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Secession

To the Beginning of the American Civil War

By

Daniel Wait Howe

President of the Indiana Historical Society
Author of "The Puritan Republic," "Civil War Times"

"The best way to come to truth being to examine things as really they
are, and not to conclude they are as we fancy of ourselves or have been
taught by others to imagine."-LOCKE.

G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press

1914

540127

COPYRIGHT, 1914

BY

DANIEL WAIT HOWE

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

PREFACE

"PRELIMINARY EGOTISM" is the title that Horace

Greeley gives to the preface of The Great American

Conflict. Few authors can afford to be as frank in their prefaces as Horace Greeley was in his, for he had the advantage of knowing that many would be interested in hearing whatever he might have to say and that there was some foundation for any seeming egotism.

The preface to a volume like this is usually the last and the hardest thing to write. I have repeatedly rewritten this, in a vain effort to make it satisfactory to myself. I do not propose to expand it by telling what the book is about, or to apologize for writing it. The title and table of contents sufficiently indicate its general character.

I have endeavored in a volume of moderate size to give

a concise history of the development of the causes, of which slavery was the chief, but not the only one, that culminated in the Civil War.

Although it is difficult to find new facts, it is still possible to array old facts in such a way as to give them a new interest, and to develop new theories more or less interesting and instructive. But to avoid writing too much or too little; to escape the criticism that what is good is not new and what is new is not good; above all to make what is written as accurate as possible,-to do all this is not an easy task.

One of the chief difficulties in the preparation of a book of this kind is in estimating the relative importance of the events narrated, so that the significance of each may be clearly understood, and to do this without allotting too

much space to one and too little to another. Therefore, while endeavoring to avoid prolixity, I have also tried to avoid sacrificing accuracy to brevity, believing that any event of sufficient historical importance to merit reference should be stated fully enough to make its importance understood. For example, I have devoted much more space to the history of the Dred Scott case than is given to it by most historians, because it is impossible for any historian to convey in two or three pages a correct understanding of this important and far-reaching case.

Tastes vary as to the best method of presenting history. I have little to say about my own. While never losing sight of the necessity of accuracy in recording historical facts, I have endeavored to state them in such a way as not to repel the general reader by giving the book the appearance of one designed only for schools of the Gradgrind kind where facts and "nothing but facts" are taught-hard, dry facts without a touch of coloring that art, poetry, humor, or fancy might lend to make the story of them attractive.

As I write from the standpoint of one who is a descendant of old Massachusetts Puritan stock and who served in the Civil War as a soldier of the Union Army, it is not to be expected that my opinions will receive the assent of those who view the subject from a Southern standpoint. On the other hand, it is probable that some of my opinions of men and events will not receive the assent of all Northern readers.

In consequence of new historical facts that are every day coming to light, few men in either the North or the South now entertain the same opinions of men prominent in and of events significant to the history of secession that they entertained in earlier years. It is not yet possible, however, for Northern and Southern writers to agree in their conclusions. They will, therefore, continue to advocate their special theories and the little that each contributes will add to the fund of knowledge from which future historians will construct their histories.

Something has been gained for history in the fifty years following the Civil War. A marked improvement in tone is to be noted in the books about secession written in recent years over that of the books written soon after the close of the war. Rhodes is much fairer to the South than was Greeley or Von Holst or Henry Wilson, and we of the North, while not concurring in the theories advanced by Herbert in his Abolition Crusade, can at least recognize his candor and sincerity, and we can see in the general tone of his book a vast change from the bitter spirit which characterized Pollard's Lost Cause.

More still has been gained; and it is probably safe to say that the great body of conservative men in both the North and the South now rejoice that the Union safely passed through the Civil War and the horrible nightmare of Reconstruction and survived the perils of both.

While I do not expect general assent to any of my conclusions, I trust that not many inaccuracies will be found in my statement of facts and that I may be given credit for having tried to write fairly and honestly.

With this explanation the present volume must speak for itself. I am under special obligations to my friend, Mr. Charles R. Williams, long and favorably known as editor of the Indianapolis News For the third time he has been my trusted pilot to guide me in my literary voyages. I have also been greatly aided by the personal advice and suggestions of Doctor James A. Woodburn of the Indiana University.

DANIEL WAIT HOWE.

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

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