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A School History of the United States by John Bach McMaster

J >> John Bach McMaster >> A School History of the United States





SUMMARY

1. Between 1830 and 1850 the rush of population into the West continued,
but, instead of moving across the continent, most of the people settled
in the states already in existence.

2. This was due to the effect of such improved means of communication as
steamboats, railroads, canals, etc.

3. As a consequence, but six new states were admitted to the Union in
twenty-nine years, and one of them was annexed (Texas).

4. The period is also noticeable for the number of foreigners who came
to our shores.

5. After 1849 the existence of gold in California brought so many people
to the Pacific coast that California became a state in 1850.

6. As population grew denser, and transportation was facilitated by the
expansion of railroads and steamboats and canals, business opportunities
were increased, and new markets were created.

7. Labor-saving and time-saving machines and appliances became more in
demand than ever, and a long list of remarkable inventions and business
aids appeared.

8. The South, owing to its own peculiar industrial and labor condition,
was little benefited by all these improvements, and remained much the
same as in 1800.

CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY, 1840-1860.

_The People_.

Immigration Causes.
Number of immigrants.

No. of people in 1840. 17,000,000
U. S. 1850. 23,000,000
1860. 31,000,000

Movement New States Arkansas, 1836. Slave.
Westward .. Michigan, 1837. Free.
Florida, 1845. Slave.
Texas, 1845. Slave.
Iowa, 1846. Free.
Wisconsin, 1848. Free.
California, 1850. Free.
Minnesota, 1858. Free.
Oregon, 1859. Free.

Territories New Mexico, 1850.
Utah, 1850.
Washington, 1853.
Kansas, 1854.
Nebraska, 1854.

_New Social and Business Conveniences._

Gas.
Plumbing.
Paved streets.
General use of anthracite.
Free schools.
Railroad expansion.
Express.
Postage stamps.
Ocean steamships.

_New Inventions._

Number of patents.
The sewing machine.
The harvester.
The telegraph.
India rubber.
Daguerreotype.
Anaesthesia.
Atlantic cable.

_The South._

Little affected by new industrial conditions.
Few manufactures.
Increase of the cotton area.
No immigration.




CHAPTER XXVII


WAR FOR THE UNION, 1861-1865

%419. South Carolina secedes%.--The only state where in 1860
presidential electors were chosen by the legislature was South Carolina.
When the legislature met for this purpose, November 6, 1860, the
governor asked it not to adjourn, but to remain in session till the
result of the election was known. If Lincoln is elected, said he, the
"secession of South Carolina from the Union" will be necessary. Lincoln
was elected, and on December 20, 1860, a convention of delegates, called
by the legislature to consider the question of secession, formally
declared that South Carolina was no longer one of the United States.[1]

[Footnote 1: "We the people of the state of South Carolina, in
convention assembled, do declare and ordain ... that the union now
subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of
the United States of America, is hereby dissolved."]

%420. The "Confederate States of America."%--The meaning of this act
of secession was that South Carolina now claimed to be a "sovereign,
free, and independent" nation. But she was not the only state to take
this step. By February 1, 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Texas had also left the Union. Three days later, February
4, 1861, delegates from six of these seven states met at Montgomery,
Ala., formed a constitution, established a provisional government, which
they called the "Confederate States of America," and elected Jefferson
Davis and Alexander H. Stephens provisional President and Vice
President.

Toward preventing or stopping this, Buchanan did nothing. No state, he
said, had a right to secede. But a state having seceded, he had no power
to make her come back, because he could not make war on a state; that
is, he could not preserve the Union. On one matter, however, he was
forced to act. When South Carolina seceded, the three forts in
Charleston harbor--Castle Pinckney, Fort Sumter, and Fort Moultrie--were
in charge of a major of artillery named Robert Anderson. He had under
him some eighty officers and men, and knowing that he could not hold all
three forts, and fearing that the South would seize Fort Sumter, he
dismantled Fort Moultrie, spiked the cannon, cut down the flagstaff, and
removed to Fort Sumter, on the evening of December 26, 1860.

[Illustration: CHARLESTON HARBOR]

This act was heartily approved by the people of the North and by
Congress, and Buchanan with great reluctance yielded to their demand,
and sent the _Star of the West,_ with food and men, to relieve Anderson.
But as the vessel, with our flag at its fore, was steaming up the
channel toward Charleston harbor, the Southern batteries fired upon her,
and she went back to New York. Anderson was thus left to his fate, and
as Buchanan's term was nearly out, both sides waited to see what
Lincoln would do.

%421. Why did the States secede?%--Why did the Southern slave states
secede? To be fair to them we must seek the answer in the speeches of
their leaders. "Your votes," said Jefferson Davis, "refuse to recognize
our domestic institutions [slavery], which preexisted the formation of
the Union, our property [slaves], which was guaranteed by the
Constitution. You refuse us that equality without which we should be
degraded if we remained in the Union. You elect a candidate upon the
basis of sectional hostility; one who in his speeches, now thrown
broadcast over the country, made a distinct declaration of war upon our
institutions."

"There is," said Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury of
the United States, "no other remedy for the existing state of things
except immediate secession."

"Our position," said the Mississippi secession convention, "is
thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery. A blow at slavery
is a blow at commerce and civilization. There was no choice left us but
submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union."

Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy, asserted
that the Personal Liberty laws of some of the free states "constitute
the only cause, in my opinion, which can justify secession."

The South seceded, then, according to its own statements, because the
people believed that the election of Lincoln meant the abolition
of slavery.

%422. Compromise attempted%.--The Republican party in 1861 had no
intention of abolishing slavery. Its purpose was to stop the spread of
slavery into the territories, to stop the admission of more slave
states, but not to abolish slavery in states where it already existed. A
strong wish therefore existed in the North to compromise the sectional
differences. Many plans for a compromise were offered, but only one,
that of Crittenden, of Kentucky, need be mentioned. He proposed that the
Constitution should be so amended as to provide

1. That all territory of the United States north of 36 deg. 30' should be
free, and all south of it slave soil.

2. That slaves should be protected as property by all the departments of
the territorial government.

3. That states should be admitted with or without slavery as their
constitutions provided, whether the states were north or south of
36 deg. 30'.

4. That Congress should have no power to shut slavery out of the
territories.

5. That the United States should pay owners for rescued fugitive slaves.

As these propositions recognized the right of property in slaves, that
is, put the black man on a level with horses and cattle, the Republicans
rejected them, and the attempt to compromise ended in failure.

%423. A Proposed Thirteenth Amendment%.--One act of great
significance was done. A proposition to add a thirteenth amendment to
the Constitution was submitted to the states. It read,

"No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or
give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere within any state with
the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to
labor or service by the laws of said states."

Even Lincoln approved of this, and two states, Maryland and Ohio,
accepted it. But the issue was at hand. It was too late to compromise.

%424. Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President%.--Lincoln and Hamlin were
inaugurated on March 4, 1861, and in his speech from the Capitol steps
Lincoln was very careful to state just what he wanted to do.

1. "I have no purpose," said he, "directly or indirectly, to interfere
with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists."

2. "I consider the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I
shall take care ... that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in
all the states."

3. "In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence; and there
shall be none, unless it be forced upon the national authority."

4. "The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess
the property and places belonging to the government and to collect the
duties and imposts."

[Illustration: Fort Sumter]

%425. Civil War begins.%--One of the places Lincoln thus pledged
himself to "hold" was Fort Sumter, to which he decided to send men and
supplies. As soon as notice of this intention was sent to Governor
Pickens of South Carolina, the Confederate commander at Charleston,
General Beauregard (bo-ruh-gar'), demanded the surrender of the fort.
Major Anderson stoutly refused to comply with the demand, and at dawn on
the morning of April 12, 1861, the Confederates fired the first gun at
Sumter. During the next thirty-four hours, nineteen batteries poured
shot and shell into the fort, which steadily returned the fire. Then
both food and powder were nearly exhausted, and part of the fort being
on fire, Anderson surrendered; and on Sunday, April 14, 1861, he marched
out, taking with him the tattered flag under which he made so gallant a
fight.[1] The fleet sent to his aid arrived in time to see the battle,
but did not give him any help. After the surrender, one of the ships
carried Anderson and the garrison to New York.[2]

[Footnote 1: "Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until
the quarters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the
gorge walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and
its door closed from the effect of heat, four barrels and three
cartridges of powder being available, and no provisions remaining but
pork, I accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard . . .
and marched out of the fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with
colors flying and drums beating . . . and saluting my flag with fifty
guns."--_Major Anderson to the Secretary of War._]

[Footnote 2: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,_ Vol. I., pp.
60-73.]

%426. The Life of the Republic at Stake%.--Thus was begun the
greatest war in modern history. It was no vulgar struggle for territory,
or for maritime or military supremacy. The life of the Union was at
stake. The questions to be decided were: Shall there be one or two
republics on the soil of the United States? Shall the great principle of
all democratic-republican government, the principle that the will of the
majority shall rule, be maintained or abandoned? Shall state sovereignty
be recognized? Shall states be suffered to leave the Union at will, or
shall the United States continue to exist as "an indestructible Union of
indestructible States"? As Mr. Lincoln said, "Both parties deprecated
war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive;
and the other would accept war rather than let it perish."

%427. The South better prepared%.--For the struggle which was to
decide these questions neither side was ready, but the South was better
prepared than the North. The South was united as one man. The North was
divided and full of Southern sympathizers. She knew not whom to trust.
Officers of the army, officers of the navy, were resigning every day.
The great departments of government at Washington contained many men who
furnished information to Southern officials. Seventeen steam war vessels
(two thirds of all that were not laid up or unfit for service) were in
foreign parts. Large quantities of military supplies had been stored in
Southern forts. All the great powers of Europe save Russia were hostile
to our republic, and would gladly have seen it rent in twain. The South,
again, had the advantage in that she was to act on the defensive.

[Illustration: The United States July 1861 Showing the greatest
extension of the Southern Confederacy]

%428. Results of firing on the Flag.%--Not a man was killed on either
side during the bombardment of Sumter. Yet the battle was a famous one,
and led to greater consequences:

1. Lincoln at once called for 75,000 militia to serve for three months.

2. Four "border states," as they were called, thus forced to choose
their side, seceded. They were Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and
Tennessee.

3. The Congress of the United States was called to meet at Washington,
July 4, 1861.

4. After Virginia seceded, the capital of the Confederacy, at the
invitation of the Virginia secession convention, was moved from
Montgomery to Richmond, and the Confederate Congress adjourned to meet
there July 20, 1861.

%429. West Virginia.%--The act of secession by Virginia was promptly
repudiated by the people of the counties west of the mountains, who
refused to secede, and voted to form a new state under the name of
Kanawha. They adopted a constitution and were finally admitted in 1863
as the state of West Virginia[1].

[Footnote 1: A state made out of part of another state cannot be
admitted into the Union without the consent of that state first
obtained. But as Congress and the people of West Virginia considered
that Virginia consisted of that part of the Old Dominion which remained
loyal to the Union, the people practically asked their own consent.]

%430. The Call to Arms.%--Lincoln held that no state could ever leave
the Union, and that therefore no state had left the Union. Those which
had passed ordinances of secession were to his mind states whose
machinery of government had been seized on by persons in insurrection
against the government of the United States. When, therefore, he made
his call for 75,000 militia to defend the Union, he apportioned the
number among all the states, slave and free, north and south, east and
west, according to their population. Those forming the Confederacy paid
no attention to the call. The governors of the border slave states
(Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri) returned
evasive or insulting answers.

But the people of the loyal states responded instantly, and tens of
thousands of troops were soon on their way to Washington. To get there
was a hard matter. Baltimore lay on the most direct railroad route
between the Eastern and Middle States and Washington. But Baltimore was
full of disloyal men, who tore up the railroads, burned bridges, cut the
telegraph wires, and as the Massachusetts 6th regiment was passing
through the city from one railroad station to another, attacked it,
killing some and wounding others of its soldiers. This forced the troops
from the other states to go by various routes to Annapolis and then to
Washington, so that it was late in April before enough arrived to insure
the safety of the city.

Though none of the border and seceded states sent troops, the response
of the loyal states to Lincoln's call was so hearty that more than
75,000 men were furnished. The President decided to turn this outburst
of patriotism to good purpose, and May 3, 1861, asked for 42,034
volunteers for three years unless sooner discharged, and ordered 18,000
seamen to be enlisted, and 22,714 men added to the regular army.
Baltimore was now occupied by Union troops, and communication with
Washington through that city was restored and protected.

On July 1, 1861, there were 183,588 "boys in blue" under arms and
present for duty. These were distributed at various places north of the
line, 2000 miles long, which divided the North and South. This line
began near Fort Monroe, in Virginia, ran up Chesapeake Bay and the
Potomac to the mountains, then across Western Virginia and through
Kentucky, Missouri, and Indian Territory to New Mexico.

This line was naturally divided into three parts:

1. That in Virginia and along the Potomac.

2. That occupied by Kentucky, a state which had declared itself neutral.

3. That west of the Mississippi.

%431. The Battle of "Bull Run" or Manassas%.--General Winfield Scott
was in command of the Union army. Under him, in command of the troops
about Washington, was General Irwin McDowell. Further to the west, near
Harpers Ferry, was a Union force under General Patterson. In western
Virginia, with an army raised largely in Ohio, was General George B.
McClellan. In Missouri was General Lyon, aided by all the Union people
in the state, who were engaged in a desperate struggle to keep her in
the Union.

In northern Virginia and opposed to the Union forces under General
McDowell, was a Confederate army under General Beauregard, and these
troops the people of the North demanded should be attacked. "The
Confederate Congress must not meet at Richmond!" "On to Richmond! On to
Richmond!" became the cries of the hour. General McDowell, with 30,000
men, was therefore ordered to attack Beauregard. McDowell found him near
Manassas, some thirty miles southwest of Washington, and there, on the
field of "Bull Run," on Sunday, July 21, 1861, was fought a famous
battle which ended with the defeat and flight of the Union army[1].

[Footnote 1: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War_, Vol. I., pp.
229-239.]

General George B. McClellan, who had defeated the Confederate forces in
western Virginia in several battles, was now placed in command of the
troops near Washington, and spent the rest of 1861 and part of 1862 in
drilling and organizing his army. Bull Run had taught the people two
things: 1. That the war was not to end in three months; 2. That an army
without discipline is not much better than a mob.

%432. Fort Donelson and Fort Henry%.--While McClellan was drilling
his men along the Potomac, the Union forces drove back the Confederates
in the West. The Confederate line at first extended as shown by the
heavy line on the map on p. 390. In order to break it, General Buell
sent a small force under General Thomas, in January, 1862, to drive back
the Confederates near Mill Springs. Next, in February, General Halleck
authorized General U. S. Grant and Flag Officer Foote to make a joint
expedition against Fort Henry on the Tennessee. But Foote arrived first
and captured the fort, whereupon Grant marched to Fort Donelson on the
Cumberland, eleven miles away, and after three days of sharp fighting
was asked by General Buckner what terms he would offer. Grant
promptly answered,

[Illustration: Handwritten note of Grant]

No terms excepting unconditional and
immediate surrender can be accepted.
I propose to receive immediately upon
your word.
I am Sir: very respectfully
your ** **
U. S. Grant
Brig. Gen.

Buckner at once surrendered (February 16, 1862), and Grant won the first
great Union victory of the war.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,_ Vol. I., pp.
398-429; Grant's _Memoirs_, Vol. I., pp. 285-315.]

%433. The Battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing.%--After the fall of
Fort Donelson, the Confederates, abandoning Columbus and Nashville,
hurried south toward Corinth in Mississippi, whither Halleck's army
followed in three parts. One under General S. E. Curtis moved to
southwestern Missouri, and beat the Confederates at Pea Ridge, Ark.
(March 6-8). The second, under General John Pope, cooeperated with Flag
Officer Foote, from the west bank of the Mississippi, in the capture of
Island No. 10 (April 7). Pope then joined Halleck in the movement
against Corinth, while the fleet went on down the river, attacked Fort
Pillow three times, captured it (June 4), and two days later
took Memphis.

Meanwhile the third part of Halleck's army, under Grant, following the
Confederates, had reached Pittsburg Landing, where (April 6) he was
suddenly attacked by General A. S. Johnston and driven back. But General
Buell coming up with fresh troops, the battle was resumed the next day
(April 7), when Grant regained his lost ground, and the Confederates
fell back to Corinth.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,_ Vol., pp. 465-486.]

[Illustration: Driving back the Confederate line in the West]

At this point General Henry Halleck arrived and took command, and at the
end of May occupied Corinth. Memphis then fell, and the Mississippi
River was opened as far south as Vicksburg. After the capture of
Memphis, Halleck went to Washington to take command of the armies of the
United States.

%434. Bragg's Raid into Kentucky.%--The Confederate line which in
January, 1862, had passed across Kentucky had thus by June been driven
southward to Chattanooga, Iuka, and Holly Springs. The Union line ran
from near Chattanooga to Corinth and Memphis. Against this the
Confederates now moved, with the hope of breaking through and driving it
back. Gathering his forces at Chattanooga, General Bragg rushed across
Tennessee and Kentucky toward Louisville. But General Buell, perceiving
his purpose, outmarched him, reached the Ohio, and forced Bragg to fall
back. At Perryville (October 8, 1862), Bragg turned furiously on Buell
and was beaten.

%435. Iuka and Corinth.%--While Bragg was raiding Kentucky, Generals
Price at Iuka and Van Dorn at Holly Springs, knowing that Grant's army
had been greatly weakened by sending troops to Buell, prepared to attack
Corinth. But Grant, thinking he could fight them separately, sent
Rosecrans to Iuka (September 19). Price was not captured, but retreated
to Van Dorn, and the two then fell upon Rosecrans at Corinth (October
4), only to be beaten and chased forty miles.

%436. Murfreesboro.%--For these successes Rosecrans (October 30) was
given command of Buell's army, then centering at Nashville. Bragg went
into winter quarters at Murfreesboro, and thither Rosecrans advanced to
attack him. The contest at Murfreesboro (December 31, 1862, and January
2, 1863) was one of the most bloody battles of the whole war. Bragg was
again defeated, and retreated to a position farther south.

%437. Arkansas%.--In January, 1862, the Confederate line west of the
Mississippi extended from Belmont across southern Missouri to the Indian
Territory. Against the west end of this line General Curtis moved in
February, 1862, and after driving the Confederates under Van Dorn and
Price out of Missouri, beat them in the desperate battle at Pea Ridge,
Arkansas (March 6-8, 1862), and moved to the interior of the state.
Price and Van Dorn went east into Mississippi (see Sec. 435), and when the
year closed the Union forces were in control north of the Arkansas
River, and along the west bank of the Mississippi. On the east bank the
only fortified positions in Confederate hands were Vicksburg, Grand
Gulf, and Port Hudson.

%438. Farragut captures New Orleans.%--While Foote was opening the
upper part of the Mississippi, a naval expedition under Farragut,
supported by an army under Butler, had cleared the lower part of the
river. These forces had been sent by sea to capture New Orleans. The
defenses of the city consisted of two strong forts almost directly
opposite each other on the banks of the river, about seventy-five miles
south of the city; of two great chain cables stretched across the river
below the forts to prevent ships coming up; and of fifteen armed vessels
above the forts. New Orleans was thought to be safe. But Farragut was
not dismayed. Sailing up the river till he came to the chains, he
bombarded the forts for six days and nights, while the forts did their
best to destroy him. Then, finding he could do nothing in this way, he
cut the chains, ran his ships past the forts in spite of a dreadful fire
(April 24, 1862), destroyed the Confederate fleet (April 25), and took
the city. General Butler, who had been waiting at Ship Island with
15,000 men, then entered and held New Orleans.[1]

[Footnote 1: Farragut, after taking New Orleans, went up the river and
captured Baton Rouge and Natchez.]