[Sidenote: The Civil War.]
The great American Rebellion of 1861-65 is still, perhaps, too near to
be judged with the calm and judicial spirit which gives its chief value
to history. Thousands of those who took part in it on either side are
yet living; millions who witnessed its progress, and watched its course
with varying emotions of grief and joy, who mourned its dead, exulted in
its victories, and hailed its termination, yet hold it in vivid memory.
Moreover, all that could be said of it, from bald narrative to
infinite discussion of this and that general, this and that campaign
or stratagem, of causes and effects, has already been repeated till the
tale has been, not twice, but many times told.
The results of that awful yet necessary conflict are still being felt,
in one way or another, by all of us. Many a household still mourns the
loss of those who died on southern battle-fields. We feel the war in our
business, in our pockets. We feel it in the financial enigmas which
even yet await solution. And although we have come to a period of
reconciliation, when we can with free hearts garland with roses the
graves alike of the blue and the gray, we feel still the indirect
influences of the war in our political contests.
[Sidenote: Origin of the War.]
[Sidenote: Secession.]
The war may be said to have had its origin in two not necessarily
connected circumstances. It was the fruit, on the one hand, of a certain
political doctrine; on the other, of a threatened and to-be-defended
social condition. The political doctrine was that called "State's
rights," from which two corollaries were deduced by Calhoun and his
disciples: "nullification," or the right of a State to disobey a United
States law; and "secession," or the right of a State to withdraw from
the Union at will. The social condition was that of slavery, threatened,
as the South thought, by the election of Abraham Lincoln, and to be
defended under cover of the political doctrine which Calhoun had
taught the South to credit and to cherish. Thus, while the cause of the
rebellion was slavery, its justification was an asserted constitutional
right. The North did not believe in slavery, or at least in the
extension of slavery. But what the North at first undertook to subdue
was not slavery in the States, but the altogether destructive doctrine
of secession.
[Sidenote: South Carolina's "Ordinance."]
[Sidenote: Fort Sumter Taken.]
The threat loudly uttered during the election of 1860, that the South
would secede if Lincoln were chosen, was duly followed up by action in
a few weeks after that event. Before Christmas South Carolina had
passed her famous "ordinance," and by early February, 1861, Mississippi,
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas had followed in her
footsteps. The senators and representatives of these States in Congress
retired front its halls, breathing defiance as they went. South Carolina
took the lead in military, as she had done in political action. Claiming
the national property within her limits, she attached and took Fort
Sumter in Charleston harbor. The way had been prepared for this by
Secretaries Floyd and Toucey of the Buchanan Cabinet, who had sent South
materials of war, and so disposed the navy as to render it for the time
powerless for aid in the Union cause.
[Sidenote: Call for Troops.]
Lincoln was now President. The guns fired at Sumter roused the North,
and gave the signal of war, proving that a conflict could no longer be
avoided. Meanwhile, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas
were hurried out of the Union by the political leaders. On the day
following the fall of Sumter, the President issued his call for
seventy-five thousand volunteers, and the governors were urged to send
such forces as they could at once to Washington, which was threatened
with an attack. Then came the assault upon the gallant Sixth
Massachusetts in the streets of Baltimore, the isolation of Washington,
and its relief. A blockade of the southern ports was proclaimed.
[Sidenote: Bull Run.]
After a few minor engagements, such as those in Western Virginia, in
which McClellan was successful, and at Big Bethel, the first great
battle was fought on July 21, 1861, at Bull Run. This was in consequence
of an attempt by General Scott to advance upon Richmond. The result was
the total defeat of the Union army, which recoiled in confusion upon
Washington. Later in the first year of the war, General Lyon gained some
advantages over the rebels in Missouri, and naval expeditions were sent
to Hatteras and Port Royal; General Scott yielded the command-in-chief
to General McClellan, and rebel privateers appeared upon the ocean, and
began their destructive depredations upon our commerce. Great Britain
had too hastily recognized the belligerent rights of the rebels, and in
November the capture of Mason and Slidell was followed by their delivery
again to the protection of the British flag.
[Sidenote: Second Year of the War.]
The second year of the war found no less than half a million of soldiers
enlisted in the army of the Union. It seemed as if we were now ready
to cope with rebellion in all its extent and strength. The hope of
an approaching and decisive triumph animated the hearts of the loyal.
McClellan now led the Army of the Potomac against Richmond, approaching
it from the east. Then followed the battle of Fair Oaks, and the
Seven Days' battles, of which that at Malvern Hill was the most hotly
contested. The Confederates were beaten, with terrible loss on both
sides. Cedar Mountain and the second Bull Run followed, the latter
proving a disaster as serious as the former struggle on the same field
had been.
[Sidenote: Antietam.]
Then came Lee's advance into Maryland, his capture of Frederick City,
and that great battle, Antietam, in which Lee was repulsed and retreated
into Virginia. But McClellan, having failed to follow up his advantage,
was relieved of the command-in-chief, which was conferred on Burnside.
Burnside's repulse at Fredericksburg was followed by a discouraging
retreat. But though the attempt to capture Richmond was foiled, in other
parts of the country many advantages were obtained by the Union forces
in the year 1862.
[Sidenote: Union Victories.]
Prominent among these were the victory of the _Monitor_ over the
_Merrimac_, in Hampton Roads; the capture of Roanoke Island and Fort
Pulaski; Grant's gallant victories at Forts Henry and Donelson, at
Island No. 10, and, later, at Pittsburg Landing; and the heroic taking
of New Orleans by Farragut and Butler.
[Sidenote: Chancellorsville.]
At the very threshold of the third year of the war, President Lincoln
issued the "Proclamation of Emancipation." Thus not only was the crime
of slavery wiped away, but a new source of strength to our forces was
provided by the emancipated negroes, who were enlisted to aid in the
confirmation of their freedom by final victory. The first half of
the year 1863 witnessed what was perhaps the gloomiest and most
disheartening period of the war. Hooker succeeded Burnside, only to meet
at Chancellorsville the same disastrous fate which had overtaken his
predecessor at Fredericksburg. General Lee was encouraged to assume the
offensive, and to invade Pennsylvania. The North was discouraged; the
expense of the war began to be grievously felt; the draft was becoming
very obnoxious; the desertions from the army were alarming in number.
[Sidenote: Gettysburg.]
Lee advanced by the Shenandoah Valley into the Northern States. But at
Gettysburg he met the reorganized Union army, under Meade. The collision
of one hundred and sixty thousand men, lasting for three days, resulted
in that hard-won Union victory which proved the turning-point of the
war. On the day of Lee's retreat from Gettysburg, the Fourth of July,
Vicksburg was surrendered to Grant. Soon after, Port Hudson fell, and
the Mississippi was opened to the passage of troops. Then the Battle
of Chattanooga was fought and won, and Tennessee was rid of Confederate
occupation. Meanwhile, the siege of Charleston was proceeding on the
coast, and before the end of the year Fort Wagner was taken.
[Sidenote: Grant Commander-in-chief.]
[Sidenote: Sherman's March to the Sea.]
We have now reached the fourth year of the war, 1864. It was now clear
that the result was only a question of time. The first events of the
year were not brilliant. Kilpatrick made his famous but futile raid near
Richmond; Hanks met with disaster at Red River; Forrest captured Fort
Pillow and killed three hundred negro troops. The last act of the
momentous drama began by the elevation of General Ulysses S. Grant
to the command-in-chief in March. The two great movements which were
together to seal the fate of the Confederacy were at once prepared.
Grant, assuming command of the Army of the Potomac, made Richmond his
objective point. He advanced deliberately towards the southern capital,
and fought the terrific battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and
Cold Harbor. He laid siege to Petersburg, but without immediate result.
Meanwhile the gallant Sherman began his marvellous march to the sea,
took Atlanta, and at last entered Savannah in triumph. Sheridan, making
his famous ride, defeated Early at Cedar Creek. The _Alabama_ was
sunk by the _Kearsarge_ off the French coast. Mobile was captured by
Farragut. The _Albermarle_ was destroyed.
[Sidenote: Surrender of Lee.]
The Confederates were now penned in, and it only remained to make a
last strenuous effort to end the war. While Sherman advanced northward,
taking Charleston by the way, and Terry captured Fort Fisher, the siege
of Richmond became closer and more vigorous. Then Sheridan conquered at
Five Forks, turning the flank of the hunted and hounded Lee. Finally,
on the 3d of April, 1865, the Union troops occupied Richmond and
Petersburg; Lee surrendered on the 9th, at Appomattox; Johnston followed
by yielding to Sherman; and the Southern Confederacy was no more.