Peace Conference--State Troops--Women of the South.
The civilized world, especially the Monarchies of Europe, which at
first viewed with satisfaction this eruption in the great Republic
across the waters, now anxiously watched them in their mad fury,
tearing to tatters the fabric of Democratic government. This
government, since its withdrawal from the Old World influence, had
grown great and strong, and was now a powerful nation--a standing
menace to their interest and power. But they began to look with alarm
on the spectacle of these two brothers--brothers in blood, in aims,
ambition, and future expectations, only an imaginary line separating
them--with glaring eyes, their hands at each others throat, neither
willing to submit or yield as long as there was a vestige of vitality
in either. Even the most considerate and thoughtful of the North began
to contemplate the wreck and ruin of their common country, and stood
aghast at the rivers of blood that had flown, the widows and orphans
made, and the treasures expended. They now began to wish for a call
to halt. This useless slaughter caused a shudder to run through every
thinking man when he contemplated of the havoc yet to come. The two
armies were getting nearer and nearer together, one adding strength
as the other grew weaker--the South getting more desperate and more
determined to sacrifice all, as they saw the ground slipping inch by
inch beneath their feet; the North becoming more confident with
each succeeding day. It began to look like a war of extermination of
American manhood. The best and bravest of the North had fallen in the
early years of the war, while the bulk of the army now was composed of
the lowest type of foreigners, who had been tempted to our shores by
the large bounties paid by the Union Government. Taking their cue
from their native comrades in arms, they now tried to outdo them in
vandalizing, having been taught that they were wreaking vengeance upon
the aristocracy and ruining the slave-holders of the South. The flower
of the South's chivalry had also fallen upon the field and in the
trenches, and now youths and old men were taking the places of
soldiers who had died in the "Bloody Angles" and the tangled
Wilderness.
A talk of peace began once more, but the men of the South were
determined to yield nothing as long as a rifle could be raised.
Nothing but their unrestricted independence would satisfy them. The
man who could call nothing his own but what was on his back was as
much determined on his country's independence as those who were the
possessors of broad acres and scores of negroes.
Congressman Boyce, of South Carolina, began to call for a peace
conference in the Confederate Congress. Montgomery Blair, the father
of General Frank P. Blair, then commanding a corps in Sherman's Army,
begged the North to halt and listen to reason--to stop the fratricidal
war. Generals, soldiers, statesmen, and civilians all felt that it
had gone on long enough. Some held a faint hope that peace could be
secured without further effusion of blood. A peace conference was
called at Hampton Roads, near the mouth of the Potomac. President
Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward, on the part of the
North, and Vice-President Stephens, Honorable R.T.M. Hunter, and Judge
Campbell, on the part of the South, attended. Lincoln demanded an
"unconditional surrender" of the army--emancipation of the slaves
and a return to our former places in the Union. Mr. Stephens and his
colleagues knew too well the sentiment of the Southern people to even
discuss such a course. Not a soldier in ranks would have dared to
return and face the women of the South with such a peace and on such
terms as long as there was the shadow of an organized army in the
field.
General Ord, of the Union Army, a humane and Christian gentleman,
wrote and sought an interview with General Longstreet. He wished that
General to use his influence with General Lee and the officers of the
army to meet General Grant, and with their wives mingling with the
wives of the respective Generals, talk over the matter in a friendly
manner, and see if some plan could not be framed whereby peace could
be secured honorable to all parties. All had had glory enough
and blood sufficient had been shed to gratify the most savage
and fanatical. These officers or the most of them had been old
school-mates at West Point, had been brother officers in the old army,
their wives had mingled in pleasant, social intercourse at the army
posts, and they could aid as only women can aid, in a friendly way, to
bring back an era of good feelings. General Ord further intimated
that President Lincoln would not turn a deaf ear to a reasonable
proposition for compensation for the slaves. General Longstreet
accepted the overtures with good grace, but with a dignity fitting
his position. He could not, while in the field and in the face of
the enemy, with his superior present, enter into negotiations for a
surrender of his army, or to listen to terms of peace. He returned and
counseled Lee. Urged him to meet Grant, and as commander-in-chief of
all the armies in the South, that he had a wide latitude, that the
people were looking to him to end the war, and would be satisfied with
any concessions he would recommend. That the politicians had had their
say, now let the soldiers terminate the strife which politicians had
begun. That Napoleon while in Italy, against all precedent and without
the knowledge of the civil department, had entered into negotiations
with the enemy, made peace, and while distasteful to the authorities,
they were too polite to refuse the terms. But General Lee was too much
a soldier to consider any act outside of his special prerogatives. He,
however, was pleased with the idea, and wrote General Grant, asking
an interview looking towards negotiations of peace. But General Grant,
from his high ideals of the duty and dignity of a soldier, refused,
claiming that the prerogatives of peace or war were left with the
civil, not the military arm of the service. So it all ended in smoke.
General Lee began making preparations to make still greater efforts
and greater sacrifices. He had been hampered, as well as many others
of our great commanders, by the quixotic and blundering interference
of the authorities at Richmond, and had become accustomed to it. There
can be no question at this late day that the end, as it did come, had
long since dawned upon the great mind of Lee, and it must have been
with bitterness that he was forced to sacrifice so many brave and
patriotic men for a shadow, while the substance could never be
reached. His only duty now was to prolong the struggle and sacrifice
as few men as possible.
General Bragg, that star of ill omen to the Confederacy, was taken out
of the War Department in Richmond and sent to Wilmington, N.C., and
that brilliant, gallant Kentuckian, General John C. Breckenridge, was
placed in his stead as Secretary of War. General Breckenridge had been
the favorite of a great portion of the Southern people in their choice
of Presidential candidates against Lincoln, and his place in the
cabinet of Mr. Davis gave hope and confidence to the entire South.
General Lee, no doubt acting on his own good judgment, and to the
greatest delight of the army, placed General Joseph E. Johnston at the
head of the few scattered and disorganized bands that were following
on the flanks of Sherman. Some few troops that could be spared from
the trenches were to be sent to South Carolina to swell, as far as
possible, the army to oppose Sherman.
Governor Brown had called out a great part of the Georgia State
Troops, consisting of old men and boys, to the relief of General
Hardee, who was moving in the front of Sherman, and a great many of
this number crossed over with General Hardee to the eastern side of
the Savannah, and remained faithful to the end. Governor McGrath, of
South Carolina, too, had called out every man capable of bearing arms
from fifteen to sixty, and placed them by regiments under Beauregard
and Johnston. The forts along the coast in great numbers were
abandoned, and the troops thus gathered together did excellent
service. North Carolina brought forward her reserves as the enemy
neared her border, all determined to unite in a mighty effort to drive
back this ruthless invader.
In this imperfect history of the times of which I write, I cannot
resist at this place to render a deserved tribute to the noble
women of the South, more especially of South Carolina. It was with
difficulty that the soldiers going to the army from their homes
after the expiration of their furloughs, or going to their homes when
wounded or sick, procured a night's lodging in Richmond, for it must
be remembered that that city was already crowded with civilians,
officers of the department, surgeons of the hospitals, and officials
of every kind. The hotels and private residences were always full.
Scarcely a private house of any pretentions whatever, that did not
have some sick or wounded soldier partaking of the hospitalities of
the citizens, who could better care for the patient than could be had
in hospitals. Then, again, the entire army had to pass through the
city either going to or from home, and the railroad facilities and
the crowded conditions of both freight and passenger cars rendered it
almost obligatory on the soldiers to remain in the city over night.
And it must be remembered, too, that the homes of hundreds and
thousands of soldiers from Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky, Mississippi,
and all from the Trans-Mississippi were in the hands of the enemy,
and the soldiers were forbidden the pleasure of returning home, unless
clandestinely. In that case they ran the risk of being shot by some
bushwhacker or "stay outs," who avoided the conscript officer on one
side and recruiting officer on the other. In these border States there
was a perpetual feud between these bushwhackers and the soldiers. It
was almost invariably the case that where these "lay outs" or "hide
outs" congregated, they sympathized with the North, otherwise they
would be in the ranks of the Confederacy. Then, again, Richmond
had been changed in a day from the capital of a commonwealth to
the capital of a nation. So it was always crowded and little or
no accommodation for the private soldier, and even if he could get
quarters at a hotel his depleted purse was in such condition that he
could not afford the expense. Nor was he willing to give a month's
wages for a night's lodging. A night's lodging cost five dollars for
supper, five for breakfast, and five for a bed, and if the soldiers
were any ways bibulously inclined and wished an "eye opener" in
the morning or a "night cap" at supper time, that was five dollars
additional for each drink. Under such circumstances the ladies
of South Carolina, by private contributions alone, rented the old
"Exchange Hotel" and furnished it from their own means or private
resources. They kept also a store room where they kept socks for
the soldiers, knit by the hands of the young ladies of the State;
blankets, shirts, and under clothing, from the cloth spun, woven,
and made up by the ladies at home and shipped to Richmond to Colonel
McMaster and a staff of the purest and best women of the land. Only
such work as washing and scrubbing was done by negro servants, all
the other was done by the ladies themselves. Too much praise cannot
be given to Colonel McMaster for his indefatigable exertions, his
tireless rounds of duty, to make the soldiers comfortable. The ladies
were never too tired, night nor day, to go to the aid of the hungry
and broken down soldiers. Hundreds and thousands were fed and lodged
without money and without price. Car loads of the little comforts and
necessities of life were shared out to the passing soldiers whenever
their wants required it. Never a day or night passed without soldiers
being entertained or clothing distributed. One night only was as long
as a soldier was allowed to enjoy their hospitality, unless in cases
of emergency. The officers of the army, whenever able, were required
to pay a nominal sum for lodging. Better beds and conveniences were
furnished them, but if they were willing to take private's "fare,"
they paid private's "fee," which was gratuitous. As a general rule,
however, the officers kept apart from the men, for the officer who
pushed himself in the private's quarters was looked upon as penurious
and mean. It was only in times of the greatest necessity that a
Southern officer wished to appear thus. If the Southern soldier was
poor, he was always proud. This hotel was called the "South Carolina
Soldiers' Home," and most of the other States inside the lines had
similar institutions. In every home throughout the whole South could
be heard the old "hand spinning wheel" humming away until far in the
night, as the dusky damsel danced backwards and forwards, keeping step
to the music of her own voice and the hum of the wheel. The old women
sat in the corners and carded away with the hand-card, making great
heaps of rolls, to be laid carefully and evenly upon the floor or the
wheel. Great chunks of pine, called "lite'ood," were regularly thrown
into the great fire place until the whole scene was lit up as by an
incandescent lamp. What happiness, what bliss, and how light the toil,
when it was known that the goods woven were to warm and comfort young
"massa" in the army. The ladies of the "big house" were not idle while
these scenes of activity were going on at the "quarter." Broaches were
reeled into "hanks" of "six cuts" each, to be "sized," "warped," and
made ready for the loom. Then the little "treadle wheel" that turned
with a pedal made baskets of spools for the "filling." By an ingenious
method, known only to the regularly initiated Southern housewife, the
thread was put upon the loom, and then the music of the weaver's beam
went merrily along with its monotonous "bang," "bang," as yard after
yard of beautiful jeans, linsey, or homespuns of every kind were
turned out to clothe the soldier boys, whose government was without
the means or opportunity to furnish them. Does it look possible at
this late day that almost the entire Southern Army was clothed by
cloth carded, spun, and woven by hand, and mostly by the white ladies
of the South?
Hats and caps were made at home from the colored jeans. Beautiful
hats were made out of straw, and so adapt had the makers become in
utilizing home commodities, that ladies' hats were made out of wheat,
oat, and rice straw. Splendid and serviceable house shoes were made
from the products of the loom, the cobbler only putting on the soles.
Good, warm, and tidy gloves were knit for the soldier from their
home-raised fleece and with a single bone from the turkey wing. While
the soldiers may have, at times, suffered for shoes and provisions,
still they were fairly well clothed by the industry and patriotism of
the women, and for blankets, the finest of beds were stripped to be
sent voluntarily to the camps and army. As for tents, we had no need
to manufacture them, for they were invariably captured from the enemy.
Think of going through an army of sixty or seventy thousand men, all
comfortably housed, and all through capture upon the battlefield.
As for cooking utensils, nothing more nor better were wanted by the
soldiers than a tin cup and frying-pan.
Salt was an article of great scarcity in the South. Coming over from
Liverpool in ante bellum times as ballast, made it so cheap that
little attention was given to the salt industry, and most of our best
salt mines were in the hands of the enemy. But the Southern people
were equal to any emergency. Men were put along the sea coast and
erected great vats into which was put the salt sea water, and by a
system of evaporation nice, fine salt was made. Farmers, too, that had
the old-time "smoke" or meat houses with dirt floors, dug up the earth
in the house and filtered water through it, getting a dark, salty
brine, which answered exceedingly well the purpose of curing their
meats.
All taxes, as I said before, were paid in "kind," and the tenth of all
the meat raised at home was sent to the army, and with the few cattle
they could gather, was sufficient to feed the troops. There were
no skulking spirits among the people. They gave as willingly and
cheerfully now as they did at the opening of the war. The people were
honest in their dealings with the government, and as cheerful in
their gifts to the cause as the Israelites of old in their "free will
offerings" to the Lord. There were no drones among them, no secretion
or dishonest division. The widows, with houses filled with orphans,
gave of their scanty crops and hard labor as freely as those who owned
large plantations and scores of slaves. In fact, it was noticeable
that the poorer class were more patriotic and more cheerful givers, if
such could be possible, than the wealthy class.
Negroes were drafted to go upon the coast to work in salt mills or to
work upon the fortifications. This duty they performed with remarkable
willingness, until, perhaps, some Federal gunboat got their range and
dropped a few shells among them. Then no persuasion nor threat could
induce them to remain, and numbers of them would strike out for home
and often get lost and wander for days, half starved, through the
swamps of the lower country, being afraid to show themselves to the
whites for fear of being "taken up" and sent back. Many were the
adventures and hair-breath escapes these dusty fugitives had, and
could tell them in wonderful yarns to the younger generation at home.
It may be that the negro, under mental excitement, or stimulated with
strong drink, could be induced to show remarkable traits of bravery,
but to take him cool and away from any excitement, he is slow at
exposing himself to bodily dangers, and will never make a soldier in
the field.
* * * * *