The great rebellion : its secret history, rise, progress, and disastrous failure

Front matter

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H tit'.-

Preface

In presenting this work to the public, I do not invite criticism, but, of course, do not expect it will escape either that of the press or others. If it is not harshly and bitterly denounced by the Democratic press, it will fare better than any thing I have said, written, or done since my first entrance upon the political stage.

I have been told that there was an art to be studied in writing a book, different from all other arts and all other writings, without which no one was likely to be successful. If this be true, then this, my first effort af book-writing for publication, must prove a sad failure, for the only art I have studied has been the art of telling the truth in a plain, simple style that every reader" can readily comprehend, and I think there will not be found a passage in the book that it will be necessary for any child to read twice to catch its meaning.

The chief merit I claim for the work is its strict fidelity to historical facts, which will be recognized by every intelligent and impartial reader as he proceeds. The truth is, that in this extraordinary age of rapid progress, one striking political event succeeds another with such remarkable rapidity that the occurrences of yesterday are obliterated from the mind by those of to-day, and thus there is hardly one man in a million who keeps up

Vlll PREFACE.

a connected chain of events in his memory, as my position in public life and other circumstances have enabled me to do.

This Kebellion is, in point of fact, a key to my whole political life. There has been no question of public interest for the last thirty-five years or more in which I have not taken an active part ; while my personal associations with many of the leading Democrats enabled me to know much that did not appear upon the surface or to the public, and I had been but a short time in Congress before I was satisfied that there was a most active and persevering party in the South laboring with indefatigable zeal to prepare the people for an ultimate dissolution of the Union, and against this party and their objects I have been warring all the time. I need hardly say that I have made but few speeches for the last twenty-five years that did not contain an admonition to the country on this subject; and it was perhaps owing to this fact, more than any other, that I have been enabled to keep constantly in mind so minute a record of facts as they have occurred.

This work treats of a period and of a history that no other writer, I believe, has undertaken ; and without arrogance or presumption, I think I may say that I doubt if there is another person in the country who could write it (without extraordinary labor and research) that would, for those who are most familiar with the facts would rather desire to cover up and conceal what it has been my purpose to expose and lay bare before the world.

"When I made up my mind to write this history of the antecedents of the Kebellion, it was with no view to make

PREFACE. IX a dollar by the work: it was to enlighten the public mind, of the South particularly, as to the great impositions that had been for a long succession of years designedly practiced on their credulity by those in whom they had trusted as their leaders, with what disastrous consequences to the fortunes, the happiness, and lives of every household, in every gradation of life, all are now but too familiar.

I have often had occasion to say that no man alive knew more of this war than I did, and if the people knew as much about it as I knew, or if I knew as little as they did, we should probably all have been together in our sympathies.

I find it extremely difficult to blame any man for rushing to arms in defense of his wife and his children, his property, his liberty, and his honor, who could believe they were all invaded and endangered by a government that they had been educated to look upon as their natural and constitutional protector; and all this was whispered and hissed into their ears by profligate politicians, stupid and abandoned public presses, who, in most cases, had not the nerve or the will, when the danger arrived, to fight for their own wives and daughters, their own property, their own liberty or honor, but who made every manner of excuse for shirking the dangers and hardships of a war of their own creation ; but the responsibility they can not escape. For such men the English language is too poor to enable me to express the utter loathing and contempt I feel toward them.

Early in the war I characterized it as "the rich maris war and the poor man's fight" Whether I was right or

X PREFACE.

wrong in this, those who did the hard fighting can best determine.

One thing, at least, all who read this book can tell — now that the war is over and the result ascertained — and that is, whether I would have been more or less worthy of their confidence and regard by advising them to go into it or to stay out of it ; and none will hereafter be surprised, when they have learned the true nature and design of the Eebellion, that from first to last I resolved that no earthly power should induce me to lend it either my co-operation, my respect, or my sympathy.

With these prefatory remarks, this work is respectfully submitted to the candid judgment of an enlightened country by The Author.

E DITOR'S PREFACE.

It is a well-known maxim that " a good cause makes a stout heart and a strong arm," and never was the truth of the adage more strikingly illustrated than in the political career of the Hon. John Minor Botts, of Virginia, than whom no man in the United States at this day stands more prominent before the people as a consistent and patriotic advocate and supporter of "the union,

THE CONSTITUTION, AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE

LAWS."

An intimate friend of the illustrious Henry Clay, and a compeer of statesmen and legislators during the most important political eras of the last thirty years, the leading actions of Mr. Botts's life, and his speeches and writings, form as interesting and instructive a portion of the story of the progress of our great Republic from youth to manhood as any part of American history. Especially interesting, however, is the record of the manly and fearless stand made by Mr. Botts in support of the Union cause during the inauguration and progress of the late great conspiracy against the life of the nation, the culmination of which will ever form an eventful era in the world's history. His intimacy with the prominent actors in the great tragedy, and the privilege which he possessed of having the entree behind the scenes in the

theatre of the rebellion, placed him in a position " to unfold a tale," and " to reveal the secrets of his prisonhouse," which, if it does not "harrow up the soul" or make " the hair stand on end," will assuredly excite to the utmost the just indignation of every honest man in the country, and rouse up to action every lover of the nation in the land.

The circumstances under which this work was written are as follows :

In October, 1861, the French consul in Eichmond applied to his friend, Mr. Charles Palmer, for all the information he could furnish him upon the question of secession and the rebellion, the merits or demerits of which he did not understand. Upon this request being made, Mr. Palmer applied to Mr. Botts, who he was well aware was far more competent to enlighten his friend upon the subject than himself, or, indeed, any other gentleman in the South. Thereupon the information desired was furnished in a letter, which contained, in a concise form, the important history constituting the basis of the present work. Since 1861, time and circumstances have led to an enlargement of the history, and the views it presents have been enforced by additional arguments, and the facts related substantiated by incontrovertible testimony.

Shortly after this letter was sent to the French consul, it became rumored about Eichmond that Mr. Botts was engaged in writing a secret history of the rebellion, and, as a matter of course, the Confederate authorities were soon trying to ferret out the truth of the matter. For some time nothing of any importance in relation to the editor's preface. xiii

subject transpired. On the first day of March, 1862, however, the Confederate Congress passed an act suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus, and declaring martial law. The next morning, which was Sunday, about an hour before daybreak, the late General — then Captain— Godwyn, assistant provost-marshal under General Winder (of Andersonville memory), with, a hundred armed men, surrounded Mr. Botts's house, obtained admission, arrested him in bed, and carried him off to a filthy negro jail, where he was lodged, and kept in solitary confinement for eight weeks, his house and family in the mean time being placed in custody of two of General Winder's satellites. After his arrest, his trunks, writing-desk, and every receptacle for private papers were closely searched, and his private letters and papers taken possession of and carried to the provost-marshal's office, where they were examined. Mr. Botts, knowing how obnoxious he had made himself to the Confederate authorities by his bold, outspoken hostility to the doctrine W£ secession, and also to all engaged in inaugurating the wicked and atrocious rebellion, had concluded — as soon as he heard of martial law having been declared — that he would probably be among the first victims of their vengeance, and he had taken the precaution to conceal the historical sketch in question in a place where the rebels would not be likely to find it, and through the medium of a friend it was privately conveyed to the office of one of the foreign consuls for safe keeping until called for. Two days after the imprisonment of Mr. Botts, Captain Godwyn, who was acting as his jailer, presented himself in his cell, and the following conversation occurred.

xiv editor's preface.

After interchanging the ordinary salutations, Captain Godwyn remarked to Mr. Botts that he thought they did not get hold of all his papers in their search.

Mr. Botts. Ah ! perhaps not. Did you miss any particular paper, captain, that you had reason to expect was there ?

Captain Godwyn. Yes, there was one we did not find that we were led to believe was there.

Mr. Botts. Indeed ! and what paper was that, captain ?

Captain Godwyn. Well, I don't know exactly how to describe it.

Mr. Botts. I expect I could tell you, captain, what it was. Are you really anxious to get possession of it ?

Captain Godwyn. Well, yes; I should like to get it. Where is it?

Mr. Botts. Ah ! that you must find out for yourself, captain. You had no difficulty in finding me at midnight, and you will have to find that for yourself. But, if you are very anxious to get it, you shall have it, but only on my terms, and upon none other can you get it. |

Captain Godwyn. What are your terms ?

Mr. Botts. My terms are that you shall bring me the affidavit of Jeff. Davis, sworn to before Judge Haliburton, that, upon my delivery of that paper to you or to him, it shall be transferred, without alteration or mutilation, to the editors of the Enquirer and Examiner for publication, just as it came from my hand ; and, to show you that I am not afraid or ashamed to let your government or the world know what I have written, I will accompany the document with five hundred or a thousand dollars to pay for the expense of the publication.

editor's preface. XV

Captain Godwyn. It must be a very important paper that you will give so much to have made public. What is it?

Mr. Botts. I presume you know what it is you are in search of, but if not you shall know. It is the secret history of this rebellion for thirty years before it broke out.

Captain Godwyn. Why are you so anxious to have it published ?

" Because," replied Mr. Botts, rising from his seat and advancing toward the captain, at the same time shaking his huge fist within a few inches of his face, and speaking with great vehemence in voice and manner, " because, by Heaven, sir, if the people could read it and learn the truth, it would lead to a revolution within a revolution in which I could take active part !"

Upon this the committee rose, and the captain departed to report progress and ask leave to sit again.

During Mr.Botts's imprisonment, the French minister, Count Mercier, visited Richmond, and expressed to the friends of Mr. Botts great anxiety to see him and converse with him on the subject of the war, as he had great reliance on his views. But this he was not permitted to do. From this fact it may be justly inferred that the French consul had previously communicated some of Mr. Botts's views upon this subject to the embassador at Washington ; at all events, a copy of the letter was placed in Count Mercier's hands during his visit to Richmond, and that the document made an important impression in that quarter is not at all improbable.

XVI EDITOR S PREFACE.

Suffice it to say, in conclusion, that the lucid explanations made ; the statesmanlike views expressed ; the startling facts presented ; the hidden plots disclosed ; and the vital importance of the subject altogether, certainly makes this secret history of the rebellion one of the most valuable and interesting contributions to American historical literature ever presented to the public.