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1. MAJOR-GENERAL AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE.

2. MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. GRANT.

3. MAJOR-GENERAL FRANZ SIGEL. 4. MAJOR-GENERAL D. HUNTER 5. MAJOR-GENERAL GEO. B. MCCLELLAN. 6. MAJOR-GENERAL IRVIN MCDOWELL.

7. MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN E. WOOL. 8 MAJOR-GENERAL H. W. HALLECK 9. MAJOR-GENERAL BENJAMIN F. BUTLER.

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THE GREAT REBELLION.

CHAPTER I.

PRIOK TO 1861.

CAUSES OF THE REBELLION-DANGER OF SECTIONAL PARTIES HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE GOVERNMENT-CAUSES OF HOSTILITY BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH--MISSOURI COMPROMISE-HOSTILE LEGISLATION OF THE STATESCONGRESS THE WHIG AND DEMOCRATIC PARTIES-NECESSITY OF A NEW PARTY IN THE PLACE OF THE WHIG-THE REPUBLICAN PARTY-SOUTHERN CONSPIRATORS-THEIR PLAN-ELECTION OF LINCOLN FIRST STEPS TOWARDS DISUNION.

THE

HE Rebellion of 1861 stands out unique and extraordinary, in all the features that compose it. Whether viewed in its colossal proportions-suddenly summoning to the field nearly a million of menor in the purely imaginary evils that produced it, or the benign and equitable form of government sought to be overthrown, or the state of civilization and Christianity in which it occurred, or the totally visionary good it proposed to obtain, or the frightful, appall ing evils which were sure to follow,-it forms one of the most extraordinary chapters in human history that the pen of the historian was ever called upon to record. States having a common interest and origin, baptized in the same patriotic blood, were arrayed against each other in deadly strife-families divided, parents against children, and brothers against brothers-churches with a common faith and communion split asunder, and ministers and people who had wept at the same altar, suddenly began to pray each for the other's discomfiture; and the happiest land the sun ever

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CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.

shone upon became drenched in fraternal blood, and filled with sighs and lamentations; and posterity will ask for what? Volumes will unquestionably be written on the causes that led to these appalling evils, and the guilt be placed upon this or that class or section, according to the peculiar views or prej udices of the writer. The time has not yet come for the people to receive a just, dispassionate account of them. A generation, at least, must pass away, before this can be done. With the frightful catastrophe which has overtaken us, full in view, no section or party is willing to accept the responsibility of its existence. All know the immediate cause of it. The north and south were at length arrayed against each other in two great political parties on the question of slavery. The northern party triumphed, and though no illegal act was charged against it, and no pretense offered that it had not succeeded in a legitimate, constitutional way, the defeated southern party refused to accept the decision of the ballot box, and rushing into open revolt, proceeded to organize a government of its own. Unreasonable, unnatural, and criminal as this course appears, it was in perfect keeping with the history of former republics, and an event, which every one not blinded by fanaticism, or selfishness, or ignorance, or contempt of the past, could easily have foretold without any spirit of prophecy. It makes no difference what the cause may be, whether slavery, unequal legislation, or imaginary evils; whenever east and west, or north and south, shall now, or hereafter, stand arrayed against each other in hostile political parties, if the attitude is maintained, peaceful dissolution or civil war must follow. It was in view of this possible calamity, that Washington, in his farewell address, used the following language: "In contemplating the causes that may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground shall have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discrimi

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