remained at large. This was the beginning of difficulties.
5. The war began with the usual depredations by the Indians. General
Howard marched against them with a small force of regulars; but the Nez
Percés, led by their noted chieftain Joseph, fled. During the greater
part of summer the pursuit continued. In the fall they were chased
through the mountains into northern Montana, where they were confronted
by other troops commanded by Colonel Miles.
6. The Nez Percés were next driven across the Missouri River, and were
finally surrounded in their camp north of the Bear Paw Mountains. Here,
on the 4th of October, they were attacked, and completely routed by
the forces of Colonel Miles. Only a few, led by the chief White Bird,
escaped. Three hundred and seventy-five of the captive Nez Percés were
brought back to the American post on the Missouri.
[Sidenote: =Remonetization of Silver.=]
7. During the year 1877 the public mind was greatly agitated concerning
the REMONETIZATION OF SILVER. By the first coinage regulations of the
United States the standard unit of value was the silver dollar. From
1792 until 1873, the quantity of pure metal in this unit had never been
changed, though the amount of alloy contained in the dollar was altered
several times. In 1849 a gold dollar was added to the coinage, and from
that time forth the standard unit of value existed in both metals. In
1873-74 a series of acts were adopted by Congress bearing upon the
standard unit of value, whereby the legal-tender quality of silver was
abolished, and the silver dollar omitted from the list of coins to be
struck at the national mints.
8. In January, 1875, the RESUMPTION ACT was passed by Congress. It was
declared that on the 1st of January, 1879, the Government should begin
to redeem its outstanding legal-tender notes _in coin_. The question
was now raised as to the meaning of the word "coin" in the act; and,
for the first time, the attention of the people was aroused to the fact
that the privilege of paying debts in silver had been taken away. A
great agitation followed, and in 1878 a measure in Congress was passed
over the President's veto, for the restoration of the legal-tender
quality of the old silver dollar, and for the compulsory coinage of
that unit at a rate of not less than two millions of dollars a month.
[Sidenote: =Yellow Fever Epidemic.=]
9. In the summer of 1878 several of the Gulf States were scourged
with a YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC. The disease made its appearance in New
Orleans, and from thence was scattered among the towns along the
Mississippi. A regular system of contributions was established in the
Northern States, and men and treasure were poured out without stint to
relieve the suffering South. After more than twenty thousand people had
fallen victims to the plague, the frosts of October came and ended the
pestilence.
10. By the Treaty of Washington (1871), it was agreed that the right
of the United States in certain sea-fisheries in the neighborhood of
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, hitherto claimed by Great Britain, should be
acknowledged and maintained. The government of the United States agreed
to relinquish the duties which had hitherto been charged on certain
kinds of fish imported by British subjects into American harbors; and,
in order to balance any discrepancy, it was further agreed that any
total advantage to the United States might be compensated by a gross
sum to be paid by the American government. This sum was fixed at five
million dollars in November, 1877, and a year later the amount was paid
to the British government.
[Sidenote: =Chinese Embassy.=]
11. The year 1878 witnessed the establishment of a RESIDENT CHINESE
EMBASSY at Washington. For twenty years the great treaty negotiated by
Anson Burlingame had been in force between the United States and China.
The commercial relations of the two countries had been vastly extended.
On the 28th of September the embassy chosen by the imperial government
was received by the President. The ceremonies of the occasion were
among the most interesting ever witnessed in Washington. The speech of
Chen Lan Pin, the minister, was equal in dignity and appropriateness to
the best efforts of a European diplomatist.
[Sidenote: =Life Saving Service.=]
12. In June, 1878, the LIFE SAVING SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES was
established by act of Congress. The plan proposed the establishment
of regular stations and lighthouses on all the exposed parts of the
Atlantic coast and along the Great Lakes. Each station was to be
manned by a band of surfmen experienced in the dangers peculiar to the
shore in times of storms, and drilled in the best methods of rescue and
resuscitation. Boats and other appliances of the most approved pattern
were provided and equipped. The success of the enterprise has been so
great as to reflect the highest credit on its promoters. The number
of lives saved through the agency of the service reaches to thousands
annually, and the amount of human suffering and distress alleviated by
this beneficent movement is beyond computation.
[Sidenote: =Specie Resumption.=]
13. On the 1st of January, 1879, the RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS was
accomplished by the treasury of the United States. After seventeen
years' disappearance, gold and silver coin, which during that time had
been at a premium over the legal-tender notes of the government, again
came into common circulation.
14. The presidential election of 1880 was accompanied with the
excitement usually attendant upon great political struggles in the
United States. The Republican national convention was held in Chicago
on the 2d and 3d of June; a platform of principles was adopted, and
General James A. Garfield, of Ohio, was nominated for President.
For Vice-president, Chester A. Arthur, of New York, received the
nomination. The Democratic national convention assembled at Cincinnati
on the 22d of June, and nominated for the presidency General Winfield
S. Hancock, of New York, and for the Vice-presidency William H.
English, of Indiana. The National Greenback party held a convention
in Chicago on the 9th of June, and nominated General James B. Weaver,
of Iowa, for President, and General Benjamin J. Chambers, of Texas,
for Vice-president. The election resulted in the choice of Garfield
and Arthur. Two hundred and fourteen electoral votes, embracing those
of nearly all the Northern States, were cast for the Republican
candidates.
[Sidenote: =General Grant's Tour.=]
15. Soon after retiring from the presidency, General Grant, with his
family and a company of personal friends, set out to make a TOUR OF
THE WORLD. The expedition attracted the most conspicuous attention
both at home and abroad. The departure from Philadelphia on the 17th
of May, 1877, was the beginning of such a pageant as was never before
extended to any citizen of any nation of the earth. General Grant
visited Europe, India, Burmah and Siam; China and Japan. In the fall of
1879 the party returned to San Francisco, bearing with them the highest
tokens of esteem which the great nations of the Old World could bestow
upon the honored representative of the New.
[Illustration: Oliver P. Morton.]
16. The CENSUS OF 1880 was undertaken with more system and care than
ever before in the history of the country. The work was intrusted to
the superintendency of Professor Francis A. Walker. In every source
of national power, the development of the country was shown to have
continued without abatement. The total population of the States and
Territories now amounted to 50,182,525--an increase since 1870 of _more
than a million inhabitants a year_! The center of population had moved
westward about fifty miles, to the vicinity of Cincinnati.
[Sidenote: =Oliver P. Morton.=]
17. During the administration of Hayes several eminent Americans passed
from the scene of their earthly activities. On the 1st of November,
1877, the distinguished senator, Oliver P. Morton, died of paralysis
at his home in Indianapolis. His reputation in his own State and
throughout the Union was very great, and his sterling character had
won the respect even of his political enemies. As War Governor of
Indiana, he had been one of the main pillars of support to the Union in
the trying days of the Civil War. After that event he had become one
of the foremost men of the nation. Although but fifty-four years of
age, he had risen to be a recognized leader in American statesmanship.
His death was regarded as a public calamity, and the Nation, without
distinction of party, joined with his own State in doing honor to the
memory of the great dead.
18. Still more universally felt was the loss of the great poet and
journalist, William Cullen Bryant, who on the 12th of June, 1878, at
the advanced age of eighty-four, passed from among the living. For
more than sixty years his name had been known and honored wherever
the English language was spoken. On the 19th of December, in the same
year, the illustrious Bayard Taylor, who had recently been appointed
American Minister to the German Empire, died suddenly in the city of
Berlin. His life had been exclusively devoted to literary work; and
almost every department of letters, from the common tasks of journalism
to the highest charms of poetry, had been adorned by his genius. On the
1st day of November, 1879, Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan, one of the
organizers of the Republican party, and a great leader of that party in
the times of the civil war, died suddenly at Chicago; and on the 24th
day of April, 1881, the noted publisher and author, James T. Fields,
died at his home in Boston.
CHAPTER LIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF GARFIELD AND ARTHUR, 1881-1885.
James A. Garfield, twentieth President of the United J States, was born
at Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19, 1831. He was left in
infancy to the sole care of his mother and to the rude surroundings of
a backwoods home. In boyhood he served as a driver and pilot of a canal
boat plying the Ohio and Pennsylvania canal. At the age of seventeen
he attended the High School in Chester, was afterwards a student at
Hiram College, and in 1854 entered Williams College, from which he was
graduated with honor.
[Illustration: James A. Garfield.]
2. In the same year, Garfield returned to Ohio, and was made first a
professor and afterwards president of Hiram College. This position
he held until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he left his post
to enter the army. In the service he rose to distinction, and while
still in the field was elected by the people of his district to the
lower house of Congress. In 1879 he was elected to the United States
Senate, and hard upon this followed his nomination and election to the
presidency. American history has furnished but few instances of a more
steady and brilliant rise, from the poverty of an obscure boyhood, to
the most distinguished elective office in the gift of mankind.
[Sidenote: =The "Spoils System."=]
3. On the 4th of March, 1881, President Garfield delivered his
inaugural address, and the new administration entered upon its course
with omens of an auspicious future. But its prospects were soon
darkened with political difficulties. A division arose in the ranks of
the Republican party. The two wings of the Republicans were nicknamed
the "Stalwarts" and the "Half-Breeds": the former, headed by Senator
Conkling of New York; the latter, led by Mr. Blaine, Secretary of
State, and indorsed by the President himself. The Stalwarts claimed the
right of dispensing the appointive offices of the Government, after
the manner which had prevailed for many preceding administrations; the
President, supported by his division of the party, insisted on naming
the officers in the various States according to his own wishes.
4. The chief clash between the two influences in the party occurred
in New York. The collectorship of customs for the port of New York is
the best appointive office in the Government. To fill this position
the President nominated Judge William Robertson, and the appointment
was antagonized by the New York senators, Conkling and Platt, who,
failing to prevent the confirmation of Robertson, resigned their seats,
returned to their State, and failed of a reelection.
[Sidenote: =Assassination of Pres. Garfield.=]
5. A few days after the adjournment of the Senate in June, the
President, in company with Secretary Blaine and a few friends, entered
the railroad depot at Washington to take the train for Long Branch, New
Jersey. A moment afterwards he was approached by a miserable miscreant,
who, unperceived, came within a few feet of the company, drew a pistol,
and fired upon the Chief Magistrate. The shot struck the President in
the back, and inflicted a dreadful wound. The bleeding chieftain was
borne away to the executive mansion, and the wretch who had committed
the crime was hurried to prison. For eighty days the stricken President
lingered between life and death, bearing the pain and anguish of his
situation with a fortitude and heroism rarely witnessed among men; but
at half-past ten on the evening of September 19th, the anniversary of
the battle of Chickamauga, his vital powers suddenly gave way, and in a
few moments death closed the scene.
[Sidenote: =President Arthur Installed.=]
6. On the day following this deplorable event, Vice-president Arthur
took the oath of office in New York, and repaired to Washington.
Chester A. Arthur was born in Vernon, Franklin County, Vermont, October
5, 1830. He was of Irish descent, and was educated at Union College,
from which institution he was graduated in 1849. For awhile he taught
school in his native State, and then came to New York City to study
law. During the civil war he was Quartermaster-General of the State
of New York. After 1865 he returned to the practice of law, and in
1871 was appointed Collector of Customs for the port of New York. This
position he held until July, 1878, when he was removed by President
Hayes. Again he returned to his law practice, but was soon called by
the voice of his party to be a standard-bearer in the Presidential
canvass of 1880.
[Illustration: Chester A. Arthur.]
7. The administration of President Arthur proved to be uneventful.
The government pursued the even tenor of its way, and the progress of
the country was unchecked by calamity. Several important scientific
inventions were perfected about this time, and several great public
works completed.
[Sidenote: =Scientific Inventions.=]
8. One of the best examples of the application of scientific discovery
to the affairs of every-day life is that of the TELEPHONE. It has
remained for our day to discover the possibility of transmitting or
reproducing the human voice at a distance of hundreds or even thousands
of miles. By means of a simple contrivance, a person in one part of the
country is able to converse with friends in another part, as if face
to face. The invention of this wonderful instrument is to be credited
to Professor A. Graham Bell, of Massachusetts, and Elisha P. Gray, of
Chicago. It should be mentioned, also, that Professor A. C. Dolbear, of
Tufts College, and the great inventor, Thomas A. Edison, have succeeded
in the production of telephonic instruments.
9. Another recent invention is the PHONOGRAPH. It is the nature of the
phonograph to receive and retain the wave-lines and figures of sound,
whether of the human voice or some other sound, and by an ingenious
contrivance to reproduce those sounds as if they were the original
utterance. It is to be regretted that thus far the phonograph has
proved to be of little or no practical utility.
10. But perhaps the greatest invention of the age is the ELECTRIC
LIGHT. About 1870 it was first proposed to use electricity for
practical illumination. Long before this time the possibility of
electric lighting had been shown by the philosopher Gramme, of Paris.
About the same time the Russian scientist, Jablokoff, also succeeded in
converting electricity into light. It remained, however, for the great
American inventor, Thomas A. Edison, to remove the difficulties in the
way of electric lighting, and to make the invention practical. The
systems produced by him and others are rapidly taking the place of the
old methods of illumination.
[Sidenote: =Great Public Works.=]
11. Among the great public works may be mentioned the EAST RIVER
BRIDGE, joining New York with Brooklyn, which was opened with
appropriate ceremonies on the 24th of May, 1883. This structure is the
largest of the kind in the world, being a suspension bridge, with a
total length of 5,989 feet. The span from pier to pier is 1,595 feet;
and the estimated capacity of resistance is 49,200 tons. The engineer
under whose direction the great bridge was constructed was Mr. John
A. Roebling, who may properly be regarded as the originator of wire
suspension bridges. Though he did not live to see the completion of the
work which he had planned, the same was taken up and finished by his
son, scarcely less noted than his father.
12. The recurrence of the birthday of Washington, 1885, was noted for
the completion of the great monument, erected at the Capital, in honor
of the Father of his Country. The cost of the completed structure
was about $1,500,000. The shaft of the monument, exclusive of the
foundation, is 555 feet in height, being 30 feet higher than the
cathedral of Cologne, and 75 feet higher than the pyramid of Cheops.
13. In the last year of Arthur's administration the command of the army
of the United States was transferred from General William T. Sherman to
General Philip H. Sheridan. The former eminent soldier, having reached
the age at which, according to Act of Congress, he might retire from
active service, availed himself of the provision, and laid down the
command which he had so long and honorably held. Nor could it be said
that the new General, to whom the command of the American army was now
given, was less a patriot and soldier than his eminent predecessor.
[Sidenote: =Disappearance of Political Issues.=]
14. During this administration there was a gradual obliteration of
those sharply defined issues which for a quarter of a century had
divided the two great political parties. Partisan animosity in some
measure abated, and it was with difficulty that the managers were able
to direct the people in the political contest of 1884. The issue most
clearly defined was that of tariff and free trade, and even this,
when much discussed, tended to break up both the existing political
organizations.
15. During the year 1883 many distinguished men were named for the
presidential office. The first national convention was that of the
Greenback-Labor party, held at Indianapolis, in April of 1884. By this
party, General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, and A. N. West,
of Texas, were put in nomination. The Republican convention met on the
3d of June, in Chicago, and, after a session of three days, closed its
labors by the nomination of James G. Blaine, of Maine, and General
John A. Logan, of Illinois. The Democratic convention met in the same
city, on the 9th of July, and chose for its standard-bearers Grover
Cleveland, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. The result
showed that the Democratic party had drawn to its banners a majority of
the American people. Cleveland and Hendricks were elected, receiving
219 ballots in the Electoral College, against 182 votes which were cast
for Blaine and Logan.
CHAPTER LIV.
CLEVELAND'S ADMINISTRATION, 1885-1889.
The new President was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1885. Perhaps
the history of the country has furnished no other example of such rapid
rise to great distinction. Grover Cleveland, twenty-second President of
the United States, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, March 18th, 1837.
With his father he removed to Fayetteville, New York, in 1840. Here the
youth grew to manhood. His education was obtained in the common schools
and academies of the neighborhood. In 1857 he removed to New York City,
and became a student of law. In 1859 he was admitted to the bar, and
four years afterwards was appointed Assistant District Attorney for
Erie County. In 1869 he was elected Sheriff of the same county, and in
1881 he was chosen mayor of Buffalo. In 1882 he was elected governor of
New York, receiving for that office a plurality of more than 190,000
votes. Before his term of office had expired he was called by the voice
of his party to be its standard-bearer in the presidential campaign of
1884, in which he was again successful.
[Illustration: Grover Cleveland.]
[Sidenote: =New Orleans Exposition.=]
2. The last months of Arthur's and the first of Cleveland's
administration were noted for the INTERNATIONAL COTTON EXPOSITION
at New Orleans. This, after the Centennial Exposition of 1876, was
the greatest display of the kind ever held in the United States. The
Exposition extended from December of 1884 to June of 1885, and was
daily attended by thousands of visitors from all parts of the United
States and from many foreign countries. The display was varied and full
of interest. Intended, in the first place, to exhibit the wonderful
resources of the South in her peculiar products, the exhibition was
enlarged to include all branches of production and every species of
mechanism and art. Among the incidental benefits of the Exposition may
be mentioned the increased intercourse and consequent friendliness of
the people of the Northern and Southern States.
3. The first year of Cleveland's administration was uneventful. The
great question before the President was that of the REFORM OF THE
CIVIL SERVICE. In attempting to substitute a new series of rules
for appointment to office, by which the persons appointed should be
selected rather for their fitness than for their party services, the
President was greatly embarrassed. He found that the old forces in
American politics were as active as ever, and that a reform was almost
impossible under existing conditions.
[Sidenote: =Labor Agitations.=]
4. The first great national event of the Cleveland administration was
that of the LABOR AGITATIONS, which broke out in the spring of 1886.
It was not until after the Civil War that the first symptoms appeared
of a renewal, in the New World, of the struggle which has been long
going on in Europe between Capital and Labor. The first difficulties
of this sort in our country appeared in the mining regions, and in the
factories of the Eastern States. The agitation soon spread to the West.
As early as 1867 the peculiar method of action, called "striking,"
began among the laborers of the country. An account of the great
railroad strike of 1877 has already been presented. (Pages 337 and
338.)
[Sidenote: =The Southwestern Strike.=]
5. At the same time monopolies sprang up and flourished; and,
coincident with this, American labor discovered the salutary but
dangerous power of combination. When the trade season of 1886 opened, a
series of strikes and labor troubles broke out in several parts of the
country. The cities and towns were most involved in these agitations.
The first serious conflict was on what is known as the Gould System
of Railways, in the Southwest. A single workman, belonging to the
Knights of Labor, and employed on a branch of the Texas and Pacific
Railway, was discharged from his place. This action was resented by
the Knights, and the laborers on a great part of the Gould System were
ordered to strike. The movement was, for a season, successful, and the
transportation of freights from St. Louis to the Southwest ceased.
Gradually, however, other workmen were substituted for the striking
Knights; but the end was not reached until a severe riot in East
St. Louis had occasioned the sacrifice of much property and several
innocent lives.
[Sidenote: =The Chicago Anarchists.=]
6. Far more alarming was the outbreak in Chicago. In that city the
socialistic and anarchic elements were sufficiently powerful to present
a bold front to the authorities. Processions bearing red flags and
banners, with communistic devices and mottoes, frequently paraded the
streets, and were addressed by demagogues who avowed themselves the
open enemies of society and the existing order. On the 4th of May,
1886, a vast crowd of this reckless material collected in a place
called the Haymarket, and were about to begin the usual inflammatory
proceedings, when a band of policemen, mostly officers, drew near, with
the evident purpose of controlling or dispersing the meeting.
7. A terrible scene ensued. Dynamite bombs were thrown from the crowd
and exploded among the officers, several of whom were blown to pieces,
and others shockingly mangled. The mob was, in turn, attacked by the
police, and many of the insurgents were shot down. Order was presently
restored in the city; several of the leading anarchists were arrested
on the charge of inciting to murder, were tried, condemned, and four of
them executed. On the day following the Chicago riot, a similar, though
less dangerous, outbreak, which was suppressed without serious loss of
life, occurred in Milwaukee.
[Sidenote: =The Charleston Earthquake.=]
8. The summer of 1886 is memorable on account of the great natural
catastrophe known as the CHARLESTON EARTHQUAKE. On the night of the
31st of August, at ten minutes before ten o'clock, without a moment's
warning, the city of Charleston, S. C., was rocked and rent to its very
foundations. Hardly a building in the limits of Charleston, or in the
country surrounding, escaped serious injury; and perhaps one half of
all were in a state of semi-wreck or total ruin.
9. The whole coast in the central region of the disturbance was
modified with respect to the sea, and the ocean itself was thrown into
turmoil for miles from the shore. The people in the city fled from
their falling houses to the public squares and parks and far into
the country. Afraid to return into the ruins, they threw up tents
and light booths for protection, and abode for weeks away from their
homes. Nothing before in the limits of our knowledge has been at all
comparable with it in extent and violence, except the great earthquake
of New Madrid in 1811.
10. The disaster to Charleston served to bring out some of the better
qualities of our civilization. Personal assistance and contributions
from all quarters poured in for the support and encouragement of the
afflicted people. For several weeks a series of diminishing shocks
continued to terrify the citizens; but it was discovered that these
shocks were only the dying away of the great convulsion, and that they
gave cause for hope of entire cessation rather than continued alarm. In
the course of a few months the ruins were cleared away, business was
resumed, and the people were again safe in their homes.
11. On the 4th of March, 1887, the second session of the Forty-ninth
Congress expired. The work of the body had not been so fruitful
of results as had been desired and anticipated by the friends of
the government. On the question of the tariff nothing of value was
accomplished. A measure of REVENUE REFORM had been brought forward at
an early date in the session, but the act failed of adoption.
[Sidenote: =Pension Legislation.=]
12. On the question of EXTENDING THE PENSION LIST, however, the case
was different. A great majority of both parties favored such measures
as looked to the increase of benefits to the soldiers. At the first,
only a limited number of pensions had been granted, and these only to
actually disabled or injured veterans of the War for the Union. But
it became more and more important to each of the parties to secure
and hold the soldier vote, without which it was felt that neither
could maintain ascendency in the government. The ARREARS OF PENSIONS
ACT, making up to those who were already recipients of pensions such
amounts as would have accrued if the benefit had dated from the time
of disability, instead of from the time of granting the pension, was
passed in 1879; and at the same time the list of pensioners was greatly
enlarged.
13. The measure presented in the Fiftieth Congress was designed to
extend the pension list so as to include all regularly enlisted
and honorably discharged soldiers of the Civil War, who had become
in whole, or in part, _dependent upon the aid of others_ for their
maintenance. The measure was known as the DEPENDENT PENSIONS BILL. Many
opposed the enactment of a law which appeared to give the bounty of the
government to the deserving and the undeserving alike, and to compel
the worthy recipients of pensions to rank themselves with those who
had gone into the army for pay, and had been brought to want through
improvidence. A majority was easily obtained for the measure in both
Houses of Congress, and the act was passed. President Cleveland,
however, interposed his veto, and the proposed law fell to the ground.
14. The most important and noted legislation of the session was the
act known as the INTER-STATE COMMERCE BILL. For some fifteen years
complaints against the methods and management of the railways of the
United States had been heard on many sides, and in cases not a few the
complaints had originated in actual abuses. A large class of people
became clamorous that Congress should compel railways to accept a
system of uniformity as to all charges for service rendered. With this
object in view the Inter-State Commerce Bill was accordingly prepared,
and became a law.
[Sidenote: =Death of Prominent Generals.=]
15. In the spring of 1885 it became known that General Ulysses S. Grant
was stricken with a fatal malady. The announcement at once drew to
the General and ex-President the interest and sympathies of the whole
American people. The hero of Vicksburg and Appomattox sank under the
ravages of a malignant cancer, which had fixed itself in his throat.
On the 23d of July, 1885, he expired at a summer cottage on Mount
McGregor, New York. His last days were hallowed by the love of the
nation which he had so gloriously defended. No funeral west of the
Atlantic--not even that of Lincoln--was more universally observed. The
procession in New York City was perhaps as imposing a pageant as was
ever exhibited in honor of the dead. On the 8th of August the body
of General Grant was laid to rest in Riverside Park, overlooking the
Hudson. There, on the summit from which may be seen the great river
and the metropolis of the nation, is the tomb of him whose courage
and magnanimity in war will forever give him rank with the few master
spirits who have honored the human race and changed the course of
history.
16. Within scarcely more than a year from the funeral of Grant
several other distinguished Union Generals fell. On the 29th of
October General George B. McClellan died at his home at St. Cloud,
New Jersey. After another brief interval General Winfield S. Hancock,
senior Major-General of the American Army, breathed his last. In the
mean time, within a brief period, Generals Irwin McDowell, Ambrose
E. Burnside, Joseph Hooker, and George G. Meade, each of whom, in a
critical period of the war, had commanded the Army of the Potomac,
passed away. Before the close of 1886 Major-General John A. Logan,
greatest of the volunteer commanders, who, without previous military
education, won for themselves distinguished honors in the War for
the Union, fell sick and died at his home, called Calumet Place, in
Washington City.
[Illustration: Thomas A. Hendricks.]
[Sidenote: =Death of Prominent Civilians.=]
17. In the mean time, several distinguished civilians had passed away.
On the 25th of November, 1885, Vice-president Thomas A. Hendricks,
after an illness of a single day, died suddenly at his home in
Indianapolis. The life of Mr. Hendricks had been one of singular purity
as well as of greatness. His character had been noted for its mildness
and serenity in the stormy arena of politics. The goodness of the man
in private life, combined with his distinction as governor, senator,
and Vice-president of the United States, drew from the people every
evidence of public and private respect for his memory. The body of the
dead statesman was buried in Crown Hill cemetery, near Indianapolis.
The funeral pageant surpassed in grandeur any other display of the kind
ever witnessed in the Western States, except the funeral of Lincoln.
Shortly after his death, the funds were easily subscribed by the
people, for the erection of the magnificent bronze monument and statue
standing at one of the entrances to the Capitol of Indiana.
18. The death of Hendricks was soon followed by that of Horatio
Seymour, of New York. On the 12th of February, 1886, this distinguished
citizen, who had been governor of the Empire State, and a candidate for
the Presidency against General Grant, died at his home in Utica. Still
more distinguished in reputation and ability was Samuel J. Tilden, also
of New York, who died at his home, called Greystone, at Yonkers, near
New York City, on the 4th of August, 1886.
19. To this list of deaths must be added the illustrious name of Henry
Ward Beecher. To him, with little reservation, must be assigned the
first place among our orators and philanthropists. He had the happy
fortune to retain his faculties unimpaired to the close of his career.
On the evening of the 5th of March, 1887, at his home in Brooklyn,
he sank down under a stroke of apoplexy. He was nearing the close
of his seventy-fourth year. He lived until the morning of the 8th,
and quietly entered the shadows. He was followed to the grave by the
common eulogium of mankind, and every circumstance of his passing away
showed that he had occupied the supreme place among men of his class in
America.
20. On the 23d of March, 1888, Morrison R. Waite, Chief-Justice of
the United States, died at his home in Washington City. The death of
this able jurist imposed on President Cleveland the duty of naming his
successor. Judge Melville W. Fuller, of Chicago, was appointed, and
confirmed on the 30th of April, 1888.
21. During the whole of Cleveland's administration, the public mind
was swayed and excited by the movements of politics. The universality
of partisan newspapers, the combination in their columns of all the
news of the world with the invectives and misrepresentations of
party leaders, kept political questions constantly uppermost to the
detriment of social progress and industrial interests. Scarcely had
President Cleveland entered upon his office as chief magistrate when
the question of the succession to the Presidency was agitated.
22. By the last year of the administration it was seen that there would
be no general break-up of the existing parties. It was also perceived
that the issues between them must be _made_ rather than found in the
existing state of affairs. The sentiment in the United States in favor
of the Constitutional prohibition of the manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquors had become somewhat extended and intensified since
the last general election. But the discerning eye might perceive that
the real issue was between the Republican and Democratic parties.
[Sidenote: =The Protective Tariff.=]
23. One issue, however, had a living and practical relation to affairs,
and that was the question of PROTECTION TO AMERICAN INDUSTRY. Since the
campaign of 1884, the agitation had been gradually extended. At the
opening of the session, in 1887, the President, in his annual message
to Congress, devoted the whole document to the discussion of the single
question of a _Reform of the Revenue System_ of the United States.
The existing rates of duty on imported articles of commerce had so
greatly augmented the income of the Government, that a large surplus
had accumulated in the treasury of the United States. This fact was
made the basis of the President's argument in favor of a new system of
revenue, or at least an ample reduction in the tariff rates under the
old. It was immediately charged by the Republicans, that the project
in question meant the substitution of the system of Free Trade in the
United States as against the system of protective duties. The question
thus involved was made the bottom issue in the Presidential campaign of
1888.
24. The Democratic National Convention was held in St. Louis on the 5th
day of June, 1888, and Mr. Cleveland was renominated by acclamation.
For the Vice-presidential nomination the choice fell on ex-Senator
Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio. The Republican National Convention was held
in Chicago, on the 19th day of June. Many candidates were ardently
pressed upon the body, and the contest was long and spirited. The
voting was continued to the eighth ballot, when the choice fell upon
Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana. In the evening, Levi P. Morton, of New
York, was nominated for the Vice-presidency on the first ballot.
[Sidenote: =The Party Platforms.=]
25. In the mean time, the Prohibition party had held its National
Convention at Indianapolis, and on the 30th of May had nominated for
the Presidency General Clinton B. Fisk, of New Jersey, and for the
Vice-presidency John A. Brooks, of Missouri. The Democratic platform
declared for a reform of the revenue system of the United States, and
reaffirmed the principle of adjusting the tariff on imports with strict
regard to the actual needs of governmental expenditure. The Republican
platform declared also for a reform of the tariff schedule, but at the
same time stoutly affirmed the maintenance of the protective system
as a part of the permanent policy of the United States. Both parties
deferred to the patriotic sentiment of the country in favor of the
soldiers. The Prohibitionists entered the campaign, on the distinct
proposition that the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors
should be prohibited throughout the United States by Constitutional
amendment. To this was added a clause in favor of extending the right
of suffrage to women.
26. As the canvass progressed during the summer and autumn of 1888,
it became evident that the result was in doubt. The contest was
exceedingly close. The result showed success for the Republican
candidate. He received 233 electoral votes, against 168 votes for Mr.
Cleveland. The latter, however, appeared to a better advantage on the
popular count, having a considerable majority over General Harrison.
General Fisk, the Prohibition candidate, received nearly three hundred
thousand votes; but, under the system of voting, no electoral vote of
any State was obtained for him.
[Sidenote: =Four New States.=]
27. The last days of Cleveland's administration and of the Fiftieth
Congress were signalized by the admission into the Union of FOUR NEW
STATES, making the number forty-two. In 1887 the question of dividing
Dakota Territory by a line running east and west was agitated, and
the measure finally prevailed. Steps were taken by the people of both
sections for admission into the Union. Montana, with her 146,080 square
miles of territory, had meanwhile acquired a sufficient population;
and Washington Territory, with its area of 69,180 square miles, also
knocked for admission. In the closing days of the Fiftieth Congress a
bill was passed raising all of these four Territories--South Dakota,
North Dakota, Montana, and Washington--to the plane of Statehood.
The Act contemplated the adoption of State Constitutions, and a
proclamation of admission by the next President. It thus happened that
the honor of bringing in this great addition to the States of the Union
was divided between the outgoing and incoming administrations.
[Sidenote: =Agricultural Department.=]
28. Another Act of Congress was also of national importance. Hitherto
the government had been administered through seven departments, at the
head of each of which was placed a Cabinet officer, the seven together
constituting the advisers of the President. Early in 1889 a measure was
brought forward in Congress, and adopted, for the institution of a new
department, to be called the Department of Agriculture. Practically
the measure involved the elevation of what had previously been an
Agricultural Bureau in the Department of the Interior, to the rank of
a Cabinet office. Hitherto, though agriculture has been the greatest
of all the producing interests of the people, it has been neglected
for more political and less useful departments of American life and
enterprise.
CHAPTER LV.
HARRISON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1889- ----.
Benjamin Harrison, twenty-third President of the United States, was
born at North Bend, Ohio, on the 20th of August, 1833. He is a grandson
of President William Henry Harrison, and a great-grandson of Benjamin
Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
[Illustration: Benjamin Harrison.]
2. Harrison's early home was on a farm. He was a student at the
institution called Farmers' College, for two years. Afterwards, he
attended Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, and was graduated therefrom
in June, 1852. He took in marriage the daughter of Dr. John W. Scott,
President of the University. After a course of study, he entered the
profession of law, removed to Indianapolis, and established himself
in that city. With the outbreak of the war he became a soldier of the
Union, and rose to the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General of Volunteers.
Before the close of the war, he was elected Reporter of the decisions
of the Supreme Court of Indiana.
3. In the period following the Civil War, General Harrison rose to
distinction as a civilian. In 1876 he was the unsuccessful candidate
of the Republican party for governor of Indiana. In 1881 he was
elected to the United States Senate, where he won the reputation of a
leader and statesman. In 1884, his name was prominently mentioned in
connection with the Presidency; and in 1888 it was found that he, more
than any other, combined in himself all the elements of a successful
candidate. The event justified the choice of the party in making him
the standard-bearer in the ensuing campaign.
4. General Harrison was inaugurated President on the 4th of March,
1889. His Cabinet appointments were as follows: Secretary of State,
James G. Blaine, of Maine; Secretary of the Treasury, William Windom,
of Minnesota; Secretary of War, Redfield Proctor, of Vermont; Secretary
of the Navy, Benjamin F. Tracy, of New York; Postmaster-General, John
Wanamaker, of Pennsylvania; Secretary of the Interior, John W. Noble,
of Missouri; Attorney-General, William H. H. Miller, of Indiana;
and Secretary of Agriculture--the new department--Jeremiah Rusk, of
Wisconsin.
[Sidenote: =Affairs in Oklahoma.=]
5. As the more fertile and accessible public lands in the Mississippi
valley were gradually taken up, new settlers began to cast envious eyes
upon Indian Territory, and especially upon a central region, called
Oklahoma, or the "beautiful country," which was supposed to be very
fertile. Several illegal attempts were made by bands of adventurers to
settle upon these lands, and the military had been employed to eject
the "Oklahoma Boomers," as the intruders were called.
6. The Indian title to Oklahoma had gradually been acquired by the
United States, and one of the first acts of President Harrison was to
issue a proclamation declaring that this region, embracing nearly 3000
square miles, should be thrown open to public settlement at noon of
April 22, 1889.
7. As this date approached, settlers to the number of over ten thousand
collected and formed camps along the southern boundary of Kansas, and,
at the hour named, made a wild race to Oklahoma across the intervening
strip of Indian Territory. Towns were started in several localities,
and within a few days the region had a population of more than 30,000.
Though the country proved somewhat less fertile than had been supposed,
the new community continued to grow, and the following year, with
greatly enlarged boundaries and a population of 62,000, was organized
as the Territory of Oklahoma.
[Sidenote: =Centennial of the Republic.=]
8. Within two months after Harrison's inauguration occurred the
CENTENNIAL OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC. On the 30th of April, 1789, the
Father of his Country had taken the oath of office and entered upon his
duties as first President of the United States, and the corresponding
date in 1889 was fixed upon for the centennial celebration of the
event. The holidays in the metropolis included the 29th and 30th days
of April and the 1st day of May. The event drew to New York the largest
concourse of people ever seen at one place within the limits of the
United States. Fully half a million strangers visited the city and were
present at the ceremonies.
[Sidenote: =The Samoan Difficulty.=]
9. The close of the year 1888 and the beginning of 1889 were marked by
a dangerous complication between the United States and Germany relative
to the Samoan Islands. In order to settle the difficulty, the President
of the United States sent three commissioners to Berlin, to confer with
the German Government. The result was wholly satisfactory to the United
States. The attitude and demand of the American Government in favor of
the independence of Samoa, under its native sovereign, were supported
by the decision of the commissioners, and the difficulty ended with the
recognition of King Malietoa.
[Sidenote: =The Johnstown Inundation.=]
10. The last week of May, 1889, was memorable in the history of
our country for the destruction of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. That
city lay at the junction of a stream, known as the South Fork, with
the Conemaugh River. Several miles up the South Fork some wealthy
fishermen had constructed a dam and a reservoir, where the waters
had accumulated in an immense volume. The level of the lake was high
above the valley and the city. During the last days of May heavy rains
fell, and the country was inundated. On the afternoon of the 31st of
the month, the dam which held the lake in place was burst asunder, and
the deluge of waters poured suddenly down the valley. Everything was
swept away by the flood. Johnstown, a manufacturing city, was totally
wrecked, and thrown in an indescribable mass against the aqueduct of
the Pennsylvania Railway below the town. Here the ruins caught fire,
and the wild shrieks of hundreds of miserable victims were heard above
the roar of the deluge and the conflagration. The heart of the nation
responded quickly to the sufferings of the people, and millions of
dollars in money and supplies were poured into the Conemaugh valley to
relieve the destitution of those who survived the calamity.
[Sidenote: =The McKinley Bill.=]
11. The work of the fifty-first Congress was marked with much partisan
bitterness and excitement. The first question which occupied the
attention of the body was the revision of the tariff. On this question
the political parties were strongly opposed to each other. The policy
of the Republican party, though the platform of 1888 had declared for
a revision of the tariff, was favorable to the perpetuation of the
protective system as a part of the permanent policy of the Government.
The Democrats favored a great reduction in the existing rates of
duties, and the ultimate adoption of the principle of free trade.
What was known as the McKinley Bill was introduced into Congress, and
finally adopted, by which the Republican policy was incorporated as
a part of the governmental system. The average rate of import duties
was raised from about forty-seven per cent. to more than fifty-three
per cent.; but in a few instances the existing duties were abolished,
and in the case of raw sugar a bounty to the producers was provided
instead.
[Sidenote: =Counting a Quorum.=]
12. Early in the session a serious difficulty arose in the House of
Representatives between the Democrats and the Speaker, Thomas B. Reed,
of Maine. The Republican majority in the House was not large, and the
minority were easily able in matters of party legislation to break
the quorum by refusing to vote. In order to counteract this policy, a
new system of rules was reported empowering the Speaker to count the
minority as present whether voting or not, and thus to compel a quorum.
These rules were violently resisted by the Democrats, and Speaker Reed
was denounced by his opponents as an unjust officer. It was under the
provision of the new rule that nearly all of the party measures of the
fifty-first Congress were adopted.
[Sidenote: =The Force Bill.=]
13. One of the most important of these was the attempt to pass through
Congress what was known as the Force Bill, by which it was proposed to
transfer the control of the Congressional elections in the States of
the Union, from State to National authority. This measure provoked the
strongest opposition, part of which arose within the Republican party.
In the Senate certain Republicans refused to support the bill, and it
was finally laid aside for the consideration of other business.
[Sidenote: =Free Coinage of Silver.=]
14. A third measure was the attempt to restore silver to a perfect
equality with gold in the coinage of the country. Since 1874 there
had been an increasing difference in the purchasing power of the two
money metals of the country. That is, the purchasing power of gold
had, in the last fifteen years, risen about fifteen per cent., while
the purchasing power of silver had fallen about five per cent. in the
markets of the world. One class of theorists, assuming that gold is
the only invariable standard of values, insisted that this difference
in the purchasing power of the two metals had risen wholly from a
depreciation in the price of silver; while the opposing class argued
that the difference had arisen most largely from an increase in the
purchasing power of gold, and that equal legislation and equal favor
shown to the two money metals would bring them to par, the one with the
other, and keep them in that relation in the markets of the world.
15. The advocates of free coinage claimed that the laws discriminating
against silver and in favor of gold were impolitic, unjust, and
un-American. They urged that the free coinage of silver would be
of vast advantage to the financial interests of the country. This
view, however, was strongly opposed by the money centers and by the
fund-holding classes, to whom the payment of all debts according to the
highest standard of value--that is, in gold only--was a fundamental
principle. A bill for the free coinage of silver was passed by the
Senate, but rejected by the House, and the question was handed over to
the next Congress.
[Sidenote: =Idaho and Wyoming.=]
16. This Congress passed the necessary acts for the admission of Idaho
and Wyoming as the forty-third and forty-fourth States respectively.
Idaho was admitted with a population of 84,385, on the 3d of July,
1890; while on the 10th of the same month 60,705 souls were added to
the Union with the State of Wyoming.
[Sidenote: =The Eleventh Census.=]
17. The Eleventh Decennial Census of the United States was taken in
June, 1890. Its results indicated that the population of the country
had increased to 62,622,250, exclusive of Indians not taxed, and whites
in Alaska and Indian Territory. These swell the grand total to about
63,000,000 souls. Indiana was found to contain 2,195,404 inhabitants,
and to include, near the hamlet of Westport in Decatur County, the
center of population of the United States.
[Sidenote: =Death of General Sheridan.=]
18. Meanwhile three other great leaders of the Civil War passed away
by death. On the 5th of August, 1888, Lieutenant-General Sheridan, at
that time Commander-in-chief of the American army, died at his home in
Nonquitt, Massachusetts. Few other generals of the Union army had won
greater admiration and higher honors. He was in many senses a model
soldier, and his death at the comparatively early age of fifty-seven
was the occasion of great grief throughout the country.
[Sidenote: =Death of General Sherman.=]
19. Still more conspicuous was the fall of General William T. Sherman.
Among the Union commanders in the great Civil War he stood easily next
to Grant in greatness and reputation. In vast and varied abilities,
particularly in military accomplishment, he was perhaps superior to
all. Born in 1820, he reached the mature age of seventy-one, and died
at his home in New York on the 14th day of February, 1891. The event
produced a profound impression. Sherman, more than any other great
military captain of his time, had shunned and put aside political
ambition. Of his sterling patriotism there was never a doubt. As to his
wonderful abilities, all men were agreed. His remains were taken under
escort from New York to St. Louis, where they were deposited in the
family burying grounds in Mount Calvary cemetery.
[Sidenote: =Death of General Johnston.=]
20. After the death of General Sherman, only two commanders of the
first class remained on the stage of action from the great Civil
War--both Confederates. These were Generals Joseph E. Johnston and
James Longstreet. The former of these was destined to follow his rival
and conqueror at an early day to the land of rest. General Johnston,
who had been an honorary pall bearer at the funeral of Sherman,
contracted a heavy cold on that occasion, which resulted in his death
on the 20th of February, 1891, at his home in Washington City. General
Johnston was in his eighty-third year at the time of his decease. Among
the Confederate commanders none were his superiors, with the single
exception of Lee. After the close of the war, his conduct had been of a
kind to win the confidence of Union men; and at the time of his death
he was held in almost universal honor.
[Sidenote: =The New Orleans Massacre.=]
21. In February of 1891 a serious event occurred in the city of New
Orleans. There existed in that metropolis a secret social organization
among the Italians, known as the Mafia Society. The principles of the
brotherhood involved mutual protection and even the law of revenge
against enemies. Several breaks occurred between members of the society
and the police authorities of the city, and the latter, by arrest
and prosecution, incurred the dislike and hatred of the former. The
difficulty grew until at length Captain David C. Hennessey, chief of
the police, was assassinated by some secret murderer or murderers,
who for the time escaped detection. It was believed, however, that
the Mafia Society was at the bottom of the assassination, and several
members of the brotherhood were arrested under the charge of murder.
22. A trial followed, and the circumstances tended to establish the
guilt of the prisoners. But the proof was not positive, and the first
three of those on trial were acquitted. A great excitement followed
this decision, and charges were published that the jury had been
bribed or terrorized with threats into making a false verdict. On the
following day a public meeting was called, and a great crowd gathered
around the statue of Henry Clay, standing in one of the public squares.
Speeches were made. A mob was organized and directed against the jail
where the Italian prisoners were confined. The jail was entered by
force. The prisoners were driven from their cells, and nine of them
were shot to death in the court of the prison. Two others were dragged
forth and hanged. Nor can it be doubted that the innocent as well as
the guilty suffered in the slaughter.
23. The event was followed by intense public excitement. The affair
became of national, and then of international, importance. The Italian
minister, Baron Fava, at Washington, entered his solemn protest
against the killing of his countrymen, and the American Secretary of
State communicated with King Humbert on the subject. The Italian
societies in other American cities passed angry resolutions against the
destruction of their fellow-countrymen by the mob; and the newspapers
of the country teemed with discussions of the subject. Threats of war
were heard between Italy and the United States; but the more thoughtful
looked with confidence to the settlement of the question by peaceable
means.