Life of Jefferson Davis : with a seceret history of the Southern Confederacy, gathered "behind the scenes in Richmond"

Front matter

m,

in 2011 witii funding from

Tine Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant

Preface

I HAVE long meditated writing the life of Jefferson Davis, and divulging in this work a mass of curious and extraordinary information which I have possessed, concerning the private and interior history of his Government, in Richmond. It was a most remarkable singularity of the Southern Confederacy, that, though holding out to the world the forms of Republican Government, it was as closely veiled in its operations, as secret and recluse as the most absolute and arrogant despotism. Thus many things happened behind that curtain which Mr. Davis so studiously spread before his Government, of which the world has as yet no knowledge, and of which even people living in Richmond, and in the shadow of that Government, have had only the faintest conception, or, at best, a chequered and imperfect revelation.

The writer may say, without vanity or self-assertion, that he is peculiarly fitted to be the biographer of Jefferson Davis. He was near him during the whole war. He had occasion to study his character assidu-

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ously, and to pursue him in his administration with a curious and critical industry; and his opportunities as a journahst, in Richmond, enabled him to learn much of the veiled mysteries and inner scenes of the weak and anomalous government that wrecked the fortunes of the Southern Confederacy. The writer thus obtained much of the secret and unwritten history of the Confederacy, involving Mr. Davis ; information which, for obvious causes, he could not give to the newspaper press, and which, since the war, he has not yet published in any of his memoirs, for peculiar and impressive reasons.

The fact is, the writer has been, for a long time, persuaded by friends standmg between him and the Confederate President, to withhold the work he now contemplates, as it was thought it would give information concerning various conspiracies and vengeful plots in the war, which might be used against Mr. Davis on his expected trial, or might inflame against him a fatal prejudice. For this reason alone, the writer has, for a long time, deferred the publication he has now determined upon ; and he may claim that in this he has shown an extreme and punctilious regard for Mr. Davis's safety. But he can no longer defer to this solicitude for Mr. Davis ; it has become a mere punctilio, since there is no longer now a reasonable expectation that the Ex-President will ever be brought to trial, or be disturbed in the foreign land, in which he is reported to have descended to the commonplaces of

PREFACE. V

trade and an unnoticed existence. At least, it would be unreasonable that the writer should longer weigh a calculation so tender and remote against a debt severely due to history.

Jefferson Davis should have a truthful and acute biographer, one who would do something more than echo the shallow clamors and interested opinions of the day. Whatever the estimate of his person, he performed a great part in history; and his character, mixed, angular, abounding in surprises, full of caprices and apparent inconsistencies, is precisely that which affords the most interesting and vivid subjects for biography. The writer is conscious of attempting a high and difficult task — an extraordinary work. He comes to it not only with ample literary preparation, but with an unusual animation. He has been accused of personal hostility to Mr. Davis; and is to-day, perhaps, in all his literary capacities, most widely known to the country as censor of the Confederate Chief. He repels the accusation of any prejudice, in the very front of his work ; he is able and willing to do exact justice to Mr. Davis ; and if he ever attacked him it was through supreme devotion to a great cause, and from a just resentment toward the man who misguided and wrecked it.

Those who suppose that they will find in the work of the writer a declamation against Mr. Davis — a mere amplitude of rhetoric, or an excess of passion — will be disappointed. The writer designs to give

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facts, many of them new, and all of them capable of distinct and impressive evidence. He proposes to address himself to the serious and inevitable historical question : — Who loere responsible for the failure of the Southern G(mfederacy? — and on this issue he will insist upon asserting that rule familiar to the world, that those who assume power are responsible for its discharge, according to the exact measure of their assumption, and that responsibility in any great cause is not to be squandered through subordinates. To do this, indeed, would be to scatter and enfeeble all the lessons of history; to render impossible its unity of narrative and to nullify its philosophy. Eesponsibility must rest somewhere in history; it naturally and inevitably ascends ; and in regarding Mr. Davis as the prime cause of the failure of the South in the late war, the author has but simply recognized and submitted to the great law of logic in historical composition : — that, in political affairs, where a certain result is clearly not an accident or misadventure, but must have come from a well defined cause, that cause ultimately and inevitably rests in the head of the government.

As the author has said in another historical work : " Jefferson Davis cannot escape the syllogism that has been applied to every public ruler since the world began. However he may be plastered with 'glittering generalities ;' however paltry publications may consult the passions of the hour; however newspapers,

PREFACE. Vll

made up of dish-water and the paste-pot, may deprecate the vigorous inquiries of history and counsel the suppression of unpleasant facts; however partisans may dress the leaders in garish colors and the brilliant and exaggerated uniform of a class, the question comes at last : How are those failures of the Confederacy, which are accounted errors, and not misfortunes, to be ascribed, if not to the folly of rulers ? Mr. Davis was supreme in his administration, and singularly unembarrassed in directing and controlling public affairs. There was no question of disconcerted authority. For the major part of his administration he had a servile Congress, a Cabinet of dummies, and a people devoted to his person." * * * *

In these circumstances, the responsibility of President Davis was well defined, and, taken along with his autocracy, was almost exclusive. But it is not necessary to insist upon this rigidity of construction. The author has simply sought to place Mr. Davis in his true logical position as President of the Southern Confederacy. He has not been content to rest on secondary causes, or disposed to enter the province of hypothesis and overrefinements ; and he has done nothing more than a23ply to Mr. Davis's four years of Presidential life the same rule of responsibility that is familiar in all history, and has been apphed to every administration of pubHc affairs in the annals of America.

It is, thus that the author, with no disaffection toward Mr. Davis, and with no design to discriminate

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personally agaiust him, yet feels impelled by the reasonable logic of history to make him, as it were, a head and centre of responsibility in the late war, and to gather around him the causes of the failure of the Southern Confederacy. He risks himself upon the facts of his work, not upon its ingenuity. He designs a severe narrative, and he challenges the naked application to it of the common rules of logic. It has already been said that Mr. Davis had determined to reply to this work. If so, he is welcomed to the task, and is challenged to the combat. He shall have facts to oppose ; and in such conspicuous, stern, and unrelenting contest, the world will decide who falls, who retreats, or who covers himself with defeat.

Finally, the writer, careless as he is in the just sense of history of the person of Mr. Davis, and disdaining whatever criticisms may grow out of personal feelings, is yet sensible that he has undertaken a great and serious work, and protests that he approaches it in a becoming and collected spirit. He attempts no mean and evanescent commentary on the late war. In betaking himself to a literary task, excelling all his former ones, and in which he is fired by various desires, he proudly ventures to produce a work that will not only interest these present times, but that " will live " permanently and assuredly, if even among the humbler monuments of the historical literature of America.

EDWAKD A. POLLARD.

COITTElNrTS.

Introduction

A Theory of the Greatness of Men — Two Interesting Reflections — A new Rule in the Composition of Biography — Application of it to Jefferson Davis 13

Chapter I

Life of Mr. Davis Anterior to the War — His Early Military Career — Abrupt Resignation of It — Eight Years of Retirement— ^An Early Insight into Mr. Davis's Character — Passion for Self-Culture — His Student-Life — An Imperfect Intellectual Character as the Result of Solitude — Mr. Davis's First Remarkable Adventure in Public Life — The " Pons Asinorum" — Curious Explanation of a Slander — Mr. Davis and the Mississippi "'Repudiar tion" — His Career in the Mexican War — The "V" Movement at Buena Vista — Return of Mr. Davis to Congress — His Senatorial Career 17

Chapter II

Mr. Davis in the Senate of the United States — Distinction as an Orator — Definition of the term " Eloquence" — Mr. Davis in the World of Letters — Brilliant Remnant of his Reputation— His Style as a Speaker — His Figure and Manners in the Senate — The art of '• Self-continence " in Oratory — Reference to Stephen A. Douglas — His " Specialty " — Anecdotes of his Life — How Jefferson Davis Compared with the " Little Giant " — The Former Scorns "Quarter" — The Kansas Controversy — Mr. Davis's Reply to Douglas— A Burst of Temper — A Noble Speech — The Senatorial Career of Mr. Davis, tho Most Honorable Part of his Public Life 27

Chapter III

The Election of Abraham Lincoln, President, not the cause of the war — A Peculiar Aristocracy in the South — ^The Power of this Section in the hands of Politicians rather than Slaveholders — Remarkable Speeches in the Convention of South Carolina — The State ■Convention Mere Puppets — Tho Centre of the Conspiracy at Washington — Jefferson Davis Among the Conspirators — Critical Examination of His Record on the Question of Disunion — Its Inconsistency — His Eai-ly Extravagances for the Union — His Conduct in Congress in 1850 — Prophetic Warning of Henry Clay — Mr. Davis's Ambition to succeed Calhoun— His Effrontery — Connection with the " Resistance" Party of Mississippi as its Candidate for Governor — His Remarkable Explanation of the Designs of this Party — Inconsistency of this Explanation — Mr. Davis enters the Cabinet of President Pierce as a Union Man — Repudiates the "Resistance" Party — His Responsibility for the Kansas-Nebraska

^ CONTENTS.

Bill — Union Speech in Mississippi — Mr. Davis Regards the Kansas Settlement as a Tiinmph for the South — He is Bit by the Ambition for a Presidential Nomination — An Electioneering Tour in New York and Maine — "Slaver" of Fraternal Affection — Insinceritj'of Mr. Davis's Record on the Question of Disunion— The Cause of the South Disfigured by the Ambition of its Leaders, but not therefore to be Dishonored — A Brief History of Disunion — The South Suffered from a General Apprehension Bather than a Specific Alarm — The Action of her Politicians, neither a Test of Her Spirit, nor a Measure of the Justice of Her Cause — The Condition of Washington, in December, 1860 43

Chapter IV

Remarkable Effect of the Message of President Buchanan — A Spectacle in the White House — A Singular Pause in the Movement of Secession — Mr. Keitt'a Remarks on the Situation— The Southern Leaders Actually Abandon the Scheme of Disunion — Tt is Resumed on Major Anderson's Occupation of Fort Sumter — A Question of Concealed Importance- How the Question of "the Forts" determined the War — Mr. Floyd's Adroitness — Secret History of the Junta of Fourteen in Washington — A Revolutionary Council iu the Shadow of the Capitol — Their Extraordinary Usurpations — Jefferson Davis and "the Committee of Three " — True Date of the Commencement of the War — Why Mr. Davis was Chosen Leader — In the First Programme of the Southern Confederacy, R. M. T. Hunter of Virginia, Designed for President — How he Lost the Position of Leader — A Fatal Motion in the Senate-Comparison of the Claims of Hunter and Davis for the Position of Leader 56

Chapter V

The Sectional Debate in the United States Senate — How Different from that in the House of Representatives — Intellectual Poverty of the Debate in Congress — Explanation of this — A Game of Pretences — A Class of Intermediate Politicians Sincerely Affected — References to Crittenden and Douglas — Andrew Johnson the Champion Par Excellence of th-e Union — His Extraordinary Life — Compared with Jefferson Davis — Johnson's Literary Style — What Senator Douglas Thought of Him — His Extraordinary Courage — Mr. Davis'a Singular Criticism of Johnson — Reticence of the Former in the Debate in the Senate — His Explanation of the Secession Sentiment — Sinister Conduct — He offers an Amendment to the Constitution — Andrew Johnson's Appeals for the Union — A Curious History of the Tote on the Crittenden Resolutions — Colloquy of Johnson and Benjamin — Mr. Davis makes His Farewell Speech in the Senate — Wigfall's Picture of the Dead Union — Last Effort in the Senate to Save the Peace of the Country — A Memorable Scene 67

Chapter VI

Organization of the Confederate Government, at Montgomery — Mississippi Proposes a Southern Confederacy — Singular Instance of Rebellion Unchallenged — Explanation of the Remissness of the North — The Error of Mr. Lincoln — Secession as a Popular Sentiment, and Secession as an Organized Fact — Failure of the North to Distinguish between the Two^ Rapid Action of the Montgomery Government — Interesting Historical Problem as to the Extent of the Idea of "Reconstruction" in the Southern Mind — Mr. Davis had no such Idea — Why not — His Defiant Speeches at Montgomery — Evidence of a Popular Sentiment in the South for " Reconstniction " — Why it was Ineffectual — Extraordinary and r»nmrkable Exclusion of the Popular Ele'ment from the Southern Confederacy — A Usurpation almost Unparalleled in History * 87

Chapter VII

Causes wliich determined Mr. Davis's Election as President of the Confederate States — The claims of Howell Cobb Secretly considered at Montgomery — Davis's Resentment of Cobb as a Possible Rival — Popular Congratulations on the Selection of Mr. Davis as Leader — His Qualifications for such a Position — Steady Line of Distinction between Davis and the South — A Fatal Weakness of the Now President — An Attempt to Define the Objects of the War — Mr. Davis as a "Mixed" Character — A Remarkable Presentiment at Montgomery — A Criticism of Mr. Davis in Anticipation of His Administration 96

Chapter VIII

The Fire on Fort Sumter — ^The First Shot of the War — Congratulations in President Davis's Cabinet — The Second Secessionary Movement — Fatal Mistake of Mr. Lincoln — He Adds a new Breadth to the War — Preparations at Montgomery^Mr. Davis and an OfBce-Seeker — Secret Design of Mr. Davis in his Display of Military Preparations — Sudden Disappearance of the Union Party Accounted for — Secession of Virginia — A Torch-Light Procession in Richmond — Robert E. Lee Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia Forces — His Motives in Leaving the Federal Service — His Political Opinions — The Character — His Fallacy of "Petitio Principii"— General Lee Accepting a Sword in the State-House — The Confederate States Government Removed to Richmond — Howell Cobb's Pledge for the Congressmen — Arrival of President Davis in Richmond — Popular Raptures — Eloquent Speeches of the President — "No Surrender." 109

Chapter IX

Some Account of the City of Richmond — A Provincial City before the Wai- — What its Decoration as Capital of the Confederacy cost it — Early Scenes of the War in Richmond — Brilliant and Picturesque Days — A Confederate Soldier and a Little Lady — The< Red River Men — Early Clamor for Aggressive Warfare — Why it was Impossible at This Time — " On-to- Washington" — Horace Greeley wants the War Limited to a Single Battle — The Great Victory of Manassas — The Three Stages of the Battle — President Davis on the Field — A Curious Contretemps — How Mr. Davis was disappointed by General Beauregard — Instance of his Personal Courage on the Field — A Night Scene at General Beauregard's Quarters — Singular Figure of the President 129

Chapter X

The South Intoxicated by the Victory of Manassas — Who was Responsible for not Pursuing the Enemy to Washington — A Larger and more Important Question than that — The True History of a Secret and Notable Council of War — President Davis Rejects the Advice of his Three Principal Generals— 'He Decides for the Policy of Dispersion or Frontier-Defence — A Glance at the Character of General Johnston — President Davis's Quarrel with General Beauregard — An Interval of Infamous Intrignes at Richmond — How Mr. Hunter was Driven from the Cabinet — Conceit of the President — "Waiting for Europe" — Demoralization of Inactive Armies — Rapid Corruption of Society in Richmond — " The Wickedest City" — Mr. Davis at a Fancy Dress Ball — Unpopular Conduct of his Wife — Anecdote of the President — Criticism of a " Tar Heel " — Mr. Davis and the Faithful Sentinel of the Libby Prison — A Historical Parallel — Connubial Fondness of Mr. Davis — His Collection of Small and Mean Favorites — A Curious Sort of Obstinacy, and some Reflections thereon ,v,."— Jil

Chapter XI

President Davis flaying the Adorned Conqueror— Decay of the Confederacy— Review of the Military Situation- Share of Congress in the Maladministration of Mr. Davis— Weak and Infamous Character of that Body— How it Expelled the Best Intellect of the South— A Notable Rule against 3Iilitary OfBcers— IIow the Political Affairs of the Confederacy were Entirely Surrendered to Mr. Davis and his Party— Two Measures that Brought the South to the Brink of Ruin— The Army of Virginia almost Disbanded— Protests of Gene- ' rals Johnston and Beauregard— The Civil or Internal Administration of Mr. Davis — Its Intellectual Barrenness- Not One Act of Statesmanship in the 'Vrhole History of the Confederacy— Richmond a Reflex of Washington— A New Rule by which to Measure Mr. Davis's Responsibility — A Literary Dyspeptic, with more Ink than Blood in his Veins — Complaints Brealdng Out Against Mr. Davis— His Vaunt of the Blockade as a Blessing in Disguise — Dethronement of King Cotton— Extreme Scarcity of Arms at the South 159

Chapter XII

The Finances of the Southern Confederacy — Early Measures of Taxation at Montgomery — A Civil List Voted of a Million and a half Dollars — The Five Million Loan — Deficiency of American Politicians in Finance — Extreme and Grotesque Ignorance of 3Ir. Davis on this Subject — Secretary Memminger a Cirriosity in his Cabinet — A Race of Absurd Fancies — History of the Produce Loan — Extravagant Expectations from it — Its Complete and Ludicrous Failure — Mr. De Bow's OtHce "To Let" — The Confederate Government Abandons its First Proposition of Finance — How the Commissariat was Relieved — History of a Grand Financial Scheme — Proposition for the Government to Buy all the Cotton in the South — Extraordinary Virtues of this Scheme — It might have Decided the War — How Mr. Memminger Derided the Scheme — 5Ir. Davis's After-thought in the Prison at Fortress Monroe — A Shallow and Miserable Subterfuge — Supplements of the Financial Policy of the Confederacy — Conversion of Private Debts Due in the North — The Sequestration Law — The Administration of Mr. Davis Challenged on it — A Scathing Denunciation by Mr. Pettigru, of South Carolina — Mr. Davis attempts to Use the Credit of the States — He Fails in this Recourse — His Government Thrown Back to the Beginning of its Financial Policy — He Proposes Paper Bloney as a Panacea — Distinction Between Currency and Revenue — Stupidity of Mr. Davis in Financial Matters — The First Seeds of Corruption Sown in the Confederate Finance — Mr. Memmiuger's Funding Juggle — "Flush Times" in Richmond— Silly Self-Congratulations of the President — The Road to Ruin 171

.. ■• CHAPTER XIII.

John M. Daniel's New Year's Article— A Philosopher's Mourn for the Union— No Thought yet of the Subjugation of the South— Analysis of the Popular Sentiment, concerning President Davis— Description of the Military Lines of the Confederacy— Reflections on the Spirit and Character of the Southern People— Their Conceit about the War— The "Raccoon Roughs, " and Mr. Lincoln's Hair— Why Mr. Davis was not Excusable for his Short Vision in the War— A Train of Disasters— Alarm and Demoralization of the People— A Cmel Mistake concerning General A. S. Johnston— Inauguration of Mr. Davis as Permanent President— A Gloomy Scene in the Public Square at Richmond— Piteous Prayer of the President— Significance of the Change from a Provisional to a Permanent Form of Government— Some Account of a Secret Debate at Montgomery— Why the Adoption of a Permanent Constitution W'a3 a Mistake— The New Congress at Riolimoncl — Significant Speecti of Spealier Bocock — Who was the author of the Conscription Law? — How Narrowly it Saved the Confederacy — A Statement of President Davis Shamelessly False — Two Remarkable Men in the Confederate Congress— Mr. Foote (" Gulernalor Pes,") of Mississippi— Mr. Boyce of South Carolina — A Remarkable Effort of these Two Men to Impel the Confederate Armies into the North — The Effort is Defeated — ^Traces of a Remarkable Conspirac}' 189

Chapter XIV

Military Condition of the Southern Confederacy — Immense Political Significance of the Conscription Law — It necessarily Changed the Character of the Government — ^First Appearance of Political Parties against President Davis — Some Account of Governor Jo. Brown of Georgia — An Infamous Underplot against the Confederacy — The Conscription Law XJneonstitntional, but Justifiable — Mr. Davis's Boast of Superior Liberty in the South Exploded — How he had to Swallow his Words — A Military Despotism at Richmond — Two Notable Sequels to the Conscription Law — A Terrible Reproof from Mr. Hunter in the Senate — Outrages of Winder's Police — A Description of the Poucbe of the Southern Confederacy — Anecdote of Winder — Alarm in Richmond at McClellan's Advance — The Federal Commander up a Tree — Shameful an3 Cowardly Flight of the Confederate Congress — President Davis Secretly Resolves to Evacuate Richmond — He Changes his Resolution — A Witticism of General Lee — Excitement in Richmond on account of the Destruction of the Virginia-Merrimac — A Littleness of Expedients as Characteristic of the Confederate Administration — It Advertises for Scrap Iron and Old Brass — Anecdote of Secretary Memminger — Appeal of "The Old Lady" — A Notable Assembly in Richmond — "The Ladies' Gun-Boat" and an Oyster Supper 209

Chapter XV

The City of Richmond Saved — General Lee Appointed to Command before it — Incidents and Anecdotes of his previous Military Career — A Private Understanding between Generals Johnston and Lee — The Latter Promises to Resign — Changes of Military Policy of the Confederacy — Great Influence of Lee over President Davis — How the Latter was Managed — The " Seven Days' " Battles — Terrible Scenes in Richmond — Refusal of the Southern People to Mourn their Dead — Some Reminiscences of Richmond Hospitals — Significant Address of President Davis — The First Experiment by the Confederacy of an Aggressive Campaign — Plans of the Campaign on both sides of the Alleghany — The period of Greatest Effulgence of the Confederate arms — Results of Bragg's Campaign in Kentucky — The Dramatic Battle of Sharpsburgh — A Secret Agent of the Confederacy Prepared to Visit Washington—Mr. Foote's Confidences with President Davis — Romance of "The Lost Dispatch" — Review of the Autumnal Campaign of 1862 — A Brilliant Record on the Valor of the Confederate Troops — Why was this Valor so Unavailing — The Outcry of Wasted Blood against Jefferson Davis — Silly Transports of the Confederate President — His Fulsome Address to the Mississippi Legislature — A Remarkable Private Letter from General Floyd — Two Notable Views of the War in Contrast 228

Chapter XVI

Some Account of the Secret Misgivings or Private Calculations of Sir. Davis concerning the War— His Delinquency on the Subject of Retaliation— A Record of Weak Threats— The

Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln the Supreme Act of Outrage in the War- Excited Propositions in the Confederate Congress— Various Kesolutious for Retaliation— The Response of Mr. Davis practically Nothing— His Infamous Subterfuge, Suggesting Retaliation by the States— How Mr. Yancey Ridiculed it— A Distinct Law of Retaliation Passed by the Confedet-ate Congress— Mr. Davis Refuses to Execute it— Curious Explana^ tionof Mr. Davis's Unwillingness to Retaliate on the Enemy— A Detestable Calculation for his Personal Safety— Singular Apology for Mr. Davis by South Carolina Ladies— Moral Cowardice of Mr. Davis— Some Reflections on the True Nature of Courage— Excessive ' Admiration in the South of Mere Physical Manhood— Bravado of Mr. Davis— The Emancipation Proclamation an Encouragement to the North— Review of the Military Situation at the Close of 1862— The South Retires to a Defensive Policy— Summary of its Military Plans 251

Chapter XVII

The Battles of Murfreesboro', of Fredericksburg, and of Chancellorsville — A Trio of Important Contests — A Singular and Romantic Incident of the Field of Fredericksburg — Stonewall Jackson Makes a Proposition to Massacre the Enemy in the Night — Parallel between the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville — Death of Jackson — Mr. Davis's Tribute to Him — Character of Stonewall Jackson — Poverty of Genius in the War — Jackson and his Sophomorical Admirers — The Rag Tag Style of Eulogistic Criticism — The Religious Character of Jackson not Admirable — Estimate of Him as a Commander — His Gloomy Ideas of War — He Proposes " the Black Flag " — His Enormous and Consuming Ambition'— Description of His Person — In what Respects he was the Representative of the South — A Particular Description of his Last Moments 267

Chapter XVIII

Increased Spirit of the Army of Northern Virginia — A Second Experiment of Invasion Originated by General Lee and Opposed by Mr. Davis — Some Accounts of a Secret Correspondence between the Commander and the President — A Curious and perhaps Fatal Misapprehension concerning the Campaign — Failure of Mr. Davis to Order General Beauregard to Virginia — The Battle of Gettysburg the Worst Error of General Lee's Military Life — He Makes a Disingenuous Account of it — True Theory of the Action — Reflections on the Military Character of Lee — Gettysburg, a Divided Name in the Calendar of Battles — Why there were No Popular Reproaches of Lee — The Disaster of Vicksburg, a Very Different Story — Lee and Johnston, "Par JVobile Fratrum" of the War — The "President's Pets" — John C. Pemberton, an Obscure Military Man Putin Command of Vicksburg — Extraordinary Protests against the Appointment — The Influence of a Woman

. Brought to Bear on Mr. Davis — An Infamous Imposture in the Command Given to Johnston— The President Cheats the Public Sentiment — Johnston a Mere Figure-Head in the West — Proofs of a Dishonorable Private Correspondence of Mr. Davis in Derogation of Johnston's Command — The Secret Dispatch to Pemberton — Consequences of the Surrender of Vicksburg — The Most Aggravated Disaster of the War 283

Chapter XIX

A Pause in the Military History of the Confederacy, and a View thereupon of its Internal Administration — Reference to the Confederate Congress — Its Secret Sessions — The " Col • lege Debating Society " in the Capitol — Some of the NotaWe Members of Congiess— Disgraceful Scenes in Secret Session — An Episode of the Bowie-Knife — Judge Dargan a Curiosity — A Iland-to-Hand Fight in the Senate^Other Scandals in Congress — The Newspapers and "Contraband Information" — Mr. Davis and his "Back-Door" Conferences— An Ill-natured Remark about General Beauregard — Bad Results of the Secret Sessions of Confederate Congress — Multitude of Rumors in the South — Comments of the Richmond Examiner and the Charleston Mercury — Newsmongers in Richmond — Two Notable Characters in the Capital — " Long Tom" and the Druggist — Reflections on the Birth and Flight of Rumors concerning the War — How Mr. Davis's Pastor was Deceived — An Anecdote of "Recognition" — The Demoralizing Consequences of False Rumors in the War — The Heart of the South Worn Out, Swinging from Hope to Fear — How Mr. Davis Uncaged Rumors — How he Dulled and Destroyed Public Spirit 308

Chapter XX

Decay of the Patriotism of the South — No Possible Explanation of it, but the Maladministration of Mr. Davis — Condition of the Confederate Armies — Aversion to Military Service — Mr. Davis's Appeal to Absentees — False Praise of the South for Devotion in the War — Eighteen HxxnAredi Habeas Corpuses ill Richmond — How the Conscription was Dodged — Humors of the Habeas Corpus — The Public Spirit of the South, Mean and Decayed — Senator Wigfall Scathes the Farmers — Utter Loss of Moral Influence by President Davis — Enlargement of the Conscription — A Thorough Military Despotism at Richmond — Conscription and Impressment Twin Measures — The Scarcity of Food in the South, the Result of Mismai>- agement — A Notable Law in the Depreciation of a Currency — An Interesting Incident of the First Battle of Manassas — The Errors of the Impressment Law — The War, a Choice of Despots, One at Washingtijii, and One at Richmond — Fearful Attack of Senator Toombs on Mr. Davis's Administration — The South " Already Conquered." 355