OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. BY JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER, M.D., LL.D., PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK; 66 THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE," ETC., ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. CONTAINING THE CAUSES OF THE WAR, AND THE EVENTS PREPARATORY TO IT, UP TO THE CLOSE OF PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION. LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. 1871. E4-68 V Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. "FEW persons in England take any interest now in the American Civil War, and even those who do think that it has been thrown into the shade by the recent German campaign in France." Such was the remark made to me by an English friend, to whom I had mentioned my intention of publishing this book in England. If it be true that his assertion was founded on fact, I need no farther justification of my intention. Let us consider: What are the questions which, in consequence of late European events, have forced themselves on the attention not only of Parliament, but of the whole nation? Are they not such as these?-How can the army be reorganized and established on a scale which, if not equal to that of other great European powers, shall be sufficient to give security? How far can this be done in a country having free institutions by voluntary enlistment, and how far must measures of a compulsory kind be resorted to? Considering the great losses now occasioned by the rapid conduct of campaigns, and the use of modern weapons, how can ample reserves be provided? What will be the effect of that general diffusion of education which the nation has undertaken on the character of the soldier? Will it render him less subordinate, less efficient? And since in former times it was held that great armies are a source of peril to a state, have they become less so now? What are the risks of disbanding powerful bodies of men who have led the demoralizing life of camps? To what extent may reliance be placed on coast fortifications, and what is the value of such defenses against steam fleets or |