887. FAC-SIMILE OF THE DRAFT OF THE PRESI- DENT'S PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 561 444. BANKS'S HEAD-QUARTERS, PORT HUDSON 637 SON 633 THE CIVIL Ꮃ Ꭺ Ꭱ . CHAPTER I. EFFECT OF THE BATTLE OF BULL'S RUN.-REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC-CONGRESS, AND THE COUNCIL OF THE CONSPIRATORS.-EAST TENNESSEE. HE Battle of Bull's Run, so disastrous to the National Arms, and yet so little profitable, as a military event, to the Confederates, was in its immediate effects a profound enigma to the people of the whole country. They could not understand it. The Confederates held the field, yet they did not seek profit from the panic and flight of their opponerts, by a pursuit. The Nationals were beaten and dispersed; yet, after the first paralysis of defeat, they instantly recovered their faith and elasticity. There had been marches, and bivouacs, and skirmishes, and a fierce battle, within the space of a week; and at the end of twenty-four hours after the close of the conflict, the respective parties in the contest were occupying almost the same geographical position which they did before the stout encounter. The people at home, in both sections, were excited by the wildest tales of overwhelming defeat and disgrace on one side, and the most complete and advantageous victory on the other. It was said, and believed, that fifteen thousand Confederates had easily and utterly routed and dispersed thirty-five thousand National troops,' and smitten, beyond hope of recovery, 1 See Jefferson Davis's dispatch to the "Confederate Congress," volume I., page 603. On the 28th of July, Generals Johnston and Beauregard issued a joint address to their soldiers, which was full of exultation. "One week ago," they said, "a countless host of men, organized into an army, with all the appointments which modern art and practiced skill could devise, invaded the soil of Virginia. Their people sounded their approach with triumph and displays of anticipated victory. Their generals came in almost regal state. Their Ministers, Senators, and women came to witness the immolation of this army, and the subjugation of our people, and to celebrate them with wild revelry." After speaking of the battles, the capture of nearly every thing belonging to the National army, "together with thousands of prisoners," they said, "Thus the Northern hosts were driven by you from Virginia. . . . . We congratulate you on an event which insures the liberty of our country. We Congratulate every man of you whose privilege it was to participate in this triumph of courage and truth, to 1.8 WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND CONTRASTED. the Army of the Potomac charged with the duty of seizing the Capital of the insurgents, driving them from Virginia, and relieving the City of Washington from all danger of capture. Whilst one section of the Republic was resonant with shouts of exultation, the other was silent because of the inaction of despondency. Whilst the Confederates were elated beyond measure by the seeming evidence given by the battle, of their own superior skill and valor and the cowardice of their opponents, and thousands flocked to the standard of revolt from all parts of the Southern States, the Loyalists were stunned by the great disaster, and the seventy-five thousand three-months men, whose terms of service were about expiring, were, for the moment, made eager to leave the field and retire to their homes. Whilst in Richmond, now become the Capital of the Confederation, the bells were ringing out merry peals of joy, and "the city seemed lifted up, and every one seemed to walk on air," and "the men in place felt that now they held their offices for life;" where Jefferson Davis. said to the multitude, when referring to the vanquished Nationals, with bitter scorn, "Never be haughty to the humble;" where all believed that Walker's prediction would that day be fulfilled, and the banner of Rebellion be unfurled from the dome of the Capitol in Washington,' and that the “tide of war would roll from that day northward into the enemy's country "3—the fertile fields and rich cities of the Free-labor States-there was terror and anguish, and the most gloomy visions of a ruined Republic at the seat of the National Government, and men in place there were not certain of filling their offices for an hour. Whilst the streets of Richmond were populous with prisoners from the vanquished army, and eager volunteers pressing on toward the camp of the victors at Manassas, the streets of Washington were crowded with discomfited and disheartened soldiery, without leaders, and without organization-the personification of the crushed hopes of the loyal people. Such was the sad picture of the situation of the Republic and of the relative character of the contending parties, much exaggerated, .1861. which was presented to Europe in the month of August. The first account of the battle, the panic that seized some of the National troops, and the confused flight of soldiers and civilians back to Washington, was given to the Elder World through the London Times, the assumed and accredited exponent of the political and social opinions of the ruling class in England, by the pen of Dr. Russell,* who did not see the conflict, and who was one of the most speedy and persevering of the civilians in fight in the battle of Manassas. You have created an epoch in the history of liberty, and unborn nations will rise up and call you blessed. Continue this noble devotion, looking always to the protection of a just God, and, before time grows much older, we will be hailed as the deliverers of a nation of ten millions of people. Comrades, our brothers who have fallen have carned undying renown, and their blood, shed in our holy cause, is a precious and acceptable sacrifice to the Father of truth and right. Their graves are beside the tomb of Washington; their spirits have joined his in eternal commune." Jefferson Davis addressed the people on his arrival at Richmond, on the evening of the 23d, and boldly declared that his troops had captured "every thing the enemy had in the field," including "provisions enough to feed an army of 50,000 men for twelve months.”—Richmond papers, July 24. Davis's exaggeration is made plain by the statement that it would require more than 12,000 wagons to transport that amount of food. 1 A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, page 65. 2 See volume I., page 839. 3A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, page 65. 4 See note 8, page 91, volume I. ENGLISH OPINION.-A CHANGE. 19 their eager flight from the suspected dangers of an imaginary pursuit of Confederate cavalry. His was, in a great degree, a tale of the imagination, "founded on fact," and well served the conspirators for a brief season.' It excited among the ruling classes in Europe a derision of the loyal people and the Government of the United States, and the desires of the enemies of republicanism and the sovereignty of the people were gratified. The ruin of the Great Republic of the West seemed to them almost as certain as a fact accomplished. English statesmen and journalists dogmatically asserted it, and deplored the folly and wickedness of the President and Congress, in "waging war upon Sovereign States," in vindication of an idea and a principle, and attempting to hold in union, by force, a people who had the right and the desire to withdraw from a hated fellowship. It was declared that "the bubble of Democracy had burst." There was joyful wailing over “the late United States;" and one of England's poets was constrained to write "Alas for America's glory! Ichabod-vanished outright; Saddened, in Hades, to know That what they had built for all ages, Melts like a palace of snow!". This relative condition of the parties was temporary. The loyal people instantly recovered from the stunning blow, and in that recovery awakened from the delusive dream that their armies were invincible, that the Confederates were only passionate and not strong, and that the rebellion could be crushed in ninety days, as the hopeful Secretary of State had predicted, and continued to predict. It was evident that the battle just fought was only the beginning of a desperate struggle with the enemies of the Republic, who had made thorough preparation for the conflict, and had resolved to win the prize at all hazards. With this conviction of danger added to the sting of mortified national pride, the patriotism of the Loyalists was intensely exercised. The Government, which had been lulled into feelings of security by the song of its own egotism, and had hesitated when urged to engage more troops, "for three years or the war," was now also aroused to a painful sense of danger and the penalties of misjudgment; and the Secretary of War, who had refused to sanction a call for a larger body of Pennsylvania volunteers 1 Although nearly disabled by weariness of mind and body, Dr. Russell wrote his famous dispatch to the Times during the night succeeding his flight from Centreville, that it might go to England by the next Boston steamer. "The pen went flying about the paper," he says, "as if the spirits were playing tricks with it. When 1 screwed up my utmost resolution, the 'y's' would still run into long streaks, and the letters combine most curiously, and my eyes closed, and my pen slipped." After a brief nap, he was aroused by a messenger from Lord Lyons, to inquire after him, and invite him to supper "I resumed my seat," he says, "haunted by the memory of the Boston mail, which would be closed in a few hours, and I had much to tell, although I had not seen the battle." On the testimony thus given, the Times said (August 10, 1861): "It is evident that the whole volunteer army of the Northern States is worthless as a military organization a screaming crowd;" and spoke of it as a collection of "New York rowdies and Boston abolitionists, desolating the villages of Virginia." 2 Five days after the Battle of Bull's Run, the Secretary of State wrote to Mr. Adams, the American Minister in London, saying: "Our Army of the Potomac, on Sunday last, met a reverse equally severe and unexpected. For a day or two the panic which had produced the result was followed by a panic that seemed to threaten to demoralize the country. But that evil has ceased already. The result is already seen in a vigorous reconstruction upon a scale of greater magnitude and increased enthusiasm." |