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That the reader may have a clear
conception of the events that follow we
deem it proper to insert a brief outline
of the Civil War, and the causes that
led up to it from the point of view of
the East Tennessee Loyalist.
For many years previous to the war the
contention over the institution of
slavery and the doctrine of State's
Rights, as it was termed, had been
growing in earnestness and intensity
between the great political parties, or
rather between the Northern and Southern
wings of each of the great parties, both
in Congress and among the people. The
growing sentiment of opposition to
slavery among the people north of Mason
and Dixon's line alarmed the people of
the cotton-growing States who believed
slave labor indispensable to their
success in growing the great staple,
cotton, which had been proclaimed "King"
by them; and which with the cultivation
of rice, tobacco and sugar-cane
constituted the base of the wealth and
prosperity of the Southern States.
The people of the South contended that
the institution of slavery was of divine
origin; and moreover, was clearly
recognized by the Constitution of the
United States. They were also jealous of
their rights as States, believing the
Union of the States was merely a
temporary compact entered into for
convenience and mutual protection which
could be annulled at the discretion of
the individual States without reference
to the consent or pleasure of the
general Government.
On the contrary, the Northern people, or
a large portion of them, condemned the
institution of slavery as wrong, cruel,
and subversive of the principles of
justice, liberty, and freedom to all
people, as set forth in the Declaration
of Independence and embodied in the
Constitution. They contended that the
United States was a Nation, and that the
Federal Government had the right to hold
the several States in subjection to its
authority ; and that no State had the
right to sever its connection with the
General Government without its consent.
For more than fifty years these
questions had been agitated with more or
less acrimony.
The enactment of the "Missouri
Compromise" in 185o, the last great
measure championed by Henry Clay, which
was designed to settle the sectional
differences of the people, only
postponed the evil day.
The Republican party. organized in 1854
from the anti-slavery elements of the
old Whig and Democratic parties of the
North, and which developed such
unexpected strength under the leadership
of Gen. John C. Fremont in the
presidential election of 1856, was a
grave cause of alarm and apprehension on
the part of the proslavery and State's
Rights people of the South. The
antislavery people of the North were, of
course, correspondingly elated and
encouraged over the result.
In the interval between the
'presidential election of 1856 and that
of 186o, the tendency of the times
pointed to the overthrow of the great
Democratic party which had controlled
the affairs of the Government since the
days of Jefferson with but two brief
interruptions, and which in later years
had championed the cause of Slavery and
State Rights, so dear to the hearts of
the Southern people.
To make this result almost absolutely
assured the Democratic party, which met
at Charleston, S. C., in April, 186o,
for the purpose of nominating candidates
for President and Vice President of the
United States, failed to agree, either
upon a platform or candidates, and made
what was called a "split" in the party.
Later, in June, it met again at
Baltimore, but the two factions were
farther apart than ever. The Southern
wing of the party nominated John C.
Breckenridge, of Kentucky, for
President, and Joseph Lane, of Kansas,
for Vice President. The Northern wing of
the party nominated Stephen A. Douglass,
of Illinois, for President, and Herchel
V. Johnson, of Georgia, for Vice
President.
The party known as the "Constitutional
Union Party" nominated John Bell, of
Tennessee, and Edward Everett, of
Massachusetts, as its standard bearers.
This party was composed largely of the
old Whig party of the South, which was
opposed to secession, but was not in
sympathy with the Republican party. This
party received the electoral vote of but
three States, viz : Tennessee, Kentucky
and Maryland.
The Republican party met in convention
in Chicago, May 16, 1860, and nominated
Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and
Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, as candidates
for President and Vice President:
The Southern leaders seeing that the
Democratic party was hopelessly divided
and the election of Mr. Lincoln was a
foregone conclusion, urged upon the
Southern States the necessity of
withdrawing from the Union rather than
submit to the election of what they
termed a sectional President, and one
whose administration would be inimical
to Slavery and State's Rights, so cleat
to the people. The election resulted, as
had been anticipated, but Mr. Lincoln
could not take his seat until March 4th,
1861.
Mr. Buchanan, the predecessor of Mr.
Lincoln, was in full sympathy with the
South, although he was a native of
Pennsylvania. His cabinet, being mostly
Southern men, were also favorable to the
Southern movement of secession.
The administration of Mr. Buchanan was
vascillating and undecided ; and the
Southern leaders took advantage of the
four months that elapsed between Mr.
Lincoln's election and inauguration to
make every preparation for the coming
conflict. They had already been drilling
men and making preparation for war, but
now that Mr. Buchanan put no obstacles
in their way, but on the contrary
permitted his Secretary of War to so
dispose the arms and munitions of war in
Southern forts and arsenals that they
would readily fall into the hands of the
enemies of the Government, they went
forward with the work of drilling,
organizing and preparing for war without
molestation from the Federal Government,
so that when the new administration came
into power on March 4th, 1861, the
following States had already seceeded
from the Union : South Carolina,
Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Florida, Alabama and Texas. Gen. Twiggs,
who was second in command of the army to
Gen. Scott, was in command of the
Department of Texas and disposed and
arranged the troops so that the
materials of war, guns and ammunition,
would easily fall into the hands of the
enemy, as was the result.
The situation confronting the
Administration when it came into power
on the 4th of March was most appalling
indeed. The small standing army had been
scattered, to the great disadvantage of
the Government, and was divided in
sentiment. Many of the forts and a large
part of the munitions of war had fallen
into the hands of the enemy. Many of the
Northern leaders who had favored the
election of Mr. Lincoln counselled
peace. Horace Greely, the great Editor
of the "New York Tribune," and who had
been foremost in denouncing slavery,
said : "Let the erring sisters go in
peace." Much sympathy was expressed for
the Southern Cause even in the North. At
the same time, there was a strong
feeling of loyalty to the Union in the
Southern border States, especially in
Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and West
Virginia.
Among the first acts of President
Lincoln was to call for 75,000
volunteers to suppress the Rebellion.
This proclamation was condemned by the
Southern press, and by the Southern
sympathizers in the North, though it was
known that the Southern States had
already called out troops and were
drilling and forming an army to destroy
the Government.
However, Mr. Lincoln was held up as an
Usurper, a Tyrant and Despot because he
had the courage, at this momentous
crisis, to make an effort to preserve
the integrity of the country. But the
call for only 75,000 troops showed how
little Mr. Lincoln and his advisers knew
of the temper of the Southern people, or
the determination and earnestness with
which they had set about the work of
dissolving the Union and forming a
government of their own, thus setting a
precedent that would permit each State
to withdraw from the Union, or from the
Confederacy that was then being formed,
at will, which could only have resulted,
in the end, in a multiplicity of petty
republics among whom continual
disagreements would have arisen, as has
been demonstrated in South America.
The next important act of the new
Administration was to attempt to relieve
Major Anderson, who with a small
garrison, was shut up in Fort Sumpter,
situated in Charleston Harbor, South
Carolina. Mr. Buchanan, pursuing his
peaceful policy, had sent the "Star of
the West," an unarmed vessel, under the
national flag, with succor and
provisions for the garrison which had
arrived there on the 9th of January,
1861. Upon its arrival it was
immediately fired upon by the
Confederate authorities. This act of
hostility and insult to the flag was not
resented by Mr. Buchanan. The Star of
the West was compelled to withdraw
without giving aid to the garrison.
Major Anderson was in Fort Moultrie
until December 26, 186o, when he
withdrew his little garrison to Fort
Sumpter, which afforded a better
opportunity for defense from the rebels,
who had continually threatened him since
the incident of the Star of the West.
This movement of Major Anderson enraged'
the Confederate authorities to such an
extent that on the 12th of April they
notified him that they would open fire
on the fort in one hour. At 4 P. M. the
first shot was fired at Fort Sumpter,
"the shot heard round the world," and
which was the beginning of the most
stupendous and bloody civil war known to
modern times.
It is beyond the scope of this work to
follow the varying fortunes of the
contending forces in the great struggle
that followed the reduction of Fort
Sumpter, which, after a most gallant
defense by its heroic garrison under
Major Anderson, was compelled to
capitulate. We will now confine our
history to that part of the war that
pertained to events in East Tennessee
and to the locality in which our history
is laid, except so far as they relate
to, or in some manner concern our
history. |
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