456

ILLINOIS VIGILANT AND ACTIVE.

two here in Indianapolis, and your own."-" Where is the law defining the duties of the Adjutant-General ?"-"There is no law on the subject-nothing pertaining to military organization."--" Well, then," said Wallace, "your immediate business is the raising of six regiments."-"That is it," said the Governor. "Have you objections to giving me one of them after they are raised ?" inquired Wallace.-"None at all; you shall have one of them," was the answer.

• April 19, 1861.

This brief conversation gives an idea of the absolute want of preparation for war on the part of Indiana when the rebellion broke out-a State that afterward sent about two hundred thousand troops to the field. It occurred on Tuesday morning succeeding the attack on Fort Sumter, and on the following Friday night" Wallace reported to the Governor the sixty companies for the six regiments, complete, and in "Camp Morton," adjoining Indianapolis. He reported, in addition, more than eighty surplus companies, organized and ready to move. With the report he sent in his resignation, and a request for permission to go out and organize his own regiment. It was given, and within the next twenty-four hours he reported the "Eleventh Regiment Indiana Volunteers" (Zouaves), which did admirable service in Western Virginia a few weeks later, as organized, armed, and ready for marching orders.1 Within four days after the President's call was promulgated from Washington, more than ten thousand Indianians were in camp. So Indiana, one of the younger States of the Union, also prepared for the struggle.

Illinois, under the vigorous leadership of Governor Yates, was early upon the war-path. At the beginning of April, Yates saw the clouds of most alarming difficulty surely gathering, while many others perceived nothing but a serene sky. On the 12th he issued a call for an extraordinary session of the Legislature on the 23d. On receiving the President's call for troops on the 15th, he issued a stirring appeal to the people, and in less than twenty-four hours afterward, four thousand men reported themselves ready and anxious for service. The quota of the State (six thousand) was more than filled by the 20th; and, pursuant to the request of the General Government, Yates sent two thousand of these State troops to possess and hold Cairo, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, a point of great strategic importance at that time, as we shall observe presently.

The Legislature of Illinois met at Springfield on the 23d, and two days afterward it was addressed by the distinguished United States Senator, Stephen A. Douglas, the rival of Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency of the Republic. When Treason lifted its arm to strike, Mr. Douglas instantly offered himself as a shield for his country. He abandoned all party alle

1 Wallace's regiment was a fair type of the Indiana Volunteers who composed her quota. It was an assemblage of mechanics, farmers, lawyers, doctors, and clergymen. They were all young and full of life, and ambitious, quick, shrewd, and enterprising. The regiment adopted the Zouave costume of Colonel Wallace's Crawfordsville Company. The color was steel gray, with a narrow binding of red on their jackets and the top of a small cap. The shirt was of dark blue flannel. The Zouaves, from whom they derived their name, were a body of Algerine soldiers, whom the French incorporated into their army after the conquest of Algeria. They were a wild, reckless set of men, in picturesque costume, and marked for their perfect discipline and particularly active tactics. The native Zouaves finally disappeared from the French army, but their costume and tactics were preserved. When French Zouave regiments performed eminent service in the Crimea, and gained immense popularity, Wallace and Ellsworth introduced the costume and system of maneuvers into this country, and at the beginning of the civil war large numbers of the volunteers assumed their garb and name,

THE LAST PUBLIC SERVICES OF DOUGLAS.

457 giance, put away all political and personal prejudices, and, with the spirit and power of a sincere patriot, became the champion of the integrity of the Union. As soon as he was relieved from his senatorial duties at Washington, he hastened to Illinois and began battle manfully. His speeches and conversation on the way had foreshadowed his course. To the Legislature of his State he addressed arguments and exhortations, powerful and persuasive. In Chicago he did likewise. Alas! his warfare was brief. He arrived at his home in Chicago on the 1st of May, suffering from inflammatory rheumatism. Disease assumed various

and malignant forms in his system, and on the 3d of June he died.? His loss seemed to be peculiarly inauspicious at that time, when such men were so few and so much needed. But his words were living and of electric power. They were oracles for thousands, whose faith, and hope, and patriotism were strengthened thereby. His last coherent utterances were exhortations to his children and his countrymen to stand by the Constitution and the Government.

The Legislature of Illinois appropriated three millions of dollars for war purposes, and authorized the immediate organization of the entire militia force

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS,

of the State, consisting of all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years. Michigan was equally aroused by the call of the President. He asked of her one regiment only. Ten days afterward she

1 In his last speech, made at Chicago, at the beginning of May, he said:-" This is no time to go into a discussion of the causes that have produced these results. The conspiracy to break up the Union is a fact now

known to all. Armies are being raised and war levied to accomplish it. There can be but two sides to this controversy. Every man must be on the side of the United States or against it. There can be no neutrals in this war. There can be none but traitors and patriots."

2 The funeral of Senator Douglas was an imposing spectacle. His body was embalmed, and it lay in state in Bryan Hall, Chicago, where it was visited by thousands of sincere mourners. It was dressed in a full suit of black, and, the entire lid of the burial-case being removed, the whole person was exposed. The coffin was placed under a canopy or catafalque, in the center of the hall. The canopy was supported by four columns, and both were heavily draped in black. It was surmounted by an eagle, whose talons grasped the flag of the Union in a manner to allow it to lie, outspread, over a portion of the canopy. Each pillar was also surmounted by an eagle. At the foot of the coffin was a broken or truncated column, denoting the termination of a life in the midst of usefulness. At the head stood a vase of many kinds of flowers.

One of the last letters written by Mr. Douglas was addressed to Mr. Hicox, Chairman of the Illinois State Democratic Committee, in reply to one addressed to him on the great topic of the hour. It was full of suggestions of great moment and patriotic sentiments. In it he said:-" I know of no mode by which, a loyal citizen may so well demonstrate his devotion to his country as by sustaining the flag, the Constitution, and the Union, under all circumstances, and under any administration (regardless of party politics), against all assailants at home and abroad. The course of Clay and Webster toward the administration of General Jackson, in the days of nullification, presents a noble and worthy example for all true patriots." He said in conclusion, "If we hope to regain and perpetuate the ascendency of our party, we should never forget that a man can not be a true Democrat unless he is a loyal patriot." This letter was dated May 10, 1861.

458

THE POSITION OF THE KENTUCKIANS.

had five regiments ready for the field, and nine more were forming. Gover nor Blair called the Legislature together on the 7th of May, when that body made liberal appropriations for war purposes. The Legislature of Wisconsin, under the lead of Governor Randall, was equally liberal. That of Iowa and Minnesota followed the patriotic example. The enthusiasm of the people everywhere was wonderful. Before the close of the year (1861), Minnesota sent more men to the field than its entire population numbered in 1850.1

a 1861.

The position of the inhabitants of Kentucky, as a professedly loyal State, was peculiar and painful at this time. We have observed with what insulting words her Governor (Magoffin) responded to the President's call for troops, and the fierce denunciations of that call by the Louisville Journal.3 These demonstrations in high places against the war policy of the President, were followed by a great Union meeting in Louisville on the evening of the 18th of April," over which James Guthrie' and other leading politicians of the State held controlling influence. At that meeting it was resolved that Kentucky reserved to herself "the right to choose her own position; and that, while her natural sympathies are with those who have a common interest in the protection of Slavery, she still acknowledges her loyalty and fealty to the Government of the United States, which she will cheerfully render until that Government becomes aggressive, tyrannical, and regardless of our rights in Slave property." They declared that the States were the peers of the National Government; and gave the world to understand that the latter should not be allowed to use "sanguinary or coercive" measures to "bring back the seceded States." They also resolved that they looked to the young men of the "Kentucky State Guard" as the "bulwark of the safety of the Commonwealth," and begged those who composed that Guard to remember that they were "pledged equally to fidelity to the United States and to Kentucky."

This meeting delighted the conspirators, for conditional Unionism was the best auxiliary they could have in loyal States, in their schemes for destroying the nationality of the Republic. If it could prevail—if it could be made the settled policy of a commonwealth-if it could stifle the enthusiasm of the people, and circumscribe their aspirations and their action within the limits of their own State, and the service of the single dominating class and interest for whose benefit and conservation the conspirators were making war, it would go far toward keeping the sword of the Republic in its scabbard, and to invite its enemies to plunder and destroy without stint.

The indorsement of the State Guard as the "bulwark of the Commonwealth," was a particularly hopeful sign of success for Governor Magoffin and his friends. That Guard had been formed under his auspices, for the ostensible purpose of defending the State against, What? It was hard to answer. Simon B. Buckner, a captain in the National Service, and a traitor without excuse, and then, evidently, in the secret service of the conspirators at Montgomery, was placed at the head of the Guard, and used his position. effectively in seducing large numbers of the members from their allegiance to the old flag, and sending them as recruits to the armies of Jefferson Davis.

Message of Governor Ramsay to the Minnesota Legislature.

2 See page 387.

See page 339.
See page 238.

THE TREASON OF BUCKNER.

459

In this work the Governor gave him all the aid in his power. He tried to induce the Legislature to appropriate three millions of dollars to be used by himself and Buckner in "arming the State"-in other words, as the sequel shows, for corrupting the young men of the Commonwealth, and preparing the State for an armed alliance with the conspirators. Sustained by the declarations of the Conditional Unionists, and by resolutions of the lower house of the Legislature, which approved of the Governor's refusal to furnish troops to the National Government, and declared that the State should remain neutral during the impending contest,' Magoffin issued a proclamation of neutrality, in which he denounced the war as "a horrid, unnatural, and lamentable strife," and notified "all other States, separate or united, especially the United States and Confederate States," that he not only forbade either of them invading the soil of Kentucky, but also forbade its own citizens making "any hostile demonstrations against any of the aforesaid sovereignties."

Notwithstanding the position taken by the Legislature, that body, unwilling to assume so high a stand as the Governor, refused to indorse his proclamation, or to make the required appropriation of three millions of dollars. On the contrary, they so amended the militia law as to require the State Guard to swear allegiance to the National Government as well as to Kentucky; and Senator Rousseau (afterward a Major-General in the National Army) and others denounced the disunionists and their schemes in unmeasured terms. As Buckner could not

conscientiously allow his guard to take the new oath, it was not long before he led a large portion of them into the camp of the rebellion, and became a major-general in the "Confederate" army. Then the Louisville Journal, the organ of the "Conservatives," as the Conditional Unionists were called, indignantly cursed him, saying:-" Away with your pledges and assuranceswith your protestations, apologies, and proclamations, at once and altogether! Away, parricide! Away, and do penance forever!--be shriven or be slain! -away! You have less palliation than Attila-less boldness, magnanimity, and nobleness than Coriolanus. You are the Benedict Arnold of the day! You are the Catiline of Kentucky! Go, thou miscreant!" And when, in

a September 27,

1861.

SIMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER.

The Senate resolved that the State should not "sever its connection with the National Government, nor take up arms for either belligerent party; but arm herself for the preservation of peace within her borders;" and that her people should act as mediators "to effect a just and honorable peace."

2 Lovell H. Rousseau was in the Kentucky Senate. On the occasion alluded to, he said, speaking to the disunionists in that body of the danger of the destruction of the Commonwealth:-"It is all your work; and whatever happens, it will be your work. We have more right to defend our Government than you have to overturn it. Many of us are sworn to support it. Let our good Union brethren at the South stand their ground. I know that many patriotic hearts in the seceded States still beat warmly for the old Union-the old flag. The time will come when we shall all be together again. The politicians are having their day. The people will have theirs. I have an abiding confidence in the right, and I know this secession movement is all wrong."

460

EFFECTS OF CONDITIONAL UNIONISM.

February, 1862, Buckner and many of the Kentucky "State Guard” were captured at Fort Donelson, and he was sent a prisoner to Fort Warren, many of those who were deceived by the belief that the Guard was "the bulwark of the Commonwealth," demanded his delivery to the civil authorities of Kentucky, to be tried for treason against the State.

It has been claimed that the position taken by the Conditional Unionists in Kentucky at that time, saved the State from "drifting into secession." The President, estimating the importance of preserving the attachment of the Border Slave-labor States to the Union, at that crisis, and especially the populous and powerful Commonwealth of Kentucky, accepted the plea of expediency as sufficient, and acted accordingly for a long time. It was alleged and believed that a more decided and radical course would alienate the sympathies of the predominating slaveholding class in particular from the Union, and possibly drive them into alliance with their political and social affinities, the insurgents of the Cotton-growing States; and that only by assuming the attitude of neutrality, in deference to the slaveholders, could the State be kept out of the vortex of revolution. On the other hand, it is argued that such a course was not only not necessary, but unwise and mischievous. That the Unconditional Unionists in Kentucky and throughout the Slave-labor States were disheartened by that neutrality of leading politicians, cannot be denied; and that it amazed, disappointed, and perplexed the loyalists of the Free-labor States, is well known. It is alleged that it hurtfully restrained the patriotism of the great mass of the people of Kentucky, at the outset of the struggle, who showed their loyalty to the Union by giving a majority of fifty thousand votes in its favor at an election, in May, for delegates to a Border State Convention.' It is alleged that the Unconditional Unionists had the pledges of the Governors of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, to give them all needful military aid to keep their State out of the hands of its enemies; and that had the patriotic instincts of the people been allowed full play, regiment after regiment of loyal troops would have sprung into existence at the President's call, shortened the period of the war, and spared the State the sacrifice of millions of treasure and the more precious lives of thousands of her sons-the flower of her youth. It is declared that

1 That election was held on the 4th of May. At a special election of Congressmen, held on the 20th of June, when only four-sevenths of the total vote of the State was cast, the Unionists had a majority of over fifty thousand. They elected nine representatives, and the secessionists only one. That one was Henry C. Burnet, who afterward joined the "Confederates." The Border State Convention was proposed by Virginians, and was held at Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 27th of May. It was a failure. There were no delegates present from Virginia, and only five beside those of Kentucky. Four of these were from Missouri and one from Tennessee. John J. Crittenden presided. The convention was as "neutral" as possible. It very properly deprecated civil war as terrible and ruinons to every interest, and exhorted the people to hold fast "to that sheet-anchor of republican liberty," the right of the majority, whose will has been constitutionally expressed, to govern. The wrongs of the South," and the "sectionalism of the North," were spoken of as chief causes of the trouble at hand; but while it condemned the rebellion, it failed to exhort the loyal people to put it down. It recommended a voluntary convention of all the States, and to ask Congress to propose "such constitutional amendments" as should "secure to the slaveholders their legal rights, and allay their apprehensions in regard to possible encroachments in the future." They regarded this result-the National protection and fostering of the Slave system—as “essential to the best hopes of our country;" and in the event of Congress refusing to propose such amendments, then a convention of all the States should be held to effect it.

It is a notable fact that while the National Government, on no occasion, ever exhibited the slightest intention to interfere with the rights of the slaveholders, or of any other class of citizens, the Conditional Unionists assumed that the Government was, or was about to be, an aggressor on the rights of that class in a minority of the States, who seemed to think that their interest was paramount to all others; even to the life of the nation. This obeisance to the selfish demands of that interest was the stumbling-block in the way of many a true patriot in every part of the Republic.