PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. CURRENT literature abounds in minute studies of the separate campaigns and engagements of the great civil war, most of them purely military, and many of them exceedingly valuable; but the reader finds no ready answer to his question, How did it happen that the war took place at all, what was its general course, and what were the motive forces that brought it on, prolonged it, and finished it? There seemed to be wanting a history neither so extended as to bewilder the reader with multiplicity of details, nor so concise as to preclude all color. To meet this demand with a single compact volume is the purpose of the present effort; and, though many interesting particulars are necessarily omitted, it is hoped that the book presents a fair idea of the great conflict that so nearly wrecked the Republic. Scarcely another war in history has had a theatre so extended, few have called out so large armies, and none have sprung from a more popular cause. There were two thousand four hundred engagements of sufficient importance to be officially named, and many that were costlier of life and limb than some of the famous battles of the Revolution cannot even find mention in a volume like this. Writers intent upon military details almost ignore the causes of the war, the spirit in which it was conducted, the complications that actually arose or were avoided by skilful diplomacy, and the significance of the results. I have therefore treated these subjects in somewhat larger proportion than the battles and sieges. As the book is intended for easy reading, and not for hard study, I have avoided tripping up the reader on every page with foot-notes and references. In a few cases it seemed desirable to cite an authority; but generally the sources of information are such that a reader wishing to pursue the subject more minutely, can readily find them. For some of the important campaigns and actions, it is impossible to obtain undisputed figures as to the numbers engaged and the losses on either side. After the second year of the war, the Confederate commanders appear to have withheld all reports of their losses; and these items. have been sedulously written up or written down, in accordance with personal interest or prejudice, though the mournful statistics have little to do with the philosophy of the struggle. In each instance I have given the figures that seem to be most authoritative. R. J. CONTENTS. Introduction of Slaves, 1.-Growth and Protection of the Slave Trade, 2.-Invention of the Cotton-Gin, 3.—The First Fugi- tive-Slave Law, 4.-Liberty Laws, 4.-Vesey's Insurrection, 4. Turner's Insurrection, 5.-Garrison's Liberator, 6.- Murder of Lovejoy, 6.—The Anti-Slavery Society's Publica- tions, 7.-Extracts from the Slave Laws, 8.-Helper's Book, 9.-Replies of Southerners, 10.-Garbling the Census, 12.- The Underground Railroad, 13. The Constitutional Dilemma, 14.-Attack on Sumner, 15.—The Missouri Com- promise, 16.-Nullification, 17.-Texas and Oregon, 17.— The Compromises of 1850, 18.-The Dred-Scott Decision, Reliance of the South, 26.-Encouragement from the North, 27. The Fallacy of Secession, 29.-State Allegiance, 31.- The Tendency to Centralization, 32.—The Question of Justi- fication, 33.-The Presidential Election of 1860, 35.-Seces- Lincoln's Inaugural Address, 41.-Union Sentiment at the South, 43.-The Struggle for Virginia, 43.—The Vigintal Crop, 44.-Dragooned into Secession, 46.—Gov. Letcher's Treachery, 46.-Farragut's Patriotism, 46.-Secession of Arkansas and North Carolina, 46.-The First Call for Troops, 47.-The Uprising at the North, 48.-Map Showing PAGE THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN - More Troops Called for, 57.-Blockade of Southern Ports, 57. -Action of Congress, 57.-Confederate Government Re- moved to Richmond, 58.-The Cry of On to Richmond, 58. -Concentration at Bull Run, 59.—Spies in Washington, 60. -McDowell's Army in Motion, 60.-Battle of Blackburn's Ford, 62.-Johnston Joins Beauregard, 63.-Battle of Bull Run, 64.—Effect in Europe, 69.-Effect North and South, 70. BORDER STATES AND FOREIGN RELATIONS Answers of the Governors, 71.-The Struggle for Missouri, 72.-The Capture of Camp Jackson, 74.-Exertions of Fran- cis P. Blair, Jr., 74.-Lyon in Command, 75.-Proclamation of Gov. Jackson, 76.-Action at Booneville, 76.-Action at Carthage, 77. Rise of Gen. Sigel, 77.-Death of Gen. Lyon, 78. The Struggle for Kentucky, 78.-The Struggle for Maryland, 8o.-Secession of North Carolina, 82.-The Struggle for Tennessee, 83.-Actions in Western Virginia, 84.-Formation of West Virginia, 85.—Capture of Mason Confederate Blockade-Runners Built in England, 90.-The Hatteras Expedition, 92.-The Port Royal Expedition, 94.- Capture of Hilton Head, 96.-Battle of Paintville, 97.—Battle of Mill Springs, 98.-Forts Henry and Donelson, 99.-River Gunboats, 100.-Capture of Fort Henry, 101.-Battle of Fort |