CHAPTER VIII. THE LEADING MOVEMENTS OF THE WAR, 1861-1862. WHAT ARE ACTS OF WAR?-SEIZURE OF FEDERAL FORTS AND PROPERTY- - - Τ' HE adoption of an ordinance of secession, or of nullification, by a state convention has not been regarded in the light of a declaration of war against the United States; but when followed by the seizure of forts and arsenals, and other public property of the general government, it is so regarded. An attempt so to obstruct or hinder the execution of the laws of Congress, by the organized militia of a state, can be construed as nothing less than an act of war. But the word "war" is a generic term. Such an act of hostility is defined in the Constitution as an act of "insurrection." Secession is Insurrection. Nine of the twelve states whose delegates framed and signed the Constitution, were made necessary to its enforcement upon themselves; and three-fourths of the states must concur in amendments. It would be unreasonable, therefore, to hold that one state may undo the work of three-fourths of the states. So thought President Jackson, in 1832. He then issued his celebrated Proclamation warning the people of South Carolina against the consequences of attempt ing to enforce their ordinance which declared the tariff laws null and void. President Lincoln acted on this principle in 1861, with reference to the seizure of the custom house at Charleston, and the firing upon the forts by the state and Confederate forces. The first overt act was the seizure of the revenue cutter Aiken. This was done by the state authorities, to whom it was surrendered by Capt. M. L. Coste. This act of war was followed by the seizure of forts, arsenals, custom houses, and other property of the government along the southern coast, from Beaufort in North Carolina, to western Texas. Only Fort Sumter at Charleston, Fort Pickens at Pensacola, and the fort at Key West remained, within the limits of the seven Confederate States, in the possession of the United States forces, at the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration. On the fifth day of January, 1861, the government dispatched the steamer Star of the West from New-York, with supplies and re-enforcements for Fort Sumter. It arrived off the harbor of Charleston on the 9th. It was fired upon and driven back to sea by the Confederate batteries. No further attempt was made during Mr. Buchanan's administration, to defend the public property in the Confederate States. The convention of South Carolina sent commissioners to Washington. They were to negotiate for the peaceful surrender of the public property to the state. On the 28th of December, 1860, they addressed a note to the President. Copies of their full powers in the premises were enclosed. They also submitted the ordinance of secession. They thought that there would be little difficulty in settling the terms of the surrender. After their arrival in Washington, they were disenchanted. They learned of the dismantling and abandonment of Fort Moultrie by Major Anderson. They were advised of his occupancy of Fort Sumter. Until these circumstances should be explained they concluded to suspend further negotiations. They, however, urged the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbor of Charleston. They regarded their occupancy of the fort as a menace. While the Union flag floated over them negotiation was impossible. President Buchanan replied, in the language of his annual message, that, apart from the execution of the laws, "so far as it shall be practicable,” the Executive has no power to decide what shall be the relations between the Federal Government and South Carolina. He held that the Constitution conferred no power upon the Federal Government "to coerce a state into submission, which is attempting to withdraw, or has actually withdrawn from the confederacy." President Lincoln, in his inaugural speech, assumed it to be his duty to enforce the laws; but he disclaimed the wish, and the power, to interfere with slavery in the states. He declared that he took the official oath with no mental reservations. Early in March, 1861, Messrs. John Forsyth, of Alabama, Martin J. Crawford, of Georgia, and André Bienvenu Roman, of Louisiana, made THE CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. 147 their appearance in Washington. They came as commissioners representing the Confederate authorities. They were charged with the duty of negotiating a peace between the Confederacy and the United States. One condition to such a peace was the surrender by the latter to the former, of all forts, arsenals, and public property. This was to be accompanied by an adjustment of the proportions of the public debt to be borne by each. The Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, declined to see the commissioners. He returned a polite reply to their written communication. It was in the form of a memorandum. In this memorandum, the secretary rejects the assumption of the commissioners, that the Confederate States had established an independent government, de facto and de jure. He resents all the assumed consequences that would flow from such a relation. The memorandum bears date March 15, 1861. It states that the communication from the commissioners was received on the 13th. The memorandum was not sent to the commissioners until the 8th of April. The commissioners were not as courteous as the secretary in their reply to his memorandum. They reply on April 9th. They call attention to the long delay of the secretary. They leave the inference that they regarded the delay as proceeding from a desire to gain time, while relief was being sent to Fort Sumter. They admit that they consented to the delay; but only upon the assurance, given by Mr. Seward to "a person occupying a high official position in the government "- meaning Judge Campbell of the Supreme Court,-" that Fort Sumter would be evacuated in a very few days." Judge Campbell, in a letter to Mr. Seward, dated April 13th, reiterates the statement, that he gave them the information, on the secretary's authority, that the fort would be evacuated within five days. He calls upon the secretary to explain the cause of the failure to carry out the promise. At the expiration of the five days, he calls on him again with a telegram from General Beauregard to the effect that Sumter was not evacuated, and that Major Anderson was at work making repairs. He then learned from Mr. Seward that the failure to evacuate was not the result of bad faith, but was attributable to causes consistent with the intention to fulfill the engagement; and that notice would be given of any design to change the status at Fort Pickens. Judge Campbell states that Judge Nelson of the Supreme Court was also present at these conversations. They were three in number. The communications to the commissioners had been shown to and sanctioned by that gentleman. Judge Campbell further states that, on the 1st of April, Mr. Seward gave him the written assurance that he was satisfied the government would not attempt to supply Fort Sumter without giving notice to Governor Pickens. On the 7th of April, Judge Campbell states that Secretary Seward wrote to him, "Faith as to Sumter fully kept; wait and see." The next morning he read in the newspapers that an authorized messenger from President Lincoln had informed Governor Pickens 66 and General Beauregard that provisions would be sent to Fort Sumter peaceably, or otherwise by force." On the 20th of April, Judge Campbell addressed a note to Mr. Seward enclosing a second letter similar to that of the 13th, and stating that he had received no reply to the latter. An article in the Albany Evening Journal of May 30 gives what was, in all probability, Mr. Seward's version of the affair. That journal was edited by Mr. Thurlow Weed. He was a life-long personal and political friend of the secretary. The statement may be regarded as fully authorized. Mr. Weed states that if Mr. Seward were at liberty to reveal all that passed between him and Judge Campbell on several occasions, not only no imputation would rest upon the secretary's sincerity, but the facts would seriously affect Judge Campbell's well-established reputation for candor and frankness. The implication was that Judge Campbell balanced long between loyalty and secession; that if he favored secession while those conversations were being held, he was misunderstood; and that if during that period of mental trial he was acting in harmony with the leading enemies of the Union, he was grossly misunderstood. The Journal admits a misunderstanding on Mr. Seward's part: "That Governor Seward conversed freely with Judge Campbell, we do not deny, nor do we doubt that in these conversations, at one period, he intimated that Fort Sumter would be evacuated. He certainly believed so, founding his opinion upon a knowledge of General Scott's recommendation." These discrepancies, if charitably construed, do not militate against the honor or good faith of either of these gentlemen. No doubt it was a case of diplomacy on both sides. Mr. Seward was anxious to avert war. It could not, therefore, be said that he gave a positive promise which might not be retracted. He temporized then, as who did not? He was ready to make concessions which could not be required by constitutional obligations. He made concessions to which a man like Andrew Jackson would not have listened. Mr. Seward possessed a daring spirit and a firm purpose in the conduct of foreign affairs, but in domestic concerns which might eventuate in civil war, he had the noble hesitation of a patriot. Other men behind the President, who appeared to have greater firmness of purpose, were far less considerate of consequences. It was these men who overruled the peaceful plans of the Secretary of State. The steam transport Atlantic sailed from New-York with troops and supplies on the 7th of April. On the same, or the next day, Governor Pickens received official notification from Washington that supplies would be sent to Major Anderson. Charleston was at that time filled with Confederate troops. There could be no ground for a complaint that timely notice had not been given. General Beauregard was in command of six thousand troops in the forts and batteries which he had seized or constructed. Major Anderson had taken refuge with his eighty men in Fort Sumter. He was THE FIRST GUNS OF THE WAR. 149 short of provisions. On the 11th of April, General Beauregard demanded the surrender of the fort. Major Anderson declined to comply. At 4.30 o'clock on the morning of the 12th, the Confederates opened a heavy fire with seventeen mortars and thirty large guns. The fort replied. It had guns of inferior range and calibre. The bombardment was kept up for thirty-four hours, "until," as Major Anderson states in his report, "the quarters were entirely burnt, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door closed from the effects of heat." The powder was nearly exhausted. The slender garrison had nothing but pork in the way of provisions. There was imminent danger of an explosion of the magazine. Under these circumstances Major Anderson was tendered honorable conditions. He accepted them and surrendered. He marched out of the fort on Sunday afternoon, April 14, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private property, and saluting his flag with fifty guns. And thus began the most needless and gigantic civil war ever recorded in the annals of our kind. Down to this period, public sentiment in the Northern states had been divided in regard to the course to be pursued. But the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter touched every patriotic sensibility. The national flag was fired upon. It was lowered in surrender. There was aroused a universal sentiment of indignation. It was intensified by the desire for revenge. Many who had been opposed to a war with the South, and who had entertained strong political sympathies with her upon the causes which provoked secession, were now emphatic in her denunciation. They were among the readiest to volunteer for the suppression of the insurgency. The whole North was aroused; and everywhere the appeal was heard,-"To arms! To arms!" Did the South lack in enthusiastic devotion? The effect was also instanstaneous and electric upon the ardent Southerner. The doubters and semi-Unionists became convinced that separation was a necessity. Those who could not sanction the theory of secession as a constitutional remedy for Southern grievances, lifted up their ensign and proclaimed the inalienable right of revolution. As predicted, the shedding of blood was necessary to fire the Southern heart. The spirit of secession was not laggard but swift. Roger A. Pryor, then a distinguished representative of Virginia in Congress, went to Charleston in the early part of April. He urged the Confederates to make the attack on the Union fortifications. In a speech to the people and soldiery, by whom he was serenaded two days before the bombardment began, he said, amid enthusiastic and deafening outbursts of applause: "Do not distrust Virginia. As sure as to-morrow's sun will rise upon us, just so sure will Virginia be a member of the Southern Confederation. And I will tell you, gentlemen, what will put her in the Southern |