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THE    SOUTH 

BEFORE  AND  AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WILDERNESS.  ^  v  y 

-A.  D  rm  E  s  s 

OK 

LEIGH  KOBINSOIsT 


(Formerly  of  the   Richmond    Ho\vitzers) 


OF    WASHINGTON,     D.    C, 


BEFORE    THE 


AT    THKIK 


ANNUAL    MEETING, 


THE  CAPITOL  IN  RICHMOND,  VA.,  NOV.  I,  1877. 


RICHMOND: 

JAMES  E.  GOODE,   PKINTEK. 

1878. 


X- 


Published  by  order  of  the  Virginia  Division  of  the  Army  of  North- 
ern Virginia. 


WM.    H.    F.    LEE, 

President. 


GEORGE    I_.    CHRISTIAN, 
LEROY   S.    EDWARDS, 

Secretaries. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


That  illustrious  num,  the  lion.  J3ai'd\vcll  Slote,  took  credit  to 
himself,  which,  surely,  will  not  ho  denied  hy  others,  for  the  self- 
restraint  he  evinced,  in  only  reading  to  his  friends  one-half  of  the 
discourse  he  had  prepared  for  Congress.  Sensible  of  the  admiring 
glow,  which  nuisl  always  genially  diffuse  itself,  in  the  breasts  of 
the  ardent  and  impulsive,  at  the  thought  of  such  engaging  and 
unexpected  charm  in  an  orator,  I  am,  naturally,  desirous  of  stating, 
that  not  the  whole  of  the  herein-contained  address  was  pronouiu'ed 
before  the  Society,  whose  voluntary  act  brought  it  down  uj)on  their 
heads.  Among  the  many  trials  of  a  much-suffering  people,  that  of 
listening  to  every  one  of  the  jjages  which  follow  is  not  to  be  num- 
bered. The  sins  of  omission,  indeed,  were  far  fewer  than  could 
have  l>een  desire<i,  hy  a  natural  lunnan  infirmity;  while  those  of 
commission  were  borne  with  a  })atience,  and  even  obliging,  courte- 
ous complaisance,  not  possible,  nor  to  l)e  expected,  in  a  community 
less  acquainted  with  grief,  ("andor,  however,  will  compel  those 
present  to  admit,  with  the  (()ueen  of  Sheba,  (but  with  what  reversed 
ground  for  exultation!)  that  the  half  was  not  told  them.  The 
afHiction  of  listening  to  not  (|uite  one-half  is  what  befell,  l^ut  a 
kiiidly-affectioMed  audience,  gi-alcl'ul  for  siidi  sidf-abuegation  in 
their  favor,  has  been  pleased  to  ask  for  ]nil)lication,  in  addition  to 
the  half  which  was  audible,  the  renuiining  half  which,  as  will  now 
be  seen,  in  so  masterly  a  manner,  was  withheld.  It  should  be 
added,  (hat   the  re<iuest  itself  is  the   less  surprising,  inasmuch  as, 


VI 

whether  nuule  for  one  another  in  Heaven,  or  BOine  widely  ditforent 
locality,  the  two  lialves,  the  spoken  and  unspoken,  did  not  divide 
in  any  one  place,  hut,  in  the  main,  kept  together,  and  ran  side  by 
side,  throughout  tiie  aiUlress,  like  "two  single  gentlemen  rolled 
into  one,"  if  the  sane  inind  can  conceive  such  a  case.  If,  therefore, 
in  the  complete  publication,  anyone  find  that  which,  to  him,  shall 
seem  better  unpublished,  (as  doubtless  all  who  read  it  will  tind 
very  constantly,)  let  liiin  ascribe  it  to  the  part  not  spoken;  not  to 
the  taste  of  the  audience,  hut  to  the  original  sin,  and  present  total 
depravity,  desperately  perverted  and  improper  nature  of  the  author, 
which  has  become  "bone  of  his  bone  and  tiesh  of  his  flesh,"  wholly 
irreclaimable,  it  is  feared,  "till  death  do  him  part" — if  then! 

L.  R. 


ERRATA 


au;!'  14,  line  19  from  toyi,  strike  out  the  word   ''whicli." 

:iiX<'  I'i.  line     •')  from  bottom,  for  "  anaiiKjly,"  read  ••anomaly." 

ai^e  :)4,  line  14  from  top,  tor  ••  Hypoc:rits,"  road  •'Hypocrites.'" 

is^e  43,  last  line,  for  ^^K>i,"  read  ^^En." 

ii;'('  Tii,  lint'  14  from  top,  f<.>r  ■'Sa/utamiir,''  read  •'.S'rt/«ici»<//.s-." 

i'^r  7'.»,  line    .'I  from  top.  I'or  •' Cycopa'dia ''  road  '•  Cyclojia^dia." 

ii;e  !KI.  line     L'  from  top.  strike  out  the  word  "of."' 

lye  '.i4.  line     i<  from  bottom,  for  "  hypmrieies,''  read  "  liypocrisie! 


A_DDRESS. 


I. 

Fellow-Soldiers: 

I  will  not  detain  you  by  the  expression  of  the 
pi-i<le  with  which  I  received,  and  the  sense  of  the  honor  to  myself 
with  which  I  accepted,  the  invitation  to  achlressyou.  From  either 
feelini;-  excessive  vanity  alone  could  save  me.  ]*)ut  it  is  of  moi'e 
consequence,  just  at  present,  lioth  to  you  and  to  myself,  to  show 
my  appreciation  of  the  compliment  liy  at  least  my  own  cndeavoi' 
to  discharo-c,  as  best  I  may,  the  duty  it  imposes — tlu'  duty  at  all 
times  difficult,  at  all  times  delicate,  of  reconntina;  with  due  sensi- 
bility and  without  undue  eagerness,  honorable  exploit  with  which, 
however  humbly,  we  feel  ourselves  identified. 

There  is  a  reply  of  some  celebrity  from  a  Spai-tan  to  a  rhetori- 
cian, who  proposed  to  ])ronounce  an  euloginm  on  Hercules.  -'On 
Hercules,"  said  the  Spartan,  '■who  ever  thonght  of  blaming  Her- 
cules?" And  certainly  man's  valor,  the  hero's  fear  of  evils  greater 
than  death  and  temi)oi'al  disaster,  by  virtue  of  which  he  is  man, 
and  has  virtue,  as  it  does  not  require  apology,  on  the  one  hand, 
not  unliecomingly,  perhaps,  may  dispense  with  eulogy  ou  the 
otlu'i'.  Charles  V  said:  ''How  many  languages  one  knows,  so 
uumy  limes  he  is  a  man."  llow,  then,  are  we  to  reckon  the  l)oly- 
glot  Mezzofanti,  who  carried  the  tongues,  not  of  all  literatures 
merely,  but  well  nigh  of  all  artic-ulale  sonnd,  in  his  head,  speaking 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  languages  in  all,  yet  leaving  no  memo- 
rable word  in  one?  The  tongue  of  fire,  by  which  language  is  not 
only  uttered  but  informed,  and  made  itself  a  vital  spark,  was  not 
among  his  members.  JIow  shall  we  compare  this  wonder  of  all 
tongues  with  Latour  d'Avergnc,  "the  first  grenadier  of  France," 
for  whose   death,  while   repulsing   tlie  front    rank    of  a  charge  of 


last,  a  remnant  \vhie]i  rose  above  the  carna<^-e  of  war.  tbe  ruin  of 
homes,  the  cry  of  distress,  still  gathered  around  a  chieftain's  form 
with  the  self-immolation  of  tiespair.  All  this  it  must  tell  and 
truly,  il'  need  be,  severely  tell. 

Surely  it  is  now  hig-h  time  to  admit  that,  with  such  object  in 
view,  you  have^  applied  to  a  quarter  where,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
the  details  of  such  knowledge  must  be  plentifully  lacking.  You 
have  apjjlied,  not  to  the  oilicers  of  the  field  and  statt',  who  led  your 
hope,  wielded  and  organized  your  force — to  none  of  these  renowned 
men,  but  to  one  far  different ;  to  a  private  soldier  in  the  lowest 
rank,  and  greatly  undistinguished  there.  An  obscure  artilleryman, 
esyjecially  when  under  fire,  is  liable  to  take  the  same  dispassionate 
view  of  a  conflict  i-aging  all  along  a  line  of  miles  as  the  average 
politician  seizes  of  the  moral  universe,  of  which,  curiously  enough, 
he,  too,  is  a  part.  The  plenroncct(e,  or  flat  fish,  having  eyes  only 
on  one  side,  are  badly  l>uilt  for  the  vocation  of  tourists  or  descrip- 
tive voyagers;  but  a  man  whose  whole  duty  for  four  years  was  to 
follow  l^lindly,  sud<lenly  ordered  to  look,  not  on  one  side  only,  but 
on  all  sides — tluit,  too,  after  the  lapse  of  years — is  worse  oft'  than 
a  riat  fish,  or  any  other  kind  of  fish,  except,  of  course,  a  fish  out 
of  water.  As  the  cockney  tourist  said  to  the  Highlander,  who 
addressecl  him  in  (Jiclic,  '•.Some  e\])lanati()n  is  necessary."  Most 
unaffectedly  1  am  embarrassed  to  find  myself  a  critic  of  the  deeds 
of  them  who  led  the  history  which  I  but  followed.  Nevertheless, 
it  must  be  acknowli'ilged  that  to  every  leader,  were  he  the  givafest, 
a  follower  is  a  quite  indispensable  a|)pendage.  Furthermore,  in 
our  cause,  it  may  be  said  (hat  leader  and  follower  wci'e  one.  We 
were  his  to  follow;  he  was  ours  to  lead,  lie  was  In  the  van, 
because  the  hearts  he  led  were  in  the  van,  and  we  followed  uncon- 
scious we  were  drawn.  It  seems  you  are  resolved  to  know  how 
this  great  matter  shaped  itself  to  tlu'  coiiiinon  soldier;  Innv  his 
mind,  numerically  the  gi'catest,  reconciled  itself  to  the  situation, 
and  with  deeiiledly  ai>])ruving  conscience  volunteered  his  body  to 
be  made  food  lor  ])oW(h'r.  Not  so  illogically.  after  all,  ])erhaps,  for 
\-oiir  ■•  l)ot toiii  facts"  you  have  gone  to  your  l)ottom  man.  The 
l)lo(jd  I  shall  shed  to-night  be  on  vou. 


Any  poi'ti'ayal  of  any  one  of  (he  scenes  of  onr  great  civil  stril'e 
is  iiiconiy)lete  which  lias  not  for  Ijackground  the  depth  and  sincerity 
of  conviction  in  the  South,  which  rallied  ever}-  principle  of  duty, 
and.  answering  exaction  with  devotion,  made  o))cdience  a  privilege. 
The  history  of  the  war  minus  (he  just iticalion  of  the  war,  it  seems 
to  me,  were  t lu'  ])rincipal  chai'acter  omitted.  We  believed  in  our 
capacity  for  local  sell'-goveriinient ;  we  helieved  in  our  right  to 
comiuunity  inde])endeiice  as  the  best  menus  of  attaining  the  honest 
welfare  of  a  neighboi'hood.  We  bcdieved  in  a  Federdl  Union,  and 
deemed  this  tantamount  to  saying  we  bi-lieved  in  repuljlican  insti- 
tutions— not  the  fancy,  l)ut  the  reality  of  commonwealths.  We 
believed  that  the  Itest  way  of  i)reveuting  the  foot  of  one  from 
striking  against  the  fetlock  of  another  was  to  interpose  a  barrier; 
to  ]trovide.  or  rather  to  reserve,  (he  ])Ower  to  escape,'  from  it,  thus 
giving  the  remedy  to  them  Avlio  feel  the  wrong — not  like  the  iloly 
Alliance,  to  ilieni  who  cause  it.  Finally,  we  believed  that  such 
was  tiie  nature  of  the  Federal  compact  to  which  we  had  acceded, 
and  that  it  was  best  for  simplicity,  best  lor  ecouom}',  best  for  peace, 
best  for  liberty,  that  it  should  be  so. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  cent  rali/.ations  which  antagonize  all  this 
seemed  to  us  to  concentrate  wealth  and  power  in  one  quarter  by 
abstracting  it  from  others,  not  always  pre])ared  or  content  to 
spare;  in  this  way  to  a<'cniiiidate  great  wealth  and  greater  ])0V- 
ei'ty:  to  re]denish  tlie  palace  and  plunder  the  cottage;  make  the 
rich  ricdier  and  the  ])Oor  poon'r ;  the  strong  more  absolute,  the 
weak  more  helph'ss.  Vast  ein|)ires.  immense  populations  and  re- 
sources have  been  administered  by  governments  of  this  kind,  but 
invarialdy  under  the  shadow  of  domestic  sedition.  The}^  rest  on 
a  sleeping  lion.  i'ower  which  is  false  in  its  methods  must  needs 
be  0])]iressive  in  its  measures.  Jjouis  Napoleon  wielded  just  such 
a  sce])tre;  but  when  he  wished  to  join  the  shooting  l>arty  of  one 
of  his  sultjects  lie  went  umler  the  ]U'otection  of  the  ])olice,  and 
when  he  visited  Baron  Eothschild  the  whole  establishment  was 
put  under  surveillance  for  two  weeks  beforehand.  He  said,  "The 
empire  is  peace;"  aiul  in  what  a  wliii-JwiiHl  (li<l  he  and  his  rotten 
empire  swee])  from  the  earth?     It  is  ]u-ei)osterous  for  lualadmini.s- 


tration  to  say,  "Let  us  have  peace!"  and  for  freeman  it  is  worse — 
it  is  criminal  to  concede  it.  It  is  not  peace  established  in  power, 
but  cai)tured  in  shame;  not  throned  on  high  by  willing*  witnesses, 
but  ])inncd  to  the  earth  by  imperial  steel — the  peace  of  the  bayonet. 

The  Czar  of  liussia  is  an  Kmpei'OJ"  of  the  same  kind,  and  the 
touch  of  a  sick  man's  lance  lays  bare  his  rottenness.  Only  because 
it  is  a  sick  man  who  opposes  him,  sick  of  the  same  corrupt  in- 
firmity, is  no  more  done  to  him.  A  rose-colored  correspondent, 
writing  from  the  JJussian  camp,  assisted  by  decidedl}"  Russuin  peb- 
bles, admits  the  cardinal  fault  of  the  Ivussian  arm_\'  to  be  "the  total 
want  of  initiative.  Something  in  the  im])erial  system  seems  to 
stifle  and  kill  the  ])Ower  of  indivi<lual  action.' 

"No  country,"  writes  one  in  the  October  numl)er  of  the  Eu- 
ropean Messenger,  published  at  8t.  Petersburgh,  '"ever  carried  out 
so  great  a  nund^er  of  reforms  in  so  short  a  time  as  I'ussia  has  since 
185G ;  but  in  several  dc^partmeids.  such  as  justice  and  tiiiance, 
there  is  still  mu(di  room  foi'  im])rovement."  X^iduckiiy,  it  happens 
that  the  two  departments  of  justice  and  finance  are  the  aljiha 
and  omega  of  the  well-governe(l  State,  or  I'ather.  as  reform  in  the 
second  of  these  is  the  corollary  of  reform  in  the  first,  flowing  im- 
mediately thei"eiVom,  say  at  once  justice  is  the  beginning  and  con- 
summation of  political  relbnn.  rnluckily  again,  it  is  this  elemen- 
tary, to  him  rather  stupid,  common])lace  dejtart ment,  whi(di  the 
expeditious  reformer  is  ])rone  to  ski])  over,  while  with  much  steal- 
ing and  false  swearing  he  j)ushes  on  the  exaltation  of  the  human 
i-ace  ;  justice  in  turn  being  a])t  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  greatest 
nundii'i-  of  reforms  in  the  sliortt'st  possilde  time.  Xo(  withstanding 
so  many  i-eforms  in  sncb  incredible  short  time.  ]»ussia  shows  her- 
self, as  Diderot  said  of  her  in  the  last  century.  "'rottiMi  before  she 
is  ripe."  A  reform  IVom  wiiich  justice  and  tinanci-  are  omitted  is 
a  vi'r\-  characteristic  nineteenth  century  refoi'iii. 

We  lu'ld  that  such  a  go\-ernment  was  not  for  tlu'  piddic  good, 
but  for  the  public  wrong,  and  by  men  and  ]»at  riots  should  be 
resisted.  '•  ^Ve,■'  said  the  barons  of  Ai-ragon  to  their  king,  -'who 
are  each  of  us  as  good,  and  who  ai'c  altogethei-  more  powerful  than 
you,  promise  obedience  to  your  government  if  \-ou  maintain  our 
rights  and  ])rivileges,  but  if  not,  not.''  .Inst  such  a  basis  has  been 
the  origin  to  every  govei-nnnnt  of  I'jirope.  of  whatever  greatness 
and  fre('dom    it  has  enjoyed.     Justin    ])i-o|)ort  ion  as  this  l>asis   has 


been  retained,  each  lias  retained  its  real  power,  and  Just  in  propor- 
tion as  it  has  not,  not — in  which  latter  category,  unhappdy,  Arra- 
gon  has  been  included.  Even  a  government  of  the  numerical 
majority  may  be  a  true  self-government,  without  tiie  self-confession 
and  antithesis  of  a  standing  army  to  enforce  it,  as  witness  the 
States  of  Switzerland.  The  French  revolution  was  possible  in  the 
shape  which  it  assumed,  because  administrative  cc'uti'alization — 
Tutelle  Administrative — had  swallowed  up  the  ])rovinces,  and  made 
Paris  the  throat  by  which  a  whole  people  could  be  collared  and 
garrotcd.  The  Eeign  of  Terror  was  little  more  than  a  democratic 
ap])lication  of  the  Old  Keginie.  It  was  the  combination  of  des- 
potism and  "'equalit}'."  so-called.  In  a  word,  this  idea  of  local  self- 
government  has  been  the  vital  germ  of  free  institutions  wherever 
th.ey  have  existed.  Bunsen  finds  this  fact  in  the  twenty-seven 
nomes  of  ancient  Egypt,  and  infers  liberty  then  aiui  there  as  a 
consequence.  The  same  independent  basis,  surviving  in  llindostan 
all  the  revolutions  of  Hindu  and  Mogid,  is  referred  to  in  a  minute 
of  council,  by  Sir  Charles  Metcalf,  as  the  true  cause  of  the  j)reserva- 
tion  of  the  people  there  through  all  the  changes  they  have  sutferi'd. 
There  was  a  time  when  the  l^mperor  of  (Jermany  was  no  more 
than  the  elective  magistrate  of  an  aristoci'acy  of  princes.  It  is 
the  emulation  of  States  which  is  the  great  spui-  to  their  ]u-ogress. 

It  was  the  emulation  among  the  States  of  Italy  w  bi(  li  kin- 
dled the  early  ages  of  the  Roman  Republic.  In  the  cradle  of 
the  later  Italian  reptiblics  modern  civilizatu)n  awoke.  It  is  a  kind 
of  loose  confederacy,  the  outgrowth  of  religion,  treaties,  and  inter 
national  law,  wliich  gives  the  nations  of  modern  Europe  some  of 
the  advantages  of  a  European  commonwealth,  makes  them  spec- 
tators and  critics  of  each  other,  and  stimulates  each  to  strive  with 
rivals  for  the  mastery. 

Nor  is  independence  and  the  strength  of  independetu'C  the  oidy 
blessing.  Fron\  the  ])assion  of  free  thought  beautiful  thought 
naturally  rises.  Beauty,  no  less  than  freedom,  may  be  served. 
The  grand  eye  of  Goethe,  glancing  at  a  map  of  France  b}'  Dupin, 
in  whifh  some  of  the  departments  were  marked  entirely  in  black, 
to  denote  the  mental  darkness  prevailing  in  those  parts,  incites 
him  to  ask:  ''Could  this  ever  be  if  la  belle  France  had  ten  centres 
instead  of  one  ?  *  -1=  *  I'^'ankfoi-t.  Bremen,  Kamburg,  and 
Lubeck  are  great  and  splendid  cities.     Their  influence  on  the  pros- 


8 

perity  of  Germany  is  immeasurable ;  but  could  they  remain  what 
they  are,  if  dejjrived  of  their  soverei^-nty — they  were  to  be  degraded 
to  the  rank  of  provincial  towns  in  some  great  (rcrman  Empire? 
I  have  reason  to  doubt  it."  When  was  it  that  Greece  was  the 
forehead  of  the  world,  as  well  as  the  lieai't  which  drank  and  ren- 
dered back  i"ls  beaut}'?  Was  it  Avlien  her  once  sovereign  States, 
planed  of  their  edges,  were  stuck,  carl)uncle  shape,  in  Alexander's 
ring,  or  was  it  when  the  planes  of  her  i-ose-dianiond  had  eacli  a 
focus  of  its  own?  Grotc  epitomized  many  histories  into  one  ])ara- 
graph.  when  hi'  wi'ote  of  Athenian  supremacy:  "Every  successive 
change  of  an  armed  ally  into  a  tril)utary — every  subjugation  of  a 
seceder — tended,  of  coui'se,  to  cut  down  the  numbers  and  enfeeble 
the  autliority  of  the  Delian  Synod  ;  and  what  was  still  worse,  it 
altered  the  reciprocal  relations  and  feelings  both  of  Athens  and 
her  allies,  exalting  the  formi-r  into  something  like  a  despot,  and 
degrading  the  latter  into  inere  passive  subjects." 

To  dro]i  wise  saws  for  modern  instances:  See  the  Dutch 
re))uh]ic  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries!  See  a 
league  of  seven  crowned  with  ])rei'minence  in  commerce  and 
manufactures;  see  them  becoiue  the  workshop,  the  granary  of 
many;  adorn  harboi's  with  tleets,  cities  with  elegance,  a  populous 
land  with  plenty;  see  them  biiild  the  emporium  to  receive 
and  distribute  to  ICui'ope  the  trade  of  Asia,  till  libraries,  fill 
galleries — the  country  of  Rubens,  Kembraiidt,  Descartes  (by  adop- 
tion), Gi'otius,  Spino'/a;  belt  the  earth  with  colonies,  lead  the  agi- 
tation for  civil  and  religious  liberty;  making  of  the  drain  a  states- 
man, of  the  dyke  a  hero,  like  an  incantation  of  enchantment 
wrench  from  the  se;i  the  soil  for  a  mighty  ])eople !  If  one  were  to 
ask,  "  Hut  can  this  rope  of  sand"  (as  it  is  fashioiuihle  to  call  a  fede- 
ration) "maintain  itself,  can  it  fight?"  it  Avere  enough  to  answer: 
The  S])aniard,  rallying  in  the  rock}'  Asturias,  by  the  I>rave.  lirni  ])a- 
tionce  of  eight  centuries  had  collected  the  strength  to  hurl  the 
invader  from  his  shore.  Inch  by  inch  he  had  fought  his  way  from 
the  Pyrenees  to  the  Mediterranean,  to  find,  as  is  wont  to  hajtjjcn  to 
such  al)solute  success,  he  had  vanquishe(l  tln>  fear  without  to  try 
conclusions  with  a  more  sul)tle  foe  within.  Tiici-e  came  a  day 
when  ('oluinl)us  gave  a  n(^w  world  to  Castile  and  Leon,  and  con- 
quest and  marriage!  supremacy  in  the  old  to  the  sovereign  of 
Spain;  when  Cortez  could   say  to  Charles  V,  "I  am  the  man  who 


9 

has  gained  you  more  provinces  llian  your  lather  left  }'ou  towns;" 
lull  it  was  a  day  wherein  the  virtue  oi"  Sjiain  had  been  exchanged 
lor  liei- ein])ire.  This  Spaniard,  as  Philij)  TI,  as  the  head  of  ccn- 
trali/.e(l  tyranny,  with  the  invincihle  ciiivalry  of  Spain  at  his  V)aek, 
hiunciied  a  world  against  the  League  of  Seven.  The  King  of  Spain 
and  tiie  Indies,  the  dominator  in  Hui'ope.  Africa,  and  America — Pha- 
raoh and  liis  liosts — went  <lown.  'V\iv  rope  of  s;ind  the  League  of 
Seven  ])assed  over,  and  shines  to  us  from  afar  liki'  another  Pleiad — 
a  beacon  in  the  heaven. 

Spain  herself,  when  tlu'  hand  of  a  fu'rcer  than  .\lva  was  at  her 
throat — the  ii'on  hand  wliich  iiad  struck  down  Italy.  Austria, 
Prussia,  and  hiid  their  heads  in  the  dust — de'crepit  Spain  struck 
back  in  a  wai'  to  the  knife,  wliich  ri])ped  open  the  reins  of  her 
tyrant,  and  joined  tlie  holocaust  of  Moscow  to  hurl  him  from  his 
throne.  Thanks  largely  to  the  fact  thatwi^alc  rulei's  leaving  many 
good  things  undone,  had  left  undone  that  Inul  one  which  had  been 
so  strongly  commenced.  Spain  had  not  bei^n  so  thoroughly  welded 
into  one  that  she  could  be  taken  liy  the  collar  upon  the  st'izure  of 
her  cajiital,  but  rose  up  with  se]iarate  ])rovinces.  with  separate 
ca]>itals.  laws,  and  governments — Piscay.  (lalicia.  Andalusia,  and 
otliers. 

Indeed,  when  once  we  have  aj-rived  at  the  conclusion  wliich, 
unless  our  ])remises  are  wholly  sans  cidoftic,  we  must  arrive  at, 
that  robberies,  violences,  murders,  wrongs,  and  injustices  are  to  be 
resisted,  if  possible  exterminated;  that  ]n-o])erty,  liberty,  life,  right, 
and  justice  are  to  be  established  for  the  sake  of  each  and  all;  that 
whi'u  the  injured  petition  there  should  be  both  the  will  and  the 
])ower  to  redress;  since  there  is  a  limit  both  to  human  wisdom  and 
to  human  ]tower,  it  is  no  vei'v  abstruse  metajdiysics  to  suggest  that 
the  limit  be  not  exceeded;  that  the  law  ward  of  the  state  l>e  com- 
petent to  his  jurisdiction.  When  loan  old  woman  who  complained 
that  her  husband  had  bi'cn  killed  iiy  robbers  the  Sultan  Mahmud 
regretted  the  im|»ossibilit_\-  of  keeping  ordei"  in  so  distant  a  part  of 
his  dominions,  the  re])ly  was.  ''Then  wh}'  do  you  take  kingdoms 
whi(di  you  cannot  govern?" 

Kulers  at  a  distance,  who  cannot  Judge  for  us.  should  not  act  for 
us.  Rightly  to  manage  what  lies  about  him  and  within  his  pui*- 
view  is  iMiough  to  lay  on  any  ruler.  Hence  the  language  of  one  of 
oui-  early  writers:    '-The  Federal  ])owei-  is  contintMl  to  objects  of  a 


10 

general  nature,  more  within  tlie  yjurview  of  the  United  States  than 
of  any  particular  one."  Heneo  the  prolonged  eulogium  which  a 
Montesquieu  bestows  upon  the  Confederate  liepublic,  and  which 
the  founders  of  our  own  took  for  tlieir  ju'emises.  -'It  was  these 
associations.'  lie  says,  "that  so  long  contributed  to  the  prosperity 
of  Greets'.  '  By  these  the  J^omans  attacked  the  whole  globe,  and 
by  these  alone  the  wliole  globe  withstood  them;  for  when  Eome 
was  arrived  at  her  highest  pitch  of  grandeur,  it  was  associations 
beyond  the  Danube  and  the  Ehinc — associations  formed  by  the 
terror  of  her  ai'ius — (hat  enal»led  the  barbarians  to  resist  her."  It 
was  in  the  atmos])liere  of  these  historic  truths,  and  the  conchisions 
from  them,  that  our  Federal  Union  opened  its  eyes  and  began  to 
breathe.  '-Do  not  nuike  a  mistake  in  the  point  of  your  own  lib- 
erty," exclaimed  old  Winthrop.  ••There  is  a  lil»erty  of  corrupt 
nature  Avhich  is  attected  both  l)y  men  and  lieasts  to  do  what  they 
list:  and  this  Hberty  is  inconsistent  with  aut hoi'ity,  impatient  of 
all  restraint;  by  this  liberty  'sumus  omnesdetcrlorcs;'  'tis  the  grand 
enemy  of  truth  and  ])eace.  and  all  the  ordinances  of  God  are  bent 
against  it.  But  there  is  a  civil,  a  moral,  a  Fe<leral  liberty,  which 
is  the  })ro])er  end  and  object  of  authority;  it  is  a  liberty  for  that 
only  which  is  just  and  good.  For  this  liberty  you  are  to  stand 
with  the  hazard  of  your  very  lives :  and  whatsoever  crosses  it  is 
not  authority,  but  only  a  distemper  thereof "' 

The  llomans  had  a  word  for  the  governnieiit  which  has  the 
piiblie  good  for  its  object — it  is  our  word  rc^public,  community  gov- 
ernment, a  people's  transaction  of  their  own  atl'airs,  as  it  were,  the 
every  fact  of  a  community  realized  in  the  administration  of  its 
govei-iiinent — a  common  weal.  But  another  definition  of  a  ri'pub- 
lic  might  be  that  arrangement  of  society  which  most  tends  to  put 
the  best  citizens  at  the  helm.  '-You  see  that  Childebert  is  a  man, 
obey  him,"  is  the  tii'sl  and  the  last  ])hilosophy  of  em]iire.  Far  as 
Tlior  can  hurl  his  hammer  is  his  realm,  Feudal  systems  grow 
upon  this  l)asis — tliat  the  strongest  shall  rule  as  far  as  his  honest 
strength  ))revails.  IJoman  discipline  concpiers  the  world,  because 
with  it  tra\-el  laws  and  government  for  the  world,  amongst  them 
the  |)ri'sei-valion  of  local  law.  "They  held  with  the  plow^  what 
they  gained  by  the  sword."  Norman  con<]uest  says:  "T  am 
stronger  than  you;  1  know  how  to  conquer  others,  first  having 
learned  to  compier  myself;  proclaim  me,  therefore,  king  over  you 


11 

ill  luiine,  .since  1  am  kino-  over  you  in  fact."  Ijong-haircd  Mero- 
vingian Donothings  are  nominal  kings,  powerless  to  redress  wrongs, 
to  repulse  Saracens,  who,  sweeping  over  Spain,  have  penetrated  to 
the  heart  of  France.  Charles  Martel  and  Pepin,  mayors  of  the 
pah\cc.  are  the  real  kings,  and  Pope  Zacharias  gave  the  decision 
which  nature  had  alread_y  given,  that  he  who  possessed  the  power 
should  hear  t  lu' title  of  king.  .Merovingian  Donothings  are  rele- 
gated to  the  religious  houses,  where  doing  nothing  is  decorous,  and 
relieved  of  the  throne,  where  it  is  not  so.  At  different  times,  in 
dirt'orent  ways,  societ}' passes  its  statute  of  uses,  which  transfers 
the  legal  title  to  the  use,  declares  he  who  governs  the  estate  is  its 
master. 

Freedom  has  greatly  other  detiuitions  than  •' fortv'  acres  and  a 
mule,'"  though  it  is  easy  to  see  why  this  should  wake  a  responsive 
chord  in  many.  '-A  tine  lil)ert\'  this,"  said  the  col)hler,  "  which 
leaves  nu'  coliiiling  shoes  as  it  fouml  me."  The  French  Terrorists 
took  a  more  |)iil)lic-spirited  view  of  the  matter.  '-'What!"'  they 
exclaimed,  "is  this  our  liherty':'  Can  we  no  longer  kill  wiiom  we 
please"?"'  But  justice,  which  is  a  thing  of  some  suhstauce,  whether 
practised  or  not,  is  the  same  under  ail  governments.  It  is  not  the 
law,  hut  the  recognition  of  the  law  w  hich  changes.  We  are  i'l'QH 
in  proportion  as  we  voluntarily  walk  therein.  "Seekest  thou  the 
highest  and  greatest?"'  said  Schiller,  '•  the  ])lants  can  teach  it  to  thee. 
AVhat  they  are  involuntarily,  that  he  thou  voluntarily."'  When 
the  tirst  fountains  leapeil  up  to  the  sun,  the_\'  fell  into  the  hosom  ot" 
the  law.  fhey  ilid  not  say  to  the  law.  '-conu^  with  us  here,  oi'  go 
with  us  there,""  hut  which  way  the  law  was,  that  way  they  sjirang. 
AVheu  the  rivers  ran  down  to  the  sea.  their  law  was  leading  them 
hy  the  hand.  They  did  not  say  to  tlu'  law.  '-haste  thee  to  join  us 
or  he  left  iiehind"";  hut  the  law  saiil  to  the  rivers,  "I  have  need 
that  you  should  follow  me."'  T.aw  is  not  the  creature  of  "prima- 
ries"" and  -'i-ailyiug  the  voter.  "  hut  a  fact  which  men  at  their  i)eril 
are  to  -'tind  according  to  the  evidence."  "This  is  the  law  of 
nature  and  of  God."'  said  Kpictetus.  "that  the  hctter  l»e  always 
sniH-rior  to  the.  worse."  In  matter  and  in  mind,  in  tlu'  laws  of 
gravitation  and  the  laws  of  thought,  the  greater  draws  to  itself 
the  less.  The  law  ex]>ressly  states  this  is  the  law.  It  is  the  law 
of  law.  We  have  pronounced  it  divine,  too.  reading  in  our  Testa- 
ment   that,    "without    all   contradiction,  the  less   is   hlessed  of  the 


12 

greater."  Among  the  perplexing  aspects  of  the  present  day,  the 
very  gravest  is.  that  faith  in  this  as  a  law  of  morals  and  common 
sense,  seems  pnuiically  extinct;  that  it  seems,  for  the  present,  to 
be  relegated  to  the  company  of  obsolete  dogmas,  like  planks  in  a 
platform,  ]Mit  there  not  for  use  bnt  for  ornament,  which  artful  men 
will  oil  (loclaanation  day  declaim,  but  which  no  practical  man  is 
al)surd  enough  to  act  on.  Let  the  unused  talent  be  coddled  ever 
so  tenderly,  or  buried  ever  so  deep,  he  Avho  has  made  the  five 
talents  ten  will  magnetically  draw  the  eleventh  to  him  also. 

Liberty,  like  the  glorious  element  of  the  suns,  has  its  tabernacle 
in  the  highest.  Tt  is  no  easy  leap  to  ]duck  its  liright  honor  thence, 
whatever  Hotspur  may  think.  But  to  divr  into  tlie  bottom  of  the 
deep  for  it,  as  Hotspur  would,  is  ])lainly  unwise.  It  is  not  the  sun 
we  fish  for  in  the  pool  at  our  feet — not  even  a  drowned  stm — but  a 
count erll'it  drowned  sun.  Let  us  fish  and  drag  for  it  as  we  may, 
no  single  lock  of  it  Avill  peep  above  water  for  an  instant.  Liberty 
is  not  to  l)e  loolced  tor  in  the  mire — it  is  to  be  climV>ed  for  in  the 
stars. 

The  apology  for  despotism  is,  that  to  get  the  ablest  and  wisest 
to  the  front  it  must  be  accomplished  by  force.  To  have  the  same 
thing  from  preference  is  to  have  a  rejmblic,  which  thus  clothes 
itself  in  a  iiiimaii  shape.  Freedom  is  the  free  doniiiiion  of  the  law. 
A  repid)lic  also  is  the  sway  of  the  strongest,  but  of  the  strongest 
in  truth;  the  strongest  raised  to  supremacy  on  the  shield  of  faith- 
ful followers,  not  the  strongest  tottering  on  the  subservience  of 
mercenary  bayonets;  the  strongest  planting  his  spear  in  the  field 
for  all  M'ho  love  it  to  kiss.  an<l  saying,  liehold  my  ])anner  and  my 
]»ledge;  the  strongest  standing  in  the  forefront  of  the  state,  because 
the  moral  ])0wer  of  society  is  in  his  hands;  not  the  strongest  bj^ 
an  arithmetic  which,  like  the  proposed  new  currency,  is  referred  to 
a  double  staiidard.  How  a  man  of  real  strength  can  walk  upon 
the  waves  of  human  |)assion,  and  to  a  ])eo])le  rightftdly  infuriated 
and  goaded  to  desperation,  say  "be  still  .'"'for  them  make  his  (piiet 
word  hiw — nay  more,  make  it  gos])elI  how  such  a  man  can  walk 
erect  in  the  fiame  of  persecution,  and  tirni  amid  the  roar  of  ruin, 
we  all  saw  last  winter.  When  a  party  of  human  I'ights  sent  forth 
the  edict,  '-Let  every  man  worthy  of  I'reedoin  forthwith  be  de- 
prived of  it";  and  a  jiaiMy  of  moral  ideas  had  made  of  forgery 
^•clerical  ei-ror,"'  and  of  ])erjury  a  facon  de  ]iarler.  in  a  victim  state, 


13 

it  wixs  possible  for  such  a  man  to  l>e.  ■•He  is  the  anointed  of  God," 
says  Carlyle,  "who  melts  all  wills  into  his  own,  and  huvls  them  as 
one  thunderbolt.'"  Even  more,  then,  when  the  crisis  calls,  he  who 
folds  them  in  one  bosom  and  does  not  luii-1.  How  does  a  Wade 
Hampton  make  himself  master  of  the  situation  and  extort  reluct- 
ant homage  from  the  adversaries  of  his  state  ?  By  stratagem  ?  Xo, 
by  character.  I>y  being  a  <lcmagogue?  Xo,  by  Ijeing  a  hero. 
Because  his  people  hated  and  feared  him?  Xo.  but  because  they 
loved  and  honored  they  obeyed  him.  Always  and  everywhere, 
the  power  which  is  truly  a  master  is'  the  power  which  is  truly  a 
blessing. 

A  republic,  like  all  noble  things,  has  a  basis  of  reality.  It  is 
"the  powers  that  be."  It  is  already  anarchy  when  it  is  only  the 
powers  that  seem.  It  is  the  authority  of  justice  over  iniquity, 
of  greatness  over  baseness,  of  freedom  over  servilit}-.  The  only 
valid  representation  of  society  is  the  sincere  expression  of  its 
powers.  Vttered  or  obstructed,  -'the  powers  that  be"  are  our 
rulers;  the  pure  honey,  not  the  wax  and  gumflowers — artiticial 
powers,  or  semblances  of  powers.  AVhen  a  community,  by  volun- 
tary act,  selects  its  best  elements  to  rule  the  woi-st.  its  wisest  to 
lead  the  weakest,  the  community  is  free,  as  any  individual  is  who 
submits  his  will  to  his  reason.  The  best  government  which  is  pos- 
sible, then,  rests  on  the  consent  of  the  governed.  Great  is  the 
power  of  a  common  cause  and  common  sympathy.  Only  the  other 
day.  when  Germany  crashed  through  a  pageant  emperor,  as  it 
might  smash  a  crown  of  pajXM'  from  a  paj)er  king,  then  it  was  that 
the  imjirovised  forces  under  Leon  Gambetta  held  at  Jjay  for  months 
armies  flushed  Mith  conquest  over  an  empire  felled  in  as  many 
weeks.  It  is  a  nascent  republic,  with  all  the  mortgages  of  corrupt 
empire  and  previous  revolutionary  frenzy  u})on  its  hands  for 
redemption,  which  has  wi^n  that  victory  of  our  time  more  honor- 
aide  than  wai'"s  proiulest — the  payment  of  deltt  to  the  uttermost 
farthing.  By  the  side  of  this  victoiw  of  self-ilenial,  self-coiujuest, 
the  victory  of  others  over  her  is  ecli])sed. 

A  Berlin  pa])er  re])resents  two  good  burghers  of  that  city  con- 
versing: 

First  l^ruuriER — "So  we  are  likely  to  have  another  war  with 
France  ?" 

Second  BrRtuiER — -Let  us  |»ray  they  may  thrash  us.  so  that 
they  may  be  as  poor  as  we  are.  " 


14 

The  state  which  can  say,  "My  suiTOundings  are  my  own,  held 
in  donations  from  and  in  dclinqucncc  to  no  other";  which  can  say, 
"T  l)cslo\v  more  hcnetits  than  T  receive;  I  lay  others  under  obliga- 
tions, not  others  me,"  that  state  is  conqueror.  It  is  with  commu- 
nities as  it  is  with  individuals  in  this  resjiect. 

The  North  i{nd  South  have  wrestled  in  more  than  one  great 
debate,  which  should  not  be  omitted  in  any  jiroper  account  of  the 
causes  of  the  war  and  our  convictions  touching  them:  that  over 
the  liank  of  the  United  States,  when,  in  our  young  vigor,  we  struck 
at  the  dangerous  evil  and  source  of  evils  involved  in  great  national 
coi'porations  ;  that  over  internal  improvements,  the  farce  and  fraud 
of  a  paternal  government  on  a  colossal  scale,  where  the  paternity 
was  liable  to  change  its  offspring  every  four  years;  the  specious 
plea  of  ])rotecting  American  industry,  put  forward  in  the  tai'iff 
controversy — the  ruinous  fallacy  of  a  government  of  subsidies,  a 
government  of  the  lol>lty — the  most  shameless,  the  most  justly 
odious  kind  of  class  government.  This  last  was  and  is  so  much 
legislative  legerdemain  :  like  ail  radically  ^msound  legislation,  is 
accom])anied  by  a  self-cancelling  process,  and  whinh,  as  was 
announceil  by  the  ])resent  Secretary  of  State  at  a  late  banqiiet  of 
the  (Miamber  of  Commerce,  has  finall}'  reached  the  remarkable 
reduetio  ad  ahsurdum  of  tariff  provisions,  which  equally  disable  us 
from  luiilding  ships  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  or  Imying  them  on 
the  other.  Such  is  the  anti-climax  of  a  system  which  "appealed 
to  the  human  heart"  and  the  like  foi"  the  poor  nmn's  sake,  but 
which  has  so  much  more  nearly  ruined  him.  with  our  sliips  swept 
from  the  sea.  and  our  ])ul>lic  lands  fi-om  the  face  of  the  earth. 
John  Handolpb  (a  name  never  to  be  mentioned  without  a  feeling 
of  reverence  for  honesty,  courage,  and  genius  in  statesmanship,) 
was  amazed  that  the  votaries  of  hunumity — persons  who  could 
not  slee]).  such  was  their  distress  of  mind  at  the  very  existence  of 
negro  slavery — should  persist  in  pressing  a  measui-e  (the  tariff), 
the  etbM't  (t{'  which  was  to  aggravate  the  evils  of  that  condition  by 
inipovei'isbinii:  the  nuistei'. 

It  was  part  and  ])arcel  of  our  doctrine  to  oppose  the  concession 
of  vast  powers  whei-e  there  was  no  common  interest.  Whenever 
legislation,  springing  fi'oni  other  communities  not  having  a  com- 
mon interest  with  us,  but  an  uncommon  interest  against  us,  sought 
to  dictate  to  us,  to  say,  "In  this  Avay  shall  you  approju-iate  your 


15 

means,  not  as  you  wish,  but  as  we  requiix'/'  we  said,  "This  is  an 
iiifi'ini»-ement  on  our  rit;-ht  of  self-government;  this  is  not  govern- 
ment wliieli  rests  on  the  consent  of  the  governed,  l)ut  fraud  and 
spoliation  in  the  teeth  of  their  protest."  To  all  central  jobbery 
and  contracting  we  said,  in  effect:  "Public  spirit  and  immunity 
from  government  intrusion  are  reciprocal;"  and  we  were  right. 
|)is|)roporiion  between  expenditure  and  value  is  (diai'acteristic  of 
works  undertaken  under  the  auspices  of  government,  and  neces- 
sarily so  when  the  government  is  a  corrupt  one,  made  so  by  the 
Jobs  it  undertakes.  "Jt  is  from  local  leaving  alone,"  says  Victor 
JLugo,  "that  English  lil»erty  took  its  rise."  This  was  our  general 
lone,  though  neitlu'r  so  invariable  nor  so  unaninu)us  as  could  be 
desired.  ■You  have  no  right,"  we  said,  "to  force  us  to  purchase 
from  you  at  doul)le  and  triple  ]>rices ;  to  legislate  your  w^arcs  into 
our  homes,  and  our  purses  into  your  pockets.  Tt  is  idle  to  say  you 
do  not  com])el  us  to  buy  in  one  place,  when  you  ])rohil)it  us  from 
buying  ill  any  other."'  Protection  said:  "Sell  to  us  in  a  cheap 
market,  buy  from  us  in  a  dear  one.  You,  the  millions,  who  now 
l)uyiron  from  abroad,  agree  that  the  price  of  this  be  raised  to  such 
a  ]ioint  as  will  justify  tin-  employment  of  labor  at  American  prices, 
ami  still  leave  al)uudant  supplies  for  ])rotits:'  you,  the  millions, 
incur  this  enormous  addition  to  your  expense,  that  we,  the  dozens, 
may  reap  it  in  our  |)rotits.  We  will  ])ay  tlu>  wages  ol"  our  labor 
out  of  the  industry  of  yours;  you  to  do  the  work-,  or,  what  is  the 
same  thing,  employ  the  labor,  we  to  pocket  the  proceeds."  This 
species  of  whok'-souled  |)alriotism  has  of  late  been  exhibited  with 
something  of  the  deibrming  ]>owei'  of  an  a])])roximating  class  by 
the  concentratiou  of  the  system  within  the  limits  of  single  cities. 
The  I'ing-master  says  :  ■•  Ik'  ]iatriotic  :  freely  cast  your  ])ortion  into 
the  publie  treasury,  that  I  may  take  it  out.  ' 

Xevei-  was  there  a  falser  ])lea  than  that  such  a  system  as  this 
woulil  render  American  industi-y  independent.  It  was  a  system  to 
render  it  dependent  in  the  worst  of  all  ways.  It  was  a  system  to 
render  cajiital  corrupt  and  lalior  servile.  An  American  Declara- 
tion of  1  niK'])cndence  on  the  lips,  and  American  systems  ot'  pro- 
tected industries  in  the  hands,  were  a  modern  way  to  ask  for 
Easau's  blessing  with  Jacob's  voice.  Protected  things,  unless  self- 
protected,  ai'c  never  indejtendent.  Independence  confei'i-ed  by 
statute  is  an  undi'vout  inuiuination  of  these  times.     Tn  the  interest 


16 

of  prosperity,  in  tlic^  interest  of  tranquility,  no  measure  could  be 
falser  than  the  creation  of  a  great  central  vortex,  drawing  every- 
tliing  into  its  eddy.  lias  not  this  heconie  the  very  marrow  of  a 
struggle  for  very  life — more  and  more  rage  of  opposites  over  a 
prize  of  contest  ever  growing  in  dimensions,  until  now,  when  to 
gras]i  it  is  to  wield  the  power  of  the  Czar,  and  to  lay  it  down,  is, 
in  the  language  of  Dean  Stanley,  ''to  lay  down  a  scey)tre"  and  be 
an  "ex-sovereign"?  Our  system  elevate(l  an  iid'erior  race;  theirs 
has  degraded  an  equal  one. 

Then  there  is  the  (question  of  African  slavery.  As  to  this  the 
tbllowing.  which  appeared,  from  the  pen  of  a  competent  as  well 
as  disintei-ested  observer,  in  MacMillaii's  Magazine  for  May,  1863, 
is  pertinent  to  the  issue: 

Thomas  Carlyle  on  the  American  (^)uestion — Jliad  (Americana), 
in  nuce: 

Vv:vvM  of  the  North  (to  Paul  of  the  South) — '-raul.  you  unac- 
countable scou]idrel.  T  find  you  hire  your  servants  for  life,  not  by 
the   month   or  year,   as    I   do!     You   arc  going  straight   to   hell. 


Pail — ••(iood  words,  Peler!  The  risk  is  my  own;  1  am  Avill- 
iiig  to  take  the  risk,  llii-e  _>'our  servants  by  the  month  or  day, 
and  get  sti'aigbt  to  heaven;   leave  me  to  my  own  method." 

I'ktkk — --Xo.  1  won't;  I  will  beat  your  brains  out  first!"  (and  is 
trying  drcailfuUij  ever  since,  but  eannot  yet  manage  it.) 

Self-government,  the  reduction  by  ourselves  of  our  own  unruli- 
ncss  toorder,  is  tar  the  greatest  mii'aele  a  inoi-al  nature  can  exhibit. 
It  never  has  I)eeii  and  is  not  now  a  (piite  universal  trait,  but  has 
I)een  and  seems  destined  tor  soiiu'  time  to  rt-niain  the  gi'andeur  of 
an  inimoi'fal  few.  The  few  ai'c;  our  real  rulers,  lender  all  govern- 
ment it  is  the  few  who  govern:  but  iindei'  tiu^  absolutism  of  a 
luinierical  majoi'ity  it  is  the  corrupt  few.  The  safely  in  a  multi- 
tude of  counsellors  is  much  greater  to  ihc  ciMinscllors  than  to  the 
counselled.  l»obes|)ien'e,  incoriMijtt  ibk'  charlatan  that  he  was — an 
ananioly  in  the  mounteliank  breed — was  able  to  see  and  to  say, 
"La  verfu  fut  toujoui's  en  minorite  sur  la  teri-e"  The  free  are  the 
few.  They  are,  as  Cowper  says,  'AVhoin  tin'  truth  nudces  free." 
Bel  ter  for  (Jowper's  ])eace  of  nuiid  had  he  seen  the  cori-elative  of 
this,  which  (<(ethe  supjilies  us  with:    "None  are  so  grossly  enslaved 


17 

as  they  wlio  falsely  believe  themselves  free."  When  you  can  take 
the  equal  step  of  freedom,  you  are  prepared  to  march  in  the  rank 
of  freedom,  and  the  soil  under  your  feet  becomes  free  soil.  Before 
that,  resiy;nation  to  the  durance  of  the  awkward  squad  may  be 
most  tittini;.     The  chosen  few  make  the  chosen  jieople. 

It  was  our  belief  that  we  had  a  population  within  our  borders 
which  was  not  capable  of  self-government;  which  was  dependent 
upon  the  control  and  dominion  of  others.  It  is  a  solecism  to  say 
that  a  savage  can  bo  free.  You  can  emancipate  him  from  the  hand 
of  a  superior,  but  in  doing  so  you  hand  him  over  to  his  own  vices 
and  incoherences;  you  "grave  the  name  of  freedom  on  a  heavier 
chain." 

Could  thirteenth  and  tifteenth  amendments,  by  the  stroke  of  a 
pen,  translate  slavery  into  freedom  and  self-government,  all  men 
must  rejoice.  Great  things  are  not  wont  to  be  done  with  this 
degree  of  ease,  especially  this  thing.  Freedom,  like  other  forms 
of  greatness,  tirst  takes  on  itself  the  form  of  a  servant.  The  tran- 
sition from  slavery  to  Irecdom  is  precisely  that  transition  the  most 
civilized  must  pass  through,  with  repeated  failure  and  repeated 
pain,  when  he  ceases  to  be  the  slave  of  a])pearance  and  becomes 
master  of  himself;  performs  that  highest  of  moral  acts — his  OM'n 
self-governnient.  Such  transition,  unspeakably  im])ortant  as  it  is, 
in  the  deepest  and  truest  sense  inestimable,  is  a  question  rather  of 
authentic  fact  than  of  any  legislation.  Legislation  does  not  yet 
create.  liegislation  properly  re|)resents.  We  have  now,  it  is  said, 
an  cmaiicijtated  country.  But  how?  Fi-oin  fraud,  from  rings, 
from  well-nigh  universal  perjury  and  peculation — from  these  are 
we  emancijxxted?  If  the  auction  of  slaves  is  bad,  is  not  the  sale 
of  freemen  worse? 

Through  the  streets  of  the  Federal  metropolis  daily  passes  a 
black  cloud  of  human  beings,  handcuffed  and  guarded,  (of  late 
years  caged  ami  di'iven,)  despair,  or  sometimes  stolid,  even  care- 
less indifference,  on  their  faces.  These  are  emanci])ated  slaves  on 
their  way  from  the  police  court  to  the  jail — disenthralled  from  the 
cuffs  of  the  overseer  to  be  enthralled  in  the  handcutfs  of  the  law. 
The  negro,  it  would  seem, is  Cuffee  still.  Misguided!  Alas!  They 
who  so  need  guidance  told  to  guide  themselves  through  a  wild 
welter  of  crime  and  vice;  in  the  infirmity  of  idleness  and  want 
told  to  steer  themselves  by  their  own  ignorance.  At  last  the 
2 


18 

emancipated  goes  to  the  magistrate,  with  more  or  less  directness, 
saving:  "Have  me  arrested  in  this,  for  me.  impossible  task  of  self- 
government.  Suffer  me  to  retire  from  a  world  I  am  unable  to 
master,  but  which  so  invariably  masters  me,  to  the  religious  retreat 
of  criminal  classes,  known  as  penitentiary,  that  I,  who  know  not 
self-c-ontrol,  there,  at  least,  may  be  controlled,  be  mastered — in  that 
'divine  institution'  seek"  repentance  carefully,  with  tears."' 

The  mortality  of  the  negro,  as  compared  with  his  former  prop- 
agable  quality,  does  not  escape  notice,  the  true  explanation  of  it 
being  undoubtedly  the  following,  from  the  Xew  York  Times :  "The 
causes  which  lead  to  this  terrible  death-rate  among  the  colored 
people  need  not  long  be  sought  after.  They  neglect  or  starve  their 
offspring,  abandon  the  sick  to  their  own  resources,  indulge  every 
animal  passion  to  excess,  and  when  they  have  money  spend  their 
nights  in  the  most  disgusting  and  debilitating  debauches."  The 
negro  is  not  called  upon  to  survive  in  the  South  the  hostility  dealt 
out  to  the  Mongolian  in  San  Francisco  by  the  "Thousand  and 
One."  Were  this  the  case,  it  might  be  asked:  "Is  it  so  kind,  then, 
to  throw  a  weak  race  in  competitive,  and  therefore  inimical,  rela- 
tions with  a  strong  one?  But  the  negro  is  called  on  to  be  fit  to 
survive  his  own  inherent  infirmities,  and  finds  this  no  easy  matter; 
wherefore  the  Times  asks,  in  the  article  above  quoted:  -Are  the 
negroes  going  the  way  of  the  Indian?  Are  they  being  civilized 
off  the  face  of  the  earth?"  The  abolition  of  slavery  by  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  slaves — is  that  something  to  shout  hosannas  to  on  the 
score  of  humanity?  This  is.  indeed,  to  "put  slavery  in  a  course 
of  ultimate  extinction."  Was  it  not  worth  while  for  humanita- 
rians to  think  of  the  possibility  of  this  before  having  recourse  to 
revolution  and  ruin?  It  is  John  Stuart  Mill,  the  liberal,  who  says 
"Despotism  is  a  legitimate  mode  of  dealing  with  barbarians." 
And  now  comes  Mr.  Redfield.  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Com- 
mercial and  old-time  abolitionist,  with  the  news  that  the  negro  "has 
little  more  idea  of  sanitary  rules  and  laws  of  health  than  a  horse; 
that  although  nearly  all  the  Southern  cities  have  made  praise- 
worthy efforts  in  the  "lirection  of  the  education  of  the  blacks,  they 
have  not  been  able  to  induce  them  to  take  care  of  their  bodily 
health,  and  that  they  are  -a  doomed  race  in  America."'  After 
this,  might  not  one  ask,  is  such  emancipation  a  legitimate  mode  of 
dealing  with  barbarians?     The  proverb  says,   -like  master,  like 


19 

man."  The  man.  in  this  case,  before  the  war,  was  a  gentle,  tract- 
able, generally  happy  slave,  whose  rate  of  increase  was  almost  as 
superlative  as  his  present  death  rate.  Now  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia finds  him  a  rutfian,  gallows-bird,  outragist,  and  mutters  some- 
thing about  lynch-law.  Which,  then,  is  the  best  master,  the  post 
or  ante-bellum  one  ? 

Yet  let  no  man  doubt  there  was  a  bottom  of  sincerity  and  good 
intention  to  this  abolition  movement ;  otherwise,  it  could  not  have 
prevailed  as  it  did.  The  sineerest.  least  pretending  of  Christian 
sects  I  Quakers},  in  Pennsylvania  and  other  States,  filled  with  the 
moral  law,  full  of  the  reign  of  univeral  justice  and  concord,  would 
''touch  not.  taste  not.  handle  not '"  the  unclean  thing.  It  is  a  lesson, 
how  sentimentalism  may  become  deep-seated,  self-righteous  dis- 
ease, and  cease  altogether  to  be  self-healing  in  the  zeal  for  bestow- 
ing vindictive  "amendments"  upon  others.  But  sincerity,  at  first 
humble  though  inflexible,  was  a  power.  Because  it  was  sincerity, 
it  said,  -you  must  come  to  me."  Each  side  must  seek  it.  Politi- 
cians gathered  around  the  abolitionist,  like  hack-drivers  around 
the  single  but  independent  wayfarer.  The  hacks  were  many,  the 
independence  Avas  one.  See,  therefore,  what  sincerity  can  do.  even 
hypochondriac  sincerity,  fii"st  morbid  and  then  rabid. 

John  Randolph  once  saw  a  lady  making  shirts  for  the  Greeks. 
"  Madame,"'  said  Randolph.  ••  the  Greeks  are  at  your  doors.""  People 
who  are  not  content  unless  they  are  refonning  abuses,  might  often 
live  at  home  and  still  be  content.  Here,  for  once,  was  a  wiee^ 
brave  man,  who  stood  upon  himself,  accustomed  to  swear  in  the 
wonlt;  of  no  master;  a  hero  in  politics — the  hardest  of  all  fields 
tor  heroes.     Whittiers  words  of  him  deserve  to  be  quoted: 

••Bard,  Sage,  and  Tribune!  in  himself 

All  moods  of  mind  contrasting — 
The  tenderest  wail  of  human  woe, 

The  scorn  like  lightning  blasting; 
The  pathos  which,  from  rival  eves, 

Unwilling  tears  could  summon, 
The  stinging  taunt,  the  fiery  burst 

Of  hatred  scarcely  human  ! 

"Mirth  sparkling  like  a  diamond  shower 
From  lips  of  life-long  sadness, 
Clear  picturings  of  majestic  thought 
Upon  a  ground  of  madness; 


20 

And  over  all  romance  and  song 

A  classic  beauty  throwing, 
And  laurelled  Clio  at  his  side 

Her  storied  pages  showing. 

"  All  parties  feared  him  ;  each  in  turn 

Beheld  its  schemes  disjointed, 
As  right  or  left  his  fatal  glance 

And  spectral  finger  pointed. 
Sworn  foe  of  cant,  he  smote  it  down 

With  trenchant  wit  unsparing. 
And  mocking  rent,  with  ruthless  hand, 

The  robe  Pretence  was  wearing." 

Our  Ivoanoko  statesman  is  the  honored  type  of  the  Virginia 
emancipationist — the  Washington-Jefferson  type — which  it  may 
be  the  future  will  yet  hold  a  wiser  and  a  braver  one  than  the  more 
vociferous  and  apostrophised  kind.  His  doctrine  was  that  true 
humanity  to  the  slave  was  to  make  him  do  a  fair  day's  work  and 
treat  him  with  all  the  kindness  compatible  with  due  subordination. 

The  spectacle  of  wrong  and  wretchedness,  the  cruelty  of  narrow 
minds  and  narrow  hearts  all  the  woi'ld  over,  is  sad  beyond  expres- 
sion. Think  of  the  devoted  Pole,  taking  his  everlasting  farewell 
of  his  home,  and  sent  by  the  crudest  of  fask-mastcrs  to  rot  under 
the  lash  in  the  torture-press  and  poison-jn-ess  of  Siberian  quick- 
silver mines.  Think  of  the  starving  millions  in  the  East.  Nothing 
could  well  be  sadder.  But  most  sorrowful  to  each  should  be  the 
struggle  of  inadecpiatc  natin*es  with  imperious  circumstance  at  his 
o,\v,n  door.  Think  of  forty  thousand  vagrant  children  in  the  city 
of  Now  York,  destined,  the  most  of  them,  to  be  thieves  and  pros- 
titutes before  the  age  of  twelve.  '^Phink  of  the  tenement-house 
misery  in  the  same  city,  which  no  crusading  fanatics  have  moved 
Heaven  and  earth  to  assuage.  I'hink-  of  that  house,  Xo.  98  North 
street,  a  small  one  too,  which  was  discovered  by  the  police  to  con- 
tain ninety-nine  families,  or  near  five  hundred  people.  The  sur- 
plus sympathies  of  "  the  over-soul  "  can  find  an  inexhaustible  field  in 
the  life  of  every  street  railway  car-driver.  In  1226  the  titular 
bishop  of  Prussia  wrote:  "What  is  the  use  of  crusading  far  off  in 
the  East,  when  heathenism  and  the  kingdom  of  Satan  hangs  on 
our  own  l)orders,  (tlosc  at  hand  in  the  North?"  A  sermon  on  the 
duty  of  staying  at   home — that   is,  of  attending  to  one's  nearest 


21 

business,  and  as  the  very  neai'cst,  the  circle  of  one's  own  breast — 
might  be  derived  from  many  lives,  which  had  been  useful  had  they 
not  early  lost  all  hope  of  the  universe,  save  by  their  own  undivided 
attention  thereto.  The  dark  flood  of  human  misery  swells  around 
the  bannered  barge  of  the  fortunate,  whose  oars  it  propels  while 
receiving  their  stroke.  Saei'ed  forever  are  the  chosen  few  who 
have  lifted  the  burdens  from  the  shoulders  of  the  weak  by  placing 
them  on  their  own;  who,  in  this  way,  have  borne  in  their  own 
persons  the  transgressions  of  others;  who  once  crucified,  are  now 
ascended.  Here  on  earth  they  were  filled  with  warm,  manly 
poignancy,  with  soft,  feminine  pity  for  the  bent  forms  of  poverty 
and  pain,  the  sad  faces  of  the  ineffectual,  the  lives  of  the  broken 
and  disconsolate,  and  those  wretched  existences  which  are  cradled 
in  despair,  and  suckled,  one  may  say,  on  vice  and  disease;  by 
sharing  and  bearing  the  penalty  strove  to  mitigate  the  load  and 
the  guilt.     Surely  they  receive  the  mercy  they  show. 

Pursue  the  evils  which  lie  at  your  ow^n  doors — fearlessly  strike 
at  them.  Few  are  so  unprovided  but  that  they,  too,  may  cast  in 
their  mite  to  the  relief  of  sorrow  and  oppression.  But  see  to  it 
that  the  strife  and  the  succor  be  not  for  appeai'ances  only,  and  end 
not  in  substituting  the  nominal  for  the  actual.  The  philanthropy 
which  has  aggrandized  itself  in  the  decay  and  by  the  decay  of  the 
honor  and  conscience  of  the  country,  the  philanthropy  of  Freed- 
men's  Banks  and  other  such,  is  "suspect  to  me."  Results  have 
followed  which  are  wont  to  happen  when  sentimental  self-display 
mimics  the  great  passions. 

It  is  no  true  boon  when  an  external  power  abruptly  transforms 
the  whole  outward  circumstance,  leaving  the  tenant  of  a  feebler 
sphere  to  gra))ple  with  the  aggregate  of  forces  in  a  larger  one,  to 
which  he  stands  in  perpetual  contradiction  and  disparity.  The 
privilege  of  self-government  to  the  inadequate,  deficient — is  that 
such  a  boon?  To  give  tlu'  blind  man  a  rifle  and  tell  him  to  hunt 
with  the  hunters  for  a  living!  To  unyoke  the  dray-horse  and  bid 
him  God-speed  in  wiiming  the  race  from  the  swift  I 

In  this  wise  we  reasoned  in  the  3-ear8  before  the  war  upon 
premises  which  were  none  of  our  choosing,  but  were  forced  upon 
us  by  Old  England  fix-st  and  New  Fngland  afterw^ards.  Twenty- 
three  statutes  were  passed  by  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  Virginia 
to  prevent  the  introduction  of  slaves,  and  all  were  negatived  by 


22 

the  British  king.  It  was  well  said  on  the  floor  of  the  Virginia 
Legislature,  by  John  Thompson  Brown,  in  answer  to  English 
invective:  "They  sold  us  these  slaves — they  assumed  a  vendor's 
responsibility — and  it  is  not  for  them  to  question  the  validity  of 
our  title."  Virginia  was  the  first  State  not  only  to  prohibit  the 
slave  trade,  but  to  make  it  punishable  with  death.  From  her 
came  the  chief  opposition  to  the  slave  trade  in  the  convention  of 
1787.  That  trade  was  continued  for  twenty  additional  years — not 
by  the  vote  of  a  "solid  South,"  but  a  solid  New  England.  To 
New  England,  too,  we  might  say:  "You  very  obligingly  sold  us 
your  slaves;  voted  like  one  man  to  keep  open  the  slave  trade; 
availed  3'ourselves  fully  of  all  the  prizes  of  that  piracy.  We 
bought  your  merchandise;  you  pocketed  our  money."  How  much 
of  the  elegant  leisure  to  vituperate  the  South  has  been  fed  by 
inheritance  of  wealth  derived  from  the  traffic  in  human  flesh  which 
supplied  the  South!  The  slave-traders  of  the  North  said  to  the 
slaveholders  of  the  South:  "You  must  not  interfere  Avith  our  busi- 
ness for  twenty  years;"  and  on  this  the  slave-traders  outvoted  the 
slaveholders.  Then,  when  their  slave  contract  had  exjiircd,  the 
traders  said:  "Our  conscience  revolts  against  suffering  you  to  profit 
by  the  merchandise  we  sold,  though  it  docs  not  in  the  least  revolt 
against  retaining  the  money  you  gave.  It  is  our  duty  to  see 
that  the  consideration  do  not  pass  to  you,  but  by  no  means  our 
duty  to  relinquish  that  which  has  passed  to  us,  nor  to  compensate 
you  for  the  injury  of  which  wo  are  the  cause."  In  this  transac- 
tion my  eyes  refuse  to  see  the  superior  morals  of  the  slave-traders. 
A  writer  in  the  October  \n\mhor  oi'  tho  Atlantic  Monthly,  for  ISQS, 
dealing  with  the  post-bellum  as])ect  of  the  negro — one  of  the  agents, 
too,  of  reconstruction  (or,  as  it  might  be  better  called,  of  doconstruc- 
tion) — has  this  conclusion:  "In  short,  the  higher  civilization  of  tho 
Caucasian  is  gripping  the  race  in  many  ways,  and  bringing  it  to 
sharp  1  rial  before  its  time.  This  new,  varied,  costly  life  of  freedom — 
this  struggle  to  be  at  once  like  a  race  wbich  has  ])assed  through  a 
two  thousand  years' growth  in  civilization — will  unquestionably 
diminisb  the  ])i'oductiveness  of  the  negro,  and  will  terribly  test  his 
vitality.  It  is  doubtless  well  for  his  chances  of  existence  that  his 
color  keeps  bini  a  ))lcl)eian.  *  *  *  What  judgment,  then,  shall 
we  pass  upon  abru])t  emancipation  merely  with  reference  to  the 
negro?     It  is  a  mighty  experiment,  fraught  with  as  much  menace 


23 

as  hope.  To  the  wliitc  race  alone  it  is  a  certain  and  precious 
boon."  And,  now,  can  such  a  pcrliaps  as  this,  "frau<^ht  with  as 
much  menace  as  hope"  to  the  black  man  in  the  South,  vindicate 
the  decimation  and  desolation  of  the  white  man? 

There  are  all  kinds  of  social  discipline.  The  King  of  Dahomey, 
when  he  ascertained,  the  other  day,  that  he  had  to  pay  a  heavy 
iiidemnily  to  Phigland,  sacrificed  five  hundred  human  beings  to 
projiitiate  the  deities.  Ours  in  the  South  was  more  preservative 
than  this.  We  had  a  system  of  society  and  subordination  unen- 
cumbered by  either  criminal  or  ))aupcr  class,  except  in  so  far  as 
'•the  sum  of  all  villainies"  made  the  sum  total  of  society  liable  to 
indictment — a  society  exempt  from  strikes,  exempt  from  tramps, 
exemjjt  from  the  dissension  of  capital  an<l  lal>or,  which,  by  a  dis- 
cij)line  milder,  certainly,  than  the  jail  and  calls  on  the  President 
for  troops,  made  the  inferior  element  of  society  orderly,  temperate, 
obedient,  secure  from  want,  and,  with  little  exception,  secui-e  from 
crime ;  so  contented  withal,  that  in  the  midst  of  the  death-grapple 
of  the  hands  that  held  the  reins  nothing  could  tempt  it  to  insur- 
rection. Ivingsand  their  subsidized  voices,  tramps  and  the  tramps' 
gospel,  grew  and  were  fertilized  elsewhere.  We  did  not  by  legis- 
lative act  seek  to  make  negroes  free.  We  diil  better:  we  kept 
them  from  being  criminals.  Did  the  South  lag  behind  in  the 
race  of  progress?  The  philanthropist  is  the  last  man  who 
should  make  this  a  i-ojn-oach.  It  was  lifting  the  black  man  up 
which  pulled  the  white  man  back.  The  negro  did  not  carry  us, 
but  we  set  him  upon  his  K'gs.  A  tew  months  ago  the  tele- 
graph flashed  over  the  land  the  news  that  Adam  Johnson,  sen- 
tenced to  be  hung  for  murder  in  South  Carolina,  "insisted  upon 
the  son  of  his  old  master  during  slavery  standing  by  him  to  the 
last."  In  the  wide  world  he  could  turn  him  to  no  other  in  that 
hour.  Abolitionists  and  their  civilization  of  scalawags  and  carpet- 
baggers had  brought  hiin  to  this — the  freedom  to  be  hung  for  mur- 
der. Twice  in  the  past  3'ear  the  newspapers  have  mentioned  how 
former  slaves  have  gathered  around  the  grave  of  one  who  had 
been  their  master,  and  asked  and  received  permission  to  sing  one 
of  their  hymns — in  one  instance  themselves  officiated  as  pall-bear- 
crs.  It  is  touching  to  see  how,  through  all  the  defiling  foulness, 
perjuring  uncleanness  of  carpet-bagging  philanthrophy,  the  negro 
opens  his  eyes  to  the  certain  truth  that  his  old  master  is  his  kind- 
est and  wisest  friend. 


24 

Take  a  considerably  higher  instance — the  highest  of  the  kind 
the  country  can  aftbrd: 

The  present  Marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  who,  having 
first  won  his  freedom  by  his  heels,  has  since  displayed  the  decidedly 
higher  faculty  of  maintaining  it  by  his  head,  with  success  and 
applause,  visits  the  scenes  of  his  youth,  which,  in  his  case,  are  the 
scenes  of  his  bondage.  He  goes  with  the  express  object  of  calling 
on  the  man  he  ran  away  from.  This  should  have  been  the  most 
galling  case  possible.  This  man  stands  in  the  foremost  file  of  his 
race,  therefore  is  one  who  had  smarted  most  under  slaver}'.  What 
happened?  Tenderly  he  grasped  the  hand  of  Captain  Auld,  ad- 
dressed him  as  his  old  master,  and  begged  his  forgiveness  if  he  had 
ever  spoken  of  him  with  asperity  or  said  anything  to  wound  his 
feelings.  "He  came,"  he  said,  "to  shake  the  hand  and  look  into 
the  kind  old  face  of  his  master,  and  see  it  beaming  with  light  from 
the  other  world."  It  is  added:  "When  they  parted  both  men 
wept."  This,  it  must  be  admitted,  was  a  strange  way  for  victim 
and  oppressor  to  meet  and  part. 

Let  it  be  admitted  that  sentimentalism  in  politics  was  less  con- 
tagious at  the  South  than  in  some  other  quarters;  that  what  is 
known  and  honored  as  philanthropy  struck  us  as  a  platform  virtue 
of  the  mutual-admiration  kind;  as  such  not  greatly  honorable  nor 
by  us  honored.  At  no  time  did  the  sentiment  of  Anacharsis 
Clootz,  that  "the  principles  of  democracy  arc  of  such  priceless 
value  as  to  be  chca])ly  jnirchascd  by  tlie  sacrifice  of  the  whole 
human  race,"  cause  a  quite  universal  enthusiasm.  Liberty  which 
■was  rhetorical  merely  was  not  our  forte.  AVc  did  not  believe  in  a 
nominal  rc])ul)lic,  which  would  require  large  standing  armies  to 
show  free  citizens  the  way  to  freedom.  Liberty  is  in  a  curious 
way  which  demands  a  large  standing  army  to  drive  it  home  and 
make  it  rest  on  the  consent  of  the  governed.  Bismarck  is  credited 
with  the  ottsorvation  that  "a  bayonet  is  not  a  good  thing  to  sit 
down  on."  JIow  amazed,  then,  he  must  be,  to  see  the  sovereigns 
of  America  gravt'ly  passing  an  act  to  seat  their  lives,  their  for- 
tunes, and  their  sacred  honor  nowhere  else.  The  truth  is,  their 
sacred  honor  just  at  present  could  phmt  itself  on  the  point  of  a 
bayonet  without  being  excessively  cramped;  might  be  set  down 
very  hard  there   without  sensible  annoyance. 


25 

Whether  to  make  of  the  inferior  element  a  bond  slave  was  the 
absoliitel}^  best  way,  is  a  question  which  may  now  be  safely  left  to 
determine  itself  by  the  result  of  a  contrary  policy.  But  that  to 
do  as  our  enemy  did,  make  of  the  inferior  element  a  master,  is  the 
absolutely  worst  way,  may,  without  presumption,  be  asserted  now 
and  here.  If  the  Southern  master  had  a  slave,  he  had  a  slave 
whom  he  protected.  If  the  Southern  slave  had  a  master,  he  had 
a  master  whom  he  respected.  Moralists  hereafter  will  be  sorely  put 
to  it  to  account  for  the  well-nigh  total  absence  of  revenge,  malevo- 
lence, animosity,  on  the  part  of  the  negro  toward  his  old  master,  if 
his  past  was  so  invariably  bitter.  Either  his  forgiveness  of  injuries  is 
the  greatestever  known,  or  his  sense  of  them  the  least.  Let  it  be  said, 
in  his  unqualified  praise,  that  of  all  the  races,  the  negro  has  made 
the  best  slave,  has  been  ftiithful  in  that  which  is  least;  a  better  part, 
certainl}',  than  that  of  being  faithless  in  that  which  is  greatest — an 
accusation  which  may  yet  be  brought  against  the  white  race  of 
the  country.  There  is  hope  for  the  negro  to-day  greater  than  any 
which  exists  for  the  Indian,  because  the  negro  is  docile,  willing  to 
serve  and  obe}',  and,  unlike  the  Indian,  could  be  made  a  slave  of 
and  be  controlled  by  others  before  being  able  to  control  himself; 
because  he  has  by  nature  the  faculty  of  truly  revering  that  which 
is  higher  than  himself;  is  not,  in  self-devouring  pride,  recusant  to 
it.  If  now.  in  freedom,  he  be  persevering,  diligent,  as  in  slavery 
he  was  docile,  tractable!  Ilis  slavery!  lias  not  that  and  nothing 
else  lifted  him  from  the  condition  of  African  savage  to  that  of 
American  freeman,  worthy  by  our  law  to  cast  his  ballot  with  the 
rest,  which  the  Chinese,  who  is  not,  and  since  recorded  time  has 
not  been  a  savage,  is  not  worthy  to  do?  'I'lie  negi-o  is  to-day  an 
American  citizen,  started  in  the  race  of  civilization  by  virtue  of 
what,  pray?  His  thousands  of  years  of  African  freedom,  as  some 
may  term  them,  or  his  two  hundred  years  of  American  bondage? 

African  liberty !  What  is  it  to  deprive  a  man  of  that  ?  The  latest 
intelligence  on  the  subject  is  that  another  step  toward  the  civilization 
of  Africa  has  been  taken  by  England  in  inducing  the  King  of  Leuca- 
lia,  a  district  13'ing  to  the  southeast  of  St.  Paul  de  Loanda,  to  enter 
into  an  engagement  to  put  a  stop  to  all  human  sacrifices  among  his 
people.  Suppose,  then,  that  human  beings  who  otherwise  are 
given  over  to  the  immolation  and  consumption  of  one  another,  in 
this  kind  of  honor  preferring  one  another,  are  made  bond  slaves, 


26 

halted  in  their  religious  and  political  economy,  and  made  to  cease 
to  be  their  brothers'  keepers,  in  this  culinary  way,  and  actually 
to  begin  to  be  useful  to  themselves  and  others,  Avhat  great 
rights  of  man  are  the  worse  for  it?  Noble,  not  ignoble,  is  the  do- 
minion of  the  higher  over  the  lower;  beautiful  the  surrender  of 
the  lower  to  the  higher,  when,  with  pleased  recognition  of  the 
truth,  a  soul  bows  in  the  presence  of  its  master.  Hard,  indeed, 
must  be  the  heart  to  resist  the  eloquence  which  says,  "Behold I 
behold!  I  am  thy  servant."  Subordination  of  inferior  to  superior 
is  the  supreme  social  act;  all  else  is  struggle,  contention  for  society. 
Finally,  jealousy  of  their  own  rights,  and  jealousy  of  their  right 
to  the  labor  of  their  slaves,  did  not  blind  the  men  of  the  South  to 
the  rights  of  others.  When  a  storm  of  detraction  and  proscrip- 
tion burst  upon  the  head  of  the  foreign  immigrant  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  communicant,  it  did  not  gather  at  the  South,  but  was 
rolled  back  by  her  firm  hand.  It  is  one  of  the  anomalies  of  this 
great  controversy  between  opposing  ideas  and  institutions  that, 
after  the  North  had  proclaimed  the  necessity  of  amending  the 
constitution  to  prevent  social  discrimination  against  the  negro  in 
the  South,  it  was  reserved  for  a  hotel  of  the  State  and  a  bar  asso- 
ciation of  the  city  of  New  York  to  say  to  the  race  of  Spinoza, 
Neander,  Arago,  the  Herschels;  of  Massena,  "the  favored  child  of 
victory";  of  Soult,  "the  man  of  Austerlitz;"  of  Heine  and  Meyer- 
beer, of  Disraeli  and  Kothschild:  "Come  not  near  me,  I  am  holier 
than  thou." 


III. 

I  must,  however,  ask  you  to  assume,  what  is  far  enough  from  being 
the  case,  that  these  several  differences  of  o})inion  and  causes  of  disjnite 
between  the  North  and  the  South  have  now  been  treated  of  in  some 
not  wholly  disreputable  manner;  and  that,  to  a  Southern  audience  at 
least  (and  this  is  more  probable),  it  has  been  made  sufficiently  clear 
that  justice  was  on  the  side  of  the  South  in  this  great  controversy.  1 
pass  on  to  say  that  justice,  too,  must  be  strong.  To  be  weak  when  you 
have  the  power  to  be  strong,  is  itself  an  injustice.  It  is  written, 
"Woe  to  them  that  are  at  ease  in  Zion."  You  who  otherwise  have 
right  on  your  side  must  see  to  it  that  you  have  strength  on  your 


27 

side,  else  he  whose  iron  is  stronger  than  your  gold,  whose  unscru- 
pulous force  outweighs  j-our  legal  right,  will  have  judgment  entered 
against  you.  To  be  intrenched  in  parchment  to  the  teeth  is  not 
the  whole  of  law;  only  a  vantage  ground  for  more  readily  assert- 
ing it.  Without  prudence,  without  wakeful  alertness,  firm,  even 
fierce  assertion,  the  mere  parchment  right  is  but  a  castle  without 
defenders.  The  great  wall  of  China  seems  secure  enough,  running 
thirteen  hundred  miles  over  plain  and  over  mountain;  every  foot 
of  the  foundation  in  solid  granite,  the  structure  solid  masonry. 
But  without  a  living  wall  of  Chinese  men  behind  it,  unconstitu 
tional  Tartars  bound  over  its  "strict  consti'uction"  as  a  thing  of 
course.  "Your  strict  construction  is  wZ^ra  y<res,"  they  paradoxi- 
cally say.  The  injustice  which  is  perpetrated  in  "courts  of  justice" 
without  remorse  and  without  rebuke,  is  a  standing  admonition  of 
the  real  despotism  which  may  be  exercised  under  the  names  and 
forms  of  liberty.  It  is  not  in  the  letter  of  a  constitution,  it  is  in 
the  heart  of  a  people  that  freedoni  is  secured,  if  at  all.  The  law 
protects  not  them  who  sleep  upon  their  rights.  Make  yourself 
strong,  soon  your  right  becomes  clear.  Every  man  holds  his  own 
by  this  tenure.  Sleepless  enemies  lie  in  wait  for  all  prowess,  for 
all  endowment,  and  are  held  in  check  by  incessant  labor,  incessant 
vigil.  A  chosen  people  are  surrounded  by  Philistines,  and  must 
subdue  them  or  be  subdued. 

John  Bright  has  animadverted  on  the  South,  not  without 
ground,  for  this,  that  the  class  legislation  complained  of  by  her 
could  not  have  been  enacted  if  she  herself  had  not  participated 
in  its  enactment.  Did  not  we,  too,  set  the  example  of  excluding 
slavery  from  the  territory  of  the  United  States  by  excluding  it 
from  that  which  we  l)estowed? — a  hint  which  Avas  ample  for 
them  who  found  precedent  in  such  matters  more  often  a  hin- 
drance than  a  guide.  "Long-headed  men"  were  persuaded  that 
the  South,  or  some  portion  of  the  South,  could  find  pecuniary 
advantage  in  suspending,  here  and  there,  the  tenets  of  her  faith 
resjiecting  the  constitution  and  the  laws.  It'  men  will  not  watch 
their  own,  they  will  lose  their  own.  The  talent  which  is  buried 
in  the  earth  is  forfeit  to  him  who  has  done  dilferentlj'.  It  is  not 
Heaven's  will  that  men  should  meet  together  and  make  a  constitu- 
tion and  laws  which  may  dispense  with  vigilance  and  self-vindica- 
tion.    No   charter   of  freedom  can    exonerate  from  this.     Weak 


2S 

ir       ..                          dug  -sriii    -  f  execntrre   and 

^: —  ..       .._  im-cm^'ct'e-.  -    -_-    ...-:..  in  a   c-ountry 

■="i;ere  zhi  j»e:T'lc  haxe  liir'  c-hoi<:->e  of  iheir  TTiajsiraies — eavti  man 
Lcpiziz  ti_i:  ie.  In  Iit:  iaaZIr.  -r-IL  g^ain  zni-re  lisLn  Le  Ic^s-es  by  the 
c-C'TT-i"  o~;-iil  iri  iLai  ii  snll  hi  =-:'mel->iy  else  the  c-ivilizcd 
CLrinii:!'  -srh'i'  "^vlL  ic'5-r  ali'OgeiLrT.  The  c-ormpi  magi^rnaT-e  is 
zLi  I'Li"  :-graji  of  liie  ■;-■•: 'mipi  c-omim^XiLS.  Tiien.  "crhen  a  "whole 
jKr^'j'.i  15  h-M.ev-X'nl'r^i  -sri-r  fra:!'!  ai.i  l-anjcmpi-'i-y  and  desiirQiioa 
foLo"5r  i.i  the  r,^i  r-e-frl*.  the  tTy  gc-es  up;  -L-ei  "us  c-hange  the 
crgazic-  la'sr."  Xo.  i3jj"  mei-is'  L-et  lis  orzaufcrally  change  onr- 
=>r-"re=  out  of  dr-relioiioi.  lo*  diiiT  iz.  «:-'ji:i-cr:tix:z  lo*  Tvron^.  At^  ont- 
TiLZi^Z'iis  aei  impends-  Men  are  heard  -■■:■  a=k  :  -Is  ;*  c-Te-dible  our 
oppi'nenis  srll  't-i  si^h  knaves?  "Wili  thev  ha~e  ibe  audacity  to 
c-'-nn;-  an  a.CT:  '.f  such  inrjicrade.  such  shameless  snl-omation?^' 
"^ly.  if'  yoti  ha~e  noi  the  aii'daciiy  lo  defend  of  c-ours*  thev  TsilL 
The  kr^ve  is  in  the  "=rorId  primari-y  f:-?  this  purpose:  to  cut  the 
tendins  ::  the  i-alterinz  "s'hen  he  c-eats  a  jiarley.     The  knave  is 

aH  against  him.  -^hile  the  other  "^th  the  panoply  of  truth  up»on 
hin.  i:«es  net  stand  tij-.     The  latter  says,  in  eze'Ct :   -My  moral 

men  have  s-crtiiles  a't-oiit  doing  d:ity.  and  another  set  have  no 
s.cr:r][;'Le5  abotit  violating  it- the  delate  i=  pri' "'"'-"  en de-d.  Tou 
c^annot  tie  red  tax«e  arotind  the  rights  of  .  pigeen-hole 

them,  and  then,  ly  merely  tellinr  the  se>cret,ary  to  proinc-e  them 
at  the  prox-er  moment,  and  sho-=r  that  they  are  lal-eled  as  you  say. 

stan:-es-  have  t-een  kno-srn  to  'dis-c^rrer  a  marked  pre-dileetion  for 

exil^:nei  '.:  ^e  n:  -red  right  arm  :;  -       .  .  -- 

ir'.-z-  ao'.v  e  a-  often  it  pir.<ves  itseil'  the  re^i  ras  to  a  buLL 


ar'.-_nt  tnent- ant  tnem  around  yourselves:  by  omiitinsr.  wboUy 

frc'nt  c:  voor  Ttzhts.  r&s-olutelv  and  vitriiaT.t.v  stavin^r  there,  vour 


29 

dence."  "Friend."  said  Mahomet,  "tie  thy  camel  and  commit  him 
to  Proridence.  ■ 

Once,  when  fertile  plains  of  Italv  lay  expo»e»i  to  the  har-iy 
Xorth.  doughty  protectionists,  bearing  their  birth-rights  on  their 
backs,  by  dint  of  the  swonl  for  circulating  me<iium,  entere-i  into 
and  enjoyed  the  opulence  -which  left  itseli'  defenceless.  See  ho^w 
manners  chano^e.  while  the  forces  under  them  remain  unchan^yeii  ! 
Behold  another  stubborn  remnant,  plantei  on  a  fb-">zen  S'?il.  and 
far-off  harvests  and  nelds  of  snow :  not  cold,  but  warm :  at  slight- 
est touch  turning  to  gold.  Kings  of  the  Huns  are  not  wanting. 
though  idifferently  acc<3utre<d.  Their  weapons  are  shrewdness, 
business  ability.  d<x-ility  to  be  taught  by  experience,  aptitude  for 
the  oc-casion.  and  then  tenacity,  perseverance  in  advantage,  never 
letting  go.  Ao^gression.  insuiSciently  oppose^i.  is  not  slack  to  seize 
occasion.  Old  lines  of  or.ler  have  been  surprise-.i.  c-^nfaseii — their 
guns  reversed  against  the  old  defenders.  S<?mebo'ly  blondere^i. 
somebody  slept,  or  worse.  Somebo»dy.  whose  duty  it  was  to  thrust 
and  parry,  failed  at  the  pn.~»per  time  to  draw  his  swi^ri.  It  is  not 
haviniT  riijhts  which  makes  the  freeman,  bur  knowing  and  main- 
taininiT  them.  The  irreat  victory  had  been  won  before  the  nrst 
shot  had  been  nre^i  of  that  military  victory  by  w'  "  '    '  al 

afler wards  was  ratiiied.     A  four  years"  civil  str  :  e^i 

and  announced  the  majority  which  was  already  waiting  to  be 
counted.     T"      _       "  victory  was  won  when  Xorthr  '  :ss  had 

exchaniied     ~  S<"*uthern  fatness:  when  Xor'-  erprise 

hiid  under  tribute  Southern  prx.vitice;  when  Northern  energy 
brouirht  the  w.->rld's  cor..-  Xorthern  ports,  made  a  n-ozen 

co;-i>t  a  chosen  coast,  to  ■  .igrant  hosts  repair,  its  highways 

of  tradic,  the  accepted  highways:  by  thrift  and  industry  grew 
green  ;.  '  ^  '  "  -  "  "  I  with  bright  villages,  soundin:^  with  the 
whirr  •  -.i  of  factories  and  the  mart  of  o.-'mmerce: 

when  the  mechanic,  the  sttvng  arm  of  the  century,  dwelt  in  the 
Xv  ■   '  '  the  K">untiful  acres  of  the  South  poured  into  his  lap  a 

CO-  ~  booty.     The  one  victory  of  the  Xorth  was  won  when. 

by  legislative  legen.iemain.  she  range-d  material  force  on  her  side. 
Ileiv  was  a  country  subject  to  a  ^  "b.  was  suppose-d 

to  greatly  limit  the  objects  for  w'.         ^  ;- could  be  appro- 

priated— this,  nevertheless?,  interpreted  and  applied  by  representa- 
tives who  could  be  appivachevi.  influenced,  persuade^i.     Hen?  was 


30 

the  strategic  point.  Acuteness,  pertinacity,  the  long  arm  and 
sinewy  grip  of  all  the  athletes  of  greed  and  impecunious  alertness 
won  the  day. 

It  will  never  do  to  forget  our  own  faults  in  the  explanation 
of  our  misfortunes.  It  is.  i^ideed.  our  own  faults  which,  for 
our  own  sakes.  it  especially  behooves  us  to  bear  in  mind.  The 
Spanish  proverb  says:  ''You  must  thank  yourself  if  you  break 
vour  let;  twice  over  the  same  stone."  It  is  well,  however,  also  to 
observe  that  while  he  who  permits  injustice  must  suffer  for  it;  he 
who  commits  it  does  not  go  without  a  day.  Vainly  will  you  ex- 
pect to  hold  under  the  sanctions  of  law  that  which  has  been  gained 
by  violation  of  law.  Do  you  choose  to  thrive  at  the  expense  of 
the  demoralization  of  society?  Hope  not  to  secure  yourself  as 
though  societ}'  were  moral.  Every  victory  of  man's  mere  avidity 
is  the  increase  of  his  material  at  the  expense  of  his  spiritual  part. 
The  material  accumulation  goes  on  pari  passu  with  the  moral  de- 
pletion, so  that  a  whole  world  arrived  at  unjustly  were  a  whole 
soul  gangrened  by  the  booty.  "'What  is  there  wanting  to  me?" 
asked  Ugolin.  tyrant  ot'  Pisa.  "Xothing  but  the  anger  of  God." 
The  mean  advantage  wins  the  day,  to  be  sure;  but.  in  doing  so, 
receives  wounds  which  can  never  be  exhibited  as  honorable  scars. 
Victory  which  is  composed  of  a  stroke  under  the  belt  is  as  sharp 
at  the  hilt  as  at  the  point.  There  is  a  pertinent  proverb :  "  The  man 
who  resorts  to  Lynch  law  must  not  complain  of  the  judge  when,  in 
some  future  controversy,  the  case  goes  against  him."' 

Lincoln  added  to  the  regular  army  and  made  changes  in  the 
customs  without  asking  anybody's  leave,  and  in  violation  of  the 
constitution  he  had  sworn  to  support.  Congress,  some  months 
afterwards,  undertook  to  indemnify  the  President  for  the  violation 
of  his  oath.  But  the  utmost  members  of  Congress  could  do  was 
to  be  derelict  in  their  own  duty  and  equivocate  their  own  oaths. 
They  could  refuse  themselves  to  visit  the  consequences,  but  they 
could  not  by  any  resolution  or  legislation  alter  the  fact  or  prevent 
the  consequences  of  violated  law.  They  could  not  prevent  a  whole 
people  from  growing  familiar  with  oaths  and  laws  which  are  mat- 
ters of  convenience.  When  there  was  a  law  prohibiting  an  officer 
of  the  United  States  from  receiving  or  paying  anything  but  gold 
and  silver,  and  in  the  face  of  a  constitutional  prohibition  against 
a  State  making  anything  but  gold  and  silver  legal  tender,  in  order, 


31 

ae  it  wa3  termed,  "to  suppress  insurrection,"  Congress  passed  an 
act  making  paper  legal  tender,  not  only  for  the  future,  but  in 
flagitious  violation  of  existing  compacts  for  the  past :  and  by  the 
able  exertions  of  a  subsidized  press,  the  enormity  of  the  act,  and 
for  the  time  being  the  credit  of  the  Government  which  perpetrated 
it,  was  sustained.  Long  before  the  passage  of  that  act  a  sagacious 
man  ha<l  observed:  "Paper  money  is  strength  in  the  beginning,  but 
weakness  in  the  end."  Congress  now  has  its  hands  very  full  of 
paper  money;  but  the  war  which  was  waged  by  it  was  less  formi- 
dable than  the  war  which  now  has  to  be  waged  against  it.  and  the 
insurrection  against  stability,  commerce,  property,  morals,  it  has 
promoted — a  wider  and  deadlier  panic  to  every  interest  and  virtue 
of  a  people  than  Bull  Run.  An  especially  able  paper,  read  before 
the  last  American  Social  Science  Convention  at  Saratoga,  computes 
that  the  legal-tender  act  has  cost  more  than  the  war  itself. 

Rings  have  been  able  to  carry  judges  in  their  pockets.  Partisan 
selfishness  may  fill  the  bench  with  unworthy  creatures;  but  neither, 
by  so  doing,  can  fill  the  community  with  love  of  justice,  or  very 
distinctly  with  the  sense  of  it.  To  receive  a  sentence  he  cannot 
resist,  and  know  in  his  heart  it  is  not  just,  but  unjust,  arbitrary, 
tyrannical — this  is  the  one  ignominy  a  man  should  not  submit  to, 
but  resentfully  recoil  from.  The  great  right  of  man  is  his  right  to 
just  government.  For  it  come  to  this,  that  the  ruffian  may  say, 
'•I  am  an  avowed  violator  of  the  law.  therefore  that  much  better 
than  the  unavowed  one  who  visits  my  transgression!  '  The  spolia- 
tion of  the  public  seems  a  clever  thing  for  the  nonce,  but  when 
high-haniled  jobbery  has  made  a  public  of  tramps  and  criminal 
classes,  it  is  not  so  clever.  Moreover,  a  new  criminal  class,  which 
says  its  phylacteries  from  daylight  until  the  third  hour,  and  deliv- 
ers a<idresses  on  the  importance  of  moral  culture,  proves  an  imper- 
fect antidote  to  the  former.  Modern  civilization  has  made  it  some- 
thing easier  to  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees in  the  nineteenth  century  than  it  was  in  the  fii-st.  Happily, 
the  knave's  kingdom,  after  it  has  been  gained,  is  menaced  with 
perpetual  revolt,  against  which  the  only  hope  is  in  paid  Praetorian 
bands,  another  menace.  The  king  of  knaves  is  a  captive  on  his 
throne.  It  is  an  unloved  throne — by  desperate  numbers  a  hated 
throne.  The  very  departments  of  such  a  government  cannot  be 
kept  out  of  the  flames — the   modern  purgatory  by  which  public 


32 

buildings  are  said  to  be  "cleaned  out,"  and  reputations  are  "saved 
as  by  fire."  As  mere  matter  of  fact  and  business  sense,  a  people 
cannot  be  misgoverned  prosperously. 

Thus  we  see  that  class  legislation,  followed  by  a  war  of  coercion, 
with  the  illegal  measures  to  prosecute,  and  afterwards,  avowedly, 
to  consummate,  have  not  established  justice,  have  not  insured  the 
domestic  tranquility,  have  not  provided  for  the  common  defence, 
nor  promoted  the  general  welfare.  They  have  not  formed  a  more 
perfect  union,  but  a  far  less  perfect  one.  The  North  was  successful 
in  rolling  the  South  in  the  dust,  but  equally  successful  in  rolling 
up  a  seething  mass  of  discontent  at  her  own  doors.  Selfish  politi- 
cians have  accumulated  Ibrtunes  for  themselves  and  their  trencher 
friends,  but  they  have  accumulated  under  them  the  American 
Commune.  The  American  Commune  stands  to-day,  not  by  the 
cradle  of  American  liberty,  indeed,  but  by  the  side  of  that  more 
modern  cradle  which  was  rocked  in  the  torrent  of  anti-slavery 
agitation.  The  N(^rth  will  3-et  have  cause  to  deplore  the  day 
when  she  loosened  all  the  bands  of  society  at  home,  in  order  to 
usui'p  the  ])ower  to  cnish  and  degrade  the  South.  The  introduc- 
tion of  perjury  and  plain  repudiation  of  contract  into  the  aftairs  of 
state,  Xorth  or  South,  on  the  plea  of  necessity,  is  the  act  of  the 
falling  man  who  gras])S  red-hot  iron  for  support. 

Late  events  have  revealed  ditferences  between  the  two  portions 
of  the  countiy  which  are  important,  as  indicating  which  of  them 
rests  on  the  more  I'eal  and  reliable  social  basis.  We  savages  of  the 
South  said  to  the  North,  -^If  you  will  remove  your  hostile  array, 
we  will  govern  ourselves,"  and  afterwards  made  good  our  words. 
Now  the  North  says:  -'Will  not  you  of  the  South  heap  coals  of 
fire  on  our  heads  by  doubling  the  army,  so  that  we  may  be  gov- 
erned? Inasmuch  as,  after  great  deliberation,  and  under  the 
stimulus  of  panic  and  l)ankruptcy,  as  well  as  what  is  known  as 
'necessity  of  the  situation,'  we  withdrew  from  you  our  foreign 
tyranny,  will  you  not  return  the  kindness  by  helping  to  save  us 
from  ourselves?"  The  North  admits  itself  to  have  the  clear  advan- 
tage of  philanthropy,  "moral  ideas,  '  "abstract  sense  of  justice  and 
right,"  and  'the  best  government  the  world  ever  saw."  The  South, 
we  know,  has  l)een  encumbered  with  "the  old  virus  of  slavery" 
and  the  carpet-bagger,  which  last  we,  in  turn,  admit  to  have  been 
"the  sum  of  all  villainies,"  decidedly  the  worst  government  the 


33 

world  over  saw.  an<l  tlie  one  ins])ire(l  bv  the  most  pusillanimous 
motives:  a  g-overnment  which  made  the  bandit  a  patriot,  and 
honest  men  banditti,  ibrced  upon  us  at  the  point  of  the  bayo- 
net. Yet  with  the  odds  of  merit  all  one  way,  as  stated  bv  the 
North,  the  comparison  in  respect  to  ability  to  maintain  social  order, 
you  see,  is  not  so  bad.  It  is  startling  enough  to  see  the  South 
countetl  on  to  tind  in  her  armory  of  strict  construction,  paramount 
civil  power  and  state  sovereignty,  weapons  to  equip  a  govern- 
ment of  sul>sidies  and  rings — military  and  administration  circles. 
Not  ours  is  the  system  which  seeks  to  make  States  degraded  and 
ilefenceless  in  order  to  have  excuse  for  a  centre  which  shall  lie  their 
sole  defender;  to  make  a  tiourishing  whole  out  of  withered  parts, 
a  splendid  union  of  emasculated  States. 

AVithout  further  illustration,  it  may  be  stated  as  a  fact  which 
legislators  will  do  well  to  take  note  of  that  the  victim  of  injustice 
has  ever  rising  in  him  the  Inirning  sense  that  he  has  l)een  wronu'ed. 
A  people's  sleeping  Samson,  their  staunchness,  manhood,  rectitude 
of  life  and  business  dealing,  all  the  early,  grand  simplicity  of  act 
and  counsel,  in  veiy  wantonness  of  sleep  is  overborne — tirst  de- 
bauched and  then  shorn  of  its  plume  of  honor.  Low  aims  and 
■•covetousness  which  is  idolatry,"  the  Philistines  which  lie  in  wait 
for  this  modern  life,  fall  u])on  such  slumbers  swiltly,  fatally.  In 
some  sort,  a  triumph  of  strength,  a  righteous  retribution,  is  meted 
out  then  and  there,  whereby  the  moral  power  of  a  land  is  not  only 
fettered,  but  blinded.  On  a  precarious  basis  such  victory  ever 
rests — vict(U'y  which  demands  that  wrong  and  framl.  and  lies,  shall 
remain  stronger  than  the  truth  and  right  of  things;  victory  which 
must  ln)ld  its  own  against  the  true  forces  of  society  struggling  to 
assert  themselves.  If  those  forces,  roused  at  last,  fill  like  a  tliun- 
tlerbolt,  strike  liack  in  heart-breaking  rage,  not  in  strength  only, 
but  in  idind  strength,  what  a  dangerous  tiling  for  victory!  One 
law  is  that  the  strongest  for  the  time  being  shall  prevail;  another 
is  that  for  the  strongest  to  continue  victor,  he  must  have  not  onlv 
might  on  his  side,  but  right;  that  is,  not  one  might,  but  all  the 
mights. 

Thus  it  is  in  the  game  of  oppression.  While  one  side  gains  in 
physical,  it  loses  in  moral  power;  the  other,  losing  in  physical 
power,  does  gain  in  moral.  According  to  the  purely  military  esti- 
mate ot^  Napoleon,  the  last  is  to  the  tirst  as  three  to  one.  Thus  it 
3 


34 

wiis  in  the  wai"  between  the  States.  The  fact  that  the  odds  so 
loni>;  resisted  by  the  South  were  more  cruel  than  three  to  one,  must 
always  be  accepted  as  the  measure  of  her  moral  power.  To  her 
mind  it  was  very  clear  that  she  had  been  tirst  robbed  and  then 
calumniated;  because  her  feathers  were  the  brightest  in  the  ])lume 
of  her  adversary,  she  had  none  left  to  shine  in  her  own.  The 
wealth,  the  factories,  the  opulent  cities  of  the  North,  were  the 
bright  spoil  of  her  tields,  which  had  never  been  retaliated.  A 
political  l)arty  which  named  itself  '-the  poor  man"s  frit'ud  "  (Boss 
Tweed  and  other  Bosses  have  since  done  the  same  thing  on  the 
same  basis)  was  not  to  our  taste.  The  surgeon  of  Le  Sage  possessed 
the  talent  of  turning  passengers  into  jjaticnts  by  a  single  stroke  of 
his  poiiuvrd,  upon  whom,  however,  he  was  then  willing  to  exercise 
his  cui'ative  abilities.  '■  JEypocrits,''  says  the  Talmud,  '-'first  steal 
leathei"  and  [Ucu  mak'c  shoes  ibr  the  poor."  One  ])ossession  the 
South  had  not  ))arted  with — the  hearts  of  her  (diildren.  These 
were  hei's  only. 

In  the  fall  of  18')!)  there  came  lo  light  a  campaign  document,  to 
which  was  subscribed  tlu'  wi'itten  recommendations  of  sixty-eight 
members  of  Congress  from  the  IS^orth,  among  them  the  present 
Secretary  of  the  Ti'casury.  Tt  contained  the  following:  "It  is  our 
honest  conviction  that  all  tlu?  jiro-slavery  slaveholders  deserve  at 
once  to  l»e  reduced  to  a  ])arallel  with  the  basest  criminals  that  lie 
fettered  within  the  cells  of  ourpuldic  ]irisons.  We  are  determined 
to  abolish  slaveiy  at  all  hazards — in  defiance  of  all  the  opposition, 
of  whatever  nature,  it  is  jiossible  for  the  slaveocrats  to  bring 
against,  us.  Of  this  they  nuiy  take  due  notice  and  govern  them- 
selves accordingly." 

John  Brown's  raid,  and  the  immense  import  of  a  fiasco  inti'insi- 
cally  mean,  needs  not  to  be  spoken  of  lierc — an  armed  foray  to 
liberate  slaves,  whert-by  not  a  single  slave  was  made  insubordinate! 
John  Ijrown,  in  himself,  is  not  a  man  to  excite  invective.  He  has 
the  atte.cting  as|)ect  of  having  stood  upon  his  own  assumptions  till 
the  solid  earth  gave  way  under  him,  as,  sooner  or  later,  it  does 
undei-  fallacy;  fui'tber,  he  has  l)orne,  and  so  far  as  he  could  do  so  in 
his  own  ])ers()n,  ex]»iated  the  consef|uences  of  his  transgression. 
The  unsound,  distracted  theory  he  held  and  sought  to  reduce  to 
practice  would  not  lie  reduced  by  him.  The  slaves  would  not 
rise;   from   that  day  to  this  have  not  risen  against  thoir  masters 


35 

So  there  Ava>»  uothiiii!;  left  l)ut  for  him  to  fiilL  Tliis,  at  least,  ho 
did  like  a  lirave  man.  and  one  who,  in  his  dim,  distracted  way, 
souo-lit  to  walk  bravel}'.  This  is  not  the  worst  of  men.  Would 
that  we  could  say  "the  evil  that  he  did  died  with  him."  The  soul 
of  this  old  hri<:;and,  we  arc  often  assured,  and  liave  too  much  rea- 
son to  believe,  is  still  "marching  on."  When  he  took  his  last  leap 
minute-guns  were  fired,  the  church  bells  were  tolled  in  the  cities 
of  the  North,  and  ]>rayers  offered.  The  great  rock  at  North  Elba, 
beside  which  he  is  buried,  and  which  bears  his  name,  is  now  all 
written  over  and  defaced  evt'u  by  other  inscriptions  made  by  vis- 
itors, for  whose  convenience  a  hatchet  or  chisel  is  kept  near  the 
foot.  Wendell  Phillips  said  of  him:  '-lie  had  conquered  V^irginia; 
made  of  her  a  disturbed  State,  uiudile  to  stand  on  her  own  legs  foi 
trembling,  had  not  the  vulture  of  tbe  Union  hovered  over  her; 
proved  a  slave  State  to  be  only  fear  in  the  mask  of  despotism. 
Had  a  hundred  men  i-allied  to  him  he  might  have  marched  across 
the  (pnd<ing  State  to  Ivichmond."  In  tbe  fullness  of  time  a  million 
men  rallied  to  him;  Init  "marching  across  the  quaking  State  to 
I\iehmond,""  which  was  done  with  so  much  smooth  facili4:y  on  the 
platform,  somewhat  lagged  in  the  field.  "Tlu'  vulture  of  the 
Union''  changed  sides  comjdetely,  and  still  the  tremldnig  legs  did 
not  refuse  to  stand  up  with  some  stoutness.  '-'Fear  in  the  mask  of 
des]H>iism"  disguised  itself  with  a  |)rotracted  and  a  strano-e  success. 
These  i»redictions  do  not  seem  to  me  to  rank  with  the  very  highest 
])ro]>hecy.  oi-  most  admirable  discernment  into  men  and  things, 
though  ihey  have  been  much  ailmii'ecl  us  such,  and  l»y  none  nnn'e 
than  their  author.  Phase-making,  it  is  clear,  is  decidedly  not  the 
best  gift  of  Heaven,  and  it  is  devoutly  to  be  ho]ied  will  not  be  the 
last.  Whati'vei'  othei"  basis  society  may  rest  on.  this  is  the  most 
worthless  which  has  ever  been  apjilied  to. 

In  the  fullness  of  time.  also,  "the  slavocrats."  as  well  as  several 
million  ])e(>]>le  involved  in  the  same  society  and  (iestiny,  did  take 
"due  notice"  of  "the  parallel  with  the  basest  criminals,"  so  highly 
apjtroved  l)v  the  sixty-eiglit  members  of  Congress  from  the  North, 
and  did  -act  accordingly."  In  legal  ])arlance,  the}*  "acknowledged 
service,"  and  at  the  proi)er  time  put  in.  what  history  will  feel  con- 
strained to  term,  a  refreshingl}'  proper  appearance.  When  every 
scandal  and  offense  to  the  South  took  the  offensive  against  l>er — 
the  .Moi'rill  tariff,  colossal   jobbery,  which  has  since  spanned  a  con- 


36 

tinent;  defiance  of  contract,  whicb  has  since  rained  national  banks 
and  paper  money,  pledged  determination  to  raze  the  foundations 
of  the  South  and  to  topple  the  whole  edifice — it  was  settled  that 
she  could  be  brought  to  terms  by  com])lete  exhaustion  and  defeat 
alone.  When  superior  numbers  rose  against  lier.  and  "false  to 
freedom,  sought  to  quell  the  free,"  the  opportunity  was  given  and 
seized  to  prove  the  honesty  of  our  own  convictions.  The  mer- 
chant closed  his  ledger;  tiie  clerk  sprang  over  his  desk;  the 
student  threw  down  his  lexicon  and  shouldered  a  musket;  the 
planter  rode  l^is  best  hoi'se  into  the  field;  the  churches  melted 
their  bells  into  guns,  and  women  their  jewels  into  the  treasury. 
A  storm  of  indignation  swept  over  the  land,  in  the  tension  and 
revolt  of  which  all  the  forces  of  society  Avere  bent  like  a  boAV 
and  recoiled  like  the  bolt.  I'urer  devotion  to  a  cause  never  was 
beheld. 

It  has  been  said  men  make  the  laws  and  women  make  the  morals. 
"Laws,"  says  Milton,  --are  masculine  births."  It  is  the  prerogative 
of  man,  seldom  as  it  is  availed  of,  to  clothe  himself  in  their  majesty, 
and  on  this  earth  to  be  their  representative;  but  the  history  of 
moi-als  is  woman's  history — a  deeply-impoi'tant,  fact  if  we  con- 
sider another  a])horism  :  "iyren  make  laws,  but  we  live  b}^  custom." 
You  recall  the  sally  of  FIctclier  of  Sjvltoun:  "I  care  not  who 
makes  the  laws  of  a  ])Cople,  so  I  make  their  songs."  The  song  is 
that  Avhich  floats  most  directly  from  the  heart  of  a  people,  ami 
most  directly  floats  bac-lc  to  it  again.  It  is  the  expression  of  that 
which  is  anterior  to  all  laws:  the  moral  sense  which  makes  them, 
and  on  which  the}^  must  operate.  It  is  the  ])ower  behind  the 
throne,  great ci"  than  the  throne,  which  makes  the  (^)ueen  of  Song 
of  sucli  significance.  You  lay  a  hand  on  the  jmlse  of  a  ])eople 
when  you  touch  and  are  touched  by  her's.  In  no  wise,  thei-efoi-e, 
can  it  be  oiiiitte<l  as  a  most  literal  fact,  that  in  the  shar[>  discrimi- 
nation of  those  times  and  fates,  when  the  customary  pilots  of 
society,  the  ]iriest,  the  poet,  the  newspapei-  editor,  were  so  largely 
meig'cd  ill  t he  seciilai' arm  :  when  the  minister  of  the  gospel  fought 
through  all  grades,  tViuii  j^rivate  in  the  ranks  up  to  Lieutenant- 
Gcneral  Commanding;  when  the  ]K)et  largely  had  his '•  head(|uar- 
tcrs  in  the  saddle;  '  when  the  editor  "associated  himself  with  the 
stalf,"  and  there  was  noltod}-  left  to  make  either  the  laws  or  songs 
of  a  people  in   the  terrible  business  of  waging  their  wars:    the 


37 

toei^in  of"  war  sai<l  to  woman  hero  i)i  the  conservative  South,  '-the 
inoro  than  Pa])ai  throne  of  ])ulilie  o])iriioii,  be  that  your  throne,  and 
bo  your  proper  mercy  and  your  proper  diy-nity  your  noblest 
8C0])tre."  The  subtler  impulses  of  the  war  fell  into  her  hands,  as 
well  as  its  u-entler  ministrations.  She  was  the  voice  of  its  heart 
and  the  inter])rotor  of  its  passion.  She  staunched  the  wound  and 
smoothed  the  ])illow.  She  was  the  minister  to  the  sick  and  the 
angel  to  the  dyini;'.  She  wove  the  banner  and  device  winch 
floated  at  the  head  of  every  column.  Slie  uirded  on  the  harness 
for  tlie  tiij;ht.  trivinL!;  most  ]iroudly  where  she  loved  most  dearly. 
I'nmitred  and  uidieneticed.  she  rose  the  true  Pontitl'of  a  ( "ommon- 
wealth. 

Tn  this  form  \  have  t]ioui;-ht  it  woi'th  while  to  review  the  con- 
victions actuatino-  us  in  a  contest  which  sealed  tlieir  sincerity. 
That,  at  least,  can  never  more  be  questioned:  for,  thouii-h  when 
the  war  broke  out,  the  doctrine  of  our  assailants  was.  that  some 
two  lunidred  and  fifty  thousand  slaveholdei's  nuiintaincd  such  a 
rei<i;n  of  teri'or  at  the  South,  that  the  remaining!;  ])opulation  Avere 
driven  into  resistance,  wherefore  a  T'nited  States  army  was  neces- 
sary in  their  midst  to  endow  ihcm  wilh  f ree  s]ieech ;  when  the 
war  ended,  and  this  same  po])ulation  was  not  only  free  to  express 
devotion  to  the  T'uion,  Init  u-reatly  rewar<led  for  doinsji;  so,  and 
punished  for  not  doint;-  so,  the  leiiMslation  of  a  Xortliern  Congress 
iissumed  that  tlieir  devotion  to  their  cause  was  such  as  no  mis 
fortune  could  imj)aiv  ;  that  not  a  man  of  them  cotdd  be  trusted,  and 
thai  a  reign  of  terror  and  proscription,  undeniable  this  time,  must 
be  i>ut  over  them  in  conse<[Uence  !  The  strength  to  do  and  suffer 
greatly,  the  strength  of  Ironsides,  can  only  be  had  of  men  -'know- 
ing what  they  fight  for  and  loving  what  they  know."  To  embody 
the  just  sym])athies  of  men,  this  it  is  to  lie  a  repuldic.  To  present 
those  sympathies  and  that  justice  in  their  truest  form,  this  is  the 
art  of  government.  .V  government  rests  on  intelligence,  when 
intelligence  welcomes  it  as  intrinsically  noble  and  beneficent. 
More  absolutely  than  any  king  the  citizens  of  such  a  State  can 
say:  "The  State,  it  is  ourselves,  our  sword,  our  helmet,  our  breast- 
j)late.  our  breast  ;  the  nol)leness  we  ourselves  have  made  and  are 
made  l)y.'"  The  country  which  is  loved  is  the  country  which  is 
Jovelv. 


38 

No  more  compendious  statement  of  the  war  has  lieeii  given  than 
that  of  Lord  John  Eusselh  "The  Xorth  is  tighling  for  empire,  the 
South  for  independence."  To  this  may  be  added  another,  by  our 
President  Oavis.  in  the  summer  of  1864.  ••  We  are  not  lighting  for 
slavery — we  are  lighting  for  independence."  We  were  not  sap- 
ping, but  supporting  the  princi]iles  of  social  order:  lighting  for  no 
metaphysical,  fighting  for  practical  rights.  The  men  of  'Tt).  when 
they  spoke  of  the  right  of  revolution,  did  not  mean  that  it  was  a 
wrong,  but  that  it  was  a  right.  The  men  of  '87  did  not  mean  to 
make  bond  and  dependent  the  States  which  were  ••and  oi'  a  right 
ought  to  be  free  and  indepen^lent."  They  did  not  organize  a  sys- 
tem of  constitutional  warfare  between  the  States,  but  its  constitu- 
tional prohibition — a  government  under  law  and  Constitution:  not 
over  it.  "outside  the  Constitution. •'  The  men  of  18(>1  said.  "Better 
to  have  been  subjugated  by  the  arms  of  Great  Britain  than  by  our 
own  Federal  com])act."'  The]"»resent  Executive  of  the  United  States, 
on  a  late  tour  through  the  country,  several  times  quoted  (if  the 
news]>apers  quote  him  rightly),  as  coming  from  Andrew  Jackson, 
the  woi-ds:  ••The  Fnion.it  must  and  shall  be  ]nvserved."'  But 
Jackson  never  made  that  speech.  What  he  did  say  was.  "The 
Federal  T^nion.  it  must  be  preserved.'  Ours  was  the  Federal  army. 
In  anv  correct  use  of  terms.  (Uir  assaihtnt  Avas  the  ant i- Federal 
army,  llenry  Clay  in  18oti.  speaking  of  the  Abolitionists,  asked: 
"Is  their  ]itir})ose  to  appeal  to  our  understandings  and  actuate  our 
humanitv?  And  do  they  ex])ect  to  accom])lish  that  purpt^se  by 
holding  us  up  to  the  scorn  and  contempt  and  detestation  of  the 
free  States  and  llie  whole  civilized  world?  *  *  *  The  Aboli- 
tionists, let  me  sui)iH)se.  succeed  in  their  present  aim  of  uniting  the 
inhabitants  of  the  free  States  as  one  num  against  the  inhal>itant^ 
of  the  shive  States.  Union  on  the  one  side  will  beget  union  on  the 
other,  and  tins  process  of  reciprocal  consolidation  will  be  attended 
with  all  the  violent  prejudices,  embittered  i)assions.  and  im]dacable 
animosities  which  ever  degraded  human  nature.  A  virtual  disso- 
lution will  have  taken  ])lat-e.  while  the  forms  of  its  existence- 
remain.''  This  was  a  more  statesmanly  prediction  than  any  which 
has  been  shown  to  me  of  Mr.  AVendell  riiillips  or  any  of  his  sciiool 
of  prophets.  In  18()1  the  causes  enunu'vated  by  Clay  had  produced 
the  anticipatcfl  results.  The  Constitution  was  then  -marching 
on"'   to   be   operated   "outside   the   Constitution,"    hors    la    loi,    as 


39 

Kolicsjiierre  would  say;  and  since  that  time,  as  we  i'Cnow,  has  l)een 
phuited  detinilively  '"on  the  side  of  freedom" — of  freedom  to  be 
viohited  with  im|mnity!  This  was  not  the  Union  to  which  we 
acl<nowledi;-ed  either  otili^ation  or  affection — the  farce  and  fraud 
ot' u  Tnion.  ^Ve  niay  ri<;-htf'ully  take  to  ourselves  the  words  which 
were  useil  iiy  the  first  Dissenters  in  Virginia,  that  the}"  were  not 
dissenters  from  the  original  constitution  of  the  church,  bnt  rather 
dissented  from  those  who  had  fm-suken  it.  Old  Wintliro]t  was 
right.  There  is  a  civil,  a  moral,  a  federal  liberty  which  is  the 
{ii-o[)er  eml  and  oltject  of  authority:  for  this  lil)erty,  yovi  are  to 
stand  with  llir  ha/.ard  of  your  very  lives,  and  whatsoever  crosses 
it  is  not  autlitirily.  I>ut  some  distem]>er  thereof 


IV. 


A  ilesitaii'ing  amlience  must  long  since  have  decidccl  that  this 
address  is  as  slow  in  getting  into  the  Wilderness  as  the  children  of 
Israel  weiv  in  getting  out  of  one.  But  wildernesses  abound  in  this 
world  in  oi'der  that  faith  may  more  abound.  Sooner  or  later  they 
are  arrived  at  by  almost  every  ])ath— that  of  this  association  being 
no  exception — which,  indeed,  least  of  all  was  to  be  expected.  It 
has  seemed  to  me  that  the  illustration  of  the  foregoing  premises 
might  best  be  found,  not  in  the  day  of  elation  which  closed  at  CJet- 
tysburg:  but  at  the  |)oint  of  depression,  exhaustion,  and  '-'wearing 
out  by  attrition '■ — tiie  cam|)aign  of  IStJl.  Since  Septemlter  22d, 
IsilL'.  the  Tnited  States,  in  tiie  language  of  Mr.  AVendell  Phillips, 
•had  turned  its  face  Zionward  "— that  is  to  say.  President  Lincoln, 
who  one  or  two  days  earlier  iiad  pronounced  a  proclamation  of 
emancijiation  to  Ik'  'the  Pope's  bull  against  tlu'  comet;"  on  the 
day  above  mentioned  let  fly  at  the  comet  in  the  papal  and  bovine 
manner  he  himself  described,  with  results  which  fully  justified  his 
iirst  impressions. 

We  take  up  our  line  of  march  on  tlie  banks  of  the  Rapidan.  In 
the  name  of  the  river,  as  in  the  names  Xorthanna,  Southanna, 
Kivanna.  Fluvanna,  we  have  jiresi-rved  once  more  the  kindly-atfec- 
tioiied  zeal  which  \'irginians  so  long  retained  for  the  courtly  and 
sparkling  reign  of  Anne,  making  the  surlaee  of  our  soil  the  liaik 
of  an  old  tree  in  which  the  same  initials  perpetually  recur. 


40 

The  country  about  the  border  lino  between  Orange  and  Spot- 
sylvania, extending  back  from  the  JJapi<lan,  is  a  dismal  region  of 
barrens  covering  rich  veins  of  oi-e  ;  on  the  Spotsylvania  side  more 
especially  of  iron,  on  the  other  of  gold — a  fact  which  has  wi-itten 
itself  upon  the  localities  and  creeks  of  the  neighl)Oi'hood,  one  of 
which,  Mine  Ilun,  gives  the  name  to  the  battle  which  closed  the 
l^revious"" campaign.  The  origin  of  tlu'  name  goes  back  to  the  first 
settlement  of  the  country.  When  (he  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Hoi'se  Shoe  set  out  on  their  tramontane  ride  in  1710,  to  scale  the 
Apalachians  and  (b-iidc  his  Majesty's  health  on  the  summit  of 
Mount  George  (sic  ju cat  iransccndere  J^Jontes).  the  jouriml  of  their 
expedition  chronicled  the  following:  "At  half-y)ast  two  we  got  the 
horses;  at  three  we  mounted,  and  at  hall' an  hour  after  four  we 
came  w\\  with  our  baggage,  at  a  small  river  three  miles  on  the  wa}', 
Avhicli  \\H'  call  Mini!  nivei",  l)ccause  thei'e  was  an  a])pearance  of  a 
siher  mine  b^•  it."  Jn  a  good  sense  it  came  to  pass  aiterwards 
that  what  glittered  was  not  silver. 

The  country  is  one  of  gold,  but  of  melancdioly.  foi-bidding  ex- 
terior. Jt  is  as  if  it  said:  ■■  .^^y  severity  is  seeming,  my  liouuty  is 
I'eal.  I  hold  one  of  the  ]»ri/.es  of  life,  therefore  not  to  be  turned 
Uj)  in  the  first  furrow  or  the  first  week" ;  the  rewai'd  of  discrimina- 
tion, jH'i'sisteiicy,  wise,  discriminating  nu-thod;  one  of  the  great 
])rizes  of  life,  which  cannot  be  bought  simply,  but  must  be  wrought 
withal.  1  cari-y  my  fi'owns  on  my  bi-ow,  my  bi>ams  in  my  bi-east." 
It  is  a  c(»uiiti-y  of  ii'oii  and  gold,  as  it  wci-e,  of  gold,  and  the  iron  to 
defend  the  gold;  a  Ibuntain  of  wealth,  and  the  mailed  hand  needful 
to  assui'c  it;  a  counti-y  of  untamed  forest  and  cop])ice,  pi'csenting 
an  aspect  of  savagery  unchanged  from  the  time  when  the  savage 
was  its  loi'il.  Endless  successions  of  Jungle  have  come  and  gone, 
each  in  turn  rotting  at  the  base  of  anothei-  like  unto  itself;  as 
savage  hoi'des,  as  wiM  beasts  come  and  go;  their  whole  ))ast  the 
dust  undei-  their  feet.  So  here  the  ibiiage  of  each  recuriMiig  spring- 
rises  out  of  tlu'  nuist  of  all  the  autumns  packivl  about  the  roots — 
a  savage  ])ast.  which  fades  as  the  leal,  and  is  llieii  nu)st  useful 
when  turned  into  manure.  All  the  ages  of  the  past  lie  there, 
])ressed  into  a  few  handfuls  of  inorganic  mould,  feeding  the 
labyi-inth  of  to-day.  lie  who  wishes  to  see  a  district  in  the  heart 
of  the  oldest  of  Amei'ican  comnu)nwcalths  which  looks  as  it  did 
when   the  white  man  first   landed  on  our  shores,  will  iind   it  hero. 


41 

''So  thou  art  I^rasse  \\ilboii(,  l)ut  Cloldc  witliin.''  written  un<k'r  the 
portrait  ol'  ("a])taiu  .lolin  Sinitli.  inij^ht  be  written  over  this  portion 
of  the-  State  he  so  oToatly  helped  to  fouii(L  The  hist  time  I  saw 
it.  h)okiiio;  hiiciv  iVom  a  i-isc  in  the  road,  the  mellow  gush  of  a  per- 
fect Oetolier  Sahhath  was  tlirowini;-  its  (U'ej),  delicate  farewell,  at 
once  the  noblest  and  the  tenderest  of  the  year,  over  the  changing 
autumn  leaf;  where  one  might  say  ti  perpetual  Sabl)ath  reigned, 
AveiH-  rest  mere  idlensss.  and  not  '-the  titling  oi'  self  to  its  s])here;" 
were  it  not  '-loving  and  serving  the  highest  and  best;"  but  as  it 
was,  one  might  have  said  tliat  the  rest  of  tlic  Lord  poured  a  ray 
from  his  halo  aroun<l  ihi'  lair  of  his  adversaiy,  nndving  the  wrath 
of  the  Wilderness  to  jiraise  ITini :  so  that,  for  the  instant,  one 
might  see,  as  in  creation  Aveelc.  that  all  is  good.  The  tall,  gaunt 
pin*.'s.  and  cluin])s  of  ]»ines,  i-isiiig  alternately  in  light  an<l  shadow, 
waved  aloft  like  green  peaks  and  islands  in  a  I'olling  sea,  fai'  as  the 
eye  could  stretch,  of  autumn  glory. 

It  must  ever  be  a  satisfaction  to  i-enienilicr  tliat  the  same  Keiny, 
Earl  of  Southampton,  who  with  one  hand  lifted  u])  in  the  Kast  the 
"Glorious  ]\Iorning"  of  a  Shakspeai-e's  Sun,  with  the  othci-  planted 
in  his  ''golden  face"  the  tops  and  meado^ys  of  Virginia,  and  ])Oured 
over  both  the  age  of  Klizabeth.  JEe  was  a  great  Henry  who  was 
"the  tenth  muse"  to  tliose  eternal  luiinbers  and  these  pathless 
Avilds:  architect  of  those  stirring  fortunes,  which  in  KHIT  i)lante<l 
the  Cross  al  tliefoot  of  the  tails  of  .lames  river.  One  cannot  read 
now  without  emotion  the  verses  of  the  poet  Drayton,  written  at 
the  t  iiiie  (if  emliarkalion  : 

You  bravo,  lioroic   iniiids, 
AVorlhy  your  cmmtry's  name, 

Tliat  luuKir  still  ]iur.sue, 
"Wliilst  loiterinu;  liinds 
Lurk  here  at  home  witli  sliamo. 
Go  ami  suIkIuc. 


And  cheerfully  at  sea, 
Success  you  still  entice, 

To  get  the  pearl  and  gold, 
And  ours  to  hold 
Virginia, 
Earllr.s  only  paradise. 


42 

And  in  regions  far, 
Such  heroes  bring  ye  forth, 

As  those  from  whom  we  came, 
And  phint  our  name 
Under  that  star, 
Not  known  unto  our  North. 

And  as  there  plenty  grows 
Of  hiurel  everywhere, 

Apollo's  sacred  tree, 
You  it  may  sec, 
A  poet's  brows 
To  crown,  that  may  sing  there. 

J5ut  it  is  the  leaf  of  a  century  later  which  I  wish  to  lujld  up  for 
a  moment,  because  there  happens  to  be  on  it  an  impression  ol'  the 
scenery  upon  which  we  are  immediately  to  enter.  One  of  the 
■  mci-riest  of  the  narratives  of  Colonel  William  l^yrd  relates  certain 
jaurneys  of  the  Sovereiy;n  of  Westover,  called  by  him  "A  progress 
to  the  Mines,"  wbich  tinall}^  drew  rein  at  '-Colonel  Spotswood's 
enchanted  castle,"  on  one  side  of  a  (iermanna  street,  opposite  "a 
Baker's  dozen  of  ruinous  Tenements,''  where  "so  man}'  German 
Families  bad  dwelt  some  years  a,i;-o."  Only  >rrs.  Spotswood  was  at 
home,  "who  received  her  old  ac(inaintance  with  many  a  gracious 
smile."  "I  was  carried,'"  he  writes,  "into  a  i-oom  elegantly  set  off 
Avith  Pier-Glasses.  *  *  *  A  lirace  of  tame  deer  ran  familiarly 
about  the  house,  and  one  of  ihem  came  to  stare  at  me  as  a  stranger. 
But,  unluckily,  s])ying  his  own  tigure  in  the  glass,  he  made  a  spring 
ovei-  the  Tea-Table  that  stood  under  it  and  shattered  the  glass  to 
pieces,  and.  falling  l»ack  u|)()ii  the  tea-tal)le,  made  a  lei-rifle  Fracas 
among  the  china.  *  *  .But  it  was  worth  all  the  Damage  to  show 
tbe  moderation  and  good  humor  with  wliicli  she  l>ore  this  disaster. 
In  the  evrning  the  noble  Colonel  came  home  from  his  mines,  and 
Mrs.  Spotswood's  sister,  Miss  Theky,  who  had  been  to  meet  him 
en  cavalier:'  The  ne.Kt  day  the  visitor  was  instructed  in  the  mys- 
tery ol'mak'ing  iron,  wherein  Spotswood  had  le<l  the  way.  and  was 
the  Tubal  Cain  of  \'irginia,  being  the  lirst  in  North  America  to 
erect  a  Furnace.  lEowever.  the  Furnace  was  still  great  part  of  the 
time,  and  Spotswood  said  "he  was  i-ightly  served  for  committing 
his  atVairs  to  a  nuithcmatician,  whose  tiioughts  were  always  among 
the  stars."'      Later  in  the  day  there  was  shown  a  marble  Ibuntain, 


43 

"where  Miss  Theky  often  sut  and  bewuyled  lier  virginity" — not 
ineffectually,  since  she  left  descendants.  '"At  night  we  drank  |»i'os- 
perity  to  all  the  Colonel'.s  Projects  in  a  Bowl  of  l^ack  Punch,  and 
then  retired  to  our  devotions."  The  next  night  the  two  Barons 
"quitted  the  threadhare  suhject  of  iron,  and  changed  the  scene  to 
Politics."  S])otswood  said  the  ministry  had  receded  from  their 
di'iiiaiid  upon  New  England  to  raise  a  standing  salary  for  all  suc- 
ceeding Governors,  for  fear  some  curious  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  should  enquire  how  the  money  was  disposed  of  that  had 
been  raised  in  the  otlu-r  .ViiuTicaii  colonies  for  the  Sujiport  of  their 
Governors.  *  *  *  JIc  said  fui  t  her.  (haf  if  t  he  Asscuilily  iu  New 
England  wonld  stand  Plutf.  he  did  not  see  how  they  could  be  forced 
to  raise  ]\[oney  against  their  will.  -■-  '■'•  *  *  Then  the  Colonel 
read  me  a  lecture  upon  Tar,"  i^'c. 

Here  was  a  man  who  a  year  later,  making  a  visit  to  his  planta- 
tion, laid  off  a  tract  at  the  Point  of  Appomattox  to  be  called* 
Petersburg,  and  another  at  Shoccoe's  to  be  called  bMchmond,  sup- 
])ing  with  another  who  had  erected  the  first  furnace  in  America; 
led  the  first  troo]>s  over  the  mountains;  who  ])romoted  l^enjamin 
Franklin  to  be  postmaster  of  J'eiinsylvauia  ;  a  veteran  oi'  Blenheim, 
wounded  in  the  breast  there,  and  atterwards  dying  on  his  way  to 
take  command  in  the  army  against  Carthagena.  Cineas,  had  he 
ste]»|)i'd  in  to  s|)eiid  the  evening,  would  have  bei'u  enibai'i'assed  (o 
tin<l  Tulial  Cain  an<l  Tri]»tolemus  under  the  same  roof  The  whole 
logic  of  the  devolution  was  considei-ed  hy  (hat  host  and  guest,  as 
they  sat  in  the  September  mildness  with  their  feet  undei'  the 
mahogany,  to  teach  us  what  a  thing  it  is  condcre  gentcDi. 

It  is  a  simple  and  a  gi'and  old  day  which  has  come  down  to  us 
tVoin  those  fouinlers  of  common  wealths,  the  l<nightliest  of  that 
!<niuht  1\-  band 

"  AVlio  rode  with  Spotswood  round  the  land, 
And  rode  with  Italcigh  round  the  soa.s ;" 

when  the  jilanier  had  his  own  ca|)ital.  his  own  liirmingham,  liis 
own  standing  army,  his  own  na\igable  river,  and  shipjyed  his 
toliacco  at  his  own  doors;  when,  alter  the  union  of  iMigland  and 
Scotlanil.  the  escutcheon  of  the  Colony  was  quarlerecl  with  the 
arms  of  Mnglaml.  France,  and  Ireland,  crested  by  a  maiden  queen, 
with  the  motto.  ■' Eu  did   \'ir<jinia  qudrtom"  (before  the  union  (jui7l- 


44 

torn);  when  the  Atlantic  ocean  was  the  Virginia  sea  in  Capt.  Smith's 
geography,  and  so  exposed  in  the  highly  ornamented  map  which 
has  come  down  i'rom  him.  with  a  group  of  naked  savages  on  one 
side,  and,  properly  enough,  '■•Honi  soit  qui  mal  y  pen.se"  on  the  othqr. 

One  other  sentence  from  this  old  past,  and  I  am  done.  "Three 
miles  farther,"  writes  Colonel  Byrd  of  his  journey  forward,  "we 
came  to  the  Germanna  road,  where  I  quitted  the  chair  and  con- 
tinued my  journey  on  horseback.  I  rode  eight  miles  together 
over  a  stony  road,  and  had  on  cither  side  continual  poisoned  Fields, 
with  nothing  but  Saplings  growing  on  them."  Jlere  in  1732  is  the 
description  which  serves  us  for  to-day.  The  Lord  of  Westover  is 
gone.  His  l)roa(l  empire  is  gone.  All  that  remains  of  the  most 
accomplished  hand  and  courtly  mind  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
are  these  ])aintings  of  his  pen,  around  which  forever  wantons  the 
the  mei-ry  laughter  of  a  witty  li]),  giving  us  the  best,  if  not  the 
only  picture  of  the  time  and  of  himself  who  almost  was  the  time. 
Triptolemus  and  his  gay  steeds,  with  the  revering  slaves  who  held 
the  stirrup  for  their  lord,  have  scudded  to  tar-otf  lands;  ai'e  clean 
gone  and  scattered  hei'e  as  the  autumn  leaf  they  strode  home  in. 
Tubal  ( 'ain  is  gone.  The  (iolden  Ilorse-Shoer  backed  the  pale 
horse  in  .season,  and  took  his  farewell  ride  doubtless  in  the  old 
knightly  fashion.  Marliiorough's  veteran  has  fought  his  last  tight, 
and,  faithful  son  of  the  church,  we  will  hope  received  his  death 
wound,  too,  in  tlu'  breast.  Spotswood's  ''enchanted  castle."  the 
"gracious  smile"  which  made  it  so,  the  tame  deer  and  the  ])ier- 
glass  through  which  'they  darted  panic  stricken,  as  wiser  animals 
have  l»een  before  and  since  by  a  "counterfeit  presentment,"  are 
nu'ltcd  into  air.  The  (ierman  colony  is  gone.  Their  ruinoua 
tenements  have  ceased  even  to  be  ruinous.  The  marble  fountain 
and  its  virginal  wail  are  gone,  or  at  most  only  the  wail  is  left. 
The  ban(|uets  are  gone.  Xo  tiscul  Motlett,  with  his  monitory  bell- 
punch,  had  been  conceived  in  1732.  and  "the  Bowd  of  Hack  Punch" 
has  left  not  a  rack  behind.  But  those  "poisoned  Fields"  remain. 
They  are  the  baltlc-tields  of  the  AVilderiu'SS,  where  Spotswood's 
descendant  massed  again  the  iron  of  a  people,  leading  another  kind 
of  Ilorse-Shoe  Iv nights,  "red-wat  shod." 

Through  ibis  country  inm  two  priiici])al  ntads,  known  as  the 
Orange  and  Fredericksburg  turnpike  (or  more  commonly  Old  Pike), 
and   south   of  this    the   Orange    and    Fredericksburg   plank-road. 


45 

'iMicse  two  roads,  aliout  the  ])oiiit  of  the  l)attlc-fiel(l,  mm  ncai'ly 
]iai'alK'l.  at  a  ilisiaiicc  varvini^  from  two  miles  and  a  lialf  to  two 
miles  and  a  (|uai'tc'r.  Imt  l»eyond  that  point  eonverge  vevv  ra])idly, 
and  Torm  a  jnnetion  at  the  old  Wilderness  Chnreh,  some  two  miles 
Ihrther  on.  South  of  the  plank-road,  and  diverii;ing  from  it,  where 
the  line  of  battle  ran  on  the  (ith  of  May.  some  three-quarters  of  a 
niilf,  is  the  road-hed  of  the  then  unfinished  Orange  and  Fredcrieks- 
hnrg  railroad.  Crossing  the  two  established  highways,  and  cross- 
ing eaeh  other  so  as  to  make  an  X.  are  the  (Jermanna  ])lank-road 
and  the  liroek  road,  the  former  running  from  (iermanna  Ford  in  a 
southeasterly  direetion.  and  eonstituting,  in  connection  with  the 
latter,  the  direct  road  to  Ivichmon'd  from  (termanna  Ford.  The 
Catharpin  road  intersects  the  "Brock  road  about  eight  miles  south 
of  th^^  plank-road,  at  Todd's  Tavern,  and  connects  willi  the  I'oad 
from  Fly's  Ford  at  Aldrich,  two  miles  southeast  from  ("haucellors- 
viUe. 

Confederate  resistance  in  the  field  meant,  from  the  lieginning.  a 
general's  strategy  and  an  army's  patience  equalizing  unequal  num- 
bers and  resources.  It  meant  the  show  of  troo])s  at  many  ])oints, 
their  rapid  concentration  at  a  few.  even  at  the  expense  of  the 
ex|tosure  of  the  rest.  It  meant  forced  marches,  meagre  e(|ulpment. 
deticient  food  and  forage.  It  meant  this  the  first  yeai'  of  the  war. 
It  mi'aut  it  more  than  ever  in  the  last.  The  greatest  and  Itest 
a]>])ointed  army  of  modern  times,  the  army  which  marched  to 
Moscow,  moving  in  mi<lsummer  thi-ough  the  friendly  country  of 
iiithuania  from  the  Xiemen  to  the  I)wina.  a  distance  of  some  two 
liundred  and  fitly  miles,  in  a  time  which  made  the  average  rate  of 
travrl  less  than  twelve  miles  a  day.  lost  ten  thousand  horses  and 
nearly  one  humlred  thousand  men;  left  a  hundred  and  fifty  guns 
and  live  hundred  caissons  at  Wilna.  and  twenty-five  thousand  sick 
and  living  in  the  hospitals  and  vilages  of  Lithuania.  These  losses, 
the  bulletin  says,  arose  from  "the  uncertainty,  the  (h'stresses,  the 
marches  ami  counti'rmarches  of  the  troops,  their  fatigues  and  suf- 
fei-ances.'  The  want  of  dry  fodder  for  the  horses,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  su])]iorting  them  upon  the  gret'U  ci'O])  which  was  growing 
in  the  fields,  mowed  them  down  in  such  hea])S.  Just  sucli  marches 
and  eounternuirches.  fatigues,  and  sufferings  of  the  troops,  was  the 
price  of  all  Confederate  achievement.  Campaigns  in  the  A'alley, 
battles  ai'ound  Richmond,  sieges  of  Petersburg,  all  depended  upon 


46 

this.  On  the  eve  of  his  long  wrestle  with  Grant,  Lee  had  to  close 
with  forces  not  only  worn  and  torn  l)y  three  bloody  years,  but 
now  pinched  hy  fiuuinc  in  the  ti'ack  ol'  arinies.  a  portion  of  whose 
strategy  was,  as  Sheridan's  correspondent  l)Oasted  of  that  marau- 
der's operations  in  the  Yalley,  "so  to  desolate,  that  a  crow  flying 
over  would  have  to  carry  his  own  rations." 

Three  j^ears  of  such  warfare  had  not  told  exclusively  on  one  side. 
Immigration,  it  is  true,  did  much  to  relieve  recruiting  in  the  North. 
At  the  same  time  tiic  working  classes  Avere  hecoming  dissatislicd, 
and  dimly  perceived  that  the  cost  of  the  struggle  fell  on  them  in 
the  end,  since  they  who  paid  it  recovered  it  in  the  prices  charged 
on  the  necessaries  of  life.  They  felt  that  the  value  of  mouc}'  had 
fallen  more  than  wages  had  risen.  The  financier  who  had  matured 
the  "Moi'i'ill  TarittV  inijjosinga  duty  of  thirty-three  per  cent,  upon 
all  articles  of  Eur()])ean  manufacture,  in  May,  18G4,  proposed  to 
raise  the  same  to  sixty-six  per  cent.,  in  order  to  double  the  duties. 
Chase  had  hitherto  succeeded  in  carrying  on  an  expensive  war,  as 
it  seemed,  without  taxalicm.  lie  had  succeeded  in  manipulating 
trade  into  the  speculation  which  thrives  upon  war.  J^y  building 
u})  a  war  business  upon  and  by  reason  of  the  disorganization  of  all 
other  business,  he  had  created  a  ])ublic  policy  which  owed  its  suc- 
cess to  privati'  demoralization.  The  few  taxes  he  had  laid,  in  the 
main  had  not  been  paid.  TFis  excise  duties  did  not  prove  a  suc- 
cess. Jtis  income-tax  was  fai-  from  realizing  ex])eetations.  Jlis 
main  slay  was  ])aper  money — a  sword  which  was  sure  to  pierce  the 
hand  which  leaned  on  it.  'J'ruly  it  will  be  good  fortune  if  they 
who  drew  that  sword  do  not  perish  by  it.  At  length  he  had 
announced  that  five  hundred  million  dollars  a  year,  which  he 
deemed  a  trifle,  must  be  I'aised  fr<jm  the  pockets  of  the  peoj)le. 
"If,"  he  said,  ''the  war  were  closed  in  18G5.  the  whole  debt  now 
and  to  lie  incun-ed  would  be  paid  otf  in  ten  years.  Let  us  luive 
loans  and  taxes  and  incivase  the  ])ayof  the  soldiers.  With  the 
dash  of  a  genei-al  who  never  fails,  we  must  anticipate  crushing 
results  to  the  enemy:  ami  with  military  success  wc  shall  be  vic- 
torious over  all  ills."  Here  was  a  Treasurer  as  spendthrift  of 
money  as  the  Lieutcnant-General  was  of  men.  With  such  fiscal 
ability  in  the  (Jabinet  and  (Ji-ant's  "attrition"  in  the  field  the 
cause  of  the  South  was  not  quite  hopeless.  Hy  the  husbandry  of 
her  own  men  and  means  she  mifrht  still  hold  out. 


47 

In  1864  six  per  cent,  gold-bearing  bonds  brought  only  fiftj'  per 
cent,  in  gold.  "  We  will  put  forth  one  more  effort,"  said  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  "to  lift  our  sinking  credit  by  the  hair  of  its  head  from  the 
sea  of  l»anl<ru])lcy." 

At  the  opening  of  this  campaign  the  Southern  prospect  was 
sufficiently  cheering  to  men  accustomed  to  peril.  The  two  great 
armies  of  attack'  were  opposed  in  the  East  and  the  West  by  armies 
of  defence,  both  determined  to  dispute,  and  one  not  unable  to 
become  an  army  of  offence  and  even  of  invasion.  In  Louisiana, 
on  the  8th  of  Api-il.  TKud<s  had  been  defeated  and  stampeded  at 
Mansfield  by  General  Taylor.  There  followed  a  second  encounter 
between  the  same  Generals  on  the  0th,  wherein  the  Northern 
papers  claimed  a  victor)',  which,  they  saiil,  "was  marred  by  an 
order  from  Banks  to  retreat."  This  order,  if  it  was  given,  was  so 
excessively  complied  wilh  as  to  result  in  a  tlighl  in  which  the 
wounded  were  atiandoned.  About  the  same  time  Cieneral  Forrest 
made  repeated  and  successful  attacks  upon  the  posts  of  the  enemy 
on  the  Mississippi.  Wilh  no  ordinary  feeling,  I  make  this  jiassing 
allusion  to  one  who  can  never  hear  it.  I'o-night  resolutions  are 
read  to  you  in  commemoration  of  his  life  and  servicers.  The  bold 
rider  is  down;  the  swift  sabre  is  (|uenched.  The  grey  uniform 
which  in  life  he  covered  with  honor  now  covers  the  trooper  in  his 
grave  also  with  honor.  Ue  lies,  as  it  were,  wrapt  in  his  own  valor. 
In  the  east,  General  Iloke,  who  ha<l  been  delache<i  from  (Jenci-al 
Lee's  army  for  the  purpose,  had  caijlured  the  town  of  Plyn\oulli 
in  North  Carolina,  and  a  Confederate  ram  had  sunk  tliree  iron- 
clads in  Roanoke  Sound.  In  addition,  a  new  line  of  supplies  had 
})cen  opened  Just  as  all  the  old  ones  were  closing.  The  New 
Orleans  custom-house  drove  a  tratlic  in  ••permits,"'  under  which 
goods  were  conveyed,  at  a  cost  of  about  one-third  the  invoice  of 
the  goods,  into  the  Confederate  lines.  Ordinarily  the  worst  charge 
vou  can  bring  against  an  officer  of  government  is  to  say  that  he 
cooperates  with  those  who  mak'e  money  by  jobbing  in  tlie  public 
funds.  In  a  most  pernicious  way  he  gives  '"'aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy."  But  this  New  Orleans  lousiness  heaped  coals  of  tire  on 
his  lieail  with  the  face  Avhich  "good  men  wear  who  have  done  a 
virtuous  action." 

But  though  such  gleams  of  advantage — to  longing  minds,  which 
clutched  at  gleams  as  drowning  men  at  straws — did   brighten   the 


48 

sky,  the  sky  was  not  a  bright  one.  Dr.  ^rahan,  in  his  History  of 
the  War.  states  that  ■'according  to  official  recoixls  moi*c  than  t\vo 
million  six  hundred  tliousand  men  entered  the  Union  armies  during 
the  progress  of  the  war,"  and  that  ''upwards  of  one  million  men 
were  mustered  out  of  service  at  the  close  of  the  war."  Consider- 
ing the  fact  that  "the  numlier  of  tiie  white  population  of  the  eleven 
States  which  entered  into  the  Ivebellion  was,  according  to  the  cen- 
siis.  less  than  three  million  males,'"  his  com])utation  is  that,  out  of 
such  a  population,  not  more  than  six  hundred  thousand  men  coidd 
have  been  drawn  from  lirst  to  last,  and  that  such  a  population 
could  not  have  equipped  and  kept  in  the  field  an  eflf'ective  Ibrce  of 
more  than  two  hundred  thousand;  nor  does  he  forget  that  it  was 
only  in  the  early  part  of  the  war  that  men  or  provisions  could  be 
counted  on  from  Tennessee  and  Ai'kansas;  and  not  even  then  from 
West  \'irginia.  "Undeniably,"  he  says,  "the  Union  annies  out- 
numbered those  of  the  Confederacy,  in  all  cases  as  two,  commonly 
as  three,  and  during  the  entire  pei'iod  that  General  Grant  was  our 
Commandei'-in-Chief,  as  four  to  one."  The  report  ol  Secretary  Stan- 
ton siiows  that  on  May  1st,  180-4,  the  aggregate  military  force  of 
all  arms  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  numberod  nine  hun- 
dred and  seventy  tliousand  seven  hundred  and  ten  men,  and  that 
on  May  1,  1801,  there  was  an  available  foree  present  for  duty  of 
six  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  three  hundretl  and  forty-rive, 
and  that  of  these,  tlicj-e  were  on  that(hiy  under  Grant  one  hundred 
and  forty-one  tliousand  one  hundred  and  sixty  othcors  and  men; 
in  the  neighl'oring  departments  of  Washington,  Vii-ginia,  Xorth 
Cai'oHna,  AVest  Virginia,  and  the  middle  department  at  Baltimore, 
an  additional  ibrce  of  137,072  men.  which  Grant  could  draw  upon 
for  his  ojjerations  in  Virginia.  In  the  meantime  the  draft  was 
enforced,  volunteering  stimulated  !)}'•  high  bounties,  and  in  the 
Xorthwest  hundred  days'  troops  ordered  out  to  relieve  the  troops 
on  garrison  and  local  duty  and  send  them  to  the  front.  Orders 
were  given  for  the  movement  of  all  the  annies  not  later  than  the 
fourth  of  May.  Grant's  thous;uuls  slnu-k  their  tents  on  the  night 
of  the  third. 

Lee's  letters  on  the  threshold  of  this  eainpaign  are  the  letters  of 
one  in  straits.  ()ii  the  8th  of  March  we  tind  him  writing  to  Long- 
street,  then  in  blast  Tennessee,  that  it  is  simply  impossible  for  him 
to  recruit  the  command  of  the  latter  without  stripping  all  others; 


49 

and  if  horses  could  be  obtained  I'or  Ijongstrcct,  where  is  forage  to 
come  from?  There  is .  none  to  l)e  had  nearer  than  Georgia.  It 
cannot  be  furnished  by  the  railroa(h  Xo,  the  best  thing  were  for 
Ijongstreet  and  Johnston  to  nialce  a  combined  movement  into 
Mi(hlle  Tennessee,  where  forage  and  ])rovisions  can  be  had,  cut  the 
ai'mies  at  Chattanooga  and  l\noxviIle  in  two,  draw  tlicm  from 
these  points,  and  strilce  at  tlieni  m  succession  as  opportunity  offers. 
Again  and  again  Lee  returns  to  tliis. 

Hut  if  ibis  is  not  practicable,  then  every  preparation  should  be 
made  to  meet  the  appproaching  storm  which  will  burst  upon  Vir- 
ginia. Accumulate  supplies  at  iiichniond,  oi-  at  points  convenient, 
as  last  as  jiossible.  Notify  Beauregard  of  the  transfer  of  troops 
trom  Charleston  and  Fortress  Monroe.  We  shall  have  to  glean 
ti'oops  trom  ever}'  ([uarter.  All  pleasure  travel  (think  of  it  at  such 
a  time)  should  cease:  everything  l)e  devoted  to  necessary  wants. 
IJeinforcc  Johnston  from  Polk,  Mobile,  and  Eeaurcgard.  Tell 
liongstreet  to  come  to  mc;  throw  his  corps  rapidly  into  the  Valley, 
to  counteract  any  movement  of  the  enemy  in  tliat  quarter,  and  be 
where  he  can  unite  with  me,  or  I  with  him,  as  circumstances 
require.  ''Forward  IFoke's  command.''  be  writes  Pickett,  "the 
enemy  will  advance  as  soon  as  the  roads  will  permit.''  Tmboden 
and  Breckinridge,  in  the  A^illey,  must  be  ]M'e])ared  to  cross  the 
Blue  Pidge  at  a  moment's  notice. 

We  know  how  Breckinridge  did  afterwards,  like  the  young  and 
old  lion,  sweep  the  valley,  and  then  bound  over  the  mountains,  to 
the  side  of  Jjce,  his  true  place.  On  April  12th  Lee  writes  to  the 
Pi'esident:  ''\My  anxiety  on  the  subject  of  ])rovisions  is  so  great 
that  T  cannot  rafrain  from  expivssing  it  to  your  Fxcellenc}'."  On 
the  ITith  he  would  draw  Longstrcet  and  Pickett  to  him,  and  "move 
right  against  the  enemy  on  tlie  lvai)pahannock.  *  *  *  But  to 
make  this  move  T  must  have  jn-ovisions  and  forage.  T  am  not  yet 
able  to  call  lo  me  the  cavalry  or  artillery."  On  the  22d  Long- 
street  has  reached  Cobham  from  Fast  Tennessee.  On  the  29th  he 
writes:  ••!  shall  lie  too  weak  to  ojipose  Meade's  ami}'  without 
jloke's  and  Johnston's  brigades."  On  the  30th  scouts  report  that 
Meade's  pontoon  trains  have  advanced  south  of  the  Pappahannock. 
One  other  little  sentence  has  a  touch  of  pathos  in  the  sheer  sim- 
]»li(ity  with  which  it  joins  events.  "The  grass  is  springing  now," 
Lee  wrote  on  the  2Sth  of  April,  '-and  I  am  di-awing  the  cavalry 
and  artillerv  near  to  me." 


50 

In  this  correspondence,  thus  hastily  glanced  at,  is  given  the 
outline  of  an  army's  urgency;  the  wide  compass  of  its  Avatch  at 
the  instant  the  enemy  had  couched  his  spear;  the  need  to  decide 
quickly  and  surely  ujjon  ditlerent  lines  of  operations  and  prohabili- 
ties  of  attack;  to  concentrate  in  an  instant  upon  the  decisive 
points  of  a  theatre  of  war;  to  fall  with  the  whole  weight  of  a 
smaller  army  ujjon  fractions  of  a  larger  one  wherever  they  were 
exposed,  which,  to  he  done  with  the  destructiveness  of  lightning, 
had  to  he  done  with  the  rajudity  as  well.  A  good  general  will 
always  say  to  his  troops,  as  Napoleon  did:  •■  I  would  rather  gain 
victory  at  the  ex])ense  of  your  legs  than  at  the  price  of  your 
blood."  Here  was  an  army,  whose  ti'ans])oi-tation  alarmingly 
prognosticated  the  spavined  state,  which  had  to  make  up  in  velocity 
what  it  wanted  in  weight. 

Horace  Walpole  tells  one  of  his  funu}-  stories  of  a  General  of  the 
Duke  of  Marlborough,  at  a  dinner  with  the  Lord  ^fayor.  An  imposing, 
keenly-speculative  alderman,  who  sat  next  to  the  General,  addressed 
him  with  '-Sir,  yours  must  be  a  very  laborious  profession."  "O, 
no."  replied  the  General,  '"we  tight  about  four  hours  in  the  morn- 
inir,  and  two  or  three  after  dinner,  and  then  we  have  all  the  rest 
of  the  day  to  ourselves."  But  this  ai»surdity  came  near  to  being 
the  fact  of  a  tight  now  approaching,  ushered  in  in  May  and  ushered 
out  in  April  following.  Our  season  of  rest,  our  long  hybernation 
was  over,  leaving  us  anything  luit  replenished.  General  Heth 
has  stated,  in  a  late  communication  to  the  Philadelphia  Weekly 
Times,  that  at  this  period  (in  1804).  "the  ration  of  a  general  offi- 
cer was  double  that  of  a  private,  and  so  meagre  was  that  double 
supply,  that  frequently  to  appease  my  hunger  I  robbed  my  horse. 
*****  What  must  have  been  the  condition  of  the 
private ?■■ — a  problem  vastly  ]ileasanter  to  pr()j)ound  now  than  to 
solve  then. 

But  on  the  28th  of  A])ril  the  grass  was  springing.  Nature  was 
recruiting.  iShe  too  must  be  ])ressed  into  the  ranks.  Her  ways  of 
pleasantness  and  jiaths  of  peace,  sweet  as  ever,  were  announcing 
then,  that  the  seed-corn  of  a  peo})le  was  ri])e  for  the  harvest  of 
death,  where  men  were  to  fail  like  grain.  Her  robe  of  increase 
was  to  l»e  our  martial  cloak.  In  that  lair  springtime  man  seemed 
to  say  to  nature:  •Thou  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease;  a 
material  world  become  more  and  more  in  this  new  era,  the  higher 
and   nobler  less  and  less."     The  notes  and   shapes  ^of  spring  had 


51 

come  ai^ain;  tho  hirds  were  blitho  as  ever  in  the  bi-anehes;  the 
skies  were  beiulinii;  witli  old-time  kindness  overhead  ;  the  Idue  hills 
of  Yir!j;inia,  to  the  slopes  of  which  her  army  sti'ctched,  stood  in 
their  rampart  stroni^  and  beautiful  as  ever.  Spring-,  fresh-tinted, 
was  glittering  once  more  where,  so  tragically,  all  that  glittered 
was  not  gold.  Nature  Avas  preaching  peace  and  peaceful  increase 
on  the  Eapidan.  as  elsewhere,  when  there  was  no  peace  there  in 
the  throat  of  war.  And  so  General  Lee  drew  the  cavaliy  and 
artilleiw  near  to  him.  since  the  grass  was  sj^ringing.  on  the  28th  of 
April.  ' 

Mr.  Swinton  has  stated — no  doubt  with  his  habitual  fidelity  to 
the  means  of  infoi-mation  in  his  reach — that  ''Jjee's  army,  at  this 
time,  numbered  52,02(1  men  of  all  arms" — a  statement  derived 
from  the  monthly  returns  of  the  Army  of  Northern  A'ii-ginia.  now 
in  the  Archive  Office  at  Washington.  General  Early  is  satisfied 
that  General  Lee's  army  did  not  exceed  50,(100  effective  men  of  all 
arms.  General  Lee  has  himself  stated  (page  208  of  Personal 
l^eminisccnces)  that  the  number  of  cflFective  men  under  his  com- 
mand on  May  4th,  1804,  of  all  arms,  was  between  forty-five  and 
fifty  thousand.  His  right,  under  Ewell.  extended  to  the  mouth  of 
Mine  Run;  the  left,  under  Hill,  to  Liberty  Mills.  Two  divisions 
of  Longstreet  were  encamped  in  the  rear  near  Gordonsville.  The 
othei-  division,  under  Pick-ett.  which  had  not  accompanied  the 
corps  commander  to  the  West,  had  been  and  continued  to  be 
retained  near  Pichmond.  The  brigade  of  Hoke  was  absent.  That 
of  IJ.  h.  .iobnston  arrived  just  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  tight  of 
the  second  day. 

This  army  had  now  to  deal  with  a  General  who  proposed  to  meet 
the  danger  of  defeat  in  detail  l>y  the  altogether  simjjle  ex])edient  of 
having  more  troops  everywhere  than  the  Confederates  had  any- 
where, (a  ])laii  so  simjile,  that  the  moment  a  mjin  of  genius  men- 
tioned it,  every  other  must  have  felt  mortified  at  not  having 
thought  of  it  himself.)  and  whose  generalshiji  was,  in  his  own 
sober  second  thought,  composed  after  the  event,  ''to  hammer  con- 
tinuously against  the  armed  force  of  the  enemy  and  his  irsources. 
until  by  mere  attrition,  if  in  no  other  way,  there  should  be  nothing 
lett  to  him  but  an  equal  submission,"  ttc.  Xot  a  bad  way,  perhaps 
the  only  way.  to  coiupier  freemen,  this  of  "wearing  them  out  by 
attrition."  this  of  dashing  superior  numbers  in  wave  after  wave 
upon  freedom"s  living  wall,  until   the  last  foe   has   been  slain,  and 


52 

the  dashing  troops  can  hear  no  sound  "save  their  own  dashings." 
If  in  no  other  way  it  can  he  done,  then  in  tliis  one  way  it  must  be 
done,  until  there  be  ''nothing  left  to  him."  Grant  certainly  was 
of  this  o])inion,  for  when  his  lieutenant  suggested  to  him  that  ho 
might  su]>]^lement  the  programme  with  a  little  manoeuvring,  he 
replied,  'I  nevei- mameuvre." 

Credit  must  be  given  Grant  for  his  turn  for  keeping  his  own 
counsel.  He  did  not  succeed  in  preventing  his  plans  from  cross- 
ing to  General  Lee  the  moment  they  were  known  (Ictinilely  to 
hiinHclf,  Init  he  did  succeed,  as  none  of  his  predecessors  had  done, 
in  kee])ing  them  from  his  own  army  correspondents.  It  was 
not  until  long  alter  this  that  Wendell  I'hillips  sai<l  of  him:  "As 
in  the  case  of  another  aninud.  we  took  him  for  a  lion  until  we 
heard  his  voice."  A  valuable  faculty  this  of  reticence.  He  who 
is  incapable  of  this  is  incapable  of  everything.  ITo  who  has  it, 
though  he  has  nothing  else,  is  capable  of  something.  One  of 
the  very  ablest  things  Grant  ever  did  was  for  some  years  to  lock 
his  jaws  over  his  tongue.  The  frothy  effervescence  which  has 
no  other  use  lor  the  events  of  life  than  to  gossip  of  them,  igno- 
rant how  to  ])rofit  by  them,  having  no  faith  in  the  sway  of  a 
])()tency  which  has  not  been  well  advei'tised  and  so  pi'operly  ap])re- 
ciated ;  to  which,  therefore,  nothing  in  the  breast  is  loo  deep, 
nothing  too  sacred  lor  publication,  l)ut  the  whole  of  life  to  shine 
in  re|)orts,  ejiigrams,  and  good  society,  making  commonplace 
plausilde  by  tropes — this,  there  is  evcr}^  reason  to  believe,  is  a 
legion  of  the  carjiet-knight  variety,  as  such  more  formidable  in 
the  ])arlor  than  the  field;  save  when  United  Slates  bayonets  turn 
it  into  the  carpet-bag  varit'ty,  whose  cuckoo-s])it  has  the  force  of 
law,  the  ])op|)y-cake  which  has  exuded  from  incisions  in  a  Coni- 
monwi'alth.  Loquacity  does  not  fight  liattles,  still  less  does  it  win 
them.  'I'o  the  thin  va])idity  of  skin-depth,  glibness  is  almost  a  neces- 
sity. The  signs  are,  latterly,  that  Grant's  silence  is  but  skin-deep; 
which  again,  in  his  case,  is  no  oi'dinary  thick'uess.  Frederick  the 
(ireat  said  tlwU  if  Ids  night-cap  knew  what  was  in  his  head,  he  would 
thi'ow  it  into  tlif  lirr.  Grant,  doubtless,  had  loss  dilliculty  in  keep- 
ing his  night-cap  from  being  surprised.  Many  a  tinu'.  in  the  cam- 
paign "on  that  lino  if  it  look"  all  the  sninnier,"  which  by  several 
lines  was  conducted  to  the  following  s])ring,  he  must  have  felt 
himself  in  the  condition  of  Napoleon,  when  he  wrote  to  his  brother 


53 

Joseph:  ■•  Voii  will  so  iiiaimiio  lliat  (ho  Spaniards  will  not  susjK'fl 
the  e(nirsc'  I  intend  to  pursue.  This  will  not  be  difficult,  for  I  liavc 
not  fixed  upon  it  myself."  The  whole  hammering  and  attrition 
<trata<;-eni  of  massing  so  man^'  troops  that  before  the  enemy  could 
kill  them  all  he  would  be  killed  himself  with  which  Grant  Is  now 
known  to  have  advanced  from  ('ul])cper  Courthouse,  enjoys  the 
advantage  of  having  been  definitely  proclaimed  for  the  first  time 
on  the  22(1  of  , I ul}*,  1865,  when,  on  no  other  rational  hypothesis, 
could  Grant's  series  of  re])ulses  be  wrought  into  a  consistent 
scheme  of  victory.  This  is  far  the  most  infallible  way  both  to 
])rejiare  and  to  predict.  In  his  military  life  (irant  was  a  rcsei'ved, 
silent  man,  and  deservedly  owed  much  to  that. 

With  such  a  masterpiece  of  strategy  to  relieve  his  brain  of,  after 
some  hesitation  as  to  whether  he  would  cross  the  I{a|)idan  above 
Lee's  left  or  below  his  right,  the  Ijieutenant-General  decided  on 
the  latter,  which  he  l»elieved  would  foi'ce  Lee  back  to  TJiclimond. 
As  late  as  the  2d  of  May  Field's  division  of  Longstreet's  corps  liad 
been  ordered  to  the  north  of  Gordonsville,  to  meet  an  expected 
advance  of  the  enemy  by  way  of  Lil)ert3^  Mills.  (3ne  may  easily 
speculate  as  to  what  might  have  been  the  result  to  that  "Grand 
Army."  if  it  lia<l  dai-ed  to  try  a  flank,  which  for  once  would'  have 
separated  it  from  gun-l)oats  and  naxigable  rivers.  But,  more 
judicioush',  Germanna  Ford,  which  was  some  ten  oi  twelve  miles 
'below  our  right,  was  seized  on  the  night  of  the  3d  of  May,  and 
under  starlight  of  the  4th  Grant  moved  for  the  lower  fords. 

The  reorganized  Army  of  tlie  Potomac  consisted  of  the  Second, 
Filth,  and  Sixth  corps,  under  Hancock,  "Warren,  and  Sedgwick, 
respectively,  who  reported  immediately  to  General  Meade.  Bach 
corps  consisted  of  four  divisions.  The  cavalry,  nuinberinij  over 
ten  thousaml  sabres,  had  l)een  placed  under  Sheridan.  I'he  Ninth 
corps,  under  Burnside,  i-ej^orted  immediately  to  (irant,  and  also 
compi'ised  four  divisions. 

Under  the  soft  light  of  the  stars,  bi'ight  glancing  from  the  arms 
of  a  ho>t  cnimtless  as  the  stars,  the  Grand  Army  is  launched  into 
the  night.  Deep  in  the  sands  of  the  l\a])idan  is  the  heav}'  tramp 
of  two  columns,  as  the  sands  fornumlter.  Ah!  in  that  deep  night 
into  whi(di  they  march  what  dreams  may  come!  into  that  deep 
silence  what  a  roar  burst!  and  those  ln'aveidy  fires,  soft-glancing 
now  in  the  great  deep,  like  light-house  lamps,  be  the  last  bright 
thing  which  many  a  shipwrecked  man  shall  see! 


64 

lUirnside's  orders  were  to  hold  C'lilpcpcr  Courthouse  I'or  twenty- 
four  lioui's,  tuid  then  follow  the  other  corps.  The  morning  of  tho 
5th  found  CJrant  with  a  hundred  thousand  men  across  the  liapidan, 
and  nearer  to  Jiichmond  than  Lee,  on  the  direct  road  from  Ger- 
manna  l"\)rd. 

Meade's  orders  for  Ma}'  5th,  1804,  were  for  Sheridan  to  move 
with  Gregg-'s  and  Torbert's  divisions  against  the  Confederate 
cavalry,  in  the  direction  of  Hamilton's  Crossing:  Wilson,  with  the 
Third  cavalry  division,  to  move  at  5  A.  yi.  to  Craig's  Meeting- 
Itouse,  on  the  Catharpin  Uoad ;  Hancock,  at  the  same  hour,  to 
take  up  his  line  of  march  for  Shady  Grove  Church  (on  the  Cathar- 
pin), and  extend  his  right  towards  the  Fiith  corps,  at  Parker's 
Store;  Warren  is  simultaneously  to  head  for  this  same  Parker's 
Store,  on  the  Plank  Poad,  and  extend  his  right  towards  the  Sixth 
corps  at  Old  Wilderness  Tavern.  To  the  last-mentioned  point 
Sedgwick  is  to  move  so  soon  as  the  road  is  clear.  Shady  Grove 
Chundi  is  two  miles  east  of  a  road  which  connects  the  Catharpin 
with  the  Plank  Poad  at  Parker's  Store.  Alter  first  throwing  out 
Griffin's  division  to  the  west  on  the  Turnpike  to  protect  Sedgwick, 
who  was  to  come  tip  after  him  on  the  morning  of  the  5th,  Warren 
pointed  his  van  in  conformity  to  orders.  But  as  Crawford,  whoso 
division  was  leading,  approached  the  Store,  he  met  the  cavalry  retreat- 
ing hi'fore  a  hostile  column  which  was  pressing  down  the  Plaid-c  Poad. 
in  the  mcanlime  Ci'itlin  rej)orted  a  Confederate  force  on  the  Turn- 
])ike.  This  was  al>out  8  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Grant  and  Meade 
were  riding  and  pleasantly  chatling  with  their  staff  officers,  on  the 
road  to  Old  Wilderness  Tavern,  when  a  message  to  this  effect  was 
receiveil.  .\n  hour  later  Meade  was  saying  to  AVarren :  ''The 
enemy  have  left  a  division  to  fool  us  here,  while  they  concentrate 
and  ])i'epare  a  position  towai'ds  the  North  Anna:  and  what  1  want 
is  to  j)revent  those  fellows  from  getting  hack  to  Mine  JJun."  Meade 
luid  been  there  once  before  '-with  those  i'ellows,"  and  knew  how  it 
was.  Orders  were,  therelore,  given  to  Wari'en  "to  brush  away  or 
capture  the  I'orcc  in  his  front."  l)Ut  Warren  had  stumbled  on  some 
other  game  than  a  fox  which  had  lakc'n  to  the  covei'.  Lee  had 
fallen  back  in  the  wrong  dii-ection.  He  had  i-i'trcated  noi'th. 
Moivf)ver,  he  was  not  "fooling."'  His  broad-shoulderetl  dead-lift 
intended  the  opposite.  He  meant  a  strain  "from  spur  to  plume." 
lie  was  rushing,  fast  as  spavineil  transportation  could   carry  him, 


55 

to  seize  his  antai!;oiiist  l>y  the  tlivoat;  and  llie  hand,  whicli  was 
raiseil  to  hrnsli  hiin  away,  fell  shattered. 

Most  childiH'n  have  Inini;-  with  (leli<i:ht  over  that  wondei-f'ul 
shrewdness  of  William  Wallaee,  who,  when  he  was  on  one  side  of 
the  rivcT  Forth,  and  the  Karl  of  Warren  on  the  other*,  dared  the 
latter  to  cross ;  and  who,  when  the  Warren  of  that  day,  contrary 
to  his  own  judgment,  was  pnshed  into  doino-  ^o  hy  Cressingham 
the  Treasurer,  coolly  waited  nntil  one-half  of  the  English  had 
crossed  the  bridge,  and  then,  charging  with  liis  whole  army, 
rontt'd  the  Earl,  lUit  in  niodeiMi  times,  with  or  withont  bridges, 
rivers  are  no  insuperable  barrier.  The  Danube  was  the  beast  of 
burden  on  which,  m  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  the 
Turk  penetrated  to  Vienna;  but  it  has  not  savt'd  him  trem  inva- 
sions since.  It  is  navigable  as  far  as  Ulm,  and  along  its  navigable 
length  varies  in  width  from  seven  hundred  and  sixty  to  u])wards 
of  two  thousanil  yards,  and  so  varies  in  depth  in  the  course  of 
twenty-four  hours  as  to  battle  the  ])ilots  of  its  steamers,  l>ut  at 
Wagram,  between  the  hours  of  '.'>  and  (!  in  tlie  morning,  Xapoleon 
crossed  from  the  southern  to  the  noi'thern  bank  with  an  army  of 
150,000  infantry,  30.000  cavalry,  and  (iOO  pieces  of  artillery,  while 
the  Archduke  Charles  was  furiously  (as  he  su])poscd)  repulsing 
him  above.  The  modern  invader  has  a  ])oi'table  in-idge.  whi(di  he 
can  throw  down,  at  whatever  ]KMnt  of  crossing  he  may  clioose,  and 
then,  by  concentrating  a  sutflcient  weiglit  of  metal  at  that  point, 
can  render  it  inipossiltle  to  dispute  etfectively  his  passage.  Accord- 
ingly, at  the  First  Battle  of  Fredericksburg,  and  afterwards,  (Jen- 
eral  Lee  (diose  rather  to  select  positions,  with  a  view  to  resist  the 
advance  of  the  enemy,  than  incur  the  loss  which  wotdd  attend  an 
attem])t  to  prevent  his  crossnig. 

On  May  8d  it  was  known  that  the  Xorllu'rn  ai'inv  was  about  to 
al)andon  its  wintei-  (piarters  and  move  as  it  did.  Orders  were 
issued  that  day  to  the  troo])S  to  be  prepared  with  three  days' 
cooked  rations  (which  a  s])ecial  Providence  gave  them  to  prepare), 
and  (irant  iiad  hardly  begun  to  march  befoi-e  Lee  began  his  coun- 
termarch. Signal  tires  blazing  southward  from  Clarke's  Moun- 
tain beat  the  wardrum  of  that  long  roll,  not  in  sound,  but  in  light. 
The  scene  survives  with  especial  vividness  m  m\-  memory,  because 
the  battery  of  whicli  I  was  a  member,  and  whi(di  during  the  win- 
ter had  been  on   picket,  suddenly  marched  out  and   halted  on  the 


66 

Bide  of  the  road,  i^rcetcd  in  succession  the  hurrying  commands 
while  waiting  for  its  own  to  arrive.  It  was  an  army  of  comrades 
which  was  marching  there,  where  each  command  had  familiar 
faces  for  each  other.  Playmates  of  boyhood,  schoolmates  of  peace, 
host  and  guest  of  other  days,  recognized  one  another,  and  brothers 
and  old  friends  shook  hands  once  more  to  shake  hands  no  more  on 
earth.  We  were  marching  that  morning  to  tight  for  freedom 
and  society.  To  fight  on  the  side  of  the  true  cause  of  luaukind 
we  were  marching  there;  against  the  rage  of  untried  speculation; 
against  invasion  to  subvert  the  frame  and  order  of  a  common- 
wealth, 1>}'  the  corruption  of  the  lowei-  with  the  spoliation  of  the 
higher;  against  invasion,  which  was  none  the  less  vindictive  that 
it  named  itself  friendship  for  the  human  race.  We  were  the  few 
against  the  many,  and  we  knew  it  as  we  inarched  that  morning — 
happy  that  we,  too,  were  to  be  seen  in  honor's  ranks — "we  few, 
we  happy  few,  we  band  of  brothers."  The  cheer  which  rang  out, 
the  historic  rebel  cheer,  Avas  no  longer  the  cheer  of  sanguine  invin- 
cibility which  echoed  for  the  last  time  on  the  slopes  of  Cemetery 
Hill,  hut  something  which  went  deeper — a  3'ell  of  defiance  from 
men  who  had  cause  to  fear,  and  for  tiiemsclves  defied  the  worst. 

Leaving  lOarly's  division  and  Kamseur's  brigade  to  watch  the  fords 
of  the  Ivapidan,  Ewell,  whose  corps  consisted  of  lOarly,  Johnson,  and 
liodes  (in  all  14,000  men,  Early  says),  crossed  Mine  JJun.  moving  on 
the  Orange  and  Fredericksburg  Turnpike,  and  camped  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  4th  at  Locust  Grove,  about  five  miles  west  of  Old 
Wilderness  Tavern.  At  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  Grant  was  count- 
ing that  the  orders  which  had  been  given  would  carry  his  army 
clear  across  the  Wilderness  by  the  evening  of  the  5th.  At  that 
very  instant,  Lee's  left  liand  was  feeling  tlirough  the  jungle  I'or  the 
collar  of  his  adversary,  while  his  right  was  lilted  to  deal  his  heav- 
iest blow.  Jleth  and  Wilcox  moved  down  the  Plank  Poa<l  and 
bivouacked  the  evening  of  tiie  4th,  lleth  at  Mine  Hun  and  Wilcox 
at  Vidiersville.  These  two  divisions  numbered  at  the  utmost 
fourteen  thousand  men.  Anderson's  division  of  HiU's  cor])s  was 
left  at  Orange  Courthouse  to  protect  oui-  ti'ains  and  secure  our 
rear,  with  instructions,  as  soon  as  it  was  ascertained  there  would 
bo  no  movement  on  the  ])art  of  the  enemy  in  the  direction  of  the 
Courthouse,  to  Join  the  corps.  Longstreet  niai'cliing  from  (Jor- 
donsville,  was  put  in  motion  on  a  road  which  led  into  the  Catharpin. 


57 

On  the  IGth  of  April,  Lee  had  written  to  General  Bragg,  "The 
hrigades  in  motion  with  General  Longstreet  "will  amount  to  about 
9.0(Ht  men."'  The  head  of  Ewell's  eolumn  had  advanced  rather  more 
than  half  the  distance  from  Locust  Grove  to  Old  Wilderness  Tavern, 
and  was  just  in  advance  of  the  point  where  a  road  diverges  to  the 
Gcrmanna  Ford  road,  when  the  enemy,  in  heavy  force,  was  encoun- 
tered. It  was  Wan-en  and  his  hrush.  On  the  side  of  Ewell, 
Jones'  brigade  of  Johnson's  division  and  Battle's  brigade  of  Rodes' 
division  received  the  attack  of  these  troops,  and  were  driven  back 
in  confusion  by  it.  '^fhe  Second  Vu-ginia  brigade  was  broken  and 
Jones  himself  killetl  in  endeavoring  to  rally  it — '-the  gallant  J.  M. 
Jones."  as  General  Lee  called  him  in  his  dis])atch — who,  together 
with  his  aide.  Lieutenant  I'larly.  prefei'red  death  to  retreat  in  that 
supreme  emergeiuy.  The  brigade  had  lieen  placed  on  the  crest  of 
a  gentle  slope,  its  right  resting  on  the  Turn])d\'e;  Battle  supported 
it  on  the  right — both  swept  away.  This  was  Hwell's  van.  all  that 
had  come  up.  which  Avas  faring  thus  l)adly. 

Of  the  tive  brigades  composing  Eodes'  division — Battle's,  Doles', 
Ivamsciir's.  Daniel's,  and  IJ.  D.  Johnston's — the  hitli'r  had  been 
sent  to  Jlanover  Junction,  some  time  before,  to  prevent  a  cavahy 
raid,  and  was  still  absent.  Hamseur  had  been  on  picket  at  Mor- 
ton's Ford,  and  had  not  yet  rejoined  his  command.  Battle  had 
just  given  way;  but  the  brigades  of  Daniel  and  Doles  immediately 
formed,  and  dashed  with  such  vigor  on  the  enemy,  as  to  arrest  and 
for  the  moment  stagger  him.  with  an  unexpected  blow.  I'^well, 
riding  liack  to  hurry  up  his  troo]»s.  one-legged  as  he  was,  fairly 
rose  in  liis  stirru]is  as  he  met  Gordon  riding  ahead  on  his  black 
charger,  and  knew  tlial  Farly,  the  stout  old  IJoman.  was  behind. 
"The  fate  ol"  the  army  depends  on  you.  General  Gordon,''  he  said. 
Gordon  is  said  to  have  rei)lieil.  -'We  will  save  the  day."  or  words 
to  that  elfect :  but.  what  is  of  moi\'  im])ortance.  in  acts  to  that 
eil'ect  he  did  give  such  a  reply.  I'^iling  to  the  lett  in  the  jiine 
thiekel,  he  lialted,  I'ronted,  and  le(l  a  counter  charge,  which,  in 
conjunction  witli  Daniel  and  Doles,  broke  through  the  enem^-'s 
a<lvancing  line,  and  Gordon  swe])t  to  the  rear.  The  fight  was  thus 
proceeding  when  IJamseur  came  up.  and  the  right  being  extended 
by(iordon  ami  himself,  an  advance  was  made  and  Warren  was 
forced  back  at  all  points.  Ayres'  brigade  of  regulars,  on  the  right 
of   Grittin,   (who    had  formed    across  the  turnpike)   was    driven 


58 

back  by  our  left,  oariyiiii^  Burtletts  brigade  with  it,  and  leaving 
two  guns  which  had  been  advanced  on  the  turnpike  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  first  success.  Wadsworth,  in  moving  to  the  left  of 
Griffin,  instead  of  taking  a  course  due  west  from  the  Lacy  House, 
which  would  have  brought  him  on  the  prolongation  of  Griffin's 
line,  started  facing  northwest,  so  that  when  he  came  up,  his  line  of 
battle  faced  the  turnpike  almost  at  right  angles  to  Ewell's,  which 
came  square  upon  Wadswox-th's  flank  with  a  dcsti'uctive  fire,  throw- 
ing it  back  in  confusion.  McCandliss'  brigade  of  Crawford's 
division,  which  was  to  the  left  of  Wadsworth,  was  surrounded  and 
driven  from  the  field  with  the  loss  of  two  whole  regiments.  War- 
ren had  designed  that  the  left  of  the  Sixth  corps  should  sustain 
his  own  right.  But  the  woods  in  their  jungle  fought  against  War- 
ren. 

Our  extreme  left,  occupied  by  the  Stonewall  brigade,  was  at  one 
time  overlapped  by  the  enemy.  The  personal  gallantry  and  skill  of 
Colonel  W.  W.  Randolph,  of  the  Second  Virginia  regiment,  second- 
ing the  conspicuous  efforts  of  the  brigade  commander  (Gen.  Walker), 
prevented  disaster  here.  Later  in  the  day  the  tall  form  of  Randolph 
and  all  the  courage  it  contained  was  laid  low.  Gen.  Stafi'ord.  of  the 
Louisiana  brigade,  was  also  killed.  After  the  enemy  bad  l>een 
repulsed  Hays'  brigade,  and  still  latei-  Pegram's,  was  sent  by 
Early  to  Johnson's  left.  The  latter,  just  before  night,  sustained 
and  rc']mlsL'(l  a  heavy  attack,  in  wiiieh  Pegram  received  a  wound 
which  must  have  been  severe,  since  for  some  months  it  detained 
that  officer  from  the  field.  At  the  close  of  the  day  Ewell's  corps 
had  cajjlured  over  a  thousand  prisoners,  besides  inflicting  on  the 
enemy  very  heavy  losses  in  killed  and  wounded,  and  capturing 
two  ]>ieces  of  ailillerv.  Gordon  occupied  the  position  he  had 
gained  on  the  right  till  after  dark,  when  he  was  withdrawn  to  the 
extreme  left.  Harly's  division  (  com])rising,  in  the  absence  of  Iloke, 
the  brigades  of  Gordon.  Hays,  and  Pegram)  was  now  on  the  left 
of  the  road  <li verging  from  the  Turujfike,  in  extension  of  .lohn- 
son's  line.  J'odes  occupied  the  ground  he  ha<l  won,  his  left  resting 
on  the  Turn))ike  in  contact  with  .lohnsoii,  and  his  right  in  the  air, 
A.  P.  Hill  being  at  some  unknown  distance.  To  no  human  being 
could  such  a  condition  be  more  distasteful  than  to  Rodes,  who 
personally  one  of  the  bravest  and  coolest  of  men,  had  a  ])roper 
horror  of  exposing  his  flanks.     How  far  from  comfortable,  then, 


59 

to  tiii'l  liimsolf  on  the  rim  of  Lee's  left,  witliont  the  smallest  infor- 
mation as  to  whether  the  right  rested  on  land  or  sea!  It  is  time, 
then,  that  A.  P.  llill  should  be  either  present  or  aeeounted  for. 
Never  was  theiv  a  day.  his  last  only  excepted,  when  he  had  greater 
need  to  "prepare  lor  action'! 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  5lh  A.  P.  Hill's  two  divisions  had 
resumed  their  march,  lleth  leading.  They  soon  en.countered  the 
enemy's  skirmishers — dismounted  cavalry.  A  regiment  was  de- 
]iloyed  on  either  side  of  the  road,  and  heavy  skirmishing  cou- 
tinueil  until  a  jjoinl  was  reached  on  the  Plank  Poad,  aliout  half  a 
mile  west  of  where  it  crosses  the  Brock  Ivoad  at  right  angles,  at 
which  the  enemy  refused  to  be  driven  any  larther  by  our  skirmish 
line.  At  this  point  Ileth  deployed  his  division,  as  it  came  up,  in 
line  of  Inittle — three  In-igades  to  the  right,  one  to  the  left,  of  the 
Plank  Eoad  and  j^erpendicular  to  it.  Could  Lee  interpose  the 
head  oi'  his  column  ln-tween  JIancock  and  the  remainder  of  Grant's 
army,  while  Longstreet,  moving  on  the  Cathari)in,  has  something 
to  say  to  Hancock!  But  it  was  not  to  be  in  any  part.  Spavined 
transportation  had  missed  the  junction  of  the  two  roads  by  hall'  a 
mile,  and  Hancock  had  hastily  returned  by  the  Brock  Road,  instead 
of  marching  forward  on  the  Catharpin  and  hearing  from  Long- 
street,  as  was  our  ])reference. 

Hancock",  whose  four  divisions  (commanded  by  Barlow,  Gibbon, 
Birney,  and  Mott)  numbered,  at  lowest  calculation,  twenty-seven 
thousand  men.  bivouacked  at  Chancellorsville.  as  we  have  seen. 
On  the  morning  of  the  5th  he  had  advanced  about  two  miles  be- 
yond Todd's  Tavei'u,  when,  at  9  A.  M.,  he  received  a  dispatch  from 
Meade  to  halt,  as  the  enemy  were  in  some  I'orce  on  the  WiMerness 
Turnpike.  Two  hours  later,  he  was  directed  to  move  his  command 
up  on  the  Brock  Pioad,  to  its  intersection  with  the  Orange  Plank 
Poad.  ILincock  rode  ahead,  Ibund  Getty's  command  in  line  of 
battle  on  the  Bi-ock  Ixoad,  his  left  resting  near  the  junction.  At  2 
P.  M.  Birney  Joined  Getty,  and  formed  on  his  lel't  in  two  lines  of 
battle.  .Moll  and  Gibbon  came  u|i  rapidly,  and  took  their  position 
on  Birney  s  k-ft,  in  the  same  formation.  Bai-low  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  Franks  brigade,  which  was  stationed  at  the  junction  of  the 
Brock  Poad  and  the  road  leading  to  the  Catharpin  furnaces)  held 
the  left  oi"  the  line,  and  was  thrown  forward  on  some  high,  clear 
groujid  in    front  of  the   Brock   Koad.     Hancock   directed  all  the 


60 

artillery  of  his  coininand,  with  the  exception  of  Dorr's  Maine  bat- 
ter}' and  one  section  of  Tiicketts,  to  be  placed  in  position.  Dorr's 
battery  was  placed  in  position  in  the  second  line  of  battle,  near  the 
left  of  Mott,  and  the  section  of  Eickctts  was  sent  to  Getty  on  the 
Plank  Road.  linnuMliately  u))on  .i;<)iii<i;  into  position,  the  division 
commanders  were  directed  to  erect  breastworks,  which  they  did. 
The  second  line  of  battle  threw  up  l)reastworks  in  rear  of  the  tirst, 
and  subsequently  a  third  line  Avas  constructed  in  rear  of  the  Third 
and  Fourth  divisions.  At  2:30  P.  M.  Hancock  received  a  dispatch 
from  the  chief  of  statf  of  the  army  telling  hini,  that  a  ])ortion  of 
A.  P.  ilill's  corps  was  moving  down  the  Plank  l\oad,  had  driven 
back  the  cavalry  from  T^irker's,  and  directing  him  to  unite  with 
Getty  in  driving  l)ack  A.  P.  Hill  beyond  that  point;  then  to  occupy 
it  and  unite  with  Warren's  left,  whicli  was  said  to  extend  from  the 
right  to  within  one  and  a  half  miles  of  the  Plank  Poad  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  store.  Between  :>  and  4  o'clock  he  was  ordered  to 
attack  with  Getty's  command,  sujiporting  the  advance  with  his 
whole  {*or])s.  At  4:15  P.  M.  Getty  moved  forward,  and  at  once 
became  hotly  engaged.  Finding  that  Getty  had  met  the  enemy 
in  force,  the  divisions  of  Pirney  and  ^[ott  immediately  moved  for- 
Avard  on  iiis  right  an<l  leit.  At  4::!0  P.  M.  Carroll's  bi-igade  of  Gib- 
bon's division  advanced  to  the  support  of  Gett}''s  right.  A  few 
minutes  later  Owen's  brigade  of  Gibbon's  division,  and  still  later 
the  Irish  l)rigade  an<l  the  fourth  brigade  of  Bai'low's  division  went 
into  a(-tion  and  attacked  vigorously.  The  section  of  Hicketts'  bat- 
tery on  the  Plaidv  J'oad  was  captured  and  recaptured. 

'^riie  advances  and  attacks  just  narrateil,  not  having  been  trans- 
acted in  the  de|)ths  of  the  foi-cst  merely  lor  scenic  effect,  it  will  be 
surmised,  did  not  alight  quite  like  a  spent  ball  on  our  own  troops. 
Aliout  half-])ast  tlirec  o'clock,  or  a  little  later,  [jce  had  sent  an  officer 
of  his  staff  (Colonel  AEarshall)  to  Ifetb  with  this  message:  "Gen. 
Lee  directs  me  to  say,  that-  it  is  veiy  important  for  him  to  have 
possession  of  the  l>rock  IJoa<l,  and  wishes  you  to  take  that  posi- 
tion, ])r()vi(led  you  can  do  so  without  l)ringing  on  a  general  engage- 
ment.'' Ileth  re])lied.  in  etl't'ct,  that  the  only  way  to  tind  out, 
whether  it  would  or  would  not  bring  on  a  general  engagement,  was 
to  make  the  attempt  to  take  the  ])Osition,  which  he  would  make 
if  desired.  Pcfore  a  re])ly  could  be  received  he  was  himself 
attacked    with    great   fury.     We    had    not    thrown    up    the    usual 


61 

inijiroiiiplii  lircast works;  we  wtTc  in  a  body  of  woods,  studded 
lliiek  with  lieavy  underg-rowtli.  The  enemy  was,  for  the  first  time, 
fully  disch)sed,  when  witliin  alK)ut  ninety  yards.  lie  was  driven 
l>ack.  So  soon  as  tiie  first  attackini^;  eohimn  couhl  he  cleared  away, 
a  second  eohimn  advanced  to  share  (he  fate  of  the  first.  A  third, 
a  fourtl).  a  liftli.  a  sixth  advanced.  These  assaults  were  well  pre- 
pared and  well  delivei'ed.  They  were  not  victoi-ious,  hut  no  one 
can  say  they  were  ineffectual.  Ik'tween  valor  in  blue  and  valor  in 
ra<j!;s  I  wish  to  make  no  invidious  discrnninalion.  The  equal  fierce- 
ness of  brave  men  was  lockeil  in  those  lonely  shadows.  The  issue 
had  come  to  this  simple  one  :  who  can  stand  most  killiui;-?  On 
one  side  of  such  an  issue,  ILelh,  with  not  quite  seven  thousand 
muskets,  held  at  bay  for  nearly  two  hours,  Hancock  and  (jetty, 
Hancock  alone  having  twcuty-seviui  thousand  muskets,  and 
supporting  the  attack  with  his  whole  coi-ps.  1  say  lleth.  It 
should  he  Hcth  and  his  brigade  conimanders — his  brigade  com- 
manders and  the  men  they  commanded — all  welded  into  one  fierce 
sword,  whose  handle  rested  in  lleth's  grasp,  and  whose  temper  it 
may  well  be  his  ])i'ide  to  have  makdicd  with  his  own.  The  brigade 
conimanders  were  Colonel  .1.  M.  Stone,  I>rigadier-General  .John  Iv. 
Cook,  Ik'igadier-Cieneral  II.  11.  Walkei',  and  Urigadier-Oeneral  W. 
W.  Kirkland.  The  names  of  the  men  they  commanded  i  cannot 
give  you. 

When  the  head  of  Hills  column  had  been  brought  to  a  halt,  and 
there  was  I'cason  to  believe  that  a  strong  force  was  in  his  front,  which 
a  sti'ong  skirmish  line  could  no  longer  drive,  Lee  naturally  fell  un- 
easiness, at  the  separation  of  the  two  coi'ps  of  his  arm\-,  and  the  un- 
cei-tainty  of  the  tlistance  separating  iIkmii.  lie.  ilu'rctbre,  ordered 
Wilcox,  who  came  up  after  Ileth,  to  move  through  the  woods  towards 
the  Old  Turiipik-eando]HMi  communication  with  I'^well.  Wilcox,  after 
advancing  through  the  I'orest  nearly  half  a  mile,  came  (o  a  field  of 
about  that  width,  and  at  a  house  several  hundred  yards  in  front 
saw  a  small  party  of  the  enemy.  Thirty  or  forty  were  ca])(iired, 
several  otlicers  among  the  number.  From  this  house  was  a  ixood 
vii'w  of  the  Old  Wilderness  Tavern,  and  the  enemy  could  l)e  seen 
distinctly  near  it.  This  fact  was  re])orted  to  General  Lee.  Leav- 
ing two  of  his  brigades  (McGowan's  and  Scales')  in  the  woods  near 
the  field,  and  rei)orting  this  also.  "Wilcox  pressed  forwai-d  m  search 
of  Ewell's   right.     Having  crossed  Wilderness    Hun  and    reached 


62 

the  woods  beyond,  in  a  lield  to  the  right  and  front,  the  nght  of 
Gordon's  brigade,  the  extreme  right  of  Ewell's  corps  was  found. 
"Wilcox  rode  up  to  Gordon,  but  had  barely  spoken  to  him,  when  a 
volley  of  musketry  was  heard  in  the  woods,  into  which  his  brigades 
had  eutoi'cd  but  a  few  minutes  before.  Elding  rapidly  to  the 
woods,  he  was  met  bj^  a  courier  from  General  Lee,  Avith  orders  to 
return  at  once  to  the  Plank  Eoad,  in  consequence  of  the  attack  on 
Heth  by  the  enemy,  believed  to  bo  in  great  force.  The  brigades 
were  recalled  at  once,  and  brought  back  with  them  some  three 
hundred  prisoners.  While  recrossing  the  open  field  the  enemy 
were  seen  again,  this  time  moving  towards  the  Plank  Road  in  the 
direction  of  the  musketry,  then  raging  furiously.  McGowan's 
brigade  had  already  been  ordered  into  the  fight.  Scales  was  in 
the  act  of  moving  forward  to  take  ])Osition  on  the  right  of  the 
i-oad,  where  the  firing  was  heaviest.  The  great  interval  was  now 
left  to  take  care  of  itself 

i\  Missouri  newspaper  asserts  that  hogs  arc  so  fat  in  Missouri, 
that,  in  order  to  find  out  where  their  heads  are,  it  is  necessary  to 
make  them  squeal,  and  then  judge  by  the  sound.  Heads  and  fronts 
of  ottending  were  judged  of  by  similar  methods  that  afternoon. 
It  was  a  battle  in  a  tangled  cluiparral  of  scrub  oaks  and  chincjua- 
])ins.  ^)nly  at  short  distances  the  troops  engaged  could  be  seen. 
The  rattle  of  musketry  was  the  message  as  to  where  the  struggle 
was  severest  and  the  reinforcing  brigades  most  needed.  Thus 
guided,  the  third  brigade  of  Wilcox  (Thomas')  went  m  on  the  left 
of  the  road  to  take  position  on  Tleth's  left.  Thomas  reported  the 
enemy  in  lEeth's  rear,  became  engaged  at  once,  and  fought  in  line 
parallel  with  the  road.  Nelson,  in  the  liay  of  Aboukir,  told  his 
sea  giants,  that  if,  in  the  foaming  wrestle  of  sea  nu>nstersand  ocean 
gods,  in  whicli  they  were  al)0ut  to  gra])])le,  any  should  be  troubled 
with  misgivings  as  to  the  precise  ordei-s  of  the  day,  he  would  find 
an  easy  way  out  of  his  embarrassment,  by  sim])ly  closing  with  an 
enemy's  ship — a  sea-gt)d's  order,  which  a|)plies  to  all  sea  fights 
before  and  since;  to  land  fights  also;  to  life  itself,  indeed,  whose 
great  order  for  every  day  is  to  close  with  the  enemy's  ship,  antl  sink 
it,  if  such  a  thing  can  be  done.  It  was  the  one  order  which  stood 
any  chance  of  fulfillment  in  the  blind  foam  and  wrestle  of  the 
Wilderness.  Brigade  alter  brigade  was  led  into  its  depths  with 
but  one  sure  knowledge — to  resist  the  enemy,  whether  he  was  in 


63 

front,  whether  he  was  on  tlie  flank',  wliether  he  was  in  the  rear, 
and  to  keep  on  resisting;.  IJio-ht  ro^-ally,  with  a  monareh's  disdain, 
as  of  a  monarch  on  a  hurnini;',  sinking  throne,  tlie  sun  went  down 
U])(>n  their  wrath,  in  (he  vapors  of  that  r)th  of  May.  His  rich 
handfuls  of  crimson  and  g-old  fell  among  the  vapors.  For  he  went 
down  red;  a  warrior  breathing  liis  last,  and  shaming  the  foe  ere 
ho  expire  with  the  gran<l  scorn  of  a  splendid  I've.  And  many  a 
warrioi-  went  down  with  him.  The  South  was  one  day  to  go  down 
like  him.  IMacid,  stately  clouds  played  u])on  and  lit  up  with  noble, 
beautiful  ex])ression.  sailed  tran([uilly  over,  mak'ing  the  face  of 
things,  like  the  great  face  of  a  strong  mind,  beneath  which  great 
passions  are  raging.  Just  at  nightfall  the  enemy  made  a  supreme 
effort  to  crush  our  right.  Scales'  brigade  was  bent  hack  almost  at 
right  angles  to  the  line.  •  To  hold  Scales  in  place  Jlill  must  send  for 
his  last  brigade.  His  chief  of  staff,  ( -olonel  Palmer,  finds  this  on  the 
point  of  going  in  uiuler  Wilcox,  further  to  the  left,  where,  undoubt- 
edly, it  was  needed.  But  promj)tly  it  is  now  brought  to  the  extreme 
riglit,  where  it  is  more  needed.  The  musketry  unloosed  by  this 
brigade  as  it  went  in  reverberated  through  the  woods  as  if  it  might 
be  the  ordnance  of  a  fresh  -'Grand  Arm3^"  As  Colonel  Palmer 
was  returning  to  the  road,  after  the  brigade  was  well  under  fire, 
he  met  Stuart  and  Colonel  Venable  sitting  on  their  horses.  One 
of  them  exclaimed:  "If  night  would  only  come!"  "  It  is  Lane's 
brigade  going  in,"  said  Colonel  Palmer;  "I  feel  assured  the  right 
will  be  held  until  night,"  and  Colonel  Venable  rode  off  to  say  as 
much  to  the  Commanding  Ceneral. 

All  this  time  the  interval  between  Kwell  and  Ilill  had  been  left 
to  take  care  of  itself,  which  it  managed  to  do  with  marked  ability. 
There  was  Grant's — there,  at  least,  was  a  general's — opportunity. 
Detachment  after  detachment  of  the  enemy  came  through  that 
interval.  One  bod}"  suddenly  emerges  about  tAvo  hundred  yards 
from  where  Lee,  Stuart,  and  Ilill  are  dismounted  and  lying  down. 
If  they  will  but  come  on  swiftly,  the  General  of  the  arm}',  the 
(Jeneral  of  the  corps,  and  the  (General  of  the  cavalry  are  their 
prisoners.  The  oflicer  in  coinnuuid.  it  turns  out,  is  as  much  amazed 
as  the  officers  he  has  surprised;  (diooses  rather  to  be  swill  in  the  oj)- 
posite  direction,  and  as  the  Confederate  generals  jumj)  up  and  mount 
in  hot  haste,  gives  the  command  "right  about,"  and  disappears  in 
the  timber.     It  was  onlv  necessarv  to  do  in  force  and  bv  direction 


64 

what  was  done  by  accident  and  in  detachment,  and  the  Confederate 
line  would  have  been  hopele.-sly  cut  in  two.  It  was  such  an  oppor- 
tunity as  this  which  Xapoleon  seized  on  tlie  ]ihiins  of  Ohiiutz.  when 
Soult,  at  the  head  of  the  French  i'i<;-lit  wino;,  rushed  forward  upon  the 
interval  between  the  Austro-T\ussian  centre  and  left,  and,  inter- 
secting their  line,  severed  the  left  wing  entirely  from  the  centre. 
The  Sun  of  Austerlitz  burned  on  his  gh)\ving  axle  as  that  was 
done.  On  the  5th  of  jMay  there  was  spread  before  Grant  a  centre  of 
vacancy  for  nearly  two  miles,  through  which  he  might  have  bounded 
with  the  ease  of  a  circus  actor  through  a  paper  hoop,  but  he  did 
not  try  the  leap.  Just  as  Lane's  brigade  went  in,  the  enemy  came 
tln-ough  this  interval  once  more.  Wo  had  no  reserves,  no  forlorn 
ho])e  left.  The  whole  army  was  the  forloi-n  hope.  The  Fifth 
Alabama  battalion,  the  provost  guard  of  llilfs  corps,  then  guard- 
ing prisoners,  and  numbering  al)0ut  a  hundi'ed  men.  was  all  that 
was  availa1)le  to  meet  this  emergency.  With  a  thin  line  they  lield 
whatever  was  in  front  of  them. 

Night  came  at  last.  To  l)at(le  as  to  other  things  it  does  come. 
To  the  stiffened  sinew,  to  the  galled  shoidder,  to  the  bleeding  feet 
and  beating  heart,  it  comes.  But  it  did  not  come  till  after  eight 
o'clock  on  that  5th  of  May.  When  night  put  an  end  to  the  long 
strain  the  two  divisions  on  oui'  right  sank  down  exhausted. 
Where  they  fought  there  they  sank  down.  And  Avell  they  might 
lie  down  to  the  warrior's  slee]),  u]ion  tlie  warrioi''s  bed.  Brave 
men  had  inarched  against  thcTn,  strong  men  Iteen  driven  back. 
From  llu-  l)t'ginniiig  of  the  wai'  to  the  end,  no  more  stubborn  fight 
was  made,  against  a  force  so  well  directed  and  overwhelming,  than 
this  which  Heth  and  Wilcox  made.  Forty  thousand  men  under 
Hancock  had  been  launched  against  them  and  resisted,  not  with- 
out fearful  inroads  on  their  own  line,  if  line  it  could  now  be  called. 
The  right  and  \e\\  were  bent  almost  at  right  angles  to  the  front, 
while  the  fi-oiit  was  at  eveiy  inuiginable  angle.  The  troops  of  the 
enemy  going  foi-  water  would  walk  into  our  lines  and  our  men 
into  tlieii's.  Ui-igades  and  regiments  erosscd  each  other.  Some 
brigailes  of  llrth's  division  were  on  the  right,  some  on  the  left  of 
the  Plank  iJoad.  Some  presented  a  flank  to  the  enemy,  others  a 
front.  The  alternate  charges  ami  repulses  of  a  battle  in  the  night, 
ami  that  night  in  the  Wilderness,  had  so  confused  them. 

Hill  was  t'lati'il,  and  justly  so.  Two  divisions  had  withstood  the 
repeated    attacks  of  a  large  part  of  Grant's  army.     Longstreot's 


65 

cor|)s  uinl  Anderson's  division  wore  niiircliing  to  take  the  place  of 
the  two  divisions  hefore  dayhght. 

Just  hack  of  lleth's  line  on  the  left  of  the  Plank  Iload  was  an 
o])en  tield,  some  seventy  live  acres  in  extent,  and  runnint^  from 
east  to  west,  perlia])s,  five  hundred  j-ards.  In  this  fielil  Hill  had 
directed  guns  of  Poague's  and  Mclntosli's  battalions  to  be  put  in 
battery.  As  the  ])ieces  were  going  into  jjosition  Colonel  Palmer 
said:  --ll'  Ileth  is  di'iven  a  short  distance  these  pieces  will  be  cap- 
tured, as  there  are  no  roads  by  which  they  can  he  withdrawn." 
Hill  rejilied:  "Jf  the  line  should  be  di"iven  the  pieces  may  be 
ca])tured."'  It  was  a  })art  of  this  artillery  which  served  rain'dly 
the  next  morning,  under  IfiU's  direction,  swe])t  the  roa<l,  and  gave 
time  for  Ijongstreet  to  form.  Only  two  pieces,  in  the  main  road, 
had  Iteeii  used  on  the  oth. 

A  few  sticks  kindled  near  the  gun  nearest  the  road  marked  the 
headquarters  of  the  corps.  Thither  very  speedily  Heth  came  to  re- 
]>ort  the  ])osition  and  condition  of  the  troo])s  and  to  ask  permission 
for  Wilcox  and  himself  to  fall  back  in  order  to  rectify  their  lines, 
since  the  jiroximity  of  the  o])posing  army  prevented  a  forward  move- 
ment foi'  t  hat  ])uri)ose.  As  (he  divisions  were  situated,  at  the  order 
to  tire  they  were  exposed  to  the  danger  of  firing  into  each  other. 
''A  thin  skirmisli  line."'  said  Heth,  '-can  whij)  them  as  they  are."  But 
]1  ill  said  :  '■  Xo,  1  will  not  have  the  men  dist url)ed.  Ijet  them  rest  as 
they  are.  It  is  not  intended  they  shall  fight  to-morrow.  Ijong- 
street is  now  at  Mine  liun.  General  Lee  has  ordered  him  to  move 
at  \-  o'clock  to-night.  He  has  only  eight  miles  to  march.  He 
will  be  here  long  liefore  day.  He  will  form  in  line  back  of  you 
and  AVilcox.  Your  <livisi()ns  will  fall  l)ack  through  Longetreet's." 
Wilcox  went  to  Lee  himself' to  I'epresent  the  condition  of  his  com- 
mand. Lee  no  sooner  saw  him  than  he  said:  "A  note  has  been  I'c- 
ceived  from  Anderson  saying  he  will  l)ivouac  at  \'idiersvi]le  to-night, 
but  1  liavi' ordered  iiim  t'orward.  lie  ami  Longstreet  will  botii  l)eu]) 
ami  in  position  before  or  l»y  da^'light,  when  you  will  be  relieved." 
Lnder  this  im])ression  Wilcox  returned  without  having  asked  ])er- 
missicni  to  withdraw.  '-Let  the  men  i-esl  foi-  the  night."  Hill  had 
said — the  wearied,  hard-fought  men;  the  much  indented  Heth- 
\Vilcox  sword,  hacked  and  gashed  with  its  own  hard  hewing,  and 
bent  back  nowtothe  very  hilt  with  bard  lijowsgiven  and  received. 
lliU  did  not  believe  it  practicable,  in  the  disordei-  in  which  the 
5 


66 

action  had  left  the  ti'oo])s.  to  refonn  his  line  in  the  woods  and  .serve 
ammunition  before  daylight. 


V. 

On  the  5th  the  word  had  been,  "If  night  will  only  come!" 
On  the  Gth  it  was,  "If  morning  Avill  only  stay!"  Longstreet 
must  be  there,  or  defeat  will  be  there.  You  remember  how  the  lull 
between  the  bloody  work  of  one  day  and  the  approximation  of 
another  is  a  thing  of  asperity.  The  stars  glauce  down  with  keen, 
ill  adversity  it  seems,  a  bitter  brightness.  Voices  of  the  night, 
the  loves  of  happy,  the  pulse  of  tender  creatures,  fall  like  a  mock- 
ery of  the  impending  storm.  The  kindness  of  the  dews  becomes 
unkind  to  the  soldier  turning  on  tlie  jiillow  of  his  bended  arm. 

Early  in  the  morning,  Kwell  rode  over  (proI)abl3'  had  been  sent 
for)  to  see  Lee.  The  latter  was  seated  on  an  army  blanket  spread 
on  the  ground,  and  in  tliis  primitive  fashion  held  his  divan.  Some 
disturbance  breaking  out  at  a  distance  to  the  K'it,  Lieutenant  Bur- 
well,  who  accompanied  Ewell,  is  sent  to  lind  out  what  it  is.  On 
the  return  of  the  latter,  he  discovers  that,  in  riding  rapidly  through 
the  Avoods,  he  luis  lost  his  saddU-  blanket,  aiul  bestirs  himself  to 
pick  u]i  some  substitute  therefor.  The  instant  the  action 
caught  the  eye  of  Lee,  he  sprang  up,  and  offered  the  blanket 
on  which  he  had  been  sitting,  which,  however,  was  respect- 
fully declined.  "  The  inborn  courtesy  of  the  man,  which  no 
preoccupation  of  mind  could  make  him  forget  for  a  moment, 
and  the  sim])le-hearted  kindness  of  the  action,"  writes  my  cor- 
res]>ondeut,  "inade  a  very  diH'p  impression  on  me.  and  I  have 
never  forgotten  the  scene.  The  al)ility  to  maintain  the  dig- 
nity, while  ])utting  aside  all  the  pomp  and  cireumstance  of  a  posi- 
tion, seems  to  me  to  be  jiassing  away  with  the  oldei-  school  of  Vir- 
ginia gentlemen.  This,  however,  I  have  always  remarked  in  Gen- 
eral Lee's  character  as  written,  and  as  shown  the  few  times  I  was 
in  his  ])resence." 

It  IS  a  scene  which  deserves  to  make  a  deep  impression  on  the 
country  of  Lee,  and  never  to  be  forgot  ten.  I  give  this  picture  of 
the  early  morn,  as  a  ray  of  light  fallen  in  tlu'  darkness;   the  ])eep  of 


67 

a  chivalrie  day  sliinini^  in  the  manner  of  its  captain — tlie  thought- 
ful, courteous  grace  *f  a  coniinanding  mind.  Xo  foe  too  mighty 
for  his  prowess,  no  back  too  humble  for  his  pity.  The  galled  shoid- 
der  shall  have  his  own  blanket,  if  there  be  no  other — the  wide, 
capacious  breast,  tilling  with  symi>ath3'  for  the  humblest  sorrow, 
even  when  in  act  to  shoulder  himself  the  galling  weight  of  war, 
with  '-the  lilanket  of  the  dark."  his  one  blanket;  that  now  worn 
quite  threadbare.  The  true  knight  is  hei-e.  •'•'So  preoccupation 
of  mind"  sutfers  it  to  be  obscure.  The  dark  ground  and  night  are 
a  foil  for  its  beauty.  Let  prosperity  seize  one  by  nature  -'bound 
in  shallows,'  and  bearing  him  on  a  tide  "taken  at  the  tiood,"  clothe 
him  in  purple,  throne  him  in  empire,  place  a  sceptre  of  absolute 
dominion  in  his  hand,  ami  still  baseness  will  show  by  the  famil- 
iarity of  its  approach,  how  little  that  satrap  is  king  of  men.  On 
the  other  hand,  take  I'obert  E.  Lee,  strip  him  of  house  and  home, 
dress  him  in  the  soldier's  weather-beaten  rag,  seat  him  on  a  fence- 
rail  or  the  ground,  and  the  ambassadors  of  the  mightiest  king  will 
do  homage  in  his  ])rescncc.  Could  we  but  once  more  have  such  a 
mirror  of  the  South!  What  if  this  -'little  touch  of  Harry  in  the 
night''  detine  our  own  unworthiness? 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  Gth,  Burnside's  Ninth  corj)S  arrived 
on  the  tield.  This  inclnckHl  the  divisions  of  Stevenson,  Potter, 
Wilcox,  and  Ferrero ;  the  Provisional  brigade  under  Colonel  Mar- 
shall; the  reserve  artillery  and  the  artillery  of  the  several  divi- 
sions; but  in  the  Wilderness  the  greater  part  of  the  artillery  was 
no  real  addition.  Stevenson  and  Eerrero  were  ordered  to  report 
to  Tlancock  and  Sedgwick  respectively.  AVith  his  i-emaining  troops 
Burnside  moved  in  lietween  Warren  and  Hancock  and  made  his 
dispositions  to  seize  Parkers  Store.  By  dawn  of  the  0th  the  ene- 
my's line  of  battle,  facing  westward,  ran  north  and  south,  without 
a  gaj).  for  about  tive  miles. 

The  methods  by  which  a  strong  force  is  brought  into  the  field 
are.  in  importance,  second  only  to  the  conduct  of  it  when  there. 
Let  no  one  dream  that  natural  magic  and  inspiration  of  the 
moment  are  eijual  to  such  achievement.  On  one  side,  what 
organization,  what  disposition  can  do,  is  now  done.  The  mighty 
columns  of  the  Ciraiid  Army  have  moved  into  the  places  ap])ointed 
for  them.  "Their  swords  are  a  thousand,  their  bosoms  are  one." 
•"The    last    reason   of  kings"    is   in  place  to  give  judgment.     If 


68 

ilic  eonchision  follow  regularly  from  the  premises,  if  the  argu- 
ment do  not  jump  clear  off  from  the  ])remises,  like  Seward's  letter 
in  the  Mason  and  Slidell  matter,  victory  is  the  ultimatum.  Yet  in 
this  trial-lire  of  war,  holding  a  future  hell-fire  of  I'eeonstruction, 
what  contingencies  are  still  in  doubt,  some  one  of  which  may  make 
the  tiiial  judgment  swerve!  In  every  voyage  of  life,  wherever  the 
sail  be  sj)read,  thei-e  is  but  a  plank,  and  tluit  the  narrowest,  between 
])reservation  and  destruction.  The  event  of  time  mathematically 
ailjusts  itself,  on  an  even  keel,  to  the  great  deep  of  eternity,  which 
]u)lds  it.  as  in  the  hollow  of  a  hand:  a  hand  wliich  will  close  a 
fist  of  ii'on  on  the  first  o|)en  seam,  w  liich,  im])i'ovident  of  ])itch 
and  oakum,  sjirings  a  leak.  Between  Samson's  strength  and 
Samson's  weakness  is  l»ut  the  difference  of  a  hair.  For  the 
present,  on  one  side,  the  miracle,  which  oi'ganization  and  dis- 
ci])lim^  perfoi-m,  has  been  wrought.  The  sword  of  a  hundred 
thousand  is  in  the  hand  of  one.  The  monster  fang  which  tlie  wand 
of  society  evokes,  when  the  game  is  an  empii-e's  neck,  has  uncoiled 
its  huge  length  in  continuous  battle  front,  whose  units  of  length 
are  miles.      IJy  dawn  ! 

Some  of  you  have  l)een,  no  doubt,  on  one  of  our  Southwestern 
bayous,  or  some  similar  spot,  where  the  first  )iotification  of  day,  in 
that  darkest  hour  which  precedes  the  dawn,  was  the  lull  of  the 
wolf's  long  howl;  in  place  of  which  there  came  as  herald  of  l)reak- 
ing  day.  the  trill  of  every  songsti'r  in  the  woods,  lilce  the  difieren't 
and  successive  notes  of  some  musical  instrument ;  the  s])arrow'8 
twitter,  the  thi'ush's  warble,  the  mocking-l)ii'd's  wild  lute;  and 
ja)'-liird  and  cat-bii'd,  and  hawk  and  heron,  the  ducl<s  and  the  shi'ill 
cranes,  the  gari-nlous  squii-rels  and  the  meek  doves  mixed  their 
concords  and  their  discords  in  a  hymn  to  sunrise — and  far  al)ove 
tlu^  song  of  the  songster,  the  scream  of  the  screaniei-.  and  the  llight 
of  the  high-tlyei',  the  silent  wing  of  the  solitary  eagle,  a  music  in 
itself  Vet  all  this  Sal)l»ath-song  and  sight  is  the  outward  mask  of 
universal  and  ceaseless,  death-dealing  strife.  '^Fhe  battle  of  night, 
between  dei-r  and  wolf  has  ended,  and  the  battle  of  day  between 
bii-d  and  fish  an<l  worm  has  liegun.  The  ])rovei-biaIly  early  bird  has 
quit  his  na)>  betimes.  Tin-  little  fish  are  mak'ing  ibnntain  jets  in 
the  air.  in  their  terrified  leap  from  the  big  ones.  This  is  nature 
waking  n|t.  Or  if  it  has  been  your  lot  to  walk  into  some  great  city 
as  day  was  breaking,  you   have   noted  as  the  first  sign  of  waking, 


69 

the  day  laborers  leavini;-  the  town  to  work  in  the  country,  or  the 
country  to  work  in  tlie  town,  the  hucksters  and  the  first  choppings 
of  tlie  butcher  stalls,  then  the  earhest  rumblings  of  carriages  and 
street  cars,  the  waking  Hutter  by  candle-light  in  the  humbler  tene- 
ments, followed  by  the  a[)pearances  of  the  servants  at  the  doors  of 
the  greater  ones,  and  in  between  the  waking  of  the  shaidy  and  the 
mansu)n,  the  steaming  up  of  foundry  and  factor}',  like  the  snort 
of  some  great  animal;  then  the  thi-owing  open  of  window-blinds, 
the  parade  of  sho[)-wiudows,  the  bustle  of  traffic,  the  whirl  and 
tumult  of  an  eager,  hui'r3'ing  multitude.  You  have  watched  a 
great  city,  lik'c  a  mighty  leviathan  turn  and  toss  itself  on  its  couch, 
slowly  hurl  its  huge  limbs  out  of  bed.  and  (inally  }awn,  and 
streteh.  and  shake  its  eyes  wide  open.  Vou  have  seen  civilization 
wake  u[i,  the  peaceful,  thriving  scene.  But  again  the  peacei'ul 
j)ictures<pieness  is  the  outward  nuisk,  luiy  the  outward  expi'cssion 
of  interminable  stril'e.  ('ivilized  uuin  has  not  ceased  to  say  to  his 
brother,  '"My  life  or  thine."  Mver  mortal  is  the  listed  space,  unseen 
Init  not  unrealized  to-day,  wherein  one  strength  sa^'s  to  another, 
"With  my  body  against  yours,  wUl  I  make  good  my  challenge." 
Still  is  evei-y  coigne  of  vantage  warred  for  and  against  with  sleep- 
less enmity.  He  who  holds  his  own  does  so  with  a  continual 
stroke.  The  inapt,  the  inert,  the  dissolute  must  serve  the  wary 
and  active,  or  be  slain  and  consumed.  As  the  vinedresser  says  to 
the  wood,  whose  strength  he  means  to  throw  into  his  nuiin  clusters, 
"You  dare  to  wear  the  purple,  3'ou  shall  not  bear  a  leaf"  so  another 
scythe  with  as  sharp  a  blade.  Civilization  (dumgesthe  coarseness, 
but  not  the  rancor  of  the  strife.  Our  great  civilizers  are  our  great 
destrovei's,  |)rove  their  fitness  to  survive,  by  Iieing  tittest  to  destr-o}'". 
Tamerlane's  jiyramid  of  skulls  has  undergone  evolution,  like  other 
things,  but  the  princijile  of  it  has  proved  no  such  function  in  excess 
as  to  become  extii\ct  by  natural  selection. 

The  strength  of  tlie  nineteenth  century  is  the  strength  of  science, 
trained  iiielhod.  logical  Ibrecast  of  events,  more  vivid  combination 
of  details,  ami  more  intrejud  grasp  of  the  future,  powers  to  discern 
and  powers  of  a<ljustineiit  to  lar-otf  corres])ondeuces  of  time  and 
space.  More  and  more  strength  reveals  itself  as  certain  calcula- 
tion, clear,  orderly  arrangement,  iron  logic  of  deduction.  The  man 
of  business  is  clearer,  and  because  clearer  more  decided,  resolute 
than  others.     Others  take  shelter  under  him  as  formerly  under  thQ 


70 

warrior's  hand  of  mail.  Lands  and  tenements,  translated  by  his 
shrewd  sagacity,  as  ])y  the  magician's  wand,  float  to  him  from 
others  who  liave  not  his  gifts.  Eansom  of  steeds  and  aj-mor  won 
in  the  encounter  of  arms,  the  encounter  of  wits,  he  beai  s  otf  on  the 
point  ol"  a  sharper  sense.  When  riches  take  to  themselves  Avings, 
he  is  there  to  pursue.  Swift,  penetrating  common  sense  sits  on 
his  sti'cngth,  like  falcon  on  the  arm.  Is  some  object  of  desire 
starte*!,  like  lightning  he  flies  his  hawk  at  the  game,  to  bring  it 
down.  Is  resistance  made,  stout  flght,  which  requites  scorn  for 
scorn  and  beak  for  beak?  With  the  falcon  glare  and  grip,  the 
stronger  talon  rips  out  the  heart  of  a  foe.  Nineteenth-century 
victories  are  business  victories,  won  less  in  the  day  of  actual 
fight  than  in  the  day  of  training.  The  battle  is  the  preparation 
for  it,  with  all  the  sciences,  economies,  disciplined  intensity  and 
virtue  of  a  people.  The  rank  and  file  which  rushes  to  the 
charge  is  the  seal  and  measure  of  Avhat  has  been  done,  as  on  com- 
mencement day  prizes  are  bestowed,  not  for  the  present  l)ut  the 
past.  He  who  has  trained,  equipped  himself  the  best,  who  has 
most  purged  himself  i'rom  all  weak  or  dark  infirmity,  untenable, 
unsound,  ungoverned  ways,  all  charlataniy  and  sham,  tlien  fronts 
his  adversary,  with  knowledge,  discretion,  sound,  uncorrupt  man- 
hood, the  cool  head,  the  steady  hand,  he  is  fittest  to  survive.  AVith 
quiet  collected  strength,  he  compels  the  agencies  of  land  and  sea 
to  be  his  servants.  Steamship  and  railway,  all  the  enginery,  all 
the  devillry  of  commerce  bend  obediently  to  him,  grow  pliant  as 
soft  WAX  under  his  pressure.  Even  the  winds  and  the  waves  obey 
him.  As  we  grasp  one  handle  to  how  another,  he,  the  true 
Briarcus.  stands  at  the  end  ul'  a  long  line  of  levers  and  thermo- 
electric multijdiers,  and,  with  clear  common  sense  for  fulcrum, 
humlred-handed  moves  a  world. 

Of  the  form  of  this  modern  woi'ld  and  the  fashiou  of  its  strength, 
science  is  the  glass  and  the  mould,  holding  the  mirror  up  to  the 
meridian  lines,  Avhi(di  Xature  has  drawn  for  a  world.  Nature's  adju- 
tant calls  the  roll  of  Nature's  'Mnvincibles,"  Avith  unsheathed 
sword,  calls  attention  to  that  "Old  Guard"  of  Nature  whicli  neither 
dies  nor  surrenders;  about  wliich  society  forms  in  hollow-square, 
or  kicking  against  which  by  slicer  persistence  of  force,  society  is 
impaled  and  eliminated.  Pitiless,  appalling,  almost  beautiful  with 
that  beauty  which  Milton  saj's,  has  terror  in  it — as  bright,  deadly 


71 

steel,  flashing  in  the  sun  is  beautiful — this  wide  remorseless  war- 
fare, wherein  ditlicult  victory  is  the  price  of  all  existence.  Brute 
animal  life  is  compelled  to  discriminate,  to  tind  and  keep  the  envi- 
ronment which  is  safe  for  it,  wise  tor  it,  or  else  cease  to  exist.  The 
wild  animal  cannot  wear  a  Joseph's  coat  of  many  colors  as  the 
tame  one  docs.  Prudence,  and  the  vigilance  of  adversaries  seeking 
whom  they  may  devour,  forbid  this.  The  partridge  must  be  like 
the  straw  which  hides  the  partridge,  the  brown  and  yellow  autumn 
straw.  Partridges  of  another  color  are  quickly  discovered  and 
destroyed.  At  last  this  becomes  the  only  color,  the  sole  banner 
partridges  can  fight  under.  Or  strength  in  the  form  of  a  lion  falls 
on  fleetness  in  the  sha])e  of  the  antelope.  Starvation  behind,  speed 
like  that  of  a  bird  in  front!  Only  the  strongest  lions,  the  swiftest 
antelopes  live.  Animal  life  clothes  itself  with  the  element  it  lives 
in,  takes  traits  from  that,  becomes  that.  And  must  not  man  too 
find  the  banner  he  can  fight  under,  which  is  the  same  as  the  ban- 
ner he  is  ready  to  die  under?  For  him  too  must  not  the  greatest 
victories  be  gained  by  not  exclusively  sale  paths;  "amid  the  con- 
fused noise  of  warriors,  and  garments  rolled  in  blood,"  not  where 
the  baggage  trains  are  guarded? 

Onward  sweeps  force,  stern,  avenging,  having  mercy  on  whom  it 
will  have  mercy,  sulTering  only  litness  to  survive — the  multitudi- 
nous, majestic,  all-enveloping  force  of  a  universe,  on-sweeping, 
divmel}'  fair,  divineh'  terrible! 

AVith  Nature  to  be  weak,  is  not  to  be  misei*ablo  alone,  it  is  to  be 
criminal.  The  penal  statutes  go  unrepealed  on  Nature's  statute 
book.  Alphonse  Karr  said,  in  discussing  the  abolition  of  capital 
punishment,  "Messieurs  les  assassins,  commencez  les  premiers." 
Nature  says  the  same.  For  the  highest  there  is  ceaseless  tension 
and  toil;  no  height  of  character  attained  without  much  difficult, 
much  painful  breathing.  Look  into  the  faces  of  the  saints  who 
have  lived,  of  the  martyrs  who  have  bled  for  mankind,  of  the 
artists  who  have  wrought  to  express,  the  heroes  who  have  fought 
to  maintain  the  truth,  see  how  they  are  written  over  with  the 
lofty  silence  and  battle-pain  of  life!  Ah,  yes!  they  have  broken 
their  bitter  fast  on  the  bread  and  wine  of  sorrow,  the  Ibod  of  the 
immortals,  the  cup  which  Gods  have  given,  and  Godlike  men  have 
quaffed.  The  clouds  which  close  around  them  are  made  their 
chariots  of  fire,  and  the  portion  of  life,  sworn  foe  to  cant,  is  still — 


72 

the  cross!     AVliut  should  fervent  soundness  be,  but  ratsbane  to  the 
sweet  tooth  of  a  trimmer? 

But  that  here  in  this  dark  wood  such  a  storm  of  rifles,  making 
the  earth  quake,  should  hang  in  the  air,  ready  to  be  touched  off 
by  the  first  light  of  a  Ma}'  morning!  As  it  were,  "the  erroneous 
Avood  of  this  life"  and  "the  dark  battle  of  them  who  see  not 
be3'ond  it"!  To  the  hillsides  and  winding  gullies,  where  the 
woodsman's  axe  has  rarely  or  ]iever  rung,  and  only  the  hunts- 
man's hounds  waked  the  echoes,  order  has  come  at  last — the  order 
of  liattle!  Elsewliere,  at  this  hour,  the  farmer  is  winding  his  horn 
from  ()])cii  window.  The  ]>low-l)oy  is  gearing  up  his  team,  and 
soon  the  slices  will  roll  over  from  the  mould-board,  and  new  fur- 
rows lie  shining  in  the  peaceful  glebe.  And  the  sower  goes  forth 
to  sow.  lioping  (in  such  times,  against  hope)  to  rea]i  in  turn.  The 
kine  are  lowing.  It  is  the  legendary  hour,  when  th"e  pretty  milk- 
maid, hiding  her  blushes  in  her  pail,  with  fresh  sunlight  in  her  eye, 
hears  from  her  lover  "the  old,  old  story."  Not  often  witnessed  in  our 
land,  at  this  early  hour,  I  believe,  but  at  other  hours  very  often 
witnessed — the  soft,  rosy  flush  of  daybreak  and  young  wonder,  life's 
rosy  aurora,  drawn  about  young  lite.  And  wherever  in  our  land 
such  life  waked  that  morning,  it  breathed  a  ])raycr  for  some  friend, 
or  l)rothei-.  or  more  than  brother,  in  the  Wdderness.  There  "busy 
hammers"  have  been  "closing  rivets  up."  The  sergeants  are  now 
roused,  and  are  shaking  up  their  detachments.  In  an  instant,  a 
breath  "hke  a  stream  of  brimstone,"  will  kindle  ■■the  tiery,  flying 
serpent,"  and  loud  death-blast.  But  fortius  instant  there  is  still- 
ness— "tiie  torrent's  smoothness,  ere  it  dash  below"!  <  )n  tiie  very 
briid<  scarce  a  ripple  to  be  seen,  an<l  then,  the  jut  of  Hell! 

HuiMiside  is  up,  wc  have  seen.  Longstreet  and  Anderson  arc 
not  up. 

Lee  had  gone  into  the  tight,  having  on  the  ground  not  more 
than  twenty-eight  thousand  muskets,  all  told.  With  this  snudl 
force  (diminisheil  by  the  losses  of  llie  day  ln'fore  i.  and  with  the 
view  of  divei'tiiig  the  l>low  about  to  descend,  from  the  point  whei-e 
he  was  least  ])repared  lor  it,  be  himself  renews  the  light  on  fiWell's 
front,  sti'iking  (ii'ant  on  his  right  flank  (Seymour's  brigade),  and 
involving  the  wlioU'  of  two  di\isions  (  IJicketl's  and  Wright's).  In 
vain,  however.  The  anticipated  Mow  <lescen(ls  according  to  orders 
("attack  along  the  whole  line  at  Ave  o'clock  '")  a  few  miiuites  later. 


73 

Oil  the  4th  Loiii^'stroat  was  advised  by  the  Coinmanding-Ciencral 
tliat  tho  oiu'iny  a|)i)eai'ed  to  1)C  moving"  towards  Stevensbiirg.  In 
t'ontbrmity  with  orders,  Long-street  gets  his  men  upon  their  legs 
about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  anti  inarches  to  Brock's  Bridge, 
on  the  border  of  Orange  county,  bringing  Kershaw  over  some  four- 
teen miles,  from  Gordonsville.  and  Field  some  sixteen,  from  Lib- 
erty Mills.  On  the  morning  of  the  5th  he  resumes  his  march,  and 
goes  into  caiu[)  that  evening  near  Richards'  Shop,  on  the  C'athar- 
]iin  Ivoad,  twelve  miles  from  his  point  of  starting,  and  six  or  seven 
miles,  by  a  road  through  the  woods,  from  Parker's  Store.  During 
the  latter  part  of  this  day's  march.  Kosser  was  skirmishing  in  front 
with  his  r>rigade  of  cavalry. 

During  the  night  Hancock  was  infoi'ined  that  his  right  would 
be  relieved  by  General  Wadsworlh.  of  the  Filth  corps,  and  two 
divisions  of  the  Ninth  corps,  under  Jkirnside,  and  cautioned  to 
keep  a  sharp  lookout  on  his  left.  Before  fiv(!  A.  M.  he  received 
word  tliat  Longstreet  was  moving  on  the  Catharpin  IJoad  to  fall 
upon  his  left,  and  Barlow's  division  was  placed  in  position  to 
receive  him  at  the  point  it  was  supposed  he  would  advance.  But, 
whatever  had  been  Fjce's  tirst  intentions  for  Longstreet  on  the 
Catharpin,  at  12:;>0  A.  M.  on  the  (5th.  the  latter  general,  by  Lee's 
orders,  started  for  Parker's  Store.  Arriving  there  about  dawn,  ho 
was  directed  to  press  on  at  once  to  relieve  Ifeth  and  Wilcox.  He 
had  some  two  miles  stdl  to  march.  A  Confederate  line  hopelessly 
outnumbered  and  outHanked  desperately  awaited  him. 

A  little  before  ilayiireak.  fearing  he  would  be  attacked  before  he 
could  be  relieved,  Wilcox  orderetl  the  j)i<)neers  to  fell  trees  to  make 
an  abattis.  but  the  jiioneers  were  tired  on  and  could  not  continue, 
lie  lookiMl  up;  tln'  ti)ps  of  tlu'  trees  had  caught  the  morning  re<l. 
Then  he  sat  watching  the  east,  as  the  veins  of  day  throbbed  across 
the  morning,  lleth,  too,  '-agitated  l»v  an  anxiety  such  as  he  never 
felt  bei'ore  or  afterwards,''  finally  deteniiineil  to  lay  matters  before 
Lee;  searched  I'or  him  two  hours  in  vain;  then  walked  U])  and 
down  in  reai-  of  his  troo|)s  until  he  fancied  he  saw  day  breaking, 
when,  ordering  his  horse,  he  went  at  lull  s])i'e(l  down  the  road — 
but  no  Tiongstreet !  Li  des|)air  he  returned  to  his  troops.  Day 
had  fairly  broken. 

Xo  one  slept  that  night  at  Hill's  head(|uarters.  I5efore  day  the 
horses  were   saddled.      .\s   dav   broke,  and    nothini!-   was   heai'd   of 


74 

Longstrect,  the  suspense  was  insupportable.  All  knew  the  two 
divisions  Avould  give  way,  if  attacked,  and  all  knew  they  would  be 
attacked.  Leaving  his  chief  of  statt"  beside  tlie  smouldering  sticks, 
where  the  night  had  been  spent.  Hill,  with  the  rest  of  his  staff, 
rode  to  the  left  beyond  the  guns.  He  was  hardly  out  of  view 
when  Longstreet  galloped  on  the  tield,  l)Ut  to  the  questions  which 
were  quickly  put  to  him,  he  replied,  "My  troops  are  not  yet  up. 
I  have  ridden  ahead  to  find  out  the  situation."  As  he  spoke  his 
voice  was  di-owned  in  the  roar  of  musketry. 

Believing  resistance  to  be  futile  in  such  formation  as  he  had, 
Heth  ordered  his  brigade  commanders  to  take  his  men  to  the  rear 
as  fast  as  possible.  In  effect,  the  men  were  ordered  to  run.  and 
the  signs  are  the}'  obeyed,  Avith  all  the  means  which  God  and  nature 
had  put  into  their  feet.  If  they  did  not  severally  show  a  clean 
pair  of  heels,  it  is  partly  to  be  ascribed  to  the  fact,  that  the  same 
were  not  there  to  be  shown.  For  a  while  it  looked,  as  if  we  were 
ahout  to  prevail  over  the  encm}',  as  our  ancestors  beat  the  British 
at  Bladensburg — "in  the  long  run." 

The  circle  of  attack  soon  closed  around  Wilcox.  Beginning  on 
his  right,  in  a  few  minutes  it  was  raging  all  along  his  front  and  on 
hoth  flanks.  -'It  was  only  a  f[uestion  of  time,"  says  Wilcox,  "how 
long*  my  men  could  hold  their  ground.  At  length  the  men  were 
seen  giving  way,  but  not  in  disorder."  Wilcox  rode  rapidly  to 
Lee,  not  thi'ce  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the  troops  then 
engaged.  Lee  said  to  him,  "Lonstreet  must  be  here;  go  bring  him 
up."  Dashing  to  the  road  to  see  if  he  was  in  sight,  Wilcox  met 
f  be  head  of  Kershaw's  division.  This  he  directed  to  file  to  the 
right  of  the  road  and  form  line  as  quickl}-  as  possible,  for  fear  his 
own  men  might  be  forced  back  upon  Kershaw  before  he  couhl  get 
into  position  ;  which  is  what  did  very  speedily  ha]>pen.  Our  whole 
line  was  coming  back  like  a  wave.  There  were  at  this  time  two 
batteries  on  the  left  of  the  road.  General  Hill  rode  along  the 
line  of  tbese  guns,  directing  them  how  to  fire,  which  the}^  were 
compelled  to  do,  while  some  of  our  own  men  were  in  the  path  of 
their  projectiles.  H  was  said  of  the  Turks,  in  the  Crimean  war, 
tliat  a  wise  instinct  taught  them,  that,  if  there  was  one  thing 
which  ought  not  to  be  left  to  late  or  to  tlie  ])recepts  of  a  deceased 
prophet,  it  was  tlie  artillery. 


75 

The  lano'uagc  of  Long-street's  official  report  is:  "Kershaw's 
division  was  in  the  lead.  Arriving  in  the  rear  of  the  line  held  by 
these-  two  divisions  (Ileth  and  AVik'OX)thc  head  of  my  column  filed 
to  the  right,  and  liail  only  tiin(>  to  deploy  two  regiments  of  Ker- 
shaw's old  lirigade,  w  hen  an  advance  was  nuule  hy  the  whole  line 
of  the  enemy,  and  the  divisions  of  Ileth  and  Wdcox  hroke  and 
retreated  in  some  confusion."  Hancock  is  justitied  in  saying:  --The 
enemy's  line  was  broken  at  all  points  and  he  was  driven  in  confu- 
sion through  the  forest;"  lint  he  is  inaccurate  when  he  adds,  "for 
about  one  and  a  half  miles." 

With  steadiness,  opening  their  rank's  to  let  the  reti-eating  troops 
through,  Kershaw's  division  formed  line  of  battle  on  the  right, 
each  l)rigade  forming  separately  under  tire,  in  a  dense  thicket, 
whi(  h  rendered  it  impossible  to  see  either  the  character  or  numbers 
of  the  foe  they  were  to  resist. 

Ilennegan  was  thrown  on  the  right,  and  the  Second  South 
Carolina  regiment  deployed  and  jiushed  forward  on  the  left  of 
the  road.  Almost  immediately  the  enemy  was  ui)on  them.  Ilen- 
negan having  passed  sutTiciently  to  the  right  to  admit  of  the 
deployment  of  General  irum])hreys  to  his  left,  this  formation 
M'as  made  in  good  order  under  the  tire  of  the  enemy,  who  had  so 
far  penetrated  between  Ilennegan  and  the  road,  as  to  almost 
enfilade  the  Second  South  Carolina  and  the  batteries  holding  the 
leit.  Humphreys  was  [jusIumI  ibi-ward  as  soon  as  he  got  into 
position,  and  Bryan's  brigade  coming  uj),  was  ordered  into  ]iosition 
to  Hennegan's  riglit. 

The  two  batteries  on  the  left  of  the  road  had  opened  at  the 
critical  instant  of  the  day.  Their  tire  had  the  desired  effect  of 
checking  the  enemy  momentarily.  That  moment  was  decisive. 
Longstreet.  arriving  so  late,  l)ut  so  o])portunely,  had  time  to  form. 
General  Lee  now  appeared  on  the  left  leading  Hood's  old  brigade. 
Longstreet  had  just  tiled  two  brigades  in  rear  of  the  guns,  and 
riding  slowly  along  their  front,  as  tlu'V  came  into  line,  had  cau- 
tioned them  to  keep  cool,  and  gave  them  his  own  example.  As 
the  Texas  In-igade  moved  through  the  guns,  General  Lee  rode  on 
their  tlank.  and  raising  his  hat.  saluted  them  as  old  Iriends  who 
had  too  long  been  parted,  and  said  aloud,  he  would  lead  them  him- 
self To  him  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  is  "as  a  steed  that 
knows  his  ritler."     The  tine  eye  of  Lee  must  often  have  glistened 


76 

witli  soiiietliiii^-  liftter  than  a  coiK^ucror's  pride,  wlieiiever  he 
rc'oalk'd  the  crv.  with  which  that  veteran  rank  and  lilo  sent  him  to 
the  rear,  and  themselves  to  the  front.  The  name  of  that  warlike 
man,  who  stepped  out  from  the  ranks  to  seize  the  bridle  of  Trav- 
ellei',  and  force  him  and  his  rider  back  from  the  battle  shower,  I 
cannot  g-ive  j'oii.  A  tall,  gaunt  tigure,  clad  iu  rags,  and  the  light- 
beams  of  a  beautiful  heroic  splendor,  rises  before  us  for  an  instant, 
and  tlien  pei'ishes  out  of  view,  as  the  ti'uly  great  are  wont  to  per- 
ish— their  very  names  forgotten,  or  known  only  to  God;  their 
dee<ls  and  the  fruit  of  them  imperishable.  Lee  was  sto})ped  ;  he 
and  his  horse  reined  in,  while  the  men  cried,  "We  will  go  I'orward, 
but  you  must  go  back."  So  said,  so  acted  these  Texas  men,  loving 
a  higher  than  themselves  better  than  themselves,  this  their  last 
feeling.  Tt  was  a  fine  old  gladiatorial,  morituri  te  scdutamvs,  only 
tiner  in  that  it  was  freer,  for  altars  and  for  hearths,  not  for  a 
Ivoman  holiday.  They  flung  their  cai)s  into  the  air.  and,  with  a 
shout  which  was  their  stern  farewell,  swept  onward.  Their  front 
was  to  the  east  as  the}'  took  their  last  gaz-e  of  this  earth.  Sunrise 
was  shining  in  their  faces  as  their  own  sun  set.  The  smile  of  that 
May  morning  kissed  their  faces  as  they  fell.  The  rising  sun  was 
their  winding-sheet.  Savages,  J  am  told,  the.-e  Texans  were.  There 
was  nothing  savage  in  theii-  chivalry. 

Longstreet's  first  order  to  Kield  was  to  form  line  of  buttle  on 
the  right.  i»ci-pendicuhir  1o  the  i-oad.  Meld  thereupon  threw 
Anderson's  bi-ig;ide,  which  was  leading,  in  line  to  the  right.  But 
before  it  (•i)uld  be  followed  up  li}-  the  others,  a  second  onler  came 
to  form  in  (he  (piickest  order  ])ossible,  and  (diai'ge  witii  any  front. 
Throwing  (Jregg's  Texas  brigade  on  the  lei't  of  the  road,  as  has 
been  stated,  and  P>enning  behind  Clregg,  and  I^aws  behind  Benning, 
and  .lenkins  liehin<l  fjaws,  Field  slipped  llu'  K^ash.  lie  had  but  to 
j)oint  to  the  enemy.  The  Texas  brigade  dashed  forward  as  soon  as 
it  was  formed,  without  waiting  for  the  lu-igadesin  the  rear.  Igno- 
rant of  wliat  was  in  Iront  of  tiieni,  Ihi'  view  being  oiistructed  by 
a  slight  I'ise  and  some  scattered  i»ines.  I  lie  enemy  came  on. 

At  the  iiislaut  there  was  nothing  there  to  oppose  him  but  (iregg's 
Texans.  less  than  five  liiindi-ed  sti'ong.  flanked  on  both  sides, 
these  struck  him  a  staggering  blow  full  in  the  face,  these  forced 
him  back — but  with  a  loss  of  two-l  birds  of  their  own  iiumbei* 
kille<l    and    wounded    in    ten     minutes.      Later    in    the    campaign, 


77 

aiul  after  some  reeruitiiiii;  had  taken  place,  Secretary  Eeagan 
wont  out  from  Iiic-lim(jn(l  to  visit  the  ])riga<le,  and  reported  that  it 
averaged  two  and  two-fifths  wounds  to  a  num.  Some  companies 
were  entirely  ol)iiterated.  One  company  for  months  had  on  duty 
hut  a  single  man,  a  lieutenant — all  the  rest  killed  or  wounded  at 
the  Wilderness!  Onward  sped  the  Texas  whirlwind,  till  it  whirle<l 
itself  into  a  thing  of  shre(ls  and  tatters;  hanging  together  at  the 
last,  like  the  limhs  of  a  l)ody,  adhering  hy  the  skin,  after  the  l)One 
has  heen  crushed.  They  closed  u])  their  ranks  over  their  comrades 
as  they  fell,  till  there  was  no  longer  a  rank  or  a  comrade  to  close. 
No  laurelletl  Six  Jlundred  ever  charged  more  nohly  than  these  Five 
Iluii<li'e(l.  Glorious  is  it,  and  glorilied  ever,  when  a  AVinkelrie<l 
gathers  the  imlomitahle  sjiears  into  liis  arms,  and  says  to  liherty 
at  his  lauuk,  ■•  Forward  over  me  ! '" — ransoms  an  army  l)_y  his  own 
immohitioni  Even  so  these  Texans  nuide  tiieii-  l>osoms  u  sheath 
for  the  thnnderholt.  They  huried  defeat  on  the  field,  under  a 
mound  of  theii'  own  coi-pscs.  They  step])ed  to  the  gravc-s  of  mar- 
t\rs  with  the  gi'ace  of  i-oui'tiers.  Thoy  had  hut  an  instant  to  think 
ami  to  act,  and  they  made  it  one  of  im])erishahle  heauty.  The 
long  track  of  light,  which  followed  in  the  wake  of  their  valor, 
they  did  not.  could  not  see.  Their  Wilderness  was  then;  their 
]iromised  land  eternity.  Ai't  will  depict  a  scene  which  no  art  can 
exaggerate.  Theii- greatest  jticture  lives  on  a  canvas  of  reality, 
woven  in  hlood,  and  flame,  and  "hattle  s])k'n(loi-""— immortal  there, 
as  heroism  only  is.  Band  of  Immoi'tals!  in  your  "iron  sleep"'  take 
our  proud  and  sad  good-l)ye. 

The  Texas  lii'igade  met  and  ovei"canu>  the  first  shock  at  this 
])oiiif.  It  was  followed  hy  Benning's  Georgia  hrigade  with  "sig- 
nally (heering  results'-  (I'^ield  mentions  in  his  re])ort).  m  aehii'ving 
which  lienning  was  wounded  and  the  hi'igade  much  cut  u]). 
Tiaws"  hrigade  (Colonel  Peny)  followed,  hut  the  enemy  was  so  far 
checked  that  the  losses  in  this  hrigade  were  not  so  heavy.  Jen- 
kins could  he  fornu'<l.  and  for  a  time  held  in  reserve.  Pei'rin's  hri- 
gade of  Anderson's  division  (^just  arrived  on  the  tieldj  went  in  on  the 
right  of  I>aws.  The  enemy's  ]irogress  had  heen  stopped,  and  he 
had  heen  driven  hack  on  the  left  hy  the  Texas,  Georgia,  ami  Ala- 
hama  hrigades.  On  the  right,  urged  forward  hy  Longstreet  and 
unahh^  to  further  extend  his  line  with  the  hrigade  of  WotTord, 
then  marching  as  ivai'-guai'd  to   the  wagon-ti-ain.  Kershaw   ])laccd 


himself  at  llie  head  of  his  flircc  brigades,  aiul  led  in  person  a  charge 
wliieh  retired  soniewhal  the  confident  Noi1h.  A  pause  ensued, 
wherein  Hancock,  in  great  force,  stood  still,  owing,  it  is  explained, 
to  the  disintegration  of  his  line  in  advancing  through  the  thickets; 
coinmendator}'  to  the  lighting  quality  <>f  A'ii-ginia  hrush,  which, 
like  Birnam  wood,  it  seems,  can  cast  a  warlike  shadow,  and  meddle 
in  assault  and  l»attery.  At  7  A.  M.  Hancock  sends  fresh  orders  to 
press  on,  hut  it  was  not  until  two  houi-s  later  (owing,  he  thinks,  to 
the  a])pre]iended  a})proach  of  Ijongstreet  on  his  left)  that  Avith 
half  of  (xrant's  army  well  in  hand,  he  attacked  with  all  his- 
power.  The  struggle  ibr  life  or  death  which  follows  strains 
every  sinew,  yet  is  without  permanent  advantage  to  either  side. 
Tlie  same  ground  was  fought  over  in  succession  by  both.  About 
9:15  A.  ]\r.  Hancock  received  a  dispatch  telling  him  "to  attack 
simultaneously  with  Burnside."  Hancock  being  at  that  instant 
siiiiultaneously  attacked  himself,  on  the  right  and  lel't  of  the  Plank 
Ivoad,  exhibits  very  unmistakably  his  view,  that  the  person  Avho 
most  needed  to  be  simultaneous  was  Burnside.  Half  an  hour  later 
Hancock  received  a  disjtatch  that  Cutler's  brigade  of  the  Fifth 
corps  had  fallen  back'  considei'ably  disorganized.  Hancock  must 
take  measures  to  check  this  movement  of  the  enemy,  as  Meade 
has  no  troops  to  spare;  and  two  brigades  of  Birney  are  sent,  who 
connect  with  Waivren's  left.  The  lirnig  again  died  away,  and  there 
was  a  lull  all  along  the  line  until  about  noon.  Hancock  had 
advanced,  jnet  Jjongstrcet,  fought,  accom])lished  nothing. 

Thrown  suddenly',  while  still  marching  by  the  Hank,  into  the 
presence  of  an  advancing  foe,  Longslreet  laid  hold  on  two  liatterics 
of  artillery,  as  an  athlete  might  seize  a  horizontal  bar,  and  wheel 
his  whole  body  to  a  level.  Blucher  might  have  l>een  jn'outl  ot  the 
tenacious  hand  which  was  laid  on  the  trunnions  of  those  guns,  and 
Macdonald's  column  never  tore  a  bloodit'r  wreath. 

Ileth  and  ^Vi^•ox  had  been  moved  to  the  leit,  to  lill  u]i  the  inter- 
val between  Longstreet  and  I'iWell.  an<l  protect  Longstreet's  left; 
with  the  exception  of  a  ])arl  of  l)avis'  brigade  of  Heth's  division 
undt'r  Colonel  Stone,  of  .M  ississipjii,  whicdi  fought  all  the  rest  of 
the  day  with  Longstreet's  forces.  Colonel  Stone  was  conipliniented 
on  the  field  by  General  Hill.  General  Lee  sent  two  telegrams  in 
respect  to  these  divisions.  The  first  on  the  511) :  '-Heth  and  AVil- 
cox    have  i"e])uls(Ml   the    rc))eated    and   desperate  assaults  on   the 


79 

Plank  Road."'  The  second  on  the  0th  :  "Iletli  and  Wileox,  in  the 
act  of  beino;  relieved,  were  attacked  and  thrown  into  some  confu- 
sion." The  statement  in  Hancock's  re])ort,  Apjileton's  Cycopa'dia 
and  elsewhere,  that  "Hill  was  driven  back  one  and  a  half  miles," 
is  of  course  inaccurate.  The  (wo  l)atteries,  whose  tiro  at  the  criti- 
cal moment  had  helped  to  check  the  enemy,  were  some  three  hun- 
dred yards  (sa}'  four  hundred)  from  where  the  fio-ht  bc_<>-an.  The 
enemy  never  reached  those  guns.  There  is  nothing  which  so 
touches  mo.  as  the  defeat  or  eclipse  of  the  truly  brave.  Their  sor- 
row, or  their  shame,  is  of  a  noble  soi-t.  From  first  to  last  these  two 
divisions  had  the  liar<lest  task.  Tt  was  theirs,  in  that  lonely  Wil- 
derness, to  hold  a(  i»ay  an  army,  and  an  army  under  Hancock, 
until  their  own  could  come  up;  and  then  on  the  morrow,  through 
no  fault  of  their  own,  sec  another  snatch  the  laurel  from  their 
Itrow.  They  had  to  do  more  than  show  courage  in  diliicultv — 
that  they  did  on  the  5th.  They  had  to  do  more  than  show  cour- 
age in  disaster — that  Longstreet  did  on  the  fith.  They  had  to 
bring  order  out  of  their  own  confusion,  recover  the  cul)its  of  their 
stature  out  of  their  humiliation.  They  had  to  form  though 
they  had  been  broken,  and  a<lvaiico  where  they  had  tied.  From 
first  to  last,  theirs  was  intrinsically  the  hardest  task.  The  great- 
est thing  need  not  be  the  most  famous,  nor  that  Avhich  is  cheered 
or  cheers  itself  the  most.  In  war  as  elsewhere,  magnanimity  does 
not  consist  in  never  lieing  thrown.  Its  grand  quality — all  the 
more  so.  that  the  loud  cheering  is  not  for  it  but  against  it — is  the 
heart  to  i-;illy  under  defeat. 

Andersons  brigades,  arriving  after  Longstreet,  and  after  the 
sharpest  of  the  attack  was  over,  were  successively  sent  off  by  him, 
where  they  wore  most  needed,  until  he  had  Iiut  one  left,  Mahonc's. 
An  examination  of  the  enemy's  position  now  led  to  a  movement 
which  came  near  to  being  glorious  Avith  complete  success.  The 
brigades  of  Mahone.  Andei'son.  and  Wotford,  of  which  ^Fahone  as 
Senior  brigadier  was  in  command,  were  moved  beyond  the  enemy's 
left,  with  orders  to  attack  him  on  his  left  and  m  rear.  The  enemy, 
who  was  now,  at  intervals  only,  bearing  down  n])oii  our  line,  was 
at  the  same  moment  to  be  attacked  in  front.  The  long-cxjiected 
flank  movement  came  at  last,  and  when  it  was  least  desired.  The 
troo])s  in  front  moved  down  on  both  sides  of  the  road,  and  started 
the  enemv  back,  at  first  slowlv.  until  the  effect  of  the  flank  move- 


80 

ment  was  felt,  avJkmi  lie  liroko  in  confusion,  leaving  his  dead  and 
Mounded  thiek  upon  the  tield.  '-The^'  came  yelling  like  so  many 
infuriated  devils,"  writes  the  cori'cspondent  of  the  New  York 
World.  Could  Ta'c  have  s])ared  a  larger  force  from  his  front,  say 
fi'oiu  Iletli  and  Wilcox:  repeated  the  audacity  of  Chancellorsville! 
Again  and  again  hy  just  such  venture  he  achieve<l  his  douhle  gains. 
His  greatest  victoi'ies  were  won  uiidei"  a  Idade  suspended  b}^  a 
hair.  So  it  is  wiili  victory.  To  know  how  to  dare  everything 
at  the  right  })lace  and  inonuMit  is  one  of  its  secrets.  If  once  more 
it  may  he  done!  See  what  three  briga<les  ai'c  doing,  co-operating 
with  others  in  front !  They  fall  on  Hancock's  left,  crushing  Frank's 
brigade,  swecjting  away  ^Mott's  division,  llancoek's  lell  is  forced 
back.  I Te  endeavors  to  retani  the  advanced  position,  lield  by  his 
right  on  the  Plank  Ivoad,  but  cannot  do  so.  Ife  rallies  on  the 
original  line  from  whi(di  lu'  advanced.  We  are  I'olling  him  up  bke 
a  sci'oll.  The  IMank  Koad  is  ours.  We  are  victorious.  We  are 
marching  to  fui-ther  victory.  Wadsworth  gives  way  in  fi-ont,  him- 
self struck'  down.  The  Alaliama  brigade  sweej)  over  him.  Grant's 
army  totters.  Ah-eady  j'epulsed,  it  is  now  threatened  with  destruc- 
tion. In  such  a  moment.  Longstreet  "fell,  l)leeding  like  an  ox." 
It  was  anothei-  such  monuuit,  when  ,Iose])h  K.  Johnston  fell  at 
Seven  Pines;  another  such,  when  our  star  of  chivalry,  the  Sidney 
of  Shiloh  (l)right  inmge  of  liim  of  Zut])hen)  falling  from  his  liorse, 
thi'ew  the  jialloi'  of  his  death  on  his  victory,  as  it  rolled  over  bun 
in  the  dust. 

In  concert  with  the  attack  ofth(!  inranl  I'v  on  front  and  llaidv, 
two  guns  of  McI  ntosh's  battalion  were  ])ushed  down  the  road, 
firing  as  they  went.  liongstreet  had  stoj^ped  for  an  instant,  at  the 
suggestion  of  General  Lee,  to  direct  the  removal  of  some  logs 
which  im])eded  the  guns,  aixl  then,  accompanied  by  l)riga<lier- 
Genei'al  Jenkins  and  staff,  continued  down  the  road.  Hancock  was 
now  back  on  t  he  Prock  Road  holding  his  last  position.  l)is])Osi- 
tions  were  made  for  ;i  fiii'lliei-  attack  u|)oii  (he  position  on  the 
Pi-ock  Roatl.  Kershaw  was  to  break  the  line  and  ])ush  it  to  the 
right  of  the  I'oad  towar<is  Fredericksburg,  wlnle  ,Ieid<ins  should 
m;ii'ili  li\'  the  tlaiik  dnwn  the  i'oa<l.  lu'yond  oui'  main  line  of  battle 
and  of  skirmishers,  and  then  deploy  and  sweej)  the  Bi'ock  Hoad. 
Ki'i-shaw  was  I'iding  with  .lenkins.  at  the  hea<l  of  the  bi'igade  of 
the  latter,  when  two  or  three  shots  wei'e   lii'ed    on    the   left    of  the 


81 

roa<I,  anil  iiniiic(ii;iti-ly  afterwards  a  volley  was  poured  into  the 
head  of  the  coluinn  (Voni  the  woods  on  the  rigiit,  occupied  hy  Ma- 
houe's  lM'ii;a<le.  Uy  this  fire  Lonii'street  was  dangerously  wouiuled, 
and  Jenkins  killed.  Tin'  fall  of  these  two  generals,  the  one  Avho 
was  in  coniinand  of  the  movement  on  the  flaidv'.  and  the  corps  com- 
numder.  who  had  hardly  tinished  giving  his  orders,  it  ma}'  be,  had 
not  (■onii)letely  given  them,  must  account  for  the  confusion  and 
delay  w  hich  followed;  and  the  necessity  whicdi  was  felt  forstraight- 
ening  the  line  before  going  on.  This  consumed  time,  which  Han- 
cock impi'oved  to  reform  his  broken  columns. 

Hancock's  account  of  this  transaction  is  very  simple.  The  Con- 
federates advanced  U})0n  Krank's  brigade,  which,  '■  having  been 
hea\ily  engaged  in  the  earlier  ])arl  of  the  day.  had  exhausted  its 
ammunition,  and  was  com[)elled  to  ivtire  before  the  enemy,  whose 
attacdc  was  made  with  great  vehemence.  Tins  was  Longstreet's 
attack.  Passing  over  l-'ranks  lirigade.  they  struck  the  left  of 
Mott's  division,  which,  in  turn,  was  forced  back.  Some  confusion 
ensuing  among  the  troojis  of  that  division.  F  endeavoretl  to  restore 
order,  and  to  reform  my  line  of  battle  along  the  Orange  Plank 
lioad,  from  its  extreme  advance  to  its  junction  with  the  Brock 
IJoad.  by  throwing  ba(-k  my  left,  in  order  to  hold  my  advanced 
position  on  that  road,  and  on  its  right  :  but  was  unable  to  eflect 
this,  owing  to  the  partial  disorganization  of  the  troops,  which  was 
to  lie  attributed  to  their  having  been  engaged  for  many  hours  in  a 
dense  forest  under  a  heavy  and  mui-derons  musket r>'  lire,  when 
their  organization  was  partly  lost.  General  IJirne}',  who  was  in 
command  of  that  portion  of  the  line,  thought  it  advisable  to  with- 
draw the  troops  from  the  woo(ls.  where  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  adjust  ')ur  lines,  and  to  reform  them  in  the  l>reastworks  along 
the  Brock  IJoad.  on  our  original  line  of  battle.  "  flaking  allow- 
ances for  certain  pardonable  euphemisms,  the  true  face  of  the 
matter  is  seen  to  be  as  lieretofore  stated.  Mr.  Swinton  writes: 
''It  seemed,  indeed,  that  irretrievable  disaster  was  u|»on  us;  but 
in  the  very  torrent  and  tt'm])est  of  the  attack  it  suddenly  ceased, 
and  all  wasstill."  And  again:  ■■  But  in  the  very  fury  and  tempest  of 
the  Confederate  onset,  the  advance  was  of  a  sudilen  stayed  l)y  a 
cause  at  the  moment  unk'nown.  This  afterwards  pi-oved  to  have 
been  the  fall  of  the  head  of  the  atta(d<.  " 


82 

General  Lee  now  came  in  ])erson  to  the  front,  and  ordered  Ker- 
shaw to  take  position  with  his  right  resting  on  the  road-hed  of  the 
Orange  and  Fredericksliurg  railroad.  an<l  told  Field  t«^  straighten 
his  line — Field  and  Kershaw  being  perpendicular  to  the  Plank 
Road,  and  the  turning  force  parallel  with  it,  to  which  fact  was  due 
the  casualty  which  liad  just  hapjiened.  With  the  exception  of 
Woftord's  brigade,  Kershaw  was  engnged  no  more  that  day.  It 
was  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  before  the  next  advance  was  made. 
Hancock  is  now  too  strong  behind  his  works  to  l)e  successfully 
driven  from  them.  He  is  greatly  shaken  in  them,  however,  and 
greatly  demoralized  behind  them,  to  an  extent  which  shows  how 
near  we  were  to  victory  i'our  lioui-s  earlier,  when  the  blindest  acci- 
dent ]>ulled  down  the  head  of  the  attack;  nay,  how  narrowly  we 
grazed  it  this  second  time,  after  the  la])se  of  hours  had  given 
leave  to  fortify  behind  breastworks;  which,  but  for  the  fall  of  the 
two  cenerals,  wouM  not  have  been  gran(e<l.  There  was  nothing 
else  but  to  drive  from  a  sti-ong  line,  l)y  main  force,  an  enemy  pre- 
pared now  against  manonivre  and  surprise.  A  IJussiaii  proverb 
says,  "Measure  ten  times,  you  can  cut  only  once.''  Precious  as 
his  army  was,  Lee  might  well  have  hesitated  to  assault  a  position 
so  delende<i  and  defensible,  after  his  chief  lieutenant  had  been 
borne  from  the  Held,  it  was  a  time  to  look  about  him  well,  to  look 
befoi-e  and  after,  with  a  provident,  reflecting  eye.  to  see  surel}' 
what  might  be  expected  of  great  daring.  Tn  the  foui-th  year  of 
till!  war.  it  was  not  lawful  to  dare  too  much.  Lee  looked  before  he 
would  dare  this  leap  for  his  adversai'y"s  wall.  ITow,  being  in,  he- 
bore  himself,  the  opposer  is  aware.  Hancock's  re]iort  being  once 
more  at  baud.  1  will  let  that  si)eak-  for  me. 

"At  4:15  1'.  M.,  tlu"  enemy  advanced  against  my  line  in  force." 
"After  half  an  hour  had  passed,  some  of  the  troops  began  to  waver, 
;uid  finally  a  jxtrtiou  of  MolCs  division  and  Ward's  brigade  of  Bir- 
ney's  division,  in  the  tii-st  line,  gave  way,  i-etiring  in  disorder 
towards  Chancellorsville.  My  staff  and  other  oflict'rs  made  great 
e.\'(M-tions  to  rallv  these  nn'ii,  and  many  oi"  them  were  returned  to 
the  line  of  battle,  but  a  ]»orfion  of  them  (•()uld  not  l)e  collected 
until  the  action  was  over.  As  soon  as  the  break  occurred  the 
enemy  itusheil  forward,  and  some  of  them  reached  tbi^  breastworks 
and  planted  theii-  flags  thereon.  *  *  *  The  confusion  and  dis- 
organization among  a  portion  of  the  troops  of  Mott's  and  Birney's 


83 

divisions,  on  this  occasion,  was  greatly  increased,  if  not  originated, 
by  the  front  line  of  breastworks  having  taken  fire  a  short  time 
before  the  enemy  made  his  attack;  the  flames  having  been  com- 
municated to  it  from  the  forest  in  front  (the  battle-ground  of  the 
morning),  which  had  been  burning  for  some  hours.  The  breast- 
works, on  this  portion  of  my  line  were  constructed  entirely  of  logs, 
and  at  the  critical  moment  of  the  enemy's  attack,  were  a  mass  of 
flames,  which  it  was  impossible  at  that  time  to  subdue',  the  fire 
extending  for  many  hundi'cd  paces  right  and  left.  The  intense 
heat  and  the  smoke  which  was  driven  by  the  wind  directly  into 
the  taces  of  the  men,  prevented  them  on  portions  of  the  line  from 
firing  over  the  parapet,  and  at  some  points  compelled  them  to 
abandon  the  line." 

Hancock's  position  was  a  trying  one.  Suddenly  the  gloom  of 
the  dense  wood  was  pierced  with  the  fierce  glare  of  conflagration. 
The  torch  was  added  to  the  sword.  But  if  it  is  hard  to  stand  firm 
beliind  a  breastwork  of  fire,  is  it  nothing  to  cliarge  up  to  it  and 
plant  a  flag  upon  it?  Jenkins'  South  Carolina  brigade,  led  by  Brat- 
ton  now,  under  a  withering  fire  rush  up  to  the  works  and  into 
them,  l)ut  it  seems  are  not  supported  as  they  should  have  been, 
and  Carroll,  hurr3'ing  up,  is  too  strong  for  them.  Blackened  with 
the  smoke  of  gunpowder  and  other  smoke,  they  fall  back  discom- 
fited— save  them  who  fall  l)ack  dead — they  flame-girt,  the  breast- 
works of  the  enemy,  their  funeral  pyre. 

The  correspondent  of  the  World  wrote:  ''Mott's  division  fell  back 
in  confusion.  Stevenson's  division  gave  way  confusedly,  compelling 
the  remainder  of  the  left-centre  to  fall  back  some  distance.  Craw- 
ford's division  suftered  severel3^  One  of  its  regiments,  the  Seventh 
Pennsylvania  reserve,  was  captured  almost  in  a  body,  and  the 
enemy  succeeded  in  reaching  our  breastworks.  There  was  immi- 
nent danger  of  a  general  break,  but  General  Hancock  ordered 
Colonel  Carroll's  brigade  to  form  at  right  angles  with  his  line,  and 
sweep  tiie  whole  front  of  it,  which  resulted  in  complete  repulse  of 
the  enemy.  The  first  tew  moments  we  were  staggered.  Stragglers, 
for  the  first  time,  streamed  to  the  rear  in  large  numbers,  choking 
the  roads  and  causing  a  panic  In'  their  stampede,  and  the  incohe- 
rent tales  of  frightful  disaster.  It  was  even  reported  at  headquar- 
ters that  the  enemy  had  burst  entirely  through.  *  *  Grant  and 
Meade  seated,  their  backs  againsi  the  same  tree,  quietly  listened  to 


84 


llio  oHiccr  who  lir()iiii,-hl  the  report,  iui<l  consulted  a  moment  in  low 
tones.  *  *  *  'i'Jify  ''lit  h)oke(l  into  each  other's  faces.  At 
length  Grant  says,  with  laconic  emphasis,  "I  don't  believe  it!"' 

In  the  interval  l)et\veen  the  two  attacks  of  our  right,  Grant  had 
observed  to  Mr.  Swinton.  as  the\'  sat  "under  the  trees  on  tlie  hill- 
side," '■  It  has  been  my  experince  that  though  the  Southerners 
fight  desperately  at  first,  yet  when  we  hang  on  for  a  da}'  or  two 
we  whip  them  awfully.'" 

The  great  man  was  ■•silting  on  the  grass,  smoking  alternatel}'  a 
pipe  and  a  cigar — calm,  imperturable,  quietly  awaiting  events" — 
evidently  intended  as  a  picture  of  the  moral  sublime,  this  climax  of 
a  cigar!  IJeady  for  a  ])ipe  too,  '-efpial  to  (Mther  fate,"  the  calm, 
imperturable  one!  the  Son  of  Fortune  "quietly  awaiting  events  !  " 
and  able  to  speak  with  so  much  foresight  and  discrimination! 

Conformably  Avilh  tliis  iullsi(K'-view  of  Ihiugs.  Grant  sent  word 
to  Hancock  to  attack  again  at  G  o'clock  in  the  evening.  It  was 
while  the  latter  was  making  his  dispositions  to  this  end,  that  the 
Confederates  had  resumed  the  offensive.  After  they  had  fallen 
back  a  disi)atch  was  received  countermanding  the  order  to  attack 
at  SIX.  Grant  did  -'hang  on  for  a  day  or  two,"  for  a  month  or 
two,  tor  many  ilays  and  many  mouths;  and  a  '•  ragged  edge"  it 
was  to  him.  Whether,  on  any  one  of  those  days,  he  did  whip  any 
number  of  rebels  very  awfully,  or  to  himself  very  gloriously,  is  a 
question  which  should  be  reserved,  perhaps,  for  some  more  dispas- 
sionate time.  That  day  after  day,  and  month  after  month,  he 
failed  to  do  so  is  a])])areut.  The  battle  in  this  ])art  of  the  field  may 
be  summed  uj)  by  sax'ing:  Hancock  liro]<e  our  right  in  tlu'  morn- 
ing. Lougstreet  drove  him  liack,  and  broke  his  left  in  the  evening — 
over  the  same  gi-ound.  'fhey  did  not  i*each  our  guns,  and,  we  did 
not  reach  the  Brock"   Koail. 

■'The  reljels  cannot  endure  another  such  day,  and  we  can,"  was 
the  wonl  in  "The  Union  Cam))"  as  the  sun  went  down  on  thcGth. 
"The  Union  ('amp  "  was  prcinatui'c  in  this.  '-The  rel)els"  were 
not  worn  o'ut  '■  by  at trition  "  in  one  battle,  or  in  two.  They  could 
eudui'e  many  more  such  days,     'i'hey  coidd  endure  more  that  day. 

On  our  right,  a  \v\y  heavy  attack  had  been  made  in  the  morning, 
on  Early's  front.  I'ersisteiit  attacks  revealed  to  Warren  and  Sedg- 
wick, that  the  sacrifice  of  life  in  the  effort  to  carry  this  front  was 
useless.      From  sunrise  to  sunset  the  critical  moments  and  conflicts 


85 

were  on  llie  rii;-lit.  P)Ut  one  most  siul  event  on  Ewell's  line,  it  were 
a  serious  omission  not  to  mention. 

Early  on  the  (!th  Col.  .John  Thompson  Brown,  with  Lieutenant 
An<i"fl  of  the  Second  Howitzers,  at  the  time  detached  as  adjutant, 
had  ridden  to  the  iVont  with  the  hope  of  l)ein<i;  ahle  to  place  some 
artillery  in  j)Osition.  Imt  had  only  succeeded  in  tindmg  place  for  a 
single  section.  In  his  eagerness  to  hring  moiv  guns  to  hear,  at  a 
point  ahout  one  fourth  of  a  mile  to  the  right  of  the  turnpike.  Col. 
Brown  attended  by  no  one  but  Lieut.  Angel,  advanced  some  hun- 
dred and  fifty  3'ards  in  front  of  the  Fifth  Alabama  regiment,  and  in 
doing  so,  came  close  to  the  enemy's  skii-mishers.  who  were  concealed 
by  the  brown  brush.  In  the  midst  of  such  reconnoitreing.  the  silence 
was  bi'oki'U  by  a  volley  of  musketry  tii'ed  l)y  the  enemy's  ]/ickets, 
ami  Hrown  fell.  A  l>ullet  had.  penetrated  his  forehead,  k-illing  him 
instantly.  The  beat  of  one  of  the  warmest  hearts,  making  a  man's 
breast  like  a  woman's,  had  ceased,  and  the  In-ight  outlook  oi'a  life, 
all  atlame  with  generous  and  manly  hopes,  had  fallen  (pieiicdied. 
The  sword  presented  to  him  liy  those  Howitzers,  who  under  his 
orders  had  tiri'd  tlie  tii'st,  and  ovei-  his  memory  did  afterwards  tiro 
the  last  shot  in  the  war,  (dung  to  him  as  he  fell.  He  died  with  har- 
ness on  his  back,  worthy  his  father's  son. 

Before  daylight  Gordon  had  discovered  that  his  lelt  overla])])ed 
the  enenn^'s  right,  and  liy  scouts  and  ])ersoiud  examinal  ion,  he  found 
that  the  enemy  did  not  sus])ect  his  presence.  He  was  therefore  led 
to  believe,  that  he  could  desti'oy  that  jtortion  of  the  I'nion  army  by 
a  Hank  movement,  and  almost  from  the  rising  until  thegoingdown 
ot'  the  sun  he  urgi'd  such  a  movement.  It  was  the  same  military 
eye.  whi(di  on  the  12lh  of  May  at  Spotsylvania  Courthouse,  devised 
the  means  to  relieve  the  salient  of  t  he  crushing  ])ressui'e  oi  CJi'ant's 
columns.  I'ut  owing  to  the  report  of  oui-  cavalry,  that  a  column 
was  threatening  our  h'ft.  and  to  the  belief,  that  Burnside's  cor))s  was 
in  rear  of  the  Hank  on  whi(di  the  atta(d<  was  suggested,  I'^well  and 
Karly  concurred  in  deeming  it  impolitic  to  <lo  as  Cordon  ])ro])osed. 
Hut  towards  the  close  of  the  day  these  objections  seemed  no  longer 
to  exist,  and  the  movement  was  ordered. 

About  sunilown  Cordon  moved  out.  and  found  the  enemy,  as  he 
expected,  totally  unprepared.  The  tirst  troojts  I'nconntered  Avere 
caught  with  their  guns  stacked,  and  tied  jn-ecijiitately.  Brigade 
atler  lirigade  was  broken  to  pieces  before  any  formation  could  be 


86 

made.  The  woods  Avcrc  strewed  witli  the  enemy's  dead  and  wounded. 
A  number  of  prisoners  were  captured,  among  them  Generals  Sey- 
mour and  Shalcr.  The  Sixth  Arni}^  Corps  was  broken  and  smitten 
with  panic.  Johnston's  brigade  (which  had  arrived  that  morning 
from  Hanover  Junction)  was  thrown  in  the  rear  of  (Jordon's,  and 
subsequently  Pegram's  was  moved  to  his  assistance.  The  plan 
origiiu^lly  proposed  by  Gordon  had  been  to  move  out  one  or  two  bri- 
gades, place  them  immediately  on  the  enemy's  flank,  move  rapidly 
down  his  lines,  and,  as  we  cleared  the  front  of  each  of  our  brigades 
or  divisions,  to  have  these  move  out  and  join  in  tlu'  attack,  so  that 
we  would  have  a  constantly  inci-easing  force,  attacking  a  constantly 
decreasing  enemy,  placed  under  the  disadvantage  of  having  con- 
stantly to  change  his  front  to  meet  the  flank  movement.  How  far 
results  realized  expectation  may  be  learned  from  our  old  acquaint- 
ance, the  correspondent  of  the  New  York  World.  This  corres- 
pondent being  blessed  with  an  eye  for  the  picturesque,  writes  as 
follows : 

"The  smoke  of  the  battle  built  a  grand  canop}- overhead,  beneath 
which  the  grand  army  of  freedom  prepared  to  rest.  Generals 
Grant  and  Meade  had  retired  to  their  tents,  (^uiet  reigned,  but 
duriiig  the  reign  of  quiet,  the  enemy  Avas  forging  a  thunderbolt. 
*  *  *  The  forged  thunderbolt  was  sjied  by  a  mastei-.  A  wild 
rebel  yell  away  to  the  right.  We  knew  they  had  nmssed  and 
were  charging.  We  waited  for  the  volley  with  which  we  knew 
Sedgwick  would  meet  the  onset.  We  thought  it  was  but  a  night 
attack  to  ascertain  if  we  had  changed  our  j^osition.  We  were  mis- 
taken: it  was  nioi-e.  They  meant  .to  break  through,  and  they  did. 
On  Sedgwick's  extreme  right  lay  the  Second  brigade,  Third  divi- 
sion of  his  corps,  under  General  Seymour,  wlio  had  been  assigned 
to  it  I)u1  two  days  before.  The  brigade  is  new  to  the  Sixth  corps, 
and  is  known  as  the  Milroy  brigade,  connecting  on  the  left  of  Sc}''- 
mour  by  Slialer's.and  then  Mills"  brigade,  the  latter  being  a  brigade 
of  Getty's  division  that  had  not  been  sent  to  Hancock.  These 
troops  wei'c  at  woi-k  eiili-enching  when  they  were  fallen  ujion. 
The  enemy  came  down  like  a  tori'enl.  i-oiling  and  dashing  in  liv- 
ing waves,  and  flooding  up  against  the  whole  Sixth  coi-ps.  The 
main  line  stood  like  a  rock-;  not  so  the  extreme  right.  That  flank 
Avas  instantly  and  uttei-ly  turned.  The  rebel  line  was  the  longer, 
and  sunned  ai'ound    ScvniOur's  brigade,  tidcMl    over    it    and  tlii'ough 


87 

it.  l>e:i(  a<:;:un.st  Shuler's.  and  bore  away  liis  right  regiments.  All  thifi 
done  in  le.ss  than  ten  minutes.  Perhaps,  Seymour's  men,  seeing 
their  pickets  running  back,  and  hearing  the  shouts  of  the  rebels, 
who  had  charged  with  all  their  chivaliy,  were  smitten  with  a 
panic,  and  standing  on  no  ordci-  of  going,  went  at  once,  and,  in  an 
incredible  short  time,  maile  their  way  through  a  mile  and  a  half  of 
woods  to  the  Plank  Hoad  in  the  rear.  They  reported,  in  the  frantic 
nianiici'  usual  to  stampeded  men,  the  entire  coi'ps  broken.  Grant, 
as  m  Hancock's  case,  <iid  not  believe  it.  But  when  three  of  Sedg- 
wick's statf  rode  into  army  headquarters  separatel}"  and  stated  how 
they  bad  ridden  from  Sedgwick's  to  kec])  Seymour's  n\en  to  their 
work,  and  had  been  borne  back  by  the  panic,  and  had  at  last  seen 
Sedgwick  and  Wright  hard  to  the  front,  working  like  Trojans  to 
hold  the  wavering  line,  the  situation  appeared  more  critical.  *  * 
The  Sixtli  corps  tiag  comes  in.  Where  is  the  Sixth  corps' chieltian? 
A  dispatch  received.  John  Sedgwick  safe;  Wright  safe.  ThcvSixth 
cor]>s  hold  a  strong  line;  only  Seymour's  and  a  pai't  of  Shaler's 
brigade  have  been  In'oken.  The  enemy  can  do  nothing  more.  The 
Sixth  cro])s  ])roper  lu\s  not  lost  its  ])ristine  glory.  Compelled  to 
withdraw  under  orders,  aftei'  the  defection  of  its  riglit,  it  is  still 
invincible — is  now  and  ever  shall  be.  *  *  That  Cieneral  (Jrant 
can  lay  claim  to  a  success  over  his  adversary  will  be  evident  to  the 
public,  when  it  will  learn  in  a  day  or  two  the  ultimate  object  of  the 
movement  of  our  army,  which  will  be  realized,  notwithstanding 
the  tlesperate  interference  of  the  enemy."  CJordon  has  ground  for 
the  assertion.  "It  (be  nu)vement  had  been  made  in  the  morning, 
as  I  desired,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  we  would  have 
destroyed  (Jrant's  army."  Not  till  daylight  on  tlie  7th,  when  the 
whole  ot'  Marly's  division,  and  a  ])art  of  .lohnson's  wei*e  thrown  for- 
ward, on  Sedgwick's  al>andoned  line,  so  as  to  occupy  a  part  of  his 
abandoned  works,  on  the  right  of  the  road  diverging  to  the  Gor- 
manna  l-'oi'd  l{oa<l.  and  leaving  in  our  I'car  bis  woi'ks  on  the  left  of 
that  road — not  till  then,  did  we  realize  the  Itdl  extent  of  our  sue 
cess.  Twice  that  ilay  another  Chancellorsville  was  in  oui"  hands, 
and  twice  it  dro]>i»e(l. 

The  Trihune  letter,  dated  Wilderness,  May  7th,  says:  "Sedg- 
wick's aflair  last  night  has  in  nowise  disconcerted  the  plans  of  our 
leaders,  de]>ressed  their  ho]ie.  or  impaired  the  efficiency  of  their 
men.      It  was  but  a  tlisastrous  episo<le.  '     ^leade's  report    has  this: 


88 


"Just  l)ofbiv  ilai'k  the  enemy  moved  a  C()iisiileral)le  foree  around 
the  right  tianl':  of  the  Sixth  eorps,  held  1)}'  Eiekett's  division,  and 
in  conjunction  witii  a  demonstration  in  front,  succeeded  in  forcing 
the  division  hack  in  some  confusion,  making  ]>risoners  of  (ienerals 
Seymour  and  Slialer.  This  suhstiintialiy  ended  the  hattle  of  the 
Wihlerness."  The  London  Timrs  of  May  25th,  m  alhision  to  the 
series  of  hattles  of  wliicli  tlie  Wilderness  was  the  lirst.  and  hefore 
the  details  of  the  battle  of  Spotsylvania  Courthouse  had  been 
received,  makes  this  assertion:  "Tt  would  not  be  impossil)le  to 
match  the  i\-sults  of  any  one  day's  battle  with  stoi-ii's  IVoin  the 
Old  World;  l)ut  never,  we  should  say,  were  five  such  l)attles  com- 
])resse<l  into  six  successive  days/'  The  Times  is  amused  at  the 
thought  that  the  Americans  are  ]n'ol)ably  proud  of  their  pre-emi- 
nence for  slaughter.  The  loss  of  the  Northern  army  on  the  5th 
and  (ith  of  May,  in  killed  and  wounded,  and  exclusive  of  prisoners, 
was  1)7,71)7— a  list  <lerived  IVom  the  Surgeon-(ieiu'i-ars  OHice.  See- 
ing that  his  cavalry  and  artillery  are.  witli  little  exception,  not 
included  in  the  count,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say.  that  Lee  killed,  or 
])laced  /iors(Iucot)ihaf,oi\e  ol't  he  enemy  for  eveiy  man  he  hadeiigaged. 
Had  the  i)olicy  oi"  wearing  out  by  attrition  been  resorted  to  earlier, 
the  South  could  have  stood  it  longiM-  than  the  X(n-th.  The  ])olicy 
itself  is  not  strictly  original  wit  h  our  fa\<>rcd  lan<l.  In  their  bel- 
ligei-ent  i-elations  with  the  English,  the  Chinese  announced  them- 
selves invincilile.  I)ccause  they  said,  it  was  sim]tly  im]»ossibIe  for 
Ciiv.at  IJritain  (o  kill  them  off  as  ra])idly  as  they  were  born.  The 
policiy  over  hei'c  was  very  near  receiving  the  ('oup  de  grace  at  the 
very  tirst  throw;  very  near  also  to  achieving  moi-e  memorable 
results  at  the  Hrst  throw.  Mail  liOngstreet  been  a  few  minutea 
later,  Lee's  army  would,  or,  ;it  least,  should  have  been  defeated. 
Jlad  1k'  been  :i  few  minutes  earlier,  or  not  l)een  wounded,  (irant 
would  have  been  driven  across  the  river,  in  the  ignominious  defeat 
oi"  his  predecessors.  Von  know  Jjandseer's  ])ictiiiH'  of  detiance. 
The  Monarch  of  the  (lien  brouglit  to  hay,  with  his  forefoot  on  the 
tirst  hound,  is  grinding  him  in  thcsand — the  ln^aiiliful  head  with 
the  wari'ior-horn  and  tlie  victor-glance,  lifte<l  in  free,  fearless  fash- 
ion to  the  pack,  which  has  paused  to  breathe.or.it  may  be.mana.Hi- 
vre.  So  stood  Lee,  on  (he  evening  of  the  sixth,  afti'i-  Death  had 
thrown  his  long  shadow  l)ehind  the  trees.  To  bori'ow  the  word  of 
a  l^''rench    general,  he    had    ma<le  (Jrant    '■swalli>w    his  sword    u])  to 


89 

the  hilt."  lla'l  not  tlir  (liiinMisioiis  of  the  thfoat  been  equal  to 
three  siicli  sword-;,  it  had  never  hreatlied  a<i;:iin.  Grant  had  g-ained 
nothini;-  and  had  h)st  heavily.  When  he  turned  to  make  for  Spot- 
sylvania ( "ourtiiouse,  thoun-h  he  had  ])ossession  of  the  direet  route, 
and  had  ihestai't.  lie  was  ai^'ain  foiled,  as  he  contirnuMl  to  \)v  in 
every  suhse(iueiit  atten)])t  to  i;'et  hi'tween  Lee's  army  and  I'ieh 
iiion<l. 

After  the  Moody  exercise  of  the  12th  of  -May,  iiraiit  discerned 
that  he  had  need  to  be  somethino-  more  than  the  climax  of  a  cigai", 
and  forthwith  enlarged  his  edge  to  the  l)ack  of '•all  thesummer" — 
which  was  immediately  perceived  to  be  as  clear  an  instance  of  the 
moral  sublime,  as  the  original  project  of  -'hanging  on  for  a  day  or 
two."  Foi'  a  day  or  two  it  seemed  to  him  ex])edient  to  hang  off. 
He  says  in  his  report,  "The  Kith.  14th.  loth.  Kith,  17th,  and  ISth 
of  May  were  consumed  in  uuuueuvreing  and  awaiting  reinforce- 
ments from  Washington" — the  CJeneral  who  nevei' maiueuvred! 

When,  on  the  first  of  Ai)ril,  ISiJo.  the  ('(mfedei-ate  line  at  Peters- 
burg ''Stretched  until  it  broke."  and  lune  days  afterwards  Lee  sur- 
rendered his  eight  thousand  muskets  to  the  successful  foe,  the 
incessant  Jeopardy  and  vigil  of  eleven  months,  the  mai'ching  and 
countei'uuirhing.  days  ol'danger  and  nights  of  wasting,  want.  ex])0- 
sure.  exhaustion  had  done  their  work,  (irant's  bayonets,  also,  had 
done  their  work:  yet  not  ly  simply  -hanging  on  for  a  day  or 
two,"  on  this  or  any  other  line.  Spring  vioK-ts  changed  to  sum- 
mer roses:  summer  roses  passed  into  the  crimson-yellow  forest 
light,  which  sets  its  bow  in  flu"  cloud  of  Indian  ^uninier.  The  pas- 
sion flower  wept  and  passed.  The  violet  breath  came  over  a  second 
spring,  while  (iraiit  was  hanging  on  his  -'day  or  two." 


VI. 

The  situation  at  one  time  resemliled  that  of  one  year  I'arlier.  when 
Hooker's  right  was  turned  two  miles  above  ('haiicellorsville,  and 
three  divi-ions  hurled  upon  a  far  stronger  position,  from  which  it 
miglit  have  been  impossible  to  dislodge  the  enemy,  had  lime  been 
given  him  to  recover  from  his  first  sur]^rise,  but  when  no  time  was 
o-iven  him.   The  bones  of  .lackson  turned  in  their  eollin.  as  the  tram]t 


90 

of  tinned  men  revei'berated  on  the  tield  of  his  splendor.  It  needs 
some  modification  ^  that  old  proverb,  "Tlie  dead  lion  is  more  than 
the  living  dog."  This  man  cannot  be  left  out,  in  the  enumeration 
of  the  forces  fighting  for  us  on  the  sixth.  Dead  he  fought,  nay, 
triumphed.  IFancock's  apprehensions  of  a  flaidc  movement  on  his 
left,  all  through  the  morning  of  the  sixth,  apprehensions,  continu- 
all}' awakened  and  allayed,  and  "paralyzing  a  number  of  his  best 
troops,  who  otherwise  would  have  gone  into  action  at  a  decisive 
point"' — these  were  Jackson's  deeds  on  this  very  ground  surviving 
him.  The  memory  of  Jackson  a  year  before  was  the  sleeping  lion, 
the  stroke  of  whose  paw  was  momentarily  expected. 

How  all  things  are  granted  to  the  sincere  and  earnest  nature  has 
been  inctt'aceably  stamped  here.  "lie  that  nins  may  read."  Here 
he  whose  life  Avas  the  consecration  of  valor  unto  duty,  hallowed 
the  spot  on  which  he  fell,  and  made  it,  most  truly,  sacred  soil ;  made 
the  Wilderness  his  lion  breast.  For  a  man  to  manifest  so  much  in 
the  flesh,  the  Genius  of  the  time  luul  said,  "J  will  seek  him  among 
the  conventionally  obscure  :  I  will  find  him  among  the  constitution- 
ally weak.  On  him  will  I  lay  the  weight  of  my  hand,  and  then 
wdl  1  demand  of  him  tiie  fullness  of  his  stature — a  hand  of  hard- 
ship, whi(di  shall  be  like  the  weight  al)()ve  the  arcdi,  keei)ing  it  in 
place."  And  so  he  grew  a  firm.  ])lain  soldiei'.  not  to  lie  twisted,  and 
not  to  i)e  thwarted.  The  world  ailiuii'es  when  the  five  talents  make 
themselves  ten,  but  the  f  ruly  grarni  issue  is  the  struggle  of  the  soli- 
tar}^  talent  to  repeat  itself  In  after  days  he  became  noted  for  his 
celerity,  but  if  came  of  i-egnlai'ly  accelerated  motion  originally  slow. 
It  was  a  swiftness  born  less  of  vivacify  than  of  intensity.  Ilis 
wheel  was  a  swoop  as  from  an  u'rie  in  the  nmjestic  de])ths — a  wing 
swimming  u]ion  dcjifli.  and  a  minatory  lieak  like  the  eagle's.  It  is 
moiH'  clear  hencefoilb.  what  is  meant  by  tlie  "race  to  the  swift" — 
swiftness  slowly  gatlu'i'ed,  launched  from  a  divine  de])fb.  like  light- 
ning.     Here  was  a  deep,  silent  growth,  ripening  in  stillness. 

A  .lackson.  tei-ribly  in  earnest,  dwelf  feri'ibly  alone  very  often. 
Let  us  well  understand,  and  lay  if  to  heart,  that  the  visible  universe 
frowns  on  such  a  man,  that  the  woi'ld  of  a]ipearance  is  in  arms 
aii'ainst  bini.  lill  be  eml  the  con(piei'()i' of  the  woi'ld.  ''Find  your 
advantage  in  a  liffle  latifude:  only  upon  condif  mn  that  you  trim 
here,  are  derelict  there,  shall  you  suceee(|.  with  my  permission," 
says  the  world.     "Su])])ress  t his  scni])le."  says  one.     "I)o  my  dirty 


91 

work,"  .sa3's  luiotiicr.  Of  many  phases  in  this  man's  life,  could  wc 
see  them,  we  should  say  ^^  Ecce  in  Deserto!"  Face  to  face  with  the 
touu^h  fact  of  existence,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  guile  of  the  jilau- 
sible  on  the  other,  whose  arch  snare  for  the  straitened  is  illusive 
haste,  he  learns  that  which  is  the  beginning  of  all  wisdom,  the 
immortal  tlifference  between  truth  and  lies.  The  field  of  dece|)tion, 
including  self-deception,  greatl}^  the  worst,  perceptibly  narrows. 
The  sense  of  reality  deepens  in  him.  especially  of  the  great  unseen 
realities,  on  which  he  must  forever  lean,  when  he  joins  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  do  fearless  battle  with  the  seeming  strong. 
In  common  speech,  we  say  of  one  farther-reaching,  acuter  than 
his  fellows,  "He  sees  through  a  mill-stone."  Dim,  material  senses 
obstruct  not  his  wider,  profounder  vision.  What  avb  call  strength 
of  mind  portrays  itself  in  this.  The  non-realizing  sense  of  truth," 
of  such  truth  as  is  avowed,  and  even  believed  to  be  believed,  is  the 
great  source  of  disorder  in  this  world.  That  "love  of  money  is  the 
root  of  all  evil."  in  some  cases,  is  not  quite  clear.  There  are  so  many 
evils,  and  so  many  roots.  But  that  love  of  or  subjection  to,  appear- 
ances, the  captivity  ot  the  sense  to  the  flash  of  the  present,  the 
charmful  or  the  iniiiatory  immediate,  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all,  is 
apt  to  be  very  clear;  and  this,  it  may  be,  is  what  the  original 
means — money,  visible  value,  visible  power,  "the  guinea's  stamp" 
to  that  i^tfect,  the  "imag(^  and  sii])erscription "  to  that  effect,  the 
form  of  a  fair  instant,  or  of  a  frowning  one.  The  glittering  bait 
hangs  full  in  sight.  The  I'eward  of  self-re.spect  and  self-sacrifice  is 
invisible.  With  what  tirniiiess  ainl  decision  Jackson  made  his 
choice,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  was  tliiindered  to  the  woi'ld.  The 
shallow,  mid-sunwner  brook  is  t  lirown  out  of  channel,  by  each  recur- 
ring, trivial  obstruction,  and  wlii<hever  way  the  wind  blows,  shivers 
into  commotion  and  ninhilion.  .laekson's  life  is  borne  forward,  on 
the  silent,  strong  life-currents,  wherein,  after  sore  struggle,  he  is 
destined  to  l»ecoine  one  of  the  world's  strong  swimmers.  Well  for 
Jackson,  well  for  mankind,  so  in  need  of  great  examjiles!  'i'his  or 
that  sweet  wish  of  the  Itosoni.  or  l)i'illiant  seeming  "Northwest 
passage  to  Knjoynu'nt."  was  but  an  ap])earance  thrown  before  an 
eager-hearted  man  to  give  him  self-mastery.  Ijong  since  it  had 
"consumed  away.  Ukv  as  it  were  a  moth  fretting  a  garment."  and 
his  example  reimiins,  a  possession  forever.  The  Xorlhwest  busi- 
ness, with  its  midniglit  sun.  and  tires  of  o-em-work  and  gold  kindU'd 


92 

lliorein,  ;il  last  is  anchored  lo  an  iceberg-.  Like  the  iceberg,  it 
melts  ill  tile  I'ay  wliicli  causes  it  to  glitter;  a  inai'igobl.  dviiig  for 
the  sun,  and  dying  by  it. 

A  great  man's  course,  on  bis  way  to  greatness,  is  well  Icnown  to 
be  the  greatest  oi"  all  ocean  (diarts.  In  tins  case,  a  great  sailor, 
having  little  or  nothing  of  the  autobiogi'aphic  turn,  has  left  scant 
record  of  bis  soundings  on  the  coast,  as  well  as  subsequent  log- 
Ixiard.  He  is  fairly  launched  on  the  great  deep,  as  a  flag-ship  of 
mankind  and  mastci-  of  the  stoi-m,  before  his  sailing  quality 
receives  due  notice.  AVere  it  not  for  the  steej)  wave  he'  put 
behind,  we  would  have  no  measure  of  his  buffetings.  As  a  reve- 
lation of  the  conscience  of  the  South,  by  which  the  poor  man  of 
the  South  was  actuated  and  })ervaded.  and  as  a  testimony  due  to  a 
cause,  which  l)egot  such  a  man  and  his  example,  1  hold  u])  this 
man  to  you  for  this  instant.  J  hold  him  up  as  an  example,  sorely 
needed  at  this  time,  ol  one  whose  stivngth  was  strengthened  by 
misfortune,  whose  life  was  one  long  wrestle  with  adversity,  a 
choice  of  dithcnlties  at  every  ste]),  and  the  pursuit  of  high  aims 
over  them;  a  life,  therefore.  whi(di  had  to  derive  ]»ower  from 
defeat,  diligently  note  the  cause  of  failure,  and  see  that  the  same 
did  iioi  recur,  often  as  it  must  recur  before  (juitc  van(|iiished.  I 
hold  liim  up  as  one  who  leanuMl,  not  with  less  hindi-ance  than 
others,  to  curb  his  s])iril  within  the  iron  links  of  the  iiie.\oral)le; 
who  from  the  linu'  of  this  first  and  greatest  victory,  atfer  which 
otlu'i'  \ictories  were  t'asier.  encounliTeil  life  and  life's  imjirisoning 
enchant  ineiits.  with  drawn  sword,  which  he  held  to  by  the  sign  of 
the  Cross;  in  which  sign  he  coihiiicihmI  ;  uiidei'  whicdi  a  world  of 
sorcery  cowH'fed;  under  which  the  world,  .Mepliisloplieles.  and  the 
Prince  of  1  >arkiiess  cowered.  I  bold  him  up  as  oiii'.  who  appears 
Ujion  the  scene  (st'cms  to  have  l)een  ])Ossible  then),  just  as  our 
l)ook  of.hidges.  or.  if  you  ])lease,  our  age  of  the  Scipios  was 
closing,  and  on  the  tlireshhold  of  the  ])resent  iiiii\i'rsal  sti'w.  In 
his  lime  the  forces  were  at  work,  which  were  to  shift  the  golden 
into  the  iiillated  pa)»er  age,  ami  put  upon  the  boar<ls.  the  book,  or 
better,  the  bladder,  of  Railroad  Kings,  and  ballot-stuHed  sover- 
eignty <)\'  the  people.  Against  these  he  was  (o  tight,  and  die 
fighting,  tor  the  |pi-eseiil,  it  would  seem,  unpi"e\  ailingly .  .\l>ove 
all.  ami  as  all  in  all.  1  hold  biiii  up.  as  a  soldier  of  the  truth,  to  his 
best  ability  to  see  it.      Man    is  what    he   has   been  defmeil   to   be,  a 


93 

reliicious  animal,  in  proportion  as  lie  strives  to  know  the  ti'uth, 
and.  as  a  se(jiu'iice.  to  pert'orin  it.  By  vin-lit  conduct  founded  on 
right  views  the  healtliy  mind  is  satistied,  in  no  other  way.  Jack- 
.son's  views  of  truth  were  circumscrihcd,  as  those  of  ail  men  are, 
by  limitations  ol"  time  and  eireumstance;  but  he  has  this  indultita- 
lile  synijitom  of  a  healthy  mind:  that  his  use  for  beliefs  was  to 
ti-anslale  them  into  [iractice.  verity  them  iu  act;  that  for  him  faith 
was  an  act.  a  lliini;-  not  so  much  to  talk  l)y,  as  to  walk  by:  that  he 
lived  by  his  belief  as  he  did  by  his  (hiily  l>rea<h  The  hi<ih  idea  of 
a  spiritiud  universe,  overai'chini!,- and  overi'ulinii- the  material  frame 
ol'  thini;-s.  as  tlu'  eternal  substance  of  which  the  lattei-  is  but  the 
shadow  cast  in  time — this  veritalde  real  presence  in  religion,  with- 
out whicdi  all  else  is  as  dross,  was  foi"  him  a  liviua;,  ever-|)i-esent 
fact.  The  ditfrrence  between  men.  the  difference  l>etween  minds, 
the  ditferenee  between  lives,  is  in  this.  "To  be  or  not  to  l)e?'"  as 
Hamlet  i)uts  it.  "that  is  the  (pu'stion,"  a]iplical>le  to  much  else 
than  mere  self-slaughter  of  the  llesli.  I>ut  against  which  voluntary 
'■not  to  be,"  in  every  as])ecf  of  it,  "the  everlasting  hath  fixed  his 
caiKUi."  "To  be"  is  to  "tak'c  ai'uis  against  a  sea  of  troubles;" 
undaunted  to  oppose  them,  in  a  world  whose  wave  forever  falls  as 
hammer,  when  not  beaten  into  anvil:  whei'c  not  to  be  victor  is  to 
be  vanipMsiuMl.  Ft  is  a  (piestion  which,  in  all  aspects,  .lack'son 
deci<les  with  great  emphasis  in  the  alHrniative.  The  iron  lirow  of 
duty.  whi(di  early  tills  him  with  deep  awe  and  veneration,  grows 
majestically  l»eautiful  in  time,  and  he  learns  to  look  ujion  it  with  a 
self-consecrating  love  and  faith.  .Vever  did  man  more  decisively 
renounce  tor  himself,  in  this  life,  the  ])leasurt's.  avidities,  and  shows 
whieh  could  not  follow  him  to  the  next.  Ijooking  on  the  tii-m, 
compressed  lines  ot'  his  face,  and  the  gvay,  unyielding  gaze  which 
answei's  ours,  almost  with  the  fixed  determination  of  a  thing  of 
steel — a  most  unshaken  eye.  Imt  through  which  jiathetically 
glances  the  touch  of  a  kindly  light,  as  of  the  light  of  the  ever- 
lasting (rospel,  Itreaking  through  a  woi-ld  of  ditHcult  turmoil,  sor- 
row, and  long-enduring  hope  deferred — looking  on  his  still,  solemn 
face,  one  feels  as  though  the  iron  brow  had  passed  into  this  human 
one. 

ITere  was  a  man  to  give  the  few  the  confidence  of  numy.  IFerc 
was  one  to  Ik-  a  leader  of  that  Confederate  might,  which,  without 
music,  without  decorations,  far  remove<l  from  the  glitter  of  "pomp 


94 

and  cireuinstance,"  in  huni;-er  tuid  in  rags,  saw  gloiy  and  duty,  as 
the  Puritan  saw  his  God,  throuo;h  the  bare  walls  of  his  nieetinir- 
house.  His  men  were  partakers  of  his  stuff.  He  orders  a  squad 
to  resist  a  column.  The  men  ol)ey,  nothing  doubting.  Jackson 
orders,  Jackson  knows.  The  cry  "Jackson!"  breaks  from  the 
enemy,  as  he  rises  out  of  the  ground  behind  them  and  their  works. 
His  name  doubles  his  ranks.  A  little  one  becomes  a  thousand.  So 
it  is  with  discernment  of  time  and  circumstance.  At  Samosierra, 
the  Spaniards  planted  sixteen  jneces  of  artillery  in  the  neck  of  the 
pass,  so  as  to  sweep  the  whole  of  the  steep  ascent.  But  Napo- 
leon rides  into  the  mouth  of  llie  ))ass.  and  seizing  the  mist  of 
the  morning  for  a  casque,  orders  the  Polish  cavalry  of  his  guard 
to  charge  through  the  vapor  to  the  battery.  The  first  squadron 
is  mowed  down.  Over  them  ride  the  remainder,  sword  in  hand, 
up  the  mountain;  Spanish  infantry  tiring  the  while,  on  right  and 
left,  in  lines  one  above  another.  When  the  Poles  have  sabred  the 
gunners  they  have  routed  an  army.  The  military  critic  feels 
bound  to  say,  that  the  charge,  -'viewed  as  a  simple  militar}-  opera- 
tion, was  extravagantly  rash."  Thus  substance  disperses  shadows, 
and  stamps  the  ditferencc  between  multitude  and  force.  In  the 
manifold  field  of  life  the  royal  eye,  through  the  veil  of  circum- 
stance, distinguishes  the  essential;  seeing  well  the  things  around, 
is  dazzled  by  none.  To  be  daunted  l)y  none  is  next  to,  and  conse- 
quent U])<iii  tliis.  J'he  knowledge  of  how  to  be  strong,  where  the 
main  issue  lies,  is  the  knowledge  of  all  fields  and  all  life. 

A  man  who  makes  realities  his  aim,  and  appearances  his  disdain, 
is  sti-ange,  and  set  apart,  accordingly.  Not  undcn-  one  Dispensation 
only,  but  under  all  Dispensations,  God's  people  are  "a  peculiar 
peo]>le." 

To  live  in  the  sense  of  a  higher  accountability  than  any  fulmina- 
tions  of  this  earth,  in  the;  throng  of  plausibiUties  to  be  genuine,  of 
hypocrieies  to  be  devout,  to  be  retiring  among  the  Pharisees,  faith- 
ful among  the  ci'avens,  is  eccentric  necessarily.  How  should  it  be 
otherwise,  with  the  carnal  heart  in  its  existing  state  of  enmity?  Is 
not  the  tfue  man  Itonnd  to  sa}^  to  .specious  sham,  -'Get  thee  behind 
me"?  The  ivsolute,  genuine  natui-es  are  the  ones,  at  last,  from 
Avbicli  othei-s  bori'ow  exisk'iiee,  arouiul  which  others  rally.  The 
faillitul  few,  obscure  in  the  world,  but  great  in  their  callings,  are 
the  shouldi-rs  whi(di  move  the  world.     The  heroes  will  always  say 


95 


to  the  trimmoi-s,  -We  will  heiii*  the  hruiit,  and  leave  3'ou  the  plun- 
der of  the  tield" — the  ]>leusaiit  race  ol'  trimmers,  the  plausible,  the 
supple.  Plausible  decorum,  equally  amiable  and  equally  inditt'erent 
to  all  |)ei-sons  and  all  opinions,  is  not  the  stuff'  of  which  Jacksons 
are  made.  The  world  says  of  the  .lackson,  "Jfe  is  narrow."  But 
better  to  cleave  a  path  for  others  to  follow  in,  the  narrows  which 
arc  deep,  than  the  expanse  wliich  is  broad,  liecauso  it  is  sliallow. 
Jlow  are  you  to  seduce,  how  intimidate  such  a  man,  when  for  him 
your  menace,  or  your  bril)e.  is  l)ut  one  more  a})])earance  which  ho 
knows  how  to  despise  ? 

Such  a  man  was  Stonewall  Jackson;  a  resolved,  taciturn  man,  of 
decided,  aquiline,  rather  uncomfortable  ways;  the  more  inexpugna- 
ble, that  they  were  sternly  encased,  in  a  life  of  prayer,  as  in  a  shirt 
of  nuul.  Xot  a  man  to  be  popular,  it  is  plain;  not  one  to  swim 
pleasantly  with  the  current;  one  rather  to  cling  faithfully  to  the 
rock  in  the  midst  thereof,  refusing  to  be  swe])t  away,  lie  cannot 
wax  himself  to  men  and  things.  Ue  is  sincere,  adheres  without 
nieri-enary  glue,  or  parts  company.  Vet  what  in  history  so  touch- 
ing, as  the  almost  childlike  reverence  of  Jackson  for  the  real  majesty 
of  Lee?  It  is  one  of  the  highest  praises  of  the  latter,  that  in  })ro- 
portion  as  his  sul)ordinates  were  great,  he  was  great  to  them.  For 
one.  I  never  see  that  jiicture  of  Lee  and  Jackson,  in  their  last  ride 
together  by  the  Aldi'ich  House,  without  thinking  that  such  a  meet- 
ing is,  in  itself,  one  of  the  best  and  sweetest  pictui'es  of  how  great- 
ness, of  whatever  rank,  is  the  boi-n  bj'other  of  every  other.  At  the 
two  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty  we  j)i-oduce  these  two.  The 
extremes  meet,  not  in  hate  but  in  love,  and,  the  facts  deserving  it, 
mutual  ivspect  and  admii-ation.  The  two  ai'e  blent  together,  by 
virtue  of  that  which  is  inherent  and  independent  in  tluMu,  by  virtue 
of  iieing  the  men  they  were.  ^lerit.  whether  it  descended  from  the 
highest,  or  ascended  from  the  lowest,  was  free  and  equal  in  that 
South  before  the  war. 

The  day  was  at  Jiand  which  Avas  to  draw  the  recluse  from  his 
retreat,  and  witness  his  coronation  Itefoi'e  a  gazing  and  a  gaping 
world:  wlun  lu-  who  had  sown  to  reality  reaped  n^alities.  '^riie 
shadows  felt  in  him  their  substance,  when  the\-  heard  his  word  of 
command,  amid  the  thunders  of  the  ca|ilains.  The  world  within 
liim  was  gi'i'aler  than  the  world  without  him.  Did  enemies  encom- 
pass. an<l  storm  in  upon  liiin',''     With  his  right  hand,  he  smote  them 


96 

to  ruins.  TTo  docs  the  utmost,  who  standini--  on  himself,  stands  true 
to  himself,  and  therefore  not  fiilsely  but  faithlully  to  others.  He  is 
the  givatest,  who  having  most  to  overcome,  overcomes  it.  All 
honor  to  hiin,  who  li'om  the  lowly  made  himself  the  lofty,  from 
the  feehlc  made  himseli'  the  mighty,  made  the  one  talent  ten,  and 
a  woi'ld  all  hostile  to  his  weakness,  all  vassal  to  his  greatness. 
Herein  the  Wilderness,  it  was,  that  he,  who  had  put  all  other  ene- 
mies under  foot,  over  death  also  rose  victorious:  folded  the  banner 
of  victory,  for  time  and  for  eternity,  inextricably  about  him  as  he 
fell.,  'nuit  etIuM*  of  memory  and  imagination,  which  throws  its 
purple  on  the  ]»ast.  floated  from  liis  shoulders  as  we  gazed.  The 
shadow  of  a  cloud  ]iassed  over  him.  behind  which  the  sun  was 
shining.  It  might  have  been  said  at  his  grave,  as  the  Earl  of  ^Mor- 
ton  said  at  that  of  John  Knox,  "lie  lies  there  who  never  feared  the 
i'ace  of  man."  lie  rests  there,  with  a  star.  Valor's  star.  u|)Oii  his 
breast:  for  him  henceforth,  a  star  of  peace.  He  himself  is  now 
become  a  star,  on  the  great  bosom  of  Eternity.  His  long  warfare 
is  over:  '-he  has  fought  the  good  tight."  The  sore  conflicts  and 
bruises  under  the  straitened  yoke  of  time,  its  whips  and  its  scorns, 
will  gall  liim  nevermore.  IFe  can  survey  them  unmoved  now,  from 
that  last  bosom  wherein  he  rests,  and  thr  iH'venges  of  time  are 
furled. 

Beautiful  effect  of  a  true  lii'e!  beautiful  event  of  our  century! 
the  story  of  Jackson  crossing  the  Atlantic,  and  spreading  among 
generous  Rnglish  hearts,  comes  liack  to  us,  in  the  sj)eaking  image 
of  a  hero.  English  gentlemen,  stamping,  in  ini])erishal»le  art,  the 
imperishable  idea  of  a  Jackson.  ])lace  it  on  this  Square,  a  monu- 
ment to  him  and  to  them,  and  to    an   artist  worthy   of  his  subject. 

'■lie  has  lost  his  left  arm;  i  have  lost  my  right."  were  the  gene- 
rous words  of  Lee  when  he  heard  of  Jackson's  wounds.  The  blood 
of  all  tlu'  heroes  flowed  in  those  words  over  those  woun<ls.  It  was 
as  if,  for  the  monieiit.  like  the  patriarch  of  old.  Lee  had  reversed 
his  bunds,  and  made  the  dexter'ous  lieutenant  of  his  left  his  active 
right,  and  the  less  a<lroif  rjongstreet  the  virtual  lelf.  Hut  to  sit 
on  the  right  hand,  nr  the  left  hand,  of  so  mmdi  glory,  were  fame 
enough.  .\n<l  now  it  is  given  to  Longslreef.  in  a  similar  move- 
ment, not  far  from  the  same  spot,  by  another  tire  from  our  own 
men,  to  be  felleil  in  the  front  of  triumjdi.  It  was  his  last,  as  it  was 
his  greatest  battle.     I  well  remember  the  ileep,  respectful  silence. 


97 

with  whiili  tlic  First  Howitzers  pressed  to  the  side  of  the 
road,  as  a  while  ainhuhuiee  passed  by,  Unowini;  well  whom  it  l)ore. 
Had  lioiinst  reel's  wound  ])i-oved  also  mortal,  his  niche  of  fame 
stood  ready  for  him.  Weeping  Commonwealths  would  have  accom- 
panied his  bier.  The  chivalry  and  beauty  of  a  mourning-  land 
woidd  have  been  coinpanions  at  his  tomb.  His  cypress  would  have 
been  a  lauivl.  [jongstreet  survived  for  (piite  other  destinies,  and 
so  lelt  Jackson — alone  in  his  glory. 

1  said  in  (he  beginning,  that  oui'  whole  past  had  lieeu  cut  into 
clear,  tirm  character  by  the  chisel  of  war.  Kqually  true  is  it,  that 
the  future,  and  our  bearing  therein,  will  be  the  most  effectual  com- 
mentary on  our  conduct  in  the  war.  The  future  will  (U^termine, 
whether  the  proportions  of  that  day  shall  fall  about  our  people 
like  a  decent  robe,  or  whether  posterity  shall  turn  sceptic,  in 
applying  the  armor  of  a  giant  past  to  the  body  of  a  living  dwarf 
They  who  have  exclusively  the  past  to  be  proud  of,  in  the  accumu- 
lation of  their  vouchers,  provide  a  measure  for  their  defection  and 
decadence.  Such  have  been  likened  to  potatoes,  by  tar  whose 
best  part  is  under  ground.  An  inordinate  Irishman,  tracing  his 
genealogy,  paused  in  the  course  of  his  memoirs  to  say,  "Here  the 
world  was  created."  But  a  not  wholly  incommensurable  appetite 
can  a])pease  itself,  as  Chesterfield  entertained  himself,  by  placing, 
among  the  portVaits  of  his  ancestors,  two  old  heads  inscribed, 
••Adanide  Staidio^ie'  and  '' ICve  de  Stanho])e."  "Everv  man,"  says 
Sancho  Pan/.a.  "is  the  son  of  his  own  works."  Perhaj)s  the  most 
sorrowful  fate  which  can  overtake  a  people  is  when  a  tradition  of 
old  greatness,  in  truth  the  mocker}',  is  accepted  as  the  solace  of 
downfall  and  humiliation.  The  ])i'<)ud  past  is  a  robe  of  scorn  to 
the  uneC[ual  present. 

Tln'i-e  are  some  who  dispose  of  the  whole  matter  of  the  war.  in 
a  very  otl-hand  manner.  "What  did  we  make  by  it?"  they  ask  : 
conscious  that  tlu-  [)ecunuiry  returns  are  in  a  state  of  great  back- 
wardness. It  is  as  if  one  were  to  ask  of  Milton's  great  poem. 
"  How  much  (lid  he  get  for  if.''"  And  yet  heroic  writing  is  a  small 
thing  by  tlu-  side  of  heroic  living  and  dying.  William  Attig, 
engiui'cr  upon  the  IMiiladelphia  and  Erie  railroad,  with  the  air- 
brakes on.  ami  his  hand  upon  the  throttle,  kept  off  death  from 
every  other,  while  it  steamed  down  upon  himself.  Was  the  sub- 
scription for  his  widow  what  he  made  by  if.''    Those  three  hundred 


98 

Spartans  who,  on  a  snnimoi'  niornini;-.  in  the  passes  ol' Thcrniojiyhi", 
•'sat  coinbinii-  their  hjni;-  liair  for  deatli"' — what  did  tliey  make  by 
it?  What  did  .loan  of  Are  nuike  hy  it,  with  the  Inquisition  cap 
upon  her  head,  burned  to  death  tor  a  witch,  her  ashes  thrown  into 
the  Seine?  What  diil  Walhiee  make  l»y  it.  I)etrayed.  beliea(h'(l,  his 
body  (|uartere(l  and  impaled  on  London  Bridge,  a  green  garhuid 
on  his  head  to  crown  him  onthiw  king?  Slie  seateil  tlie  descen(hvnt 
of  Saint  Louis  Ibi-  ihi'ee  eentui'ies  on  Ins  tlirone.  She  and  lier 
nuiiden  sword,  slie  and  lier  consecrated  banner,  slie  and  her  l)eauty 
risen  from  luu-  ashes.  |)ure  as  tlu>  lilies  of  France  anil  magniticent 
as  the  ordlamme.  make  the  I-' ranee  of  to-day  l)eautiful  to  Krench- 
men.  And  Wallace!  lie  and  the  Scots  who  bled  with  him.  made 
the  indi'pendeiit  mind  of  Seotlanil  too  strong  for  any  subjugation; 
they  made  hci-  inde|)endeiice  real,  and  her  subjugation  superficial, 
and  left  ibe  name  of  Wallace  "a  wild  flower  all  over  his  dear 
eounlr}-."  They  sowed  for  the  immortal  gods.  Defeat  for  duty 
is  l>ettei'  than  victory  over  it.  yiy  iielief  is  that  great  things  ai'e 
never  dout'  for  what  can  be  made  l)y  thom.  Their  returns  are  uot 
contaiiu'd  in  such  sordid  measure.  ne]Mitation  wrung  from  the 
cannon's  mouth  is  not  a  l)ubbK'. 

Theiv  have  l)ei'n  latter-day  ))atriots  who  have  avowed  their 
intention  to  ••mak'c  treason  odious;  "  no  insiguilicant  intent,  on 
their  ])ari.  considering  how  many  of  earllfs  greT:itest  have  con- 
spired to  make  it  glorious,  when  the  "treason  "  in  ([uestion  has 
meant  resistance  to  authority  believed  to  l)e  unlawful,  and  known 
to  be  injurious,  which  is  the  definition  in  the  latter-da}'  case.  Our 
earlier  Presidents  called  it  '-obedience  to  God.'"  The  Toiw  Alison 
can  ""ive  lessons  in  liiieralism  to  the  latter-day  variety.  •'The 
feelings  of  mankind,"  he  writi-s.  '-have  never  stigmatized  mere 
treason  as  a  crime.  "  .\nd  again,  speaking  of  the  ("omit  Uathiany: 
"History  must  ever  niourn  the  death  upon  the  scaffold  of  any 
num  of  noble  (duiracter,  com1)atting  tor  what  in  sincerity  he  be- 
lieved to  lie  the  cause  of  duly."  The  feelings  of  iiiaiikiiid  and  our 
earlier  Presidents  have  a  great  deal  in  (heir  favor.  First,  to  take 
all  pains  to  know  aright  what  our  duty  is,  and  then  to  fight  for  it 
in  all  weather,  is  what  we  are  here  to  <lo.  Meiv  concinerors  who 
have  taken  no  such  pains  are  not  our  Judges,  but  our  visitation  for 
not  more  warily  and  desperately  fighting.       'The  murderer  has 


99 

but  his  hour.''  said  Lamartiue  of  the  late  of  the  Duke  crEno-hien; 
"his  victim  has  all  eternity." 

Truth,  it  UKiy  1)C  well  to  state,  has  uever  l»eeu  baslilled  uor 
carried  hy  coui)  d'etat.  AVith  what  a  satire,  does  accusing  and 
avenging  time  laugh  to  scorn  the  executions  of  the  hour.  In  some 
English  engravings,  under  the  heads  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  Sir  Wal- 
ter Ivaleigh.  Russcl.  and  Sidney,  there  is  engraved  an  axe,  to  sig- 
nity  that  in  tlieii-  day  these  were  beheaded.  But  how  fares  it  with 
their  rfiioun  ?  Is  that  heheaded  ?  Or  is  it  consecrated  b}^  the 
nol»ili(y  of  a  peculiar  dearness?  Tliere  is  no  face,  in  the  Corcoran 
Art  CJallery.  before  Mhicli  moi'c  reviM-ent  footsteps  pause  thivn  that 
of  Charlotte  Corday.  The  ])en.  mightier  than  the  sword  of  the 
executioner,  is  in  her  hands,  with  which  she  has  written.  '-The 
crime,  not  tlie  scatfold,  makes  the  shame."'  What  a  sure  hand  it 
is!  -'Mere  treason"  in  this  case  is  not  the  crime.  The  ci'ime  is  to 
be  "a  savage  wild  beast,"  (to  l)c  ]\rarat,  Vamidn  peuple,)  feeding 
on  human  heads,  who,  God  l)e  ju-aised !  has  been  slain  by  this 
Norman  girl.  She  stands  behind  her  grated  window,  through 
which  she  looks,  with  a  still,  dee])  pathos,  piercing  all  hearts,  from 
the  blue  heaven  of  eyes  whose  sun  is  setting  fast,  whoso  earthly 
sun,  indeed,  in  seeming,  still  trembling  on  the  horizon,  in  reality, 
alrea<ly.  is  below  it.  leaving  a  setting  sun's  light  u]»()n  the  face.  A 
look  of  eternity  is  gazing  far  over  this  restless  eurth  into  eternity. 
With  her  last  hold  upon  earth  clasped  u|)on  her  jirison  grate,  one 
almost  fancies  the  thorn  halo  upon  llu^  In-ow  leant  thereon,  which 
the  iron  seems  to  enter;  a  halo,  whose  radiance  'down-glancing 
bestows,  by  a  two-fold  but  not  divided  light,  tenderness  and  gran- 
dour.  The  warmth  of  a  swoetlj'-intrepid  soul  hovers,  for  the  last 
time,  upon  a  breast  which  her  neckerchief  not  quite  conceals.  The 
bravest  heart  in  Franco  boats  under  the  fairest  bosom.  She  lives 
on  canvas,  an  image  of  the  soul,  passionately,  but  invincibly, 
gazing  through  the  bars  of  its  prison-house  in  the  flesh,  as  a  bird 
imprints  his  Itreast-foathers  against  the  imprisoning  wires  of  his 
cage.  Wo.  in  America,  send  for  this  warm,  sweet  soul  of  Xor- 
raandy.  and  j»laco  it  in  the  front  of  art. 

What  is  it  makes  the  real  odiousncss  of  treason?  Whether  it  bo 
high  treason,  whether  it  bo  petit  treason;  whether  it  be  against 
.society,  against  marriage,  or  any  other  relation  of  contract  or 
affection;  is  not  the  essence  of  it,  that  which  makes  it  detestable, 


100 

tliis:  that  it  is  ])orti(l_v,  btitrayui.  u  breach  of  faith  that  is  owed 
and  pretended;  in  a  word,  that  is  treacherous?  The  essence  of  it 
is  falseness,  an  alliance  or  allegiance  Avhich  is  an  acted  lie.  The 
definition  is  as  old  as  the  Mirror,  and  older;  treason  happens  only 
between  allies;  arises  where  there  is  a  subsisting  natural,  civil,  or 
spiritual  relation.  A  public  and  authoritative  announcement,  that 
a  voluntary  alliance,  between  i'rce  and  equal  contracting  common- 
w^ealths,  shall  subsist  no  longer,  is  not  an  act  of  treachery,  espe- 
cially, if  the  reason  for  revoking  on  one  side  be  the  practical  and 
statutory  abrogation  on  the  other.  It  is  the  reverse  of  treacher- 
ous; it.  is  putting  another  on  his  guard,  saying  to  him,  --Take 
notice,  Avc  are  no  longer  allies;  we  are  aliens."  The  lloman  word 
is  j^roditio — the  giving  forth  of  an  appearance  which  has  no  back- 
bone of  realit}'.  One  living  in  the  guise  of  friendly  association 
and  confidence,  furtively  stabs  you  under  the  fifth  rib.  Open  war 
the  brave  man  acce]itsas  his  discij)line.  Insidious,  perfidious  guile 
he  is  less  a])t  to  prepare  for.  Washington  fighting  at  the  head  of 
the  rebels  against  George  TTT  is  a  true  man.  Arnold  fighting  in 
the  ranks  of  the  loyal  for  George  111  is  a  traitor.  It  may  be 
admitted  that  deceit  is  a  terrible  evil.  Closely  considered,  and 
including  self-deceit,  it  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  that  is  most 
pernicious.  It  is  the  Devil's  own  image.  As  we  live,  there  is  but 
one  thing  to  do  with  it — to  beat  it  down  under  our  feet,  and  not 
comfort  it  when  fallen.  Would  you  know  whether  a  deed  is  vile 
or  not?  Ask  yourself  the  question,  whether  the  traits  of  it  are 
cowardice  and  lies,  treachery  or  poltroonery  to  what  is  professed 
and  believed;  in  either  case  hiding  under  a  false  ajipearance,  the 
fearfulncss  or  the  disguise  of  fact — tlie  last  a  subtler,  sometimes  a 
coarser  form  of  fear.  In  proportion  as  these  are  the  traits  if  is 
vile.  In  pi'opoi'tion  as  these  are  not,  not.  Are  you  willing  for  the 
light  to  shine  upon  youi-  deetls,  or  must  they  be  shrouded  in  dark- 
ness? is  the  ti'st.  Man  does  walk  l>y  faith;  hence  the  worst  thing 
you  can  say  of  a  man  is  that  he  is  |)erfi(lious.  diligently  seems  the 
thing  he  is  not,  and  so  betrays,  b}'  what  be  is.  tin-  confidence 
bestowed  on  what  he  seems.  To  be  a  man,  with  a  man's  sense  of 
accountability,  is  one  of  the  very  greatest  comman<lmriits. 

What,  then,  was  the  crime  of  the  Southern  States?  Was  if  that 
after  having  reiterated  in  season,  and  out  of  season,  shouting  the 
same    loudly    from    the    lutuse-tops,    that    they    would    resume  the 


101 

powers,  conditioiiall}' granted  bj^thcm  to  the  General  Govcrninent 
whenever  the  same  shoukl  be  perverted  to  their  injury,  when  the 
day  of  trial  came  they  were  recreant;  was  it  this?  Was  it  that 
alter  havini;-  affirmed,  that  they  had  i^iven  their  adhesion,  not  to  a 
law  hii!;her  than  the  (constitution,  nor  lower  than  the  Constitution, 
but  to  the  Constitution,  the  whoh!  Constitution,  and  nothing  but 
the  Constitution;  and  that  whenever  such  ■•  higher  law  "  laid  hold 
of  the  Government,  they  would  let  go;  when  the  event  happened, 
they  swallowed  their  words;  was  it  this?  Xo,  it  was  not  this. 
Their  otfence  was,  that  to  the  uns]>eakab]e  abomination  of  their 
enemies,  they  made  good  their  words,  would  not  e(|uivocate  oath 
and  conscience,  did  what  they  said  they  would  do.  .\nd  how? 
In  silence,  in  darkness,  with  Masonic  secrecy  and  rites?  Xo;  this 
thing  was  not  done  in  a  corner.  Tn  l)roa<l  day,  State  after  State 
went  to  the  ])olls  to  vote  u])()n  tiie  peril  and  the  duty  of  the  hour. 
In  In-oad  day.  their  IJepresentatives  assembled  themselves  in  Con- 
ventions, and  their  proceedings  in  the  daily  press,  that  no  man 
might  be  ignorant.  In  broad  day.  Senator  after  Senator  rose  in 
the  Capitol,  and  said,  •'  Your  Morrill  tariff  construction,  your  lobby 
and  Jobl)ery  construction,  your  States  passing  laws  that  the  Consti- 
tution is  a  dead  letter,  your  'higher  law'  construction,  is  no  law 
for  us.  and  in  the  nature  of  things  cannot  be.  -We  agreed  to 
form  this  Cnion,'  you  say.  (irant  that  we  agreed  to  form,  at 
least.  ///(.'  [/nion.  AVhat  then?  Did  we  agree  that  it  should  be 
al»solnte.  irrevocalile.  unappealal)le.  not  only  for  the  generation 
agreeing.  I>uf  toi-  all  generations?  Do  miMi  calling  themselves 
republicans  hold  that  we  <iid?  Why.  a  king  can  give  no  more 
than  his  own;  may  resign  his  own  throne,  if  he  like,  but  le.ss  cer- 
tainly that  of  his  otfspring.  An<l  you  have  the  hardihood  to  say 
that  we,  equals  contracting  with  etpuils — we  who  being  solicited, 
entreated,  assured,  guai'anteed — gave  our  consent  to  certain  condi- 
tions of  I'nion  upon  the  very  construction  on  which  we  are  now 
acting,  that  we  thereby  clasped  a  handcutf  of  steel  upon  our  wrists 
forever?  Wh3%  the  law  is.  that  no  contract  shall  last  forever. 
Say  that  you  found  your  right  of  action  on  a  contract  meant  to  be 
pei-petual,  and  the  Su]ireme  ( "ourt  will  laugh  in  your  liice.  Rightly, 
for  what  man,  or  what  number  of  men.  can  so  read  the  future  as 
justly  to  fund  the  unborn  of  all  time?  Least  of  all  should  they 
maintain  such  a   doctrine,  who   utterlv  refuse  to   be   bound  them- 


102 

sclveis.  Wc  use  the  language  of  your  own  Webster,  in  prospect 
of  the  very  case  which  has  arisen,  that  'a  bargain  broken  on  one 
side  is  broken  on  all  sides,'  and  say  you  have  broken  the  bargain 
on  all  sides.  Fouilecn  of  your  States  having  passed  laws  saying 
that  the  bargain  shall  be  inoperative  as  to  them,  how  can  you 
expect  it  to  be  altogether  sacred  to  us?  We  cannot  bring  you  to 
our  views,  nor  will  we  surrender  the  law  to  your  discretion.  If 
your  consciences  cannot  bear  the  sin  of  suti'ering  us  to  hold  the 
slaves  which  you  sold  to  us,  we  will  relieve  your  consciences  of  all 
])articipation  therein.  You  shall  have  no  more  concern  in  the  mat- 
ter than  in  the  institutions  of  Brazil.  Saying  good-bye  to  you,  we 
will  revive  over  ourselves  the  I'nioii  our  ancestors  ordained ;  'the 
civil,  the  moral,  the  federal  liberty,'  for  which  Washington  fought, 
for  which  Jefferson,  Henry,  and  Mason  insisted,  and  which  Mar- 
shall and  Hamilton  (;onceded  as  a  I'act.  For  this  we  mean  to  stand 
with  the  hazai'd  of  our  lives.  All  outnumbered  and  outclaniored 
as  wc  are,  God  hcl])  us,  we  can  do  no  other."  Make  the  worst  of 
this  "treason,"  you  can  never  make  it  other  than  numly,  and  frank, 
and  true.     Southern  secession  came,  not  to  (k^stroy,  but  to  fulfill. 

"Caught  with  arms  in  their  hands."  is  what  was  said  of  us 
afterwards.  And  how  else  should  braver  men  be  "caught"  than 
"with  arms  in  their  hands,"  when  all  that  is  dear  to  them,  and  all 
that  should  be  dear  to  them,  is  assailed?  Tt  passes  the  ])ower  of 
any  statute  to  make  this  '-odious,"  save  to  the  ]nisillaiumous  and 
corru]>t.  To  fight  manfully  for  your  faith  in  right,  is  intrinsically 
not  "odious";  it  is  very  nearly  the  whole  duty  of  man.  We  were 
bi"Ought  to  tlu^  ring,  and   the  woi'ld   has  seen   how  we  could  dance. 

Undoubtedly  there  is  a  treason  which  is  odious;  being  so,  no 
statute,  no  verdict,  no  failure  to  impeach  can  make  it  otherwise. 
liCt  no  mail  doulit  tins.  There  is  a  treason  which  is  deadly:  being 
so.  no  ])h3'sic  of  legislation,  and  standing  by  it  "under  fire,"  can 
make  it  healthy;  not  the  avowed,  ojien  treason  to  usur]»ation,  not 
the  treason  of  the  glorious  relu'ls  who  are  followed  by  ■■ihe  sweet 
remembrance  of  the  just" — the  jiarado.xical  (reason  which  is  true; 
not  this.  The  deadly  treason  is  caught,  not  with  "arms  in  its 
lumds";  iuit  with  a  smile  on  its  lips,  .l^ati'iots.  who.  w.ith  unheard 
of  love  of  country,  l)end  the  bow  of  legislation,  so  as  to  make  it 
sho(>t  straight  into  their  own  pockets,  these  arethedeadly  traitors; 
they  who  place  votes  -'where  they  will   do  most  good."     To  their 


103 

country?  No;  to  l>i\iik  aoc-ounts  Avhich  they  protest  a<;'ain8t  hav- 
ing to  account  for.  The  treason  which  Avalks  by  your  side  and 
thrives  on  your  s])()liation.  whicli  i'roni  liehind  a  niarhlc  desk  of 
HU])retnacy,  or  other  '-inside  track,"  knocks  down  hiw  to  the  highest 
hiddei-.  do  you  not  see  how  haleful  this  poiislied.  pUiusilde  treason 
must  l>e;  how  it  changes  the  rod  oC  empire  iiito  a  serpent:  liow  it 
makes  of  government  a  nest  of  serpents  stinging  the  veius  of  the 
])e()pic  on  wlioni  they  fasten?  TIjc  detestahle  treason  is  that  which 
dips  ill  the  same  dish  with  you.  and  salutes  willi  a  kiss:  and  now 
the  treason  whicli  tlie  buiklers  rejected,  the  rebuihlers  have  made 
the  coi'uer  stone!  They  are  not  the  most  meet  to  make  treason 
of  any  l<iiid  odious,  who  have  mack'  fraud  of  e\-ery  Iviud  glorious. 
''CMear  and  I'ound  dealing"  in  any  dejiartment  of  life,  even  that  of 
forcdtle  resistance,  is  not  the  great  danger  to  society.  It  is  "the 
lie  that  sinUctli  in.  and  settleth  in  it.  that  doth  the  hurt."  Yes,  the 
evil  men  of  this  worltl  are  not  the  ones  wiio  sincerely  battle  for 
their  duty,  but  the  insincere  who  do  not.  The  betrayal  of  a  great 
cause  for  pieces  of  silvei'did  not  ex]»ire  in  tlie  tirst  century,  though 
the  act  of  voluntary  restoration  does  seem  to  have  come  to  grief; 
else  why  has  not  ''the  conscience  fund"  taken  the  currency  ques- 
tion otl'  our  hands? 

No,  latter-day  pati-iots  should  give  over  their  purpose  to  ''make 
treason  odious."  Somebody  should  remonstrate  with  them.  To 
borrow  the  needi'd  word,  they  will  find  it  a  most  Herculean  labor 
for  very  unherculean  l>acks.  The  halo,  which  Washington  and 
others  have  thrown  around  the  name  of  rebel,  (^which  did  a]>])ly  to 
Washington  and  not  to  us)  will  iiavr  to  be  revoked,  if  at  all,  by  an 
instrument  of  e([ual  dignity.  But  if  a  magnanimous  power  were 
seriously  to  bestir  itself  to  make  fraud  odious,  instead  of  releasing 
it  from  the  four  (|uai'ters,  and  Irom  the  Innd  ([uartei's,  to  sit  at  the 
receipt  of  custom  !  CouM  one  such  arise,  lie  would  not  be  emltar- 
rassiMl  by  the  encounter  of  great  lives,  though,  undoulitedly.  he 
would  be  l»y  innumei'able  small  ones,  .lolui  P)right  said  m  bSfil: 
"Wlun  1  state  that,  for  many  years  past,  the  annual  public  expen- 
diture of  the  (iovernment  of  the  United  States  has  been  between 
£1(»,0(I0,(I<MI  and  ClT), 000,0(10,  I  need  not,  ])erliaps,  say  further,  that 
there  has  always  existed  amongst  all  the  population  an  amount  of 
comfort,  and  jirosperity,  and  abounding  plenty,  such  as  I  l»elieve  no 
other  country  has  enjoyed."     So   it  was.     So   it   is   not    now.     We 


104 

have  received  ■■moral  ideas,"  been  "educated  up"';  but  compara- 
tively honest  dealiui^  between  man  and  man,  and  therewith  "com- 
fort, pros])erity,  aboundin<^  ])lcnty"  amongst  all  classes  have  been 
educated  down.  The  laboring  man  of  the  North  has  been 
"planted  on  the  side  of  freedom" — of  freedom,  among  other  things, 
to  be  turned  out  of  food  and  raiment,  and  have  an  increase  of  the 
army  held  over  his  head  to  shoot  him  down  when  restive.  Of 
taxes,  burdens,  swift,  central  financiering  over  pul)lie  spoil,  there 
is  plenty.  Of  freedom  to  steal  like  the  devil,  there  is  an  abounding 
plenty.  Never  was  it  plainer  that  for  man  to  earn  his  bread  by 
the  sweat  of  his  brow  is  cursed.  But  the  negro  in  the  South  can 
still  do,  what  the  laboring  man  elsewhere  finds  it  so  hard  to  do — 
get  himself  su])ported  by  a  fair  day's  work;  indeed,  considerably 
less  than  that,  notwithstanding  the  South  is  so  poor  and  plun- 
dered. It  may  be  that  the  ex-slave  does  not  shine  as  bright,  on  the 
same  amount  of  labor,  as  before  the  war.  Slavery  is  said  to  be  on 
the  decline  in  Bra/.il,  owing  to  the  fact,  that  the  slaves  arc  so  fat 
they  cainiot  ))ut  in  over  eight  hours  work  per  day.  This,  of 
making  it  incarnate,  is  a  compendious  way  of  ]~)assing  the  "Eight 
Hour  fjaw.'  of  which  the  woi'king  man  in  America  does  not  appear 
to  have  bethought  him. 

As  late  as  1854,  the  Christian  Examiner,  published  in  Boston, 
])erceiving  that  kind  feeling  springs  up  where  liumau  intercourse 
is  near  and  constant,  (a  fact  of  num's  moral  nature  which  consti- 
tutes a  basis  for  society,  more  certain  and  substantial  than  any 
which  contract,  or  statute,  or  constitutional  amendment  can 
afford),  made  the  acknowledgment,  no  less  frank  than  conde- 
scending, that.  "I'or  jicrsonal  kindness  and  real  affection  towards 
the  black's,  tlic  Southrons  are  as  much  superior  to  us,  as  we 
hold  them  inlerior  in  the  aiistract  sense  of  justice  and  right." 
But  of  which  did  the  negro  stand  most  in  need,  the  abstract  or 
the  concrete?  .Mrs.  Stowe,  too,  in  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  mentions 
that  a  missionary  among  the  fugitive  slaves  in  Canada,  told  her 
that  "many  of  the  fugitives  confessed  themseh'es  to  have  escaped 
from  comparatively  kind  masters."  So  much  is  in  this  one  sen- 
teiHH^,  that  formerly  the  country  ]diysician,  in  the  South,  sup- 
ported himself,  chietly  on  the  sum,  whirl)  was  paid  him  by 
Southern  masters,  for  attendance  on  Soiillurn  slaves,  that  now  he 
cannot,  as  a  rule,  make  :i  living  in  the  country,  because   thei'e  are 


105 

no  longer  masters  to  pay  him  for  his  services.  What  if  the  future 
decide  that  the  world,  as  usual,  has  judged  hy  appearances,  in 
arraigning  the  South  for  a  nominal  slavery  which  was  substantial 
Justice,  and  apostrophising  the  North  for  the  nominal  freedom,  and 
essential  tyranny,  of  a  society  honeycombed  with  the  corruption 
of  legislative  pocket-picking  and  haste  to  be  rich,  grinding  the 
faces  of  the  poor — haste,  also,  to  be  righteous  overmuch?  What 
if  the  future  shall  say,  that  what  the  world  called  slaverj^,  railed 
against  as  such,  rolling  up  the  whites  of  quite  worldly  eyes,  in 
horror  that  such  a  thing  should  exist,  stands  forth  as  a  patriarchal, 
beneticent  relation,  the  kindest  for  the  slave,  as  he  cainc  to  us,  not 
as  French's  ''rights  of  man"'  fain  would  have  him  come;  and  what 
is  now  lauded  to  the  skies,  as  ••  freedom. '"  l)e  exhil)ited,  as  a  crticl, 
grasping,  sauve  qui  pent,  and  Devil  take  the  hindmost,  the  most 
sordid,  the  most  heartless  of  all  tyranny,  the  one  which  most 
degradingly,  and  least  pitifully,  shoves  the  weakest  to  the  wall,  and 
keeps  him  there — that  which  oscillates  between  mere  numbers  and 
mere  dollars.  Wolves,  i(  is  saitl,  have  greatly  increased  in  IJussia 
since  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs,  and  now  number  some  200, 000, 
Avhose  annual  consumption  of  flesh,  including  that  of  human 
beings,  is  2,o00  weight  per  heail.  In  other  ways,  whal  is  l)aj)li/.cd 
with  the  fine  names  of  fn'cdom  and  philanthropy  is  only  too  apt 
to  sul)stitute,  for  one  traffic  in  human  flesh,  another  more  bitter. 
Northern  majorilies.  in  this  couiilry,  proclaimed  liberty  to  the 
slaves  (not  their  owuj,  and  then,  with  indescribable  vigor,  turned 
wolves  to  each  other.  Most  plaintive  was  the  speech  of  a  Lowell 
factory  girl,  some  years  ago.  at  a  woman's  rights  convention,  in 
AVashington,  that  no  condition  of  a  Southern  slave  was  ever  so 
cruel  as  hers.  In  this  whole  question  of  slavery,  remember  the 
words  of  Samuel  .lohnson:  ••Clear  your  minds  of  cant."  For.  as  a 
greater  than  .lohnson  has  asked,  ••  Is  not  sentimentalism  twin  sis- 
ter of  caiit,  if  not  one  and  the  same  with  if?  Is  not  cant  the 
materia  prima  of  the  Devil,  from  whieh  all  falsehoods,  imbecilities, 
abominations,  body  themselves;  from  which  no  true  thing  can 
come?  Cant  is  itself  a  double-distilled  Lie,  the  second  power  of  a 
Lie." 

A  portion  of  the  North  begin  to  rccogni/.e.  that  the  views  of 
strict  construction  arc  not  so  pernicious  after  all;  show  signs  of 
feeling  tluMr  own  need  to  interpose  the  shield  of  State  ^sovereignty. 


106 

agtiinst  a  roaring  delugt'  of  fallacy.  The  more  though tful  North 
stands  aghast  at  the  undesired  results  "coming  home  to  roost,"  of 
the  utter  overthrow  of  all  the  stability  of  society,  in  oi'der  to 
wreak  vengeance.  The  more  thoughtful  North  is  stretching  out  a 
hand  for  the  character,  and  high,  even  if  haughty,  tone  of  sincere 
opinion,  once  common  at  the  South,  which,  if  not  proof  against 
passion,  was  against  bribery,  and  helped  to  make  the  country  a 
fortress  of  free  hearts,  whence  rang  the  clear  challenge  of  a  repub- 
lic. The  old  constitutional  guarantees,  the  old  ramparts  have 
bi'on  carried.  A  Constitution  (not  clearly  written)  powerful  for 
injury,  powerless  for  redress;  poweiful  to  send  troops  and  merce- 
nary creatures  to  falsify  the  votes  of  States,  powerless  to  correct, 
or  even  attempt  to  correct,  the  certain  falsehood,  for  the  present,  has 
"changed  all  that."  The  light  of  those  tall  forms,  which  stood  in  the 
breaches  of  the  Constitution  to  hurl  impetuous  defiance  on  its  foes, 
is  buried  quite.  The  fortress  of  free  hearts  lies  clean  behind  us,  dead, 
forgotten ;  the  old  defenders  gone,  the  old  invincibles.  The  thought- 
ful North  stretches  out  its  hands  to-day  for  that  spirit,  which  a 
thoughtless  North  has  done  its  best  (or  its  worst)  to  quench  and 
silence.  The  long  walls  of  Athens  were  rebuilt,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Pxcotians  and  other  volunteers,  who  eleven  years  earlier  had 
danced  to  the  sound  of  joyful  music,  when  the  former  walls  were 
demolished.  Thus  sometimes  the  coiupieror  crowns  the  conquered, 
when  the  comjuered  are  true  to  themselves.  Thaunus  mentions  a 
minister,  wdio  having  long  been  persecuted  I»y  his  enemies,  at 
length  triumphed,  quia  se  non  deseruit. 

Old  gi'ammarians  wei-c  wont  to  say.  that  I'ight  was  the  past  |)ar- 
ticij)lc  of  the  verb  ngere,  to  rule;  and  thus  it  is  that  virtue  is 
strength,  manhood.  The  force  by  which  strength  is  equipped  for 
its  battle  is  vii'tnc  The  King  of  the  State  is  the  /2r.r  of  it,  the  very 
right  of  it — (diam])ion  and  ca])tain  of  tlu^  right,  lie  who  collects 
in  himself,  embosoms  and  enforces  that  which  is  wisest  and  best, 
he  is  the  king,  in  otlice  oi"  out  of  otHce.  He  is  the  expression  of 
the  better  nature  of  the  State,  the  captain  of  it  and  the  child,  by 
virtue  of  which  his  right  to  rule  it,  is  divine.  Fnder  him  royalty 
and  loyalty,  or  law-ally,  lircome  reci])r()cal.  \  brave  old  word  this 
loyalty,  though  sadly  jti'olaned  of  late,  because  it  does  not  mean 
subservience  to  Kings,  or  Presidents,  oi-  Congresses,  or  Unions;  but 


107 

faithfulneBS  to  law.  Veracity,  rectitude,  business  method,  intrepid 
justice,  these  are  the  stroni^,  indomitable  thin^-s.  These  are  the 
rulers  of  men,  or  else  revolutions  come,  because  they  are  not  so. 
Falsehood,  dishonest}',  immethod,  venal,  cowardly  indiflference, 
these  are  the  weak  thinii;s,  the  shallow  things,  and  abomination 
and  anarchy  are  boi-n  ol'  Iheni.  1Mie  laws  of  nature  are  "caught 
witli  arms  in  their  hands,"  and  seldom  or  never  lay  them  down, 
whatever  the  '-inside  track"  men  may  object.  The  flaming  sword 
of  tlu'  universe  is  never  "a  dead  issue."  All  this  about  arl)iti"ament 
of  war,  true  enough,  perhaps,  in  a  comprehensive  sense,  is.  in  some 
applications  of  it,  extremely  sIkiIIow.  The  arbitraments  arrived 
at,  "when  laws  are  silent,"  when  all  consideratujn  ami  discussion 
of  the  right  is  told  to  hold  its  tongue,  are  always  (piestionable,  and 
liable  to  serious  revision.  A  King  of  Kngland  conquered  a  discord- 
ant French  nation,  l)ecause  it  was  discordant:  which,  thereupon, 
under  compulsion,  crowned  the  conipieror.  The  thing  settled  was, 
that,  at  tlie  time  of  the  invasion,  Pjiigland  was  strong  and  France 
was  weak,  and  that,  as  a  nation's  strength  is,  so  shall  her  day  be. 
In  a  subtle  sense,  "he  that  liveth  by  the  sword  (by  brute  force,  vio- 
lation of  right)  shall  perish  by  the  sword."  "A  right,"  says  Coke, 
"can  never  die — dormit  aliqiiando,  jus  moritur  7iunqua)/i.  For  of 
such  an  high  estimation  is  right  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  as  the  law 
preserveth  it  from  death  and  destruction;  trodden  down  it  may  be, 
but  nevei'  trudden  out."  Yes,  the  rightdoesnot  go  down;  does  not 
stay  down,  at  least.  It  does  not  truly  slee]i,  but  only  seems  to 
sleej).  Whatever  mean  and  base  thing  pollutes  it  goes  down.  The 
too  haughty  assertion  of  it  goes  down.  Whatever  abust's  and 
excesses  are  covered  by  the  flag  of  its  adherents,  their  "negli- 
gences and  ignorances,''  t  heii' tierce  taunts  and  invectives,  go  down, 
but  not  the  right,  forever.  We  may  prove  that  we  are  unworthy 
to  be  the  chaniitions  of  the  right,  but  not  that  the  right  is  unwor- 
thy of  a  champion.  The  mercy  of  the  right  is  upon  us.  as  our 
trust  is  in  it.  Tlu'  service()f  it  is  fi-eeiloni.  Freedom,  let  me  say 
once  more,  is  the  free  dominion  of  the  law. 

Unless  we  are  to  sink  into  ho])eless  Mexican  anarchy,  and  King 
ruin,  out  of  ]»aiiic  bankruptcy  will  yet  be  lifted  "the  Federal 
Union."  Hut  should  this  happen,  that  our  jirinciples  come  again  to 
the  front,  and  we  not  behin<l  them  :  but  ojjposmg  them,  have  the 
convictions,  consecrati'd  bv  ourlilooil,  thrown  iii  our  teeth  1)V  those 


108 

who  trod  them  down!     This  much  has  not  ceased  to  be  credible: 
Trodden  down  they  may  be,  but  never  trodden  out! 

We  are  few  in  the  midst  of  many  enemies.  The  black  ocean  of 
implacable  hate  swells  all  around  us.  At  its  own  weapons  we  can 
not  foil  it.  The  much-vaunted  ''fighting  the  Devil  with  fire"  is  a 
poor  game,  and  a  sadly  unequal  one.  Give  the  Devil  choice  of 
pistols,  and  he  will  be  a})t  to  shoot  you  first.  Fallacies  and  chica- 
neries fight  only  for  the  father  of  such.  It  becomes  us,  it  becomes 
all  men,  but  chiefest  them  who  fight  under  an  adverse  star,  to  see 
and  believe,  that  the  moi'al  victory  over  matei-ial  ascendanc}''  is 
never  out  of  reach,  ^'o  dis])arity  of  force  can  snatch  that  from  us. 
Public  opinion  is  the  moral  victoiy  of  the  few  over  the  many. 
Be  the  faithful  few,  and  the  faithless  numy  will  be  your  footstool. 
In  tlie  sophistry  of  mind  and  manners,  to  lie  intellectually  honest 
and  brave;  in  the  recrimiiuition,  and  anarchic  fratricide,  of  cai:)ital 
and  labor  elsewhere,  to  keep  our  own  society  first  just,  then,  as  a 
consequence,  peaceful  and  strong;  m  the  hanging  garden  of  appear- 
ance to  be  real:    ht'i'ein   is  true  strength. 

Had  this  Association  done  nothing  else  than  expose,  what  has 
been  tei-tned.  --one  of  the  boldest  and  baldest  attempted  outrages 
on  the  truth  of  history  which  has  evei-  lieen  essayed,"  that  which 
relates  to  the  treatment  of  ])i'isonei's  at  Andcrsonville,  it  would 
liave  deserved  the  gratitude  ol'  all  lovers  of  truth.  The  boldest 
and  baldest  truly !  Two  hundi-ed  and  I  weiily  thousand  Southern 
prisoners  are  in  the  ^'orth:  two  hundi-cMl  and  seventy  thousand 
Northern  prisoners  are  in  the  South;  the  Xoi'th  ai)ounds  in 
resources;  th(»  South  laid  waste,  anything  but  abounding;  for 
tliree  weeks  in  the  early  ])art  of  18(i4.  unable  to  issue  rations  of 
meat  to  her  soldiers  in  the  field.  Vet.  with  filfy  thousand  more 
])i'isoners  in  Southerji  stockades,  the  deaths  ai'e  four  thousand 
less;  nine  j)er  cent,  the  death  rate  in  the  South,  twelve  percent, 
in  the  Noi'tli.  Tin;  .South  using  every  humane  argument,  entreats 
the  Noi'tli  to  lak'e  back  tlu'  prisoners  at  Andcrsonville.  The 
ruling  authoi'ily  says,  --No;  my  policy  of  wearing  you  out  by 
attrition  demands  that  these  men  be  not  taken  back.  The  more 
of  our  men  yon  have  to  feed,  the  fewer  of  your  own  you  will  hv. 
abit'  to  feed.  Humanity  to  the  men  lel't  in  our  ranks  demands, 
that  our  ]>risoners  continue  to  prey  ujion  your  vitals."  ''We  are 
unable   to   |)rovide  your  ])i'isoners  with  suitable  clothing,"  we  said 


109 

to  Seerctaiy  Sowimi;  "will  3^011  jirovide  them?"  "The  Federal 
Government  does  not  supply  elothini>;  to  prisoners  of  war,"  replied 
the  Secretary.  Trit'(l  liy  (heir  own  standard,  it  is  seen,  thai  our 
care  of  thoii-  ])risoiH'i's  was  exeeptionably  kind.  Nevertheless, 
after  tlu'  war  a  victim  is  demanded.  A  group  of  citizens, 
''organize<l  to  convict,"  unknown  to  the  law,  prohibited  by  the 
law,  hears  what  evidence  it  likes,  refuses  to  hear  what  may 
operate  against  the  end  in  view,  renders  the  presence  of  counsel 
nugatory,  and  in  duo  season  proceeds  to  murder  the  victim,  no 
form  or  j)rinci])le  of  law  being  at  any  time  consulted.  "Military 
Commissions  never  disappoint  the  expectations  of  those  who 
employ  them."  It  is  the  act  of  Macbeth,  smearing  the  daggers  of 
the  guard,  with  the  blood  his  own  hands  have  spilled.  Defend 
your  great  days. 

A  poem  of  human- life  our  battle  of  the  Wdderness  easily  be- 
comes, fought  as  it  was  in  the  rough  brake,  and  the  deep  shadow, 
and  the  tierce  death  glare.  As  you  strike  with  intelligent  unity 
and  decision,  determined  to  conquer  or  die,  you  do  conquer  even 
though  you  die.  At  all  tmies  the  strongest  is  but  as  a  reed  shaken 
with  the  wind,  quivering  in  the  play  of  forces  which  threaten  or 
entreat.  Not  alone  of  memorv  nuiy  it  be  said,  "Thou,  like  the 
world,  the  oppressed,  oppressing."  The  forces  around  human  life 
are  so.  A  world  of  forces,  yielding,  and  taking  the  shape  we  give, 
harsh  and  heavy  when  we  quail  or  sink,  wraps  itself  around  each, 
to  hear  or  forbear  as  victory  inclines.  Does  supineness  intervene? 
The  load  of  a  mountain  is  hung  about  the  neck.  Does  a  cheery 
heart  stiffen  the  s]>inal  cohiniir.''  The  hard  advei'sity  melts  away, 
or  curves  into  an  arch  of  triumph.  '-Two  atHictions  well  put 
together,"  says  the  proverl).  "shall  become  a  consolation."  A  poem 
of  human  life.  T  say.  Tnder  the  warm  touch,  the  stern  fact  of 
these  two  days  moulds  itself  into  a  symbol  of  imagination  for  the 
mind's  03*0 :  as  such  is  a  reality';  not  for  one  place  and  time  only, 
but  for  all  places,  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  life  of  to-day  has  not  ceased  to  be  faithful  to  the  old  simdes 
oi"  the  "Wilderness  and  warfare.  Our  life  is  a  battle  and  a  march. 
We  tight  once  more  in  ••continual,  jioisoned  fiehls,"  where,  it  ma3^ 
be.  are  mauN-  greatlv  discontented  with  the  Wilderness,  and  very 
greatlv  indeed  preferring  the  flesh-pots  of  anv  other  countrv. 
Solemnh-  as  ever  a  mother  State  savs  to  each.  "With  vour  shield 


110 

or  U])on  it."  Wc^  liave  cliieily  to  sec  to  it,  tliat  when  we  are  borne 
from  the  liehh  it  shall  he  witli  the  banner  of  an  honorable  day,  and 
a  pious  liope.  tlnni>;  over  us,  and  a  music  of  gentle  deeds  to  com- 
memorate us  when  we  are  gone.  So  fares  it  with  our  cause.  It 
sleeps  well  now.  as  a  dead  man  might,  with  a  stone  for  his  pillow. 
So  fares  it  with  a  cause,  henceforth  all  enobled  ibr  us.  by  honorable 
death  on  the  tield:  guarded  hencefoi'th  l)v  the  army  ot  the  dead, 
whose  dead  march  the  mulHed  drum  oi"  living  hearts  is  beating. 
A  hero  cause  borne  on  its  shield  to  the  grave  of  hero  death, 
pierced  with  wounds,  for  us  is  lovely;  covered  with  reproach,  for 
us  is  ])ure;  ci-owned  with  thorns,  for  us  is  lioly.  We  will  never 
Aveave  a  grander  oriflamme  to  be  our  fair  image  of  duty  and  the 
path  to  it.  We  are  on  duty  still.  ltememl>er  the  Wilderness! 
how  we  struck  in  forlorn  valor  :  lighting  for  a  world's  cause,  in  the 
midst  of  a  world's  inditference,  when  we  grajipled  in  those  lonely 
gleams  and  shadows,  as.  from  age  to  age.  the  true  heart  fights. 
When  was  the  hero's  battle  other  than  a  lonely  battle?  Remem- 
ber the  whole  war! 

Tenderly  l)eautiful  to-niglit,  in  its  tears  and  for  them,  with  the 
sweet,  pathetic  beauty  of  our  last  sad  farewells,  is  that  great  mem- 
ory, which  draws  us  here,  and  gathers  all  hearts  in  one.  The  sad- 
dest, sternest  of  all  faces — tin;  face  of  the  irrevocable — stares  on 
us  from  those  fai'ewells — larewells  of  liope.  farewells  of  valor,  fare- 
wells vnui^  (Mit.  not  in  s))eech,  but  in  silence  and  closed  lips,  in  bat- 
tle and  in  night,  when  the  very  stars  glittered  icy  cold  on  the  field 
of  tlu^  slain.  The  spring  and  summer  of  a  people's  manhood,  the 
maul\-  sweetni'ss  of  the  warrior  boy.  the  beautiful  sim]ilicity  we 
shall  never  see  again  on  this  earth,  the  unbought  valor,  which 
fronte<l  a  world  in  arms,  and  died  fronting — to  all  these  our  chival- 
rous farewell!  ]S'ol  till  all  noble  grace  dei)arls  will  their  memory 
dcjKirt.  Last  Sunday  1  stood  again,  where  Gi-egg's  Texans  put  on 
immortality;  where  Kershaw  led  in  person  three  of  his  brigades, 
to  coin])ensate  them  for  the  al)sence  of  the  fourth;  where  the  three 
brii^ades  under  Mahone,  charged  whooping  through  the  woods. 
Out  of  the  mist  of  years  1  almost  seemed  to  see  the  faces,  and  out 
of  the  buried  din  to  hear  the  voices,  of  the  past,  speaking  those  old 
languages,  so  frank,  so  bi-ave,  so  una])])roachabIy  dear,  just  because 
tliey  are  gone,  and  return  no  more.  They  died  that  we  might  not 
live  ill  vain.      It  is  for  us  so  to  live,  that  the}'  shall  not  have  tlied  in 


Ill 

vain.  An<l  if,  to-iii<;-ht.  this  voice  from  the  I'unks  coiihi  reach  the 
leaders,  who  now  marshal  the  way  before  us,  I  would  say,  ''Look 
there!  See  what  (he  nohk-  in  man  can  do!  At  your  pei'il  oppose 
to  it  tlie  ii^nohle  in  num.  Appeal  once  more  to  the  watchwords  of 
tlie  past,  to  our  courai;'e  and  our  conscience,  if  you  wouM  inuiew 
for  us,  and  foi- yourselves,  the  lauri'l  of  the  |)ast.  Once  more  quit 
yourselves  like  nu'n.  The  white  ])lume  of  the  ages,  the  flag  of 
your  duty  snniinous  you  there.  The  martyred  valoi-  of  the  South 
fell,  as  it  was  charging  right  onward  there.  There,  hy  the  side 
now  of  his  last  captain,  and  of  ours,  is  Jackson,  -standing  like  a 
stone  wall ' '"  I 

Trnly  has  it  heen  said  of  him  whose  followers  we  all  were,  that 
in  the  (piiet  hall  of  the  professor,  he  renewed  the  wai'.  transferring 
it  to  the  sphere  of  mind.  In  this  high  s])here.  tight  we  ever,  as  in 
his  eye.  To  walk  firmly  in  duty,  l>ravidy  in  ])i'inciple.  honestly  in 
conviction,  at  all  times,  is  the  tirsl  duty  of  a  man.  We  will  have 
enough  to  do  to  ]U"ove.  that  the  ])low-share  of  our  peace  is  of  the 
same  nudal.  which  went  into  the  glorious  swoi-d  of  our  war. 
With  us,  or  without  us,  hislor}'  will  say,  tiiat  in  an  age  whose 
greatest  fiction  was  "without  a  hero,*'  there  were  two  \'irginians, 
wor(h\"  to  l)e  named  by  tlie  side  of  I'hocion  and  hipannnondas. 
ft  is  in  our  |)ower  to  cause  it  to  lie  added,  that  the  South  was 
greater  in  defeat  than  hrr  enemies  in  victory:  that,  indeed,  the  dif- 
ference between  the  Xf)rthand  South  was  not  so  miudi  a  ditTcj'encc 
between  victory  and  ilefeat,  as  it  was  a  ditterence  between  success 
and  glory.  It  may  l)e  well  not  to  be  too  certain  which  scale  will 
kick"  the  beam,  with  (irant,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  ami  succciss  all  on 
one  side;  but  defeat  and  liol)ert  l^ee,  death  and  Stonewall  Jackson, 
all  on  the  other.  As  plainly  enough  now  stares  us  in  the  face,  the 
insolent  lio]>e  of  sapjiing  liy  cori'uption  the  princi[)les.  whicdi  could 
not  l>e  overcome  by  force.  I  am  tenqUed  to  say  to  you,  as  our  great 
captain  said  to  us  all.  in  the  trenches  of  Hagerstown:  ''Soldiers! 
voiir  old  enemy  is  before.'  you.  Win  fi'om  him  honor.  worth\'  xour 
right  cause,  worthy  your  comrades,  dead  on  so  many  illustrious 
fiehls.  " 


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