WAR AND ITS HORRORS.
A. D. 1863.
1863.
When the year 1863 had come upon the American States in their
bloody and wasting quarrel, there was nothing to indicate any
solution of the great controversy. Many bloody battles had been
fought, thousands of homes were saddened in the loss of brave and
true men, and yet both sides were as intent as ever upon carrying
on indefinitely the terrible and costly struggle.
2. Mr. Lincoln and the government at Washington said there should
be no peace until the seceded States returned to their
allegiance. Mr. Davis and the government at Richmond said, on
the other hand, that the seceded States were, of right, free and
independent States that had rightfully resumed their delegated
powers, and owed no allegiance to the Federal government.
3. It was hoped that England and France would recognize the
independence of the Confederate States; but beyond extending to
the Southern government the rights of belligerents, this trust
proved utterly fallacious. Confederate agents were received and
armed vessels allowed to enter their ports, but no aid was
extended to the Southern cause. The arrest of the Confederate
Commissioners, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on a British mail
steamer, by a United States war vessel, was resented by England
and war seemed probable; but these Southern envoys were released,
and no aid came from abroad except in the ships that were bought
of private persons for the purpose of cruising against vessels
belonging to citizens of the United States.
4. Among the earliest measures adopted by the Federal government
was the blockade of the Southern seaports. Wilmington,
Charleston, Savannah, Mobile and Galveston were all watched by
armed ships that sought to exclude the vessels of all countries
from entering these harbors. Cruisers swarmed along the whole
Southern coast, and it became a matter of great peril and
difficulty to send out or bring in any commodity by way of the
ocean.
5. This soon led to a scarcity of salt, sugar, coffee, molasses
and everything which had been formerly imported from Europe or
bought of Northern merchants. Prices continually advanced as
such things became more scarce in the South. Wilmington is so
situated that an effective blockade there was almost impossible.
There were two inlets, and, therefore, two blockade fleets were
necessary, and even with this added difficulty the blockading
squadron could not prevent, on dark nights, the passage of swift
steamers that swept in and out of the Cape Fear River and brought
from Nassau and Bermuda what was most needed for the armies and
people.
6. Soon after his inauguration, Governor Vance, at General
Martin's suggestion, sent Colonel Thomas M. Crossan to England
for the purpose of procuring a ship to supply the wants of North
Carolina. Crossan had been a naval officer in the service of the
United States, and had judgment enough in such matters to select
one of the swiftest ships in the world. It was called the Lord
Clyde abroad, but that name was changed to the Ad-Vance, and the
vessel made many successful voyages before she was captured.
7. In the superior clothing and equipments of the North Carolina
troops were the wisdom and activity of the State government
manifested. And, too, not only were the necessities of our own
soldiers supplied, but large aid was extended to the troops of
other States. Besides this, cotton and woolen cards and many
other necessaries were brought in and distributed to the
different sections of the State. Salt was the most important of
all the domestic supplies excluded by the blockade. To procure
this indispensable article, private factories on the seacoast
were supplemented by others under State management; but these
proved insufficient to meet popular wants, and arrangements were
made to procure additional supplies from the salt wells of
southwestern Virginia.
8. It was early foreseen that in so great a struggle enormous
expenditures would become necessary; and to meet such
liabilities, it would be necessary for the Confederacy and the
individual States to use their credit in procuring supplies on
the faith of future payments. Many millions of dollars were to
be expended, and only Confederate and State obligations would be
available to meet such purchases.
9. Unhappily, the great supply of cotton then in the South was
not utilized by the authorities, and thus a solid basis of credit
was lost; and a favorite theory is, that had all the cotton been
promptly seized by the government and sent to foreign ports, the
depreciation of its funds would have been averted, but whether
this could have been done is, to say the least, by no means
certain. As it was, in 1863, both Confederate and State money
began to depreciate in value, and this depreciation once begun,
had no stop in its downward tendency.
QUESTIONS.
1. What was the condition of the war in 1863?
2. What positions were taken by Presidents Lincoln and Davis?
3. From what countries had the South expected aid? What is said
of the arrest of Mason and Slidell?
4. What Southern cities were blockaded? What was the effect of
this blockade?
5. What is said of the port of Wilmington?
6. How did Governor Vance supply the wants of the people? What
is said of the Ad-Vance?
7. What supplies were brought in by the Ad-Vance? How was salt
obtained?
8. How did the Confederate government propose to obtain funds for
carrying on the war?
9. What was the cause of the great depreciation in the value of money?