The whole expenses of the war, estimated in specie, amounted to $135,193,703. In the next war, known as that of 1812, between the same combatants, General Brown crossed the Niagara River for the invasion of Canada with about 3,500 men. Three weeks afterwards, on July 25th, 1814, the battle of Lundy's Lane was fought between 3,000 Americans and 4,500 British troops. The loss of the former was 753 in killed and wounded, and that of the latter 878. The most celebrated battle of this war was that fought at New Orleans. The entire force of the British army landed above the mouths of the Mississippi for the capture of that city, was 12,000 men. On January 1st, 1815, an artillery duel took place, in which the British had thirty heavy guns behind a breastwork of hogsheads of sugar, which, it was supposed, would be as protective as sand-bags; and the Americans ten guns behind cotton bales. The sugar hogsheads were demolished, and the cotton bales set on fire. After a loss of seventy men, the British force drew off. The American loss was thirty-four. On January 8th the decisive battle was fought. The British advanced with 10,000 men against 6,000 under Gen. Jackson, of whom 3,500 were defended by breastworks. The British were repulsed with a loss of more than 2,000 men, while that of the Americans was but 27 in killed and wounded. In this war the United States had an organized navy of comparatively small wooden ships, the exploits of which were very brilliant and successful. Peace now existed for thirty years, when the war with Mexico took place. On May 8th, 1846, Gen. Taylor, marching with 2,288 men from Point Isabel to Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras, on the Rio Grande, was attacked at Palo Alto by a Mexican force estimated at 6,000 men. The most celebrated battle in northern Mexico, that of Buena Vista, was fought by Gen. Taylor with about 6,000 men against 14,000, partially exhausted by crossing a desert previous to the action. The march from Puebla to the city of Mexico was made by Gen. Scott, with a force consisting of 10,738 men, rank and file. He fought the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, &c., August 20th, 1847, with 8,497 men. At Molina del Rey there were only three brigades, with some cavalry and artillery, making in all 3,251. The operating force in the battles of Sept. 12 and 13, was 7,180 men, and the city of Mexico was entered with less than 6,000. The opposing force in these battles is stated by Gen. Scott, "upon accumulated and unquestionable evidence," to have been not less than three and a half times greater in numbers thau his own. The total losses of Gen. Scott in all these battles, including killed, wounded, and missing, amounted to 2,703, of whom 383 were officers. The amount of the public debt on June 21st, 1848, after peace had been concluded, was $48,196,321; of which $31,868,762 had been incurred subsequent to July 1st, 1846. The first battle of the war was on May 8th, 1846. The Union consisted, in 1847, of thirty States, and by an estimate of the Government made at that time, the number of the militia of all the States was 1,821,093. A period of profound peace now ensued. The standing military force of the Government was reduced to the smallest number practicable, being, in 1860, about 16,000 men, most of whom were required on the Western frontier to preserve the peace with the Indians. Officers of the army, after the close of the Mexican war, resigned their commissions, and devoted their talents to the pursuits of private life. Inventors of implements of war found their ingenuity to be unappreciated, and their manufactures profitless. The national Military School at West Point was regarded by the mass of the people as an expensive and useless establishment, and motions to suspend or refuse appropriations for its support were often made in Congress. Militia service in the several States had become almost disreputable. If laws existed to promote an efficient organization, they were not enforced. Private establishments for the manufacture of arms had, with one or two exceptions, ceased to exist, and the Federal armories at Springfield and Harper's Ferry were inactive. Meanwhile the warnings of another and more terrible conflict, given by gathering clouds, were unheeded, except in Massachusetts, where Governor Banks secured the adoption of legislative measures for a reorganization of the militia of the State, and in South Carolina, where the authorities, in 1860, secretly procured a considerable importation of muskets, which were at an early period of in valuable service to the cause she had espoused. Thus unprepared, and amid the most overflowing prosperity which the pursuits of peace ever yielded to an industrious people, the nation was alarmed by the sounds of an internal war that called every man to the field, and brought to pass the scenes described in the following pages. CHAPTER I. Secession Movements in South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. THE Legislature of South Carolina assembled on the 4th of November, 1860, and having chosen the Presidential electors, adjourned. The election for President was held on the 6th of November, 1860. On that day the vote of the State was given by the electors to John C. Breckinridge for President. On the next day the Legislature again assembled, and the subject of withdrawal from the United States was taken up, and an act passed calling a State Convention to meet at Columbia on the 17th of December. Other measures were then introduced and adopted, the object of which was to place the State in a suitable position to meet the crisis about to be inaugurated. worthy and patriotic ancestors, and all who know the that can preserve both, and administer the blessings races well know that it is the only form of government On the 10th of December Francis W. Pickens was chosen Governor by the Legislature. He was inaugurated immediately after his election, and improved the occasion to declare the cause of the movement on the part of South Carolina to separate from the Union. In his view it was as follows: For seventy-three years this State has been connected by a Federal compact with co-States, under a bond of union for great national objects common to all. In recent years there has been a powerful party, organized upon principles of ambition and fanaticism, whose undisguised purpose is to divert the Federal Government from external and turn its power upon the internal interests and domestic institutions of these States. They have thus combined a party exclusively in the Northern States, whose avowed objects not only endanger the peace, but the very existence of nearly one-half of the States of this Confederacy. And in the recent election for President and Vice-President of these States, they have carried the election upon principles that make it no longer safe for us to rely upon the powers of the Federal Govern ment, or the guarantees of the Federal compact. This is the great overt act of the people in the Northern States at the ballot-box, in the exercise of their Sovereign power at the polls, from which there is no higher appeal recognized under our system of Government in its ordinary and habitual operations. They thus propose to inaugurate a Chief Magistrate, at the head of the army and navy, with vast powers, not to preside over the common interests and destinies of all the States alike, but upon issues of malig nant hostility and uncompromising war, to be waged upon the rights, the interests, and the peace of half the States of this Union. In the Southern States there are two entirely distinct and separate races, and one has been held in subjection to the other by peaceful inheritance from of civililization with order and in harmony. Any Under all these circumstances we now have no al ternative left but to interpose our sovereign power as an independent State to protect the rights and ancient privileges of the people of South Carolina. This State was one of the original parties to the Federal compact of union. We agreed to it, as a State, under peculiar circumstances, when we were surrounded with great external pressure, for purposes of national protection, and to advance the interests and general welfare of all the States equally and alike. And when it ceases to do this, it is no longer a perpetual Union. It would be an absurdity to suppose it was a perpetual Union for our ruin. After a few days the Legislature took a recess until the 17th of December, the day on which the State Convention was to assemble. Prep arations for the Convention were commenced immediately after the bill was passed by the Legislature. Candidates for membership were nominated. All were in favor of secession, and the only important distinction to be seen among them consisted in the personal character of individuals. Those who were known to be men of moderate and conservative views were generally successful over individuals of a radical and ultra stamp. The Convention assembled in the Baptist church at Columbia, the capital of the State, at noon, on the 17th of December. Unlike the conventions of the other States, its sessions wero at first held with open doors, and its proceed ings published to the country. When the Con vention was called to order, David F. Jamison was requested to act as president pro tem. The names were called, but an oath was not administered to the delegates. For president of the Convention, on the fourth ballot, David F. Jamison received 118 votes, J. L. Orr 30, and James Chesnut, jr., 3. Mr. Jamison was elected. A motion was next made that the Convention adjourn, to meet in Charleston on the afternoon of the next day, owing to the prevalence of small-pox in Columbia. This motion was opposed by W. Porcher Miles, who said: "We would be sneered at. It would be asked on all sides, Is this the chivalry of South Carolina? They are prepared to face the world, but they run away from the small-pox. Sir, if every day my prospects of life were diminished by my being here, and if I felt the certain conviction that I must take this disease, I would do so, and die, if necessary. I am just from Washington, where I have been in constant, close, continual conference with our friends. Their unanimous, urgent request to us is, not to delay at all. The last thing urged on me, by our friends from Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana, and every State that is with us in this great movement, was, take out South Carolina the instant you can. Now, sir, when the news reaches Washington that we met here, that a panic arose about a few cases of small-pox in the city, and that we forthwith scampered off to Charleston, the effect would be a little ludicrous, if I might be excused for that expression." The motion was adopted, and the Convention assembled on the next day at Charleston. The following committee was then appointed to draft an ordinance of secession: Messrs. Inglis, Rhett, sen., Chesnut, Orr, Maxcy Gregg, B. F. Dunkin, and Hutson, and another committee, as follows, to prepare an address to the people of the Southern States, viz.: Messrs. Rhett, sen., Calhoun, Finley, J. D. Wilson, W. F. De Saussure, Cheves, and Carn. The following committees were also appointed, each to consist of thirteen members: A Committee on Relations with the Slaveholding States of North America; a Committee on Foreign Relations; a Committee on Commercial Relations and Postal Arrangements; and a Committee on the Constitution of the State. On the same day Mr. Magrath, of Charleston, offered the following resolution: Resolved, That so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to what he designates "the property of the United States in South Carolina," be referred to a committee of thirteen, to report of what such property consists, how acquired, and whether the purpose for which it was so acquired can be enjoyed by the United States after the State of South Carolina shall have seceded, consistently with the dignity and safety of the State. And that said committee further report the value of the property of the United States not in South Carolina; and the value of the share thereof to which South Carolina would be entitled upon an equitable division thereof among the United States. Upon offering the resolution, he said: "As I understand the Message of the Presi dent of the United States, he affirms it as his right and constituted duty and high obligation to protect the property of the United States within the limits of South Carolina, and to enforce the laws of the Union within the limits of South Carolina. He says he has no constitutional power to coerce South Carolina, while, at the same time, he denies to her the right of secession. It may be, and I apprehend it will be, Mr. President, that the attempt to coerce South Carolina will be made under the pretence of protecting the property of the United States within the limits of South Carolina. I am disposed, therefore, at the very threshold, to test the accuracy of this logic, and test the conclusions of the President of the United States. There never has been a day-no, not one hour-in which the right of property within the limits of South Carolina, whether it belongs to individuals, corporations, political community, or nation, has not been as safe under the Constitution and laws of South Carolina as when that right is claimed by one of our own citizens; and if there be property of the United States within the limits of South Carolina, that property, consistently with the dignity and honor of the State, can, after the secession of South Carolina, receive only that protection which it received before." Mr. Miles, who had just returned from Washington, stated the position of affairs to be as follows: "I will confine myself simply to the matter of the forts in the harbor of Charleston, and I will state what I conceive to be the real condition of things. I have not the remotest idea that the President of the United States will send any reënforcement whatsoever into these forts. I desire no concealment-there should be no concealment-but perfect frankness. I will state here that I, with some of my colleagues, in a conversation with the President of the United States, and subsequently in a written communication, to which our names were signed, after speaking of the great excitement about the forts, said thus to him: Mr. President, it is our solemn conviction that, if you attempt to send a solitary soldier to these forts, the instant the intelligence reaches our people, (and we shall take care that it does reach them, for we have sources of information in Washington, so that no orders for troops can be issued without our getting information,) these forts will be forcibly and immediately stormed. go "We all assured him that, if an attempt was made to transport reënforcements, our people would take these forts, and that we would home and help them to do it; for it would be suicidal folly for us to allow the forts to be manned. And we further said to him that a bloody result would follow the sending of troops to those forts, and that we did not believe that the authorities of South Carolina would do any thing prior to the meeting of this convention, and that we hoped and believed that nothing would be done after this body met until we had demanded of the General Govern ment the recession of these forts. This was the substance of what we said. Now, sir, it is my most solemn conviction that there is no attempt going to be made to reënforce these forts." Resolutions were offered and referred, which proposed a provisional government for the Southern States on the basis of the Constitution of the United States; also to send commissioners to Washington to negotiate for the cession of Federal property within the State, &c.; also, the election of five persons to meet delegates from other States, for the purpose of forming a Confederacy, &c. On the 20th the committee appointed to draft an ordinance of secession made the following report: The committee appointed to prepare the draught of an Ordinance proper to be adopted by the Convention in order to effect the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union, respectfully report: That they have had the matter referred to under consideration, and believing that they would best meet the exigencies of the great occasion, and the just expectations of the Convention by presenting in the fewest and simplest words possible to be used, consistent with perspicuity and all that is necessary to effect the end proposed and no more, and so excluding every thing which, however proper in itself for the action of the Convention, is not a necessary part of the great solemn act of secession, and may at least be effected by a distinct ordinance or resolution, they submit for the consideration of the Convention the following proposed draught: AN ORDINANCE to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled The Constitution of the United States of America." We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted by us in Convention on the twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States was ratified, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly of the State ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, and the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of "The United States of America," is hereby dissolved. The ordinance was then taken up and immediately passed by the unanimous vote of the Convention. After its passage, the following ordinance was passed to preserve the order of affairs under the altered political relations of the State: Be it ordained by the People of South Carolina, by their Delegates in Convention assembled, That, until otherwise provided by the Legislature, the Governor shall be authorized to appoint collectors and other officers connected with the customs, for the ports within the State of South Carolina, and also all the postmasters within the said State; and that until such appointments shall have been made, the persons now charged with the duties of the said several offices shall continue to discharge the same, keeping an account of what moneys are received and disbursed by them respectively. The Convention adjourned to meet at Institute Hall, and in the presence of the Governor, and both branches of the State Legislature, to sign the ordinance of secession. At the close of the ceremonies the president of the Convention announced the secession of the State in these words: "The ordinance of secession has been signed and ratified, and I proclaim the State of South Carolina an independent Commonwealth." The ratified ordinance was then given to the Secretary of State to be preserved among its archives, and the assembly dissolved. On the 21st the committee to prepare an address to the Southern States made a report, reviewing the injuries to South Carolina imputed to her connection with the Federal Union. An ordinance was then adopted which prescribed the following oath, to be taken by all persons elected and appointed to any office : I do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) that I will be faithful and true allegiance bear to the Constitution of the State of South Carolina, so long as I may continue a citizen of the same; and that I am duly qualiified under the laws of South Carolina, and will discharge the duties thereof to the best of my ability, and will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of this State. So help me God. In secret session, Messrs. Robert W. Barnwell, J. H. Adams, and James L. Orr, were appointed commissioners to proceed to Washington, to treat for the delivery of the forts, magazines, light-houses, &c., within the limits of the State, also the apportionment of the public debts and a division of all other property held by the Government of the United States, as South Carolina was recently a member, and to agent of the confederation of States, of which negotiate all other arrangements proper to be adopted in the existing relations of the parties. Active movements immediately commenced for resisting any attempt on the part of the United States to exercise Federal powers within the limits of the State. Rumors that vessels of war had started for Charleston harbor, and that the commissioners to Washington were on their way home, created great excitement in the State, and all thought of peaceable secession was abandoned. A collector for the port of Charleston was nominated to the Senate by President Buchanan, but that body failed to confirm the nomination. Meantime, Governor Pickens organized his Cabinet, as follows: Secretary of State, A. G. Secretary of the Treasury, C. G. Memminger; Magrath; Secretary of War, D. F. Jamison; Postmaster-General, W. H. Harlee; Secretary of the Interior, A. C. Gurlington. On the 31st of December, the State troops, which had been for some time acting as a guard to the arsenal, under orders from the Governor, took full possession, and relieved the United States officer who had been in charge. At halfpast one o'clock on Sunday, the Federal flag was lowered after a salute of thirty-two guns. The State troops were drawn up in order and presented arms. The Palmetto flag was then run up, with a salute of one gun for South Carolina. The arsenal contained at the time a large amount of arms and other stores. Meanwhile military preparations were actively pushed for ward, and several volunteer companies from other Southern States tendered their services. Notice was given by the collector at Charleston that the masters of all vessels from ports outside of South Carolina must enter and clear at Charleston. Bank bills were also made receivable for duties. The flag of the State, adopted by the Legislature, to whom the subject had been referred by the State Convention, consisted of a plain white ground with a green Palmetto tree in the centre, and a white crescent in the left upper corner on a square blue field. On the 14th of January the Legislature unanimously passed a resolution declaring that any attempt by the Federal Government to reënforce Fort Sumter would be considered as an act of open hostility, and as a declaration of war. At the same time they adopted another resolution, approving the act of the troops who fired on the Star of the West, and also resolved to sustain the Governor in all measures necessary for defence. The forts in Charleston harbor, occupied by a small garrison of regular troops of the United States, afforded a standing denial of the sovereignty and independence of South Carolina. The first object to be accomplished by the State authorities to secure that respect due to an independent nation, was to obtain possession of these forts. For this object the following correspondence took place: STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, CHARLESTON, Jan. 11, 1861. To Major Robert Anderson, commanding Fort Sumter. SIR: I have thought proper, under all the circumstances of the peculiar state of public affairs in the country at present, to appoint the Hon. A. G. Magrath and Gen. D F. Jamison, both members of the Execu tive Council, and of the highest position in the State, to present to you considerations of the gravest public character, and of the deepest interest to all who deprecate the improper waste of life, to induce the delivery of Fort Sumter to the constituted authorities of the State of South Carolina, with a pledge, on its part, to account for such public property as is under your charge. Your obedient servant, F. W. PICKENS. MAJOR ANDERSON TO GOV. PICKENS. HEADQUARTERS FORT SUMTER, S. C., January 11, 1861. His Exc'y F. W. Pickens, Governor of S. Carolina. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your demand for the surrender of this fort to the authorities of South Carolina, and to say, in reply, that the demand is one with which I cannot comply. Your Excellency knows that I have recently sent a messenger to Washington, and that it will be impossible for me to receive an answer to my despatches, forwarded by him, at an earlier date than next Monday. What the character of my instructions may be I cannot foresee. Should your Excellency deem fit, prior to a resort to arms, to refer this matter to Wash ington, it would afford me the sincerest pleasure to depute one of my officers to accompany any messenger you may deem proper to be the bearer of your demand. Hoping to God that in this, and all other matters, in which the honor, welfare, and lives of our fellow countrymen are concerned, we shall so act as to meet His approval, and deeply regretting that you have made a demand of me with which I cannot comply, I have the honor to be, with the highest regard, your obedient servant, ROBERT ANDERSON, Major U. S. Army, commanding. Other States soon followed the example of South Carolina. Of these Florida was foremost. Her Senators in Congress assembled, in secret caucus, with those from other States to devise the plan of action. Prompt measures were also taken by the State authorities to secure success. At an early day a State Convention was called to meet on the 5th of January, to which delegates were at once elected. The Convention assembled at Tallahassee on the day appointed. It consisted of sixty-seven members, one-third of whom were regarded as in favor of cooperation. On the 7th, a resolution declaring the right and duty of Florida to secede was passed ayes, 62; noes, 5. On the same day the ordinance of secession was passed by a vote of 62 ayes to 7 noes. The following is the ordinance: Whereas, All hope of preserving the Union upon terms consistent with the safety and honor of the slaveholding States, has been fully dissipated by the recent indications of the strength of the anti-slavery sentiment of the free States; therefore, assembled, That it is undoubtedly the right of the sevBe it enacted by the people of Florida, in convention eral States of the Union, at such time and for such cause as in the opinion of the people of such States, acting in their sovereign capacity, may be just and proper, to withdraw from the Union, and, in the opinion of this Convention, the existing causes are such as to compel Florida to proceed to exercise this right. We, the people of the State of Florida, in Convention assembled, do solemnly ordain, publish, and declare that the State of Florida hereby withdraws herself from the Confederacy of States existing under the name of the United States of America, and from the existing Government of the said States; and that all political connection between her and the Government of said States ought to be, and the same is hereby totally annulled, and said Union of States dissolved; and the State of Florida is hereby declared a sovereign and independent nation; and that all ordinances heretofore adopted, in so far as they create or recognize said Union, are rescinded; and all laws, or parts of laws, in force in this State, in so far as they recognize or assent to said Union, be and they are hereby repealed. The Convention, at a subsequent date, was addressed by the Commissioner from South Carolina, L. W. Spratt. In his address he admits that, if the Southern people had been left to consult their own interests in the matter, apart from the complications superinduced by the action of South Carolina, they would never have felt it their duty to initiate the movement in which, for reasons partly long conceived and partly fortuitous, she had now, as she thinks, succeeded in involving them. The other acts of the Convention completed the work commenced by the ordinance of secession. Delegates were appointed to a Confederate Congress, with instructions to cooperate with those from other States in the formation of a Government independent of the United States. A session of the Legislature was held at the same time, in order to pass such measures in their new position. as would give strength to the executive officers The forts and arsenals of the United States and the U. S. schooner Dana were seized, un |