1861.]

THE CONFEDERACY.

73

Southern coasts, and many merchant steamers were hastily fitted out as men-of-war and sent to keep them company in blockade duty.

North Carolina had not seceded when her coast was thus blockaded. Indeed, there was

a strong Union feeling in the State, and her people had voted not to call a convention to consider the subject; but being surrounded by Confederate States, the Unionists were finally overawed, and after the fall of Sumter and President Lincoln's call for troops, the State authorities had seized upon the United States forts, arsenals, and other property. A convention was called to meet at Raleigh, at which an ordinance of secession was passed (May 20) and the Constitution of the Confederate States adopted. In the meantime (May 6) Tennessee and Arkansas had also withdrawn from the Union and joined the Confederacy.

The Confederacy now claimed eleven States, and the friends of secession would probably have succeeded in inducing the four remaining slave States, Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky, to follow them if the Unionists in those States had not been more energetic in action

NORFOLK AND VICINITY.

than those opposed to them, and had not been promptly aided

in their efforts by the Government.

While these things were taking place in the East, events were ripening in the West. Missouri, nearly surrounded by free States and having few slaves compared with the States further South, had a large Union population, but was at first controlled by her Governor and some other leading politicians who were disunionists. Although her Convention had voted against secession, Governor Jackson had refused to send troops to Washington in answer to the President's call. There were United States arsenals at St. Louis and at Liberty in West Missouri, and the disunionists made preparations to capture them. They seized the latter (April 20) and carried off all the arms and

munitions there, but the one at St. Louis was held by Captain Nathaniel Lyon with a strong garrison of regulars, and the disunionists did not yet feel strong enough to take it. But they organized a State Guard and formed a camp near St. Louis which they called Camp Jackson, naming the streets in it after Davis, Beauregard, and other Southern leaders. Notwithstanding Governor Jackson's refusal to raise troops, Colonel Frank P. Blair had at once raised a Union regiment, and several others were rapidly forming. On the night of April 25, Captain Lyon had shipped all the arms which were not needed on a steamboat, and sent them for safety to Alton, Illinois, and a few days afterward (May 10) he and Colonel Blair surrounded the State Guard at Camp Jackson with six thousand men, planting batteries of cannon on the heights around, and demanded their

1861.]

CAPTURE OF CAMP JACKSON.

75

surrender. As they were taken by surprise they could not do otherwise, and they gave themselves up, with all their arms and ammunition, including twenty cannons. Many of the arms taken had been sent by the Confederate authorities from the Arsenal at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and some of the soldiers wore the uniform of the Confederate States.

Crowds of people had followed the troops on their way to Camp Jackson, many out of curiosity, but a large number, armed with rifles, shotguns, and other weapons, determined to aid the State Guard, if possible. Captain Lyon, however, was too quick for them, and the camp was surrounded before they could reach it. Captain Lyon offered to release all his prisoners if they would swear not to take up arms against the government. Only eight or ten agreed to this, and the remainder, about eight hundred, were marched in a body, surrounded by United States troops, toward the Arsenal. The soldiers were hooted at and insulted by the rabble on the way to the city, and at last stones were thrown and pistols fired at them. A German volunteer company, hard pressed, returned the fire, and twentytwo persons were killed and many wounded.

The city of St. Louis was thrown into the wildest excitement by this act. The streets were thronged with citizens, some to hear the news and talk over the event, some to curse the soldiers and to stir up the people to revenge. All the theatres, saloons, and restaurants were closed, and the windows and doors of private dwellings were barred for fear of a general riot. Bands of men marched through the streets, some armed, and some carrying banners of different kinds. Several gun-stores were broken open and arms distributed, but at last the police, armed with muskets, succeeded in dispersing the mobs, and in saving private property from further damage. On the next day, General William S. Harney, commanding in that department, arrived and issued a proclamation calling upon the people to obey the laws. This allayed the excitement for the time, and after that the Unionists kept the upper hand in St. Louis. But the disunionists were still strong in some other parts of the State, and several battles were fought before they were finally put down.

In Kentucky the Union feeling was too strong to be crushed, and although her governor and many of her principal men were

disunionists, the people refused by a large vote to call a convention to consider the question of secession. But many of her young men joined the Confederate army, and in the war thousands of gallant Kentuckians wearing the gray were arrayed on many a bloody field against their brothers in blue.

CHAPTER VI.

MARCH INTO VIRGINIA.

CONFEDERATE CONGRESS AT MONTGOMERY.-KING COTTON.-REMOVAL TO RICHMOND.-MANASSAS JUNCTION.-WASHINGTON A CAMP.-SECESSIONISTS IN WASHINGTON.-SECESSION LADY'S COSTUME.-A HEAVY PETTICOAT.-MARY'S CAPS.-BUTTONS FOR LUNCH.-BRAVE MISS WEBSTER.-A SUSPICIOUS FUNERAL.-A KITE WITH A VALUABLE TAIL.-THE UNION TROOPS IN VIRGINIA.-ARLINGTON HEIGHTS.-FORT-BUILDING.-DEATH OF ELLSWORTH.-FORTRESS MONROE.--CONTRABANDS.-LITTLE BETHEL.-BIG BETHEL.-DEATH OF THEODORE WINTHROP.-LIEUTENANT GREBLE.-MCCLELLAN IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.-PHILIPPI.-RICH MOUNTAIN.-DEATH OF GENERAL GARNETT.-PATTERSON CROSSES THE POTOMAC.-PATTERSON AND JOHNSTON.

A

FTER the fall of Sumter, President Davis called the Confederate Congress to meet at Montgomery (April 29), and in the session which followed, strong measures were adopted for carrying on the war. At this time forty thousand men were in the field, a large part of whom were hastening on to Virginia, and Mr. Davis was authorized to call for one hundred thousand more. Paper money and bonds and postage-stamps * were issued, and agents were sent to Europe to try to get foreign governments to recognize the Confederate Government. Arrangements were also made to buy arms and munitions of war, to be paid for with money obtained from the sale of cotton. From the beginning the disunionists had founded great hopes on cotton, which they believed to be a vital necessity to the manufacturers of Europe. It was commonly spoken of as King Cotton, and it was generally thought in the slave States that universal distress and strikes and riots would ensue in the factory-towns of Europe if their mills were compelled to close for want of it, and that this would force their governments to raise the blockade and acknowledge the Confederacy. Their Congress therefore forbade private persons from sending cotton out of the Confederate States, but obliged them to sell to the government for Confederate bonds, or promises to pay; and the cotton thus bought was shipped to Europe in blockade-runners and sold for gold. These blockade-runners, most of which afterward sailed under the British flag, were very fast steamers that eluded the vigi

*Two, five, and ten cent stamps were issued.