CHAPTER XIX

MEXICAN WAR

Although John C. Calhoun had probably done more than any other one man for the annexation of Texas, in his capacity as Secretary of State, he was very bitterly opposed to the Mexican War, which followed in consequence. His anti-war spirit had become very strong, and he had almost reached the point where he believed, with Franklin, that "there never was a good war or a bad peace;" and then he thought there were reasons why this war was particularly objectionable, and he said that for the first time in his life he felt that he could not penetrate the future.

South Carolina Troops.-But war came, and South Carolina furnished a regiment of 1,200 men commanded by ex-Governor Pierce M. Butler, brother of Judge A. P. Butler, then Senator of the United States. This regiment was part of General Scott's division of the American army, which went by water to Mexico, while Taylor was marching upon the capital from the north. Scott landed at Vera Cruz and was the first to reach the city of Mexico. At Vera Cruz, and between that point and the City of Mexico, several severe battles were fought, in all of which the Americans were victorious, Churubusco being one of the most brilliant on the part of the Americans. It was in the charge at this battle that Colonel Butler fell at the head of his regiment, and a

few minutes before Lieutenant-Colonel Dickinson was killed and Captain Preston S. Brooks desperately wounded. There stands on the capitol grounds at Columbia a monument to the soldiers of the Mexican War in the shape of an iron palmetto tree. The South Carolina regiment greatly distinguished itself by its courage and devotion to duty on every field on which it appeared, and in the severely trying camp life on Mexican soil. It planted the Palmetto flag ahead of all others on the walls of the City of Mexico. Of the 1,200 that enlisted, only about 300 returned. It is also worthy of mention that at the Alamo, James Bonham, a brother of Governor M. L. Bonham, was among the slain. As is well known, not a man escaped from the fort.

Among the survivors of this war are two very old but still prominent citizens of Sumter County, Captain James D. Blanding and Captain Sebastian Sumter.

CHAPTER XX

THE BROOKS-SUMNER EPISODE

Brooks-Sumner Episode. It is painfully disappointing to find that in almost every history, State or United States, written by Southerners for schools, there is no mention of the assault made by Preston S. Brooks upon Charles Sumner, in the Senate Chamber, May 22, 1856. We shall not attempt to discover the reason for this remarkable omission, but we must regard it as exceedingly regrettable, when in all the histories long or short, written by Northerners for the general reader or for schools, room is made for the mention of the assault by a Representative from South Carolina on a Senator from Massachusetts. In every instance these Northern historians claim that this occurrence had a profound effect in stirring up anti-Southern sentiment in the Northern States, and the impression is distinctly made that thereby the South had acted in a manner highly discreditable, not to say shameful, to its manhood and its sense of propriety, and had shown its lack of appreciation of the dignity of the Senatorial body and the sanctity of the chamber in which it met.

If Southern historians find, upon investigation, that this act on the part of Brooks, as a representative of the South, was discreditable to him and to the State and section he represented, they should feel the more bound to mention it and frankly admit the discrèdit. It is certainly not our purpose, in introducing it, to

make a defense of it, for, viewed in the light in which such conduct is considered at the present day, with the change of customs and ethical standards of the people, it is totally indefensible. We deem it necessary, however, to present clearly the leading facts and attendant circumstances of the occurrence in order that a proper

judgment may be passed upon it, as it is made so much of by Northern historians as helping to precipitate the sectional conflict.

True Account of the Incident.Charles Sumner, in making a speech on what he called the crime against Kansas, used language of the severest denunciation against South Carolina. This attack, harsh as it was, would not probably have provoked any violence whatever had it not been united with personal abuse of Senator Butler, who was an uncle of Brooks. In order that the whole extent of the provocation may be better understood, it is necessary that some of Sumner's most exasperating expressions be noted. Sumner said:

PRESTON S. BROOKS