CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WAR IN 1861--THE TWO GOVERNMENTS MORE DIRECTLY
CONNECTED WITH RESULTS IN THE FIELD THAN AT SUBSEQUENT PERIODS--MR.
DAVIS' CONNECTION WITH THE MILITARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE
CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT ADOPTS, IN THE MAIN, THE DEFENSIVE POLICY OF
THE VIRGINIAN AUTHORITIES--FEDERAL PREPARATIONS--GENERAL SCOTT--
DEFENSIVE PLANS OF THE CONFEDERATES--DISTRIBUTION OF THEIR FORCES--THE
CONFEDERATE CAMPAIGN OF 1861 JUSTIFIED--DISTRIBUTION OF THE FEDERAL
FORCES--PROGRESS OF THE CAMPAIGN--GENERALS PATTERSON AND JOHNSTON--
JUNCTION OF BEAUREGARD AND JOHNSTON--MANASSAS--PRESIDENT DAVIS ON THE
BATTLE-FIELD--HIS DISPATCH--HIS RETURN TO RICHMOND--A SPEECH NEVER
PUBLISHED BEFORE--REFLECTIONS UPON THE RESULTS OF MANASSAS--MR. DAVIS
NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ABSENCE OF PURSUIT--STONEWALL JACKSON'S
VIEWS--DAVIS IN FAVOR OF PURSUIT OF THE FEDERALS--MISREPRESENTATIONS--
MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN VARIOUS QUARTERS--THE "TRENT AFFAIR"--RESULTS OF
THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
Whatever crudities may appear in the general plans of warfare, adopted by
the American belligerents in 1861, when tested by the maxims which have
obtained in other wars, waged upon different theatres of action, and for
different purposes, at least there was not wanting a palpable and
definitive shape. With remarkable rapidity and precision, the military
situation was adjusted to the attainment of certain general objects, which
continued, during the successive stages of the war, to be pursued, with
varying fortune, by the respective contestants.
The incipient campaign of the war was peculiarly regulated and determined
by the paramount aims which had impelled the respective parties to arms.
Of necessity, the campaign, on the part of the North, must be offensive,
while the South, in a defensive attitude, must prepare to parry the blows
of her assailant. The pretext of the North was to assert the "national
authority" over what it was pleased to term "rebellious" territory. The
_animus_ of the South was to repel an invasion which menaced her liberties
and firesides. Whatever advantages may have belonged to the position of
the South were not overlooked by those who were charged with her defense;
and it may safely be claimed, in view of the immediate and overwhelming
result in her favor, that whatever compensation, for obvious
disadvantages, she had anticipated from the resources of skillful
leadership, was fairly rendered.
The two Governments, at Washington and at Richmond, were then more
directly chargeable with the actual results in the field than at
subsequent periods. The army had then become less independent of the
Government. Its organic structure was undeveloped, and it had not yet
become identified with those commanders whose history was hereafter to be
so interwoven with its own. In a general sense, it may be remarked, that
the connection of President Davis with all the campaigns of the
Confederate army, was that which the country designed it should be, when,
in consequence of his military aptitude and experience, it placed him in
charge of the public administration. Moreover, it was consistent with that
inevitable responsibility which attached to the office of chief executive.
Ignorant and intemperate partisans have labored to prove his
responsibility for those casualties of war, which are utterly beyond human
calculations, and to trace to his influence disasters of the battle-field,
with which he could by no possibility have been connected. As is usual in
such cases, these criticisms are made with a total forgetfulness of the
unintentional tribute, which is accorded to Mr. Davis, in ascribing to him
the chief responsibility for a military administration, which the world
declares to have had few parallels in its history.
When President Davis reached Richmond, from Montgomery, the military
situation had already assumed a well-defined shape. The plans of defense,
adopted by the Virginian authorities, mainly under the direction of
General Lee, and carried into partial execution before the alliance with
the Confederacy had been formally consummated, were adhered to by the
Confederate Government. President Davis, as we have seen, fully impressed
with the demands of the exigency, immediately upon his arrival, addressed
himself, with characteristic vigor and promptitude, to such measures as
would secure a successful campaign. In the meantime, the preparations of
the Federal Government were equally vigorous, and by no means indefinite
in their aims.
Whatever may be the comparative merits, when placed in antithetical
juxtaposition, of the plans of campaign adopted by the two Governments in
1861, or whatever may be alleged of the blunders and mishaps of the
Federal scheme of warfare, there could be no question of the full
comprehension of the necessities of the situation by the veteran commander
of the Federal armies. We are not called upon here to give an opinion of
General Scott in his personal or political relations, but that combination
of sagacious military minds, upon which devolved the defense of Southern
liberties, was not likely to commit the error of a disparaging estimate of
his abilities.
General Scott, far in advance of the prevailing opinion at the North,
dreamed of no holiday enterprise. He well knew that Southern valor,
directed by leaders whose names were identified with the proudest
_prestige_ of America, and enlisted in the defense of principles which
were the dearest convictions and traditions of the Southern heart, was not
to be crushed in a "three-months'" wrestle of arms. Accordingly, his
preparations were for _war_ in its broadest and most terrible sense; a war
between powerful nationalities; a war in which, though sustained by
inexhaustible resources and popular enthusiasm, he had yet to contend with
a race essentially military in its instincts, earnest in conviction, led
by men whose capacities he had amply tested, and aided by defensive
position, vast extent of territory, and by those numerous obstacles in the
way of conquest, which must have been apparent to the eye of an
experienced soldier.
The attitude of the Confederate Government was necessarily defensive.
History would be searched in vain for examples justifying an invasion by a
people entirely agricultural in habits and resources, weak in numbers, and
with a government not yet organized three months, of a powerful
manufacturing and commercial nation, of dense population, and great wealth
and resources. Without supplies, equipment and transportation, and without
the time or opportunity to obtain them, successful invasion of the North,
however attractive to the popular imagination, was clearly impossible.
Viewed from the more educated stand-point, furnished by the later
developments of the war, the crude ideas, from which arose the popular
aspiration of at once "carrying the war into Africa," are ludicrous in the
extreme. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the defensive, subjected
to such modifications as the casualties of war render proper and necessary
in all plans, whether offensive or defensive, was at all times the true
policy of the South. Certain it is, that, upon two occasions, essaying
the offensive under the most favorable circumstances, and under their
greatest commander, the Confederates were overtaken by disaster. There can
be no just criterion, furnished by European wars, by which to test the
Confederate military policy in the main. Parallels between the American
civil war and those waged by Frederick the Great and Napoleon are
inadmissable. Not only were circumstances entirely dissimilar, but able
military critics have indicated physical peculiarities, forbidding the
unexceptional application to American warfare, of maxims which, elsewhere,
are undisputed.
Nevertheless, war as a science must be worse than useless, unless its
underlying principles have universal application. Nor is it maintained
that there were no circumstances which would have justified a departure
from the usually defensive policy of the Confederates. Upon two occasions
the main army of the South, having successfully encountered upon its own
soil the most prodigious efforts of the enemy's strength, sought to follow
him in the moment of his recoil. The Confederate invasion of 1862,
culminating at Antietam, and that of 1863, culminating at Gettysburg, were
undertaken with the purpose of destroying, upon his own soil, an enemy
already defeated. Each of these endeavors was based upon sound principles;
and there is no little palliation for the disaster, in either case, in
reflecting how great would have been the results of success. Much of the
philosophy of the war in Virginia is to be explained by the fact of the
thoroughly aggressive character, as soldiers, of President Davis and
General Lee. These two directing minds, by whose combined genius and will,
the fortunes of the Confederacy were so long upheld, in full and cordial
coöperation during the entire war, were in nothing more harmonious, than
in the desire for an aggressive campaign, whenever it could be undertaken
with a reasonable promise of success. Hence, the history of the army of
Northern Virginia develops, throughout, that military policy which is
known as the "defensive with offensive returns."
After the conclusion of the alliance between Virginia and the Confederate
States, which placed all "military operations, offensive and defensive, in
Virginia," under the control of the Confederate President, troops from the
other Southern States had been thrown northward with astonishing rapidity.
As rapidly as they arrived, regiments were sent to the various localities
where it had been thought expedient to establish a defensive force. These
posts were distributed with a view to their strategic bearing upon
particular sections of territory, which it was deemed necessary to defend,
and also with reference to their strategic connection with each other, and
with the chain of combinations making the general plan of defense.
In the early summer, the distribution of the Southern forces in Virginia
was as follows: At Manassas Junction, thirty-five miles south-west from
Washington, and the point of intersection of the lines of railroad running
southward to Richmond, and to the Shenandoah Valley, was a force, to the
command of which General Beauregard was transferred from the charge of the
defenses of Charleston. Manassas Junction was obviously a strategic point
of the first importance, as the centre of the railroad system of Northern
Virginia, and as a base of operations threatening Washington, and
immediately across the path of any overland expedition against Richmond.
The favorable estimate of General Beauregard's abilities entertained by
the President, added to the popularity which followed his services at
Charleston, occasioned his assignment to what was obviously to be the most
important theatre of operations.
Auxiliary to the command of Beauregard, but operating independently of
that officer, was a force at Harper's Ferry, on the Potomac, commanded by
General Joseph E. Johnston, an officer of reputed skill, who had earned
honorable distinction in Mexico, and enjoyed high rank and reputation in
the Federal service. This force had a mission second in value only to that
of the army at Manassas. It was charged with the defense of the rich and
populous Shenandoah Valley, teeming with supplies, and inhabited by a
hardy and patriotic population. Its position was intermediate between the
forces operating in Western Virginia, and those in front of Washington,
and threatening to the enemy's line of communication westward _via_ the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
In Western Virginia were the commands of Generals Wise and Garnett,
respectively, in the Kanawha Valley, and upon the main line of
communication between the sections east and west of the Alleghany
mountains. The forces of Wise and Garnett were designed for the double
purpose of defending the sections of territory in which they were
respectively located, and for the aid and encouragement of the patriotic
portion of the population, then under the joint domination of the Union
men and Federal soldiers.
Under Magruder, promoted for his victory at Bethel, was a comparatively
small force, holding the peninsula of James and York Rivers, the direct
route to Richmond from the coast; and at Norfolk were several thousand
men, under command of General Huger.
No very acute analysis is required to penetrate the motives of this
distribution of forces in the face of the plain necessities of the
situation. Yet a vast amount of conceit has been expended in glittering
verbiage, aiming to exhibit the early partiality of President Davis for
the weak policy of dispersion, and that aversion to the "concentration" of
troops, for overwhelming victories, to be followed by decisive results,
which, it is alleged, adhered to his military policy to the last. To this
cant about "concentration," a sufficient answer relative to this
disposition of troops is, that it has the sanction of Lee's great name, to
say nothing of the complete success that followed it. There was no phase
of the situation, either then or for months afterward, which could have
justified for any result, then attainable by "concentration," the
surrendering to the enemy of vast sections of country, which, then and
subsequently, fed the army and supplied thousands of soldiers. Popular
confidence, so indispensable to a government under such circumstances, was
not to be won by such a policy, at the very incipiency of the contest.
Were the patriots of Western Virginia, thousands of whom made heroic
sacrifices, to be abandoned without an effort for their rescue? Magruder
and Huger, too, had duties of no insignificant character to perform.
Fortress Monroe, commanding the tributaries of the Chesapeake--the avenues
leading to the very heart of Virginia, to the doors of Richmond, and the
rear of the armies upon the northern borders--presented, during the entire
war, an insuperable difficulty in the defense of Virginia. More than once
it was the impregnable asylum for discomfited Federal hosts; and as a base
of operations for the enemy, there was no period of the war when it did
not challenge a vigilant observation from Richmond. To the efficient,
bold, and skillful defense of the peninsula, by Magruder, the Confederate
capital owed its safety for twelve months, not less than to the
successful defense made upon the Potomac border. Dependent upon the
command of Huger was the defense, not only of Norfolk and Portsmouth, but
of an extensive back country, besides the naval defenses then in
preparation at Gosport.
But in addition to these important objects, is to be remembered the
inexperience of both officers and men, totally disqualifying them for
those prompt and vigorous movements for which they were subsequently
distinguished. Discipline and organization were yet to be supplied. The
army at Manassas in July, 1861, at Centreville, in the ensuing autumn, or
even in front of Richmond, in the summer of 1862, was altogether a
different instrument from that compact force, which the genius of Lee had
welded, when he threw it, with crushing impetus, upon the columns of
Hooker at Chancellorsville. But, after all, as will be abundantly
exhibited hereafter, concentration was preëminently the characteristic of
the Confederate military policy. Especially did the present campaign, in
all its parts, hinge upon the successful execution of this principle.
Confronting the command of Beauregard, at Manassas, was a considerable
Federal army, under General McDowell, covering Washington, and threatening
an advance along the line of the Orange and Alexandria and Virginia
Central Railroads. Under General Patterson another large Federal force
confronted General Johnston, and threatened the Shenandoah Valley. General
McClellan, with a force greatly outnumbering the small commands opposed to
him, operated in Western Virginia--the common name of the section of
country embraced between the Ohio and Cheat Rivers, and the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad and the Great Kanawha and Gauley Rivers. A heavy force at
Fortress Monroe, threatening, with incursions, the entire tide-water
section of the State, sufficiently occupied the commands of Magruder and
Huger.
The Confederate plan of campaign, approved in the early summer, in its
leading features was adhered to with pertinacity and success. This plan,
jointly approved by the Government and the two commanders upon whom its
execution devolved, contemplated defensive operations, and the union, at
the critical moment, of the forces of Beauregard and Johnston, for the
destruction of McDowell's command, whenever it should begin its march
southward. President Davis and General Lee, at Richmond, were in regular
communication with the two commanders in the field, and all operations
were directed with a view to the destruction of the main body of the
enemy.
General Scott, upon the Federal side, also looked to the coöperation of
Patterson with McDowell, and expected him either to defeat Johnston, or to
so employ him as to prevent his reinforcement of Beauregard, when the
latter should be assailed by the overwhelming force of McDowell. The
remoteness of Magruder and Huger, and the impossibility of sufficient
secrecy in the transfer of any portion of their commands to the theatre of
operations, placed them outside of the calculation. The same may be said
of the Confederate forces in Western Virginia. Apprehension of danger from
the command of McClellan was experienced by the Confederate authorities,
especially after the disastrous defeat of General Garnett. There can be
little doubt, however, that the Government and people of the North
considered their army, immediately upon the ground, ample for the
contemplated work, and did not feel the necessity of looking elsewhere for
reinforcements.
The small force at Manassas, when General Beauregard assumed command, was
increased by subsequent accessions, until, by the middle of July, it
numbered about twenty thousand men. His duties were a vigilant observation
of the enemy and such defensive preparations as were necessary. The pivot
of the campaign was elsewhere. If Patterson could successfully occupy
Johnston until the crisis at Manassas was passed, the result was doubtful,
at least; but if Johnston, at the required moment, could elude his
adversary, and reinforce Beauregard, the probabilities were most promising
to the Confederates. In the sequel, this proved a result far more easily
attained than had been hoped for. The campaign thus became a series of
maneuvres, with the Confederates in possession of the decided advantage of
an interior line.
General Patterson, apparently imbecile or bewildered, committed a series
of blunders, to be accounted for upon no possible hypothesis accrediting
to him even ordinary acquaintance with the palpable principles of the
science of war. What his repeated advances, retreats, and flank movements
could have been designed to accomplish, it is difficult to imagine, as his
situation plainly prevented his escape from Johnston and reinforcement of
McDowell, before Johnston could reach Beauregard. General Patterson's
failure to _attack_ Johnston preordained the disaster to McDowell on the
21st of July. Johnston, aided by the vigilance and daring of the
"indefatigable" Stuart, was fully apprised of every movement of his
adversary. With comparatively little difficulty he escaped from his front,
and, in accordance with the plan previously indicated, reinforced
Beauregard with the greater portion of his force.
With the details of the overwhelming disaster to the Federal arms, at
Manassas, on the 21st of July, we are not here interested. Our aim has
been to glance briefly at the relations sustained by President Davis to
the preliminary campaign which culminated in success so brilliant and
valuable. In accordance with his preconceived purpose to be present, if
possible, at the consummation of plans in which he felt so profound an
interest, President Davis left Richmond on Sunday morning, July 21st, for
the scene of the expected battle. Reaching the battle-field while the
struggle was still in progress, it was his privilege to witness the
flight, in utter confusion and dismay, of the Federal hosts in their first
serious conflict with the patriot army. His presence upon the field was
the inspiration of unbounded enthusiasm among the troops, to whom his name
and bearing were the symbols of victory. His dispatch from the
battle-field, on Sunday night, will long be remembered by those who
gathered from it their first intelligence of the great victory:
"MANASSAS JUNCTION, Sunday Night.
"Night has closed upon a hard-fought field. Our forces were
victorious. The enemy were routed, and precipitately fled, abandoning
a large amount of arms, knapsacks, and baggage. The ground was strewn
for miles with those killed, and the farmhouses and ground around were
filled with the wounded. Pursuit was continued along several routes
towards Leesburg and Centreville, until darkness covered the
fugitives. We have captured many field batteries and stands of arms,
and one of the United States flags. Many prisoners have been taken.
Too high praise can not be bestowed, whether for the skill of the
principal officers, or the gallantry of all our troops. The battle was
mainly fought on our left. Our force was 15,000; that of the enemy
estimated at 35,000.
"JEFF'N DAVIS."
He remained at Manassas, in consultation with Generals Beauregard and
Johnston, until the morning of Tuesday, July 23d. The return of the
President to Richmond was the occasion of renewed patriotic rejoicings. An
immense crowd awaited at the railroad depot, in expectancy of his arrival,
and both there and at his hotel occurred most enthusiastic demonstrations
of popular delight at the success of the army, and of public regard for
himself.[38] At night Mr. Davis addressed, with thrilling effect, an
immense audience, from a window of the Spottswood Hotel, recounting some
of the incidents of the battle, which he declared to be a decisive
victory, if followed by energetic measures, and counseled moderation and
forbearance in victory, with unrelaxed preparations for future trials. It
was upon this occasion that he uttered the memorable injunction, "Never be
haughty to the humble, or humble to the haughty."
The immediate and palpable consequence of the victory of Manassas was the
rescue of the Confederacy from the peril by which, for weeks, it had been
threatened. The South was now plainly a power, capable of fighting ably
and vigorously, and with greatly improved prospects of success, for the
independence which it had asserted. Time was to develop a far greater
value in this wonderful success than was then made available. A few days
only were required to exhibit, what at first appeared merely a thorough
repulse of the Federal army, as an overwhelming rout, capable of being
followed to such results as might have changed even the fate of a nation.
Not many weeks sufficed to convince the Southern people of the fact which
must ever dwell among their saddest associations, that an opportunity,
inestimable in value, and almost unparalleled in its flattering
inducements to a people situated as they were, had been utterly
unappreciated and irrevocably lost.
In the numerous accounts which have been written, representing all shades
of opinion from different stand-points on both sides, and from the wide
discussion which has resulted, history can be at no loss for material upon
which to base an intelligent estimate of this battle, and of the extent to
which the victors reaped the advantages of success. Differences of opinion
have prevailed, and will, in all probability, continue to prevail,
respecting the purely military questions involved in the discussion of the
absence of such a vigorous, pertinacious, and unrelenting pursuit by the
Confederates as was necessary to secure the fruits of a decisive victory.
But the stubborn conviction, nevertheless, remains, and will never be
eradicated from the Southern mind--that, barring the immediate security to
the Confederate capital, Manassas was but a barren victory, where results
of a most decisive character were within easy reach. Nor is this popular
impression unsustained by such competent military authority, as will
command respect for its judgment, upon those aspects of the question, upon
which a military judgment is alone valuable.
So emphatic became the public condemnation of the inactivity of the army,
and especially when, by subsequent information, was revealed the real
condition of the enemy after his overwhelming disaster, that inquiry was
naturally made as to the authorship of such an erroneous policy. The
presence of President Davis, both during a portion of the battle and
during the day following, was promptly seized upon as affording a clue to
the mystery. For months he rested under the suspicion of having, by
peremptory order, stopped the pursuit of the enemy, in the face of the
protestations of his generals, who would have pressed it to the extent of
attainable results.
How such an impression--_so utterly in conflict with the facts_--could
have obtained, by whom, or for what purpose it was disseminated, it is now
needless to inquire. The slander was, at length, after having been
circulated to the injury of Mr. Davis throughout the country, so
conclusively answered as to receive not even the pretense of belief, save
from an unscrupulous partisanship, at all times deaf to facts which could
not be perverted injuriously to the President. It nevertheless had served
a purpose, in preparing the popular mind for those constantly iterated
charges of "executive interference," in the plans and dispositions of the
armies of the Confederacy, which followed at subsequent stages of the war.
It may be asked, Why did Mr. Davis suffer this suspicion, when the proof
of its injustice might have been so easily adduced? This inquiry would
indicate an imperfect acquaintance with that devoted patriotism and
knightly magnanimity which belong to his character. Any explanation
acquitting himself, must have thrown the responsibility upon Generals
Johnston and Beauregard, and he preferred rather to suffer an undeserved
reproach, than to excite distrust of two officers, then enjoying the
largest degree of popular confidence. With him, selfish considerations
were never permitted to outweigh the interests of the country. Actuated by
this impulse, he, in more than one instance, where the names of men high
in public favor were used in his disparagement, refused, even in
self-defense, that retaliation, which must have hurt the cause in
proportion as it diminished confidence in its prominent representatives.
Mr. Davis, with that decorum which has equally illustrated his public and
private life, recognized the special propriety of a denial of these
injurious rumors _from other sources_, fully apprized of their falsity,
and from which such an acquittal of himself would have come with becoming
candor and grace.
Justice, proverbially slow, has been tardy indeed in its awards to Mr.
Davis; but in this instance, as it must inevitably in others, it has come
time enough for his historical vindication. The reader, uninformed as to
the merits of this question, will be content with a limited statement from
the mass of testimony, which has ultimately acquitted Mr. Davis of having
prevented the pursuit of the Federal army after its overthrow upon the
field of Manasses. In a publication, presenting an elaborate indictment
against Mr. Davis, as the main instrument of the downfall of the
Confederacy, written since the war, is found the following admission: "As
is known, he (President Davis) was at Manasses the evening of the 21st
July, 1861. Until a late hour that night he was engaged with Generals
Johnston and Beauregard, at the quarters of the latter, in discussing the
momentous achievements of the day, the extent of which was not as yet
recognized at all by him or his generals. Much gratified with known
results, his bearing was eminently proper. He certainly expressed no
opposition to any forward movement; nor at the time displayed a
disposition to interpose his opinion or authority touching operations and
plans of campaign."[39]
General Johnston, in a communication published since the war, assumes the
responsibility of the failure to pursue, and, with the advantage of
retrospect, defends that course with cogent reasoning and an interesting
statement of facts. Says General Johnston: "'The substantial fruit' of
this victory was the preservation of the Confederacy. No more could have
been hoped for. The pursuit of the enemy was not continued because our
cavalry (a very small force) _was driven back_ by the 'solid resistance'
of the United States infantry. Its rearguard was an entire division, which
had not been engaged, and was twelve or fifteen times more numerous than
our two little bodies of cavalry. The infantry was not required to
continue the pursuit, because it would have been harassing it to no
purpose. It is well known that infantry, unencumbered by baggage trains,
can easily escape pursuing cavalry."
That no farther results were to be hoped for than the arrest of the
Federal advance toward Richmond, he endeavors to demonstrate as follows:
"A movement upon Washington was out of the question. We could not have
carried the intrenchments by assault, and had none of the means to besiege
them. Our assault would have been repulsed, and the enemy, then become the
victorious party, would have resumed their march to Richmond; but if we
had captured the intrenchments, a river, a mile wide, lay between them and
Washington, commanded by the guns of a Federal fleet. If we had taken
Alexandria, which stands on low and level ground, those guns would have
driven us out in a few hours, at the same time killing our friends, the
inhabitants. We could not cross the Potomac, and therefore it was
impracticable to conquer the hostile capital, or emancipate oppressed
Maryland."
But these statements, ample, as far as they go, in the vindication of Mr.
Davis, only partially tell the story of Manassas. They do not fully
describe his real relation to the question, though we are far from
imputing to General Johnston an intentional omission. A statement of Mr.
Davis' views was not necessarily germane to General Johnston's explanation
of his own conduct. His purpose is to establish the reasons which induced
him to decline pursuit of the enemy, or rather, which, in his judgment,
made pursuit impracticable. Nor is it germane to our purpose to discuss
these reasons; to attempt either a demonstration of their fallacy or an
argument in their support. They have not been accepted as conclusive
either by the public, or by unanimous military judgment.
The great name of Stonewall Jackson, himself an actor in the most
thrilling scenes of that wonderful triumph of Southern valor, and dating
from that day his record upon the "bead-roll of fame," is authoritatively
given in opposition to the policy which General Johnston approves. In
this connection, we can not forbear to quote the biographer of that
illustrious man, in passages showing that wondrous intuition of great
soldiership, more distinctive, perhaps, of Jackson, than of any commander
of the present century, excepting only Napoleon. Professor Dabney says:
"Jackson, describing the manifest rout of the enemy, remarked to the
physicians, that he believed 'with ten thousand fresh men he could go into
the city of Washington.'" Again, after a most graphic picture of the
condition of the Federal army, its demoralization, panic, and utter
incapacity to meet an attack by the victorious Confederates, and an able
statement of the inducements to a vigorous pursuit, the biographer of
General Jackson makes this impressive statement: "With these views of the
campaign, General Jackson earnestly concurred. His sense of official
propriety sealed his lips; and when the more impatient spirits inquired,
day after day, why they were not led after the enemy, his only answer was
to say: 'That is the affair of the commanding generals.' But to his
confidential friends he afterward declared, when no longer under the
orders of those officers, that their inaction was a deplorable blunder;
and this opinion he was subsequently accustomed to assert with a warmth
and emphasis unusual in his guarded manner."[40]
Mr. Davis was far from approving the inaction which followed Manassas. He
confidently expected a different use of the victory. When called away by
the pressing nature of his official duties at Richmond, he left the army
with a heart elastic with hope, at what he considered the certainty of
even more glorious and valuable achievements. His speech at the depot in
Richmond, which we have given elsewhere, is evidence of his exultant
anticipations. The speech at the Spottswood, entering more into details,
still better authenticates his hopes of an immediate and successful
advance.[41] There could be no misinterpretation of the ardor with which,
in glowing sentences, he predicted the immediate and consecutive triumphs
of what he proudly termed the "gallant little army."
Indeed, before leaving Manassas, President Davis favored the most vigorous
pursuit practicable. On the evening of the battle, while the victory was
assured, but by no means complete, he urged that the enemy, still on the
field, (Heintzelman's troops, as subsequently appeared,) be warmly
pressed, as was successfully done. During the night following the
engagement he made a disposition of a portion of the troops, with a view
to an advance in the morning. These troops were removed, but not by
himself, to meet an apprehended attack upon the head-quarters of the army.
An advance on Monday, the 22d July, was out of the question, in
consequence of the heavy rain.
It is not to be understood that President Davis fully appreciated, on
Sunday night, the 21st, the overwhelming rout of the Federal army, nor
that he advocated, as practicable, an immediate movement in pursuit, by
the entire army. No one could have anticipated the utter disorganization
attending the flight of the Federals. He had, too, positive evidence of
the confusion prevailing among portions of the Southern troops. Summoned
by a message from a youthful connection, who was mortally wounded, Mr.
Davis rode over a large portion of the field, in a vain search for the
regiment to which the young man was attached. Upon his return, he
accidentally met an officer who directed him to the locality of the
regiment, where he found the corpse of his relative. The evidences of
disorganization, upon which General Johnston dwells with so much force and
emphasis, were indeed palpable, but Mr. Davis confidently believed that an
efficient pursuit might be made by such commands as were in comparatively
good condition. Such were his impressions then, and that he contemplated
immediate activity as the sequel of Manassas, is a matter of indisputable
record.
That Mr. Davis did not insist upon the undeferred execution of his own
views, is proof less of his approval of the course pursued, than of an
absence of that pragmatic disposition with which he was afterwards so
persistently charged. His subsequent hearty tributes to Beauregard and
Johnston, and prompt recognition of their services, show how far he was
elevated above that mean intolerance, which would have made him incapable
of according merit to the opinions and actions of others, when averse to
his own conclusions.
This determined spirit of misrepresentation of the motives and conduct of
the President, beginning thus early--respecting the origin of which we
shall have more to say hereafter--was to prove productive of the most
serious embarrassments to the Confederate cause. The first great success
in arms achieved by the South, was to originate questions tending to
excite distrust in the capacity of the Executive, and subsequently
distrust of his treatment of those who were under his authority.
Misrepresentation was not to cease with the attempt already mentioned to
impair public confidence in Mr. Davis. A pragmatic interference with the
plans of his generals was persistently charged upon him. The almost
uninterrupted inactivity of the main army in Virginia, following the
battle of Manassas, by which the enemy was permitted, without molestation,
to organize a new army--a subject of constant and exasperated censure by
the public--was falsely attributed to Mr. Davis' interference with
Generals Johnston and Beauregard. It is a sad evidence of the license
characteristic of a purely partisan criticism, that this falsely alleged
interference has even been ascribed to the instigations of a mean envy of
the popularity of those officers.
The purely personal differences of public men are not the proper
subject-matter of historical discussion. In the prosecution of our
endeavor to give an intelligent and candid narrative of the events of the
war, in so far as President Davis was connected with them, we shall have
occasion to dwell upon those differences between himself and others
respecting important questions of policy which are known to have existed.
We do not see that the personal relations of President Davis with Generals
Johnston and Beauregard, are here a subject of appropriate inquiry. Nor
are those minor questions of detail as to the organization of the army,
which arose between them, of such significance as to justify elaborate
discussion here. That President Davis chose to exercise those plain
privileges with which the Constitution invested him; that he should have
consulted that military knowledge which his education and service had
taught him; that he should make available his valuable experience as
Minister of War; and that he should have failed to interpret the acts of
Congress agreeably to the tastes of generals in the field, rather than
according to his own judgment, is certainly singular evidence upon which
to base charges of "pragmatism," "persecution," and "envy" of those
generals.[42]
While the main struggle in Virginia was yet undecided, the Confederate
force, under General Garnett, in Western Virginia, had been disastrously
defeated by the Federal army of General McClellan. The Confederate
commander, a brave and promising officer, was killed, in a gallant
endeavor to protect the retreat of his command. This achievement of
General McClellan, though attributable mainly to his vastly superior
force, was attended by evidences of skill, which indicated him as a
prominent figure in the events of the immediate future. In the midst of
the gloom and disappointment consequent upon the disaster at Manassas,
General McClellan appeared to the Northern Government and masses to be an
officer specially recommended, by his late success, for the important
charge of the army designed to protect the capital. He was immediately
summoned to Washington, and placed in charge of its defenses. With rare
capacity for general military administration, and with especial aptitude
for organization, General McClellan addressed himself with vigor and
success to the work assigned him. Under his direction, the defenses of
Washington were speedily put in admirable condition, and within a few
months, he had created an army which, in discipline, organization, and
equipment, would have compared favorably with the best armies of the
world.
General McClellan was too sagacious and prudent a commander to repeat the
errors of his predecessor. He was evidently determined not to undertake an
aggressive campaign until his preparations were completed. During the
progress of those preparations, he endeavored also to provide against
those aggressive movements which he evidently anticipated from his
adversaries. But the autumn and winter were to pass away without any
serious demonstration by the Confederate commanders, and with but one
important movement of the enemy.
In the early fall, Generals Johnston and Beauregard advanced to a position
in close proximity to the Federal capital. Unable, however, to provoke an
engagement with the Federal commander, whose present purposes were purely
defensive and preparatory, the Confederate army withdrew from the front of
Washington, and retired within its former lines about Manassas and
Centreville.
In the latter part of October, an engagement of some importance occurred
near Leesburg, occasioned by an attempt of General McClellan to throw a
force across the Potomac, doubtless with the view of an advance on the
Confederate left wing. The numbers engaged in this engagement were
comparatively small, which rendered more remarkable its sanguinary
character. Nearly the entire Federal force, though outnumbering more than
two to one the Confederate force, was captured or destroyed. There was
good reason to regard this movement as preliminary to a general advance of
the Federal army. The battle of Leesburg was very dispiriting in its
effects upon the North, and equally re-assuring to the Southern Government
and people. No other operations of note occurred during the autumn and
winter upon the lines of the Lower Potomac.
General Jackson, who by a circumstance which is now well known to the
world, had acquired at Manassas the _sobriquet_ of "Stonewall," in
September, 1861, was made a Major-General. Late in December, in charge of
a considerable force, he executed, with indifferent success, a movement
against detachments of the enemy in the neighborhood of Romney, and other
points along the Upper Potomac.
The disasters sustained by the Confederates in Western Virginia, in the
early summer, were not repaired by the transfer of General Lee to that
quarter. A large and valuable section of country remained as the enemy's
trophy, almost undisputed at the termination of the campaign. The
reputation of General Lee suffered severely from the absence of that
success which was anticipated from his presence in command. It is a
noteworthy circumstance that when, a few months afterward, the President
placed Lee in command of the main army of Virginia, his ill-success in
Western Virginia was alleged as conclusive evidence of his unfitness for
the position to which "executive partiality" had assigned him.
In the meantime, upon the distant theatre of Missouri, the war had assumed
a most interesting phase. Many months before the legally-elected
legislature of that State adopted an ordinance of secession, Missouri was
contributing valuable aid to the struggling Confederacy. Driven by the
oppressive course of the Federal Government into resistance, in spite of
their efforts to save their State from the destructive presence of war,
the Southern men of Missouri organized under the leadership of General
Sterling Price and Governor Jackson. Accessions of men from all portions
of the State were constantly made to the patriot forces, and, within a few
weeks, a large force was upon the southern border, animated by an
enthusiastic desire to undertake the redemption of their homes.
But the Missourians, though sufficiently numerous to constitute an
effective army, were confronted by difficulties which would have appalled
men of less heroic purpose, or enlisted in an inferior cause. Hostilities
had been precipitated upon them while they were entirely
unprepared--wanting arms, ammunition, and other indispensable material of
war. The remoteness of Missouri from the seat of government, and the
inadequate transportation, prevented that prompt and efficient aid by the
Confederate authorities which it was equally their interest and
inclination to afford. Nevertheless, with almost miraculous rapidity, the
army of General Price was organized, and supplied with such material as he
could obtain.
The Federal commander, in his march southward from St. Louis, pursued,
with considerable vigor, the various detachments of the patriots who were
hastening to the standards of Price. After several minor engagements, in
which the Missourians displayed the most devoted heroism, a considerable
battle was fought, early in August, near Springfield, in the south-western
corner of the State, in which the Federal army was disastrously defeated,
and its commander killed. In this battle, the Missouri forces were aided
by a Confederate force, under General McCulloch, which had advanced
northward from Arkansas. Later in the year, General Price advanced through
the central portion of the State, receiving large additions to his army,
and captured the largest garrison of Federal troops in Northern Missouri.
Having accomplished these valuable aims, he, with great skill and daring,
effected a safe retreat to the south-western frontier. President Davis, in
a message to Congress, echoed the hearty appreciation of the Southern
people, in a special tribute to the valor and devotion of the southern
population of Missouri.
Kentucky also had become the theatre of hostilities. The Federal
Government, recognizing the neutrality of Kentucky so long as was
necessary to mature their plans for her subjugation, finally insisted upon
making her a party to the war, and invaded her territory with a view to
operations against the Confederacy. President Davis thus stated the
motives of the policy adopted by the Confederate Government respecting
Kentucky:
"Finding that the Confederate States were about to be invaded through
Kentucky, and that her people, after being deceived into a mistaken
security, were unarmed, and in danger of being subjugated by the
Federal forces, our armies were marched into that State to repel the
enemy, and prevent their occupation of certain strategic points, which
would have given them great advantages in the contest--a step which
was justified, not only by the necessities of self-defense on the part
of the Confederate States, but also by a desire to aid the people of
Kentucky. It was never intended by the Confederate Government to
conquer or coerce the people of that State; but, on the contrary, it
was declared by our Generals that they would withdraw their troops if
the Federal Government would do likewise. Proclamation was also made
of the desire to respect the neutrality of Kentucky, and the
intention, by the wishes of her people, as soon as they were free to
express their opinions.
"These declarations were approved by me; and I should regard it as one
of the best effects of the march of our troops into Kentucky, if it
should end in giving to her people liberty of choice, and a free
opportunity to decide their own destiny, according to their own will."
Not long after the occupation of various points in Kentucky, by the
respective armies, an engagement occurred at Belmont, on the Missouri
shore, near Columbus, resulting in the defeat of the Federal force
engaged. The Confederate forces engaged were a portion of the command of
General Polk, and the defeated Federal commander was General U. S. Grant.
Before the first year of the war terminated, the Confederates experienced
reverses resulting from the naval superiority of the enemy. Expeditions
were undertaken against the Carolina coast, and were successful to the
extent of securing a permanent lodgment of the Federal forces.
In the month of November the forcible seizure, by a Federal naval officer,
of the persons of Messrs. John Slidell and James M. Mason, commissioners,
respectively, from the Confederate States to France and England, and, at
the time, passengers on an English steamer, excited strong hope of those
complications between the United States and European powers which were
reasonably anticipated by the South. This act was a palpable outrage and
violation alike of international law and comity. It was, nevertheless,
indorsed by public sentiment at the North, in manifold forms of
expression.
In England, the intelligence of an outrage upon the national flag was
received with outbursts of popular indignation, which compelled the
Government to make a resentful demand upon the United States. The course
of the English Government was characteristic of the nation which it
represented. There was neither discussion nor parley, but a simple
imperative demand for the surrender of the commissioners and their
attachès.
Never was so deep a humiliation imposed upon a people as that imposed by
the course of the Federal authorities upon the North. The prisoners, over
whose capture the whole North had but recently exulted, as at the
realization of the fruits of a brilliant victory, were surrendered
immediately. Mr. Seward even declared that they were surrendered
"cheerfully," and in accordance with the "most cherished principles of
American statesmanship," and advanced an argument in favor of complying
with the demands of the British Government, far more to have been expected
from a British diplomatist, than from the leading statesman of a people
who had promptly indorsed the outrage.
This concession of the Federal Government was the first of numerous
disappointments in store for the Southern people, in the hope, so
universally indulged, of foreign intervention. Expectation of immediate
complications between England and the United States, received great
encouragement from the earlier phase of the "Trent affair," as was called
the seizure of Messrs. Mason and Slidell. Consequent upon the
correspondence between the Governments of England and the United States,
growing out of the "Trent affair," were announcements in Parliament, which
should have discouraged the anticipation of interference by England, at
least with the cabinet then in power. Lord John Russell declared that the
blockade of the Southern ports was effective, in spite of abundant
evidence, and in spite, even, of the declarations of the British consul at
Charleston to the contrary. This concession was intended, doubtless, as a
salvo to the North for its deep humiliation, and was, indeed, rightly
construed as an evidence of the real sympathies of the British cabinet in
the American struggle. In this aspect, it was an assurance of no little
significance.
At the election, in November, Mr. Davis, without opposition, was chosen
the first President of the Confederacy, under the permanent government,
which was soon to succeed the provisional organization. Mr. Stephens was
reëlected Vice-President.
In his message to the provisional Congress, at the beginning of its last
session, the President thus sketched the situation at the close of the
first year of the war:
"_To the Congress of the Confederate States_:
"The few weeks which have elapsed since your adjournment have brought
us so near the close of the year, that we are now able to sum up its
general results. The retrospect is such as should fill the hearts of
our people with gratitude to Providence for his kind interposition in
their behalf. Abundant yields have rewarded the labor of the
agriculturist, whilst the manufacturing interest of the Confederate
States was never so prosperous as now. The necessities of the times
have called into existence new branches of manufactures, and given a
fresh impulse to the activity of those heretofore in operation. The
means of the Confederate States for manufacturing the necessaries and
comforts of life, within themselves, increase as the conflict
continues, and we are rapidly becoming independent of the rest of the
world, for the supply of such military stores and munitions as are
indispensable for war.
"The operations of the army, soon to be partially interrupted by the
approaching winter, have afforded a protection to the country, and
shed a lustre upon its arms, through the trying vicissitudes of more
than one arduous campaign, which entitle our brave volunteers to our
praise and our gratitude.
"From its commencement up to the present period, the war has been
enlarging its proportions and extending its boundaries, so as to
include new fields. The conflict now extends from the shores of the
Chesapeake to the confines of Missouri and Arizona; yet sudden calls
from the remotest points for military aid have been met with
promptness enough, not only to avert disaster in the face of superior
numbers, but also to roll back the tide of invasion from the border.
"When the war commenced, the enemy were possessed of certain strategic
points and strong places within the Confederate States. They greatly
exceeded us in numbers, in available resources, and in the supplies
necessary for war. Military establishments had been long organized,
and were complete; the navy, and, for the most part, the army, once
common to both, were in their possession. To meet all this, we had to
create, not only an army in the face of war itself, but also military
establishments necessary to equip and place it in the field. It ought,
indeed, to be a subject of gratulation that the spirit of the
volunteers and the patriotism of the people have enabled us, under
Providence, to grapple successfully with these difficulties.
"A succession of glorious victories at Bethel, Bull Run, Manassas,
Springfield, Lexington, Leesburg, and Belmont, has checked the wicked
invasion which greed of gain, and the unhallowed lust of power,
brought upon our soil, and has proved that numbers cease to avail,
when directed against a people fighting for the sacred right of
self-government and the privileges of freemen. After seven months of
war, the enemy have not only failed to extend their occupancy of our
soil, but new States and Territories have been added to our
Confederacy; while, instead of their threatened march of unchecked
conquest, they have been driven, at more than one point, to assume the
defensive; and, upon a fair comparison between the two belligerents,
as to men, military means, and financial condition, the Confederate
States are relatively much stronger now than when the struggle
commenced."