CHAPTER XVII.

MILITARY POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE REBELLION.

At the close of the year 1860 we presented to the world the spectacle of a great nation nearly destitute of military force. Our territory from ocean to ocean exceeded 3,000,000 square miles; our population numbered 31,000,000 people.

The Regular Army as organized consisted of 18,093" officers and men, but according to the returns it numbered only 16,367.

The line of the Army was composed of 198 companies, of which 183 were stationed on the frontier or were en route to distant posts west of the Mississippi. The remaining 15 companies were stationed along the Canadian frontier and on the Atlantic coast from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.

As a guard for the national frontiers, the Army could not furnish two soldiers per mile; for protecting the settlements in the States and Territories west of the Mississippi but one soldier was available for every 120 square miles; to aid in the enforcement of the laws in the remaining States of the Union we had but one soldier for every 1,300 square miles.

The militia for a sudden emergency were scarcely more available than the Army, Nominally they numbered more than 3,000,000, but mostly unorganized. So destitute were they of instruction and training that a few regiments in the large cities excepted-they did not merit the name of a military force.

Such was the condition of the national defense when, on the 20th of December, 1860, South Carolina in convention passed the ordinance of secession.

Her example was followed on the 7th of January, 1861, by Florida, on the 9th by Mississippi, on the 11th by Alabama, on the 20th by Georgia, on the 26th by Louisiana, and on the 1st of February by Texas.

With a purpose clearly defined, the deputies appointed by these States met at Montgomery, February 4, adopted a provisional constitution on the 8th, and elected a President on the 9th.

In a brief space of five days these deputies, who styled themselves a "Congress of Sovereign States," inaugurated within our borders a rival republic and boldly proclaimed its freedom and independence. The measures which followed were no less bold and energetic. February 28, they directed their President to assume control of all military operations in every State, and further authorized him to accept, for a period not exceeding twelve months, as many volunteers as he might require.

a Army Register, 1860, p. 42.

b Ex. Doc. No. 23, Forty-fifth Congress, third session. 15836-04- -15

225

A week later, March 6, he dictated a call for 100,000 men to take the field under his unquestioned and supreme command."

In contrast with these formidable preparations, such was our organization and so scattered was our Army that on the 15th of December, 1860, we had but five inexpansive companies available to garrison the nine fortifications along the southern coast. These garrisons six weeks later were increased by about 600 recruits.

The remainder of the Regular Army, scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was too remote to participate in the first shock of arms or even to provide a sufficient defense for the capital.

Alarmed at the impending danger, the President, as had been done so often before, turned to the militia. On the 9th of April a call was made upon the District of Columbia for ten companies, but when paraded for muster many through disloyalty refused to be sworn, while others imposed the condition that they should not be required to serve beyond the limits of the District. Subsequently, during the month of April, companies were mustered into service for three months, all but three with the stipulation "to serve within the District and not go beyond it."

Although it should be stated that many of these companies did finally serve outside the District without protest, it should also be observed that their conduct afforded another proof that in time of great civil commotion, it is only raw troops who presume to dictate to their lawful commanders.

In the meantime so prompt was the response to the Confederate call for 100,000 volunteers, that by the middle of April 35,000 men were equipped for the field. Conscious of their strength, they at once seized our arsenals and began the seige of our forts.

April 12th, the first shot fired at Fort Sumter, followed two days later by the evacuation of the post, awakened the people to the dread reality of a long civil war.

To the commanding officer at Fort Moultrie, Secretary Floyd sent the following remarkable letter:

Major ANDERSON,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 21, 1860.

First Artillery, Commanding Fort Moultrie, S. C. SIR: In the verbal instructions communicated to you by Major Buell, you are directed to hold possession of the forts in the harbor of Charleston and, if attacked, to defend yourself to the last extremity. Under these instructions you might infer that you are required to make a vain and useless sacrifice of your own life and the lives of the men under your command upon a mere point of honor. This is far from the President's intentions. You are to exercise a sound military discretion on this subject.

It is neither expected nor desired that you should expose your own life or that of your men in a hopeless conflict in defense of these forts. If they are invested or attacked by a force so superior that resistance would, in your judgment, be a useless waste of life, it will be your duty to yield to necessity and make the best terms in your power.

This will be the conduct of an honorable, brave, and humane officer, and you will be fully justified in such action. These orders are strictly confidential and not to be communicated even to the officers under your command without close necessity.

Very respectfully,

JOHN B. FLOYD.

a Pollard's Life of Jefferson Davis, with a Secret History of the Confederacy, p. 91. Report of the Provost-Marshal-General, vol. 1, p. 7.

CALL FOR MILITIA.

In every stage of their prosecution the wars of the Revolution and of 1812 gave evidence that a system of national defense, based on the consent and cooperation of the States, possessed none of the elements of certainty or of strength.

Nevertheless, for the want of an expansive regular army or a system of national volunteers, the President was again compelled to look to the States, and therefore on the 15th of April, issued his proclamation calling for 75,000 militia for the period of three months.

The terms of the proclamation show that the President and Cabinet began the war with the same confidence in raw troops as was manifested by their predecessors in 1812.

The militia was not summoned for the defense of the capital, but to suppress "combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed." a In explanation of the call, the President further stated:

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union.

Language so unmistakable, and which had the sanction of our most distinguished statesmen, leads only to the conclusion that with raw troops, it was believed that a formidable rebellion, already covering a territory of 560,000 square miles, could be subdued within the brief space of three months.

REFUSAL OF THE GOVERNORS TO FURNISH MILITIA.

The conduct of the governors in this emergency, as in the war of 1812, was largely controlled by their party affiliations.

In the North, patriotic men rushed to arms in numbers far exceeding the requirements of the Government. From the South nothing was received but defiant refusals.

The replies from the border States were as follows:

Governor Letcher, of Virginia, under date of April 16, 1861, wrote: The militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States, and a requisition made upon me for such an object--an object in my judgment not within the purview of the Constitution or the act of 1795—will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate civil war, and, having done so, we will meet in a spirit as determined as the Administration has exhibited toward the South.

Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, under date of April 15, replied: Your dispatch is received, and, if genuine-which its extraordinary character leads me to doubt-I have to say in reply that I regard the levy of troops made by the Administration, for the purpose of subjugating the States of the South as in violation of the Constitution and a usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country, and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina. I will reply more in detail when your call is received by mail.

Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, on April 15, made this answer: Your dispatch is received. In answer I say emphatically Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States.

a President's proclamation April 15, 1861, (Report of Provost-Marshal-General vol. 2, p. 205).

Governor Harris, of Tennessee, on April 17, made this reply:

Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but 50,000, if necessary, for the defense of our rights or those of our southern brethren.

Governor Jackson, of Missouri, on April 22, followed with this statement:

Your requisition is illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical, and can not be complied with.

Governor Rector, of Arkansas, on the same date wrote:

None will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to injury.a

The State of Delaware failed to respond to the call for one regiment of militia, for a reason scarcely less illustrative of the inherent weakness of our military system. In a proclamation dated April 26, 1861, the governor stated:

Whereas the laws of this State do not confer upon the Executive any authority enabling him to comply with such requisition, there being no organized militia nor any law requiring such organization, and whereas it is the duty of all good and lawabiding citizens to preserve the peace and sustain the laws and Government under which we live, and by which our citizens are protected:

Therefore, I, William Burton, Governor of the said State of Delaware, recommend the formation of volunteer companies for the protection of the lives and property of the people of this State against violence of any sort to which they may be exposed. For these purposes such companies, when formed, will be under the control of the State authorities, though not subject to be ordered by the Executive into the United States service, the law not vesting in him such authority. They will, however, have the option of offering their services to the General Government for the defense of its capital and the support of the Constitution and laws of the country.

In their haste to defy the Government no reference of the President's call was made to the legislatures or highest judicial tribunals of the seceding States. The governors, as the commanders in chief of the militia, acted solely on their own responsibility. Possessing the power, they did not hesitate, but made a merit of paralyzing the military resources of six States which afterwards, on an appeal to the people, furnished for the Union no less than 251,787 men.

These facts possess a still deeper significance; on the one hand, they reveal the utter weakness of a military system, based on the theory of confederation; on the other, they represent the mighty power of a government which, instituted "by the people and for the people,' makes its appeal directly to the people.

SPREAD OF THE REBELLION.

The fall of Fort Sumter was followed by the secession of Virginia, April 17; Arkansas and Tennessee, May 6; and North Carolina, May

20.

The prospective accession of so much territory to the cause of secession demanded renewed efforts for its defense.

April 29, Mr. Davis therefore, wrote to the Confederate Congress: There are now in the field at Charleston, Pensacola, Forts Morgan, Jackson, St. Philip, and Pulaski, 19,000 men, and 16,000 are now en route for Virginia. It is proposed to organize and hold in readiness for instant action, in view of the present exigencies of the country, an army of 100,000 men.d

a Report of Provost-Marshal-General, vol. 2, p. 130.

Extract from New York Herald, April 28, 1861, Frank Moore's Rebellion Record, vol 1, p. 155.

e Report of Provost-Marshal-General, vol. 2, p. 180.

d Pollard's Lost Cause, p. 117.

With such a force to sustain him, the seat of the Confederate Government was, on the 20th of May, removed to Richmond, Va., while Confederate troops advanced to Fairfax and Alexandria, within distinct view of the national capital.

The advantage so far as related to the forces in the field was, at the time decidedly on the side of the Confederates. The Government had called for 75,000 militia for the period of three months; the Confederates had called for 100,000 volunteers for the period of one year. Both had repeated the blunder of short enlistment. The President, by a law more than sixty years old, was obliged to limit the service to three months; the Confederate Congress, with no appreciation of past history, adopted the identical policy which had led to the protraction of all our previous wars. Nevertheless, in default of further measures, on the part of the President, the Government at the end of three months would see the forces dissolved, while the Confederate army, constantly improving in discipline, would still be available for nine months of field service.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN EXERCISES DICTATORIAL POWERS.

The flames of rebellion kindled at Fort Sumter, did not stop at the Potomac. April 19, they burst out in Baltimore, where for several days they checked the advance of the Union troops, cutting off all communication with the Government. The troops, whose appearance was the signal for an outbreak, consisted of the Sixth Massachusetts and the Seventh Pennsylvania. The former regiment, fighting its way through a mob of from 8,000 to 10,000 people, with a loss of 2 killed and 8 wounded, succeeded in traversing the city and passing on to Washington. The regiment from Pennsylvania, being unarmed, was compelled to turn back. The loss inflicted on the rioters was 7 killed, the number of wounded was unknown. When the riot subsided, the mayor of the city and the governor of the State informed the President that no more troops could traverse the city without fighting their way through.

Everywhere in the South treason had triumphed, and from all quarters troops bearing the ensign of rebellion began to pour into Virginia and to move toward the Potomac. It was no longer a question of repossessing our forts. Railroads and telegraphs had been cut; the President could only communicate with the loyal masses by private messengers; the capital was in a state of siege, and for the third time. in our history appeared doomed to fall into the hands of its enemies. To avert such a calamity and to prevent the overthrow of the Government the President, trusting to popular approval, assumed and exercised the war powers of Congress. By proclamation of the 3d of May he decreed that the Regular Army should be increased by 22,714 officers and men, the Navy by 18,000 seamen, while in addition he called for a force of 42,834 volunteers, an aggregate increase of the land and naval forces amounting to 82,748 officers and men.

No usurpation could have been more complete, but what else could be done? An emergency had arisen, the militia was disorganized, Congress had neglected the national defense, the military preparation of the insurgents threatened the speedy overthrow of the Government, and the situation brooked no delay. In every similar crisis however produced, history teaches that the fate of a nation may depend on the patriotic or selfish action of a single individual.