slaveholding states; and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation." No allusion was made in this declaration to the tariff or to any other causes of complaint than those above alleged and "the election of a man to the high office of president of the United States whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery." A few days afterward the state forces seized the U. S. custom house, post office, and arsenal in Charleston, and Forts Pinckney and Moultrie in the harbor of that city, Major Anderson, the U. S. commander, who had only about 80 men, having withdrawn his command into Fort Sumter. The movements of South Carolina were rapidly imitated by other slave states. Mississippi seceded Jan. 9, Florida Jan. 10, Alabama Jan. 11, Georgia Jan. 19, Louisiana Jan. 26, and Texas Feb. 1. Everywhere throughout these states the arsenals, custom houses, navy yards, and forts belonging to the United States were seized by the secessionists, with the exception of Fort Sumter, and Fort Pickens in Florida, which last was preserved by the decided action of Lieut. Slemmer, its commander. The posts at the southern extremity of Florida also remained in the hands of the government. The army at the beginning of active measures on the part of the South was only 16,000 strong, and by orders from Mr. Floyd, the secretary of war, who was himself a party to the secession movement, had been dispersed in the remotest parts of the country, while the navy was mostly absent on foreign stations. Under Mr. Floyd's orders also an extensive transfer of arms from northern to southern arsenals was made during 1860, 115,000 muskets having been transferred by one order, and great quantities of cannon and ammunition by other orders. Congress assembled at Washington, Dec. 3, 1860, and the president's annual message was mainly devoted to the consideration of the secession movement. He recommended, as the most effectual mode of stopping the revolution, an amendment of the constitution embracing these three points: 1, an express recognition of the right of property in slaves in the states where it now exists or may hereafter exist; 2, the duty of protecting this right in all the common territories throughout their territorial existence, and until they shall be admitted as states into the Union with or without slavery as their constitutions may prescribe; 3, a like recognition of the right of the master to have his slave, who has escaped from one state to another, restored and delivered up to him, and of the validity of the fugitive slave law enacted for this purpose, together with a declaration that all state laws impairing or defeating this right are violations of the constitution and are consequently null and void. "Such an explanatory amendment would, it is believed, for ever terminate the existing dissensions, and restore peace and harmony among the states." This part of the message was referred in the senate to a committee of 13, who reported on Dec. 31 that they had not been able to agree upon any

general plan of adjustment. Mr. Crittenden, a senator from Kentucky, and a leader of the American party, introduced on Dec. 18 a plan of compromise, proposing to renew the Missouri line of 36° 30'; to prohibit slavery north, and permit it south of that line; to admit new states with or without slavery as their constitutions might provide; to prohibit congress from abolishing slavery in the states and in the District of Columbia so long as it exists in Virginia or Maryland; to permit free transmission of slaves by land or water in any state; to pay for fugitive slaves rescued after arrest; to ask the repeal of personal liberty laws in the states; these concessions to be submitted to the people as amendments to the constitution, and if adopted never to be changed. These were rejected, and the following resolutions, offered by Mr. Clark of New Hampshire, a republican senator, adopted: "That the provisions of the constitution are ample for the preservation of the Union, and the protection of all the material interests of the country; that it needs to be obeyed rather than amended; and that an extrication from the present dangers is to be looked for in strenuous efforts to preserve the peace, protect the public property, and enforce the laws, rather than in new guaranties for particular interests, compromises for particular difficulties, or concessions to unreasonable demands. That all attempts to dissolve the pres ent Union, or overthrow or abandon the pres ent constitution, with the hope or expectation of constructing a new one, are dangerous, illusory, and destructive; that, in the opinion of the senate of the United States, no such reconstruction is practicable, and therefore to the maintenance of the existing union and constitution should be directed all the energies of all the departments of the government, and the efforts of all good citizens." These resolutions expressed substantially the position of the republicans in congress, who had become the majority in both houses by the withdrawal of the democratic senators and representatives from the seceded states. About the time that they were adopted, the legislature of Virginia passed resolutions recommending each of the states to appoint commissioners to a convention, the object of which should be "to adjust the present unhappy controversies." This proposition was approved by the president, and most of the loyal states promptly responded by appointing delegates. None appeared from the seceded states. The convention assembled at Washington, Feb. 4, 1861, and chose John Tyler of Virginia as chairman. After a session of 3 weeks the convention laid before congress a series of proposed amendments to the constitution, to the following effect: 1, prohibiting slavery N. of lat. 36° 30′ in territories, but tolerating it in states, and forbidding all congressional or territorial legislation against slavery S. of that line; 2, prohibiting any future acquisition of territory without the concurrence of a majority of senators both from slave and free

states; 3, probibiting congress from regulating, abolishing, or controlling slavery within any state, from interfering with or abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia or other places under exclusive federal jurisdiction, and from taxing slaves at a higher rate than land; 4, authorizing the states to enforce the rendition of fugitive slaves; 5, prohibiting the foreign slave trade. Another section provided for the payment from the U. S. treasury of the value of a fugitive slave whose rendition was prevented by mobs or by any violence or intimidation. The first, third, and fifth of these sections were to be permanent parts of the constitution, not to be abolished or amended without the consent of all the states. These propositions, however, were all rejected by congress, which had long had under consideration a variety of similar measures, all of which failed to secure a sufficient number of votes. The following amendment to the constitution was however recommended by the house by a two thirds vote of 133 to 65: "No amendment shall be made to the constitution which will authorize or give to congress the power to abolish or interfere within any state with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to service or labor by the laws of said state." While these discussions were going on in congress, the cabinet of President Buchanan was disturbed and perplexed on the subject of reenforcing the forts in Charleston harbor, a measure opposed with the utmost pertinacity by Mr. Floyd, the secretary of war, and insisted upon by Gen. Cass, the secretary of state, who on Dec. 14 resigned his office in consequence of the president's refusal to order reenforcements. Four days before, Howell Cobb, the secretary of the treasury, had resigned and returned to his residence in Georgia, where he immediately took an active part in the secession movement. His place was filled by Philip F. Thomas of Maryland, while Mr. Black, the attorney-general, was appointed temporary secretary of state. Shortly afterward, on the unexpected movement of Major Anderson from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, and the president's refusal to comply with his demand for the entire withdrawal of the garrison from Charleston harbor, Mr. Floyd resigned, and Joseph Holt, who had been appointed postmastergeneral on the death of Aaron V. Brown in 1859, was authorized to administer the affairs of the war department. Not long after Mr. Floyd's resignation he was indicted by the grand jury of the District of Columbia as being privy to the abstraction of bonds to the amount of $870,000 from the department of the interior in the latter part of 1860. His services to the cause of secession by supplying the southern states with arms from northern arsenals had been of the highest value, and he was soon made a brigadier-general in the army of the seceded states. On Dec. 29 commissioners from South Carolina, who had recently arrived in Washington, endeavored to open

negotiations with the president for the surrender to South Carolina of the U. S. forts and other national property within her borders. The president declined to receive them as commissioners, or to surrender or evacuate Fort Sumter, and permitted his cabinet to make an attempt to send reënforcements to Major Anderson by the steamer Star of the West, which left New York Jan. 5, 1861, and arrived off Charleston on the morning of the 9th; but she was fired at from batteries manned by the forces of the state, and compelled to retire without effecting her purpose. This led to the immediate resignation of Jacob Thompson, secretary of the interior, and his return to his own state of Mississippi, from the revolutionary government of which he had while still in office received and acted upon a commission to visit and promote the secession of North Carolina. A few days later Mr. Thomas, also disapproving of the attempt to reënforce Fort Sumter, withdrew from the treasury department, and was succeeded by John A. Dix of New York, who was believed to be in favor of vigorous measures for maintaining the authority of the government. The legislatures of New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts at this time offered the whole military power of those states to the president, while the South Carolina legislature declared that any attempt to reenforce Fort Sumter would be an act of war. No further attempt, however, was made at reënforcement during the administration of President Buchanan, which came to an end March 4, 1861. On the same day Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated at Washington without any disturbance of the peace, for the preservation of which a small military force had been assembled under the direction of Gen. Scott. In his inaugural address the president began by declaring that the accession of a republican administration afforded no ground to the southern states for apprehending any invasion of their rights. He said: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe that I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me knew that I had made this and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them." He proceeded to argue that no state upon its own mere motion can lawfully go out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void; and that acts of violence within any state or states against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary according to circumstances. "I therefore consider that in view of the constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the states." President Lincoln appointed as his cabinet William H. Seward, secretary of state; Salmon P. Chase, of the treasury; Simon Cam

day, and the 6th regiment of Massachusetts militia started for Washington the day after. The governors of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri refused to furnish their quota; but the deficiency was more than made up from the other states, over 77,000 men being assembled in the field within an incredibly short space of time. The southern party professed to regard this as a declaration of war, and began to move troops toward Virginia, undoubtedly with the purpose of seizing Washington, and securing the uncertain adhesion of the border states to the southern confederacy. The capital, however, was soon defended by too strong a force to be attacked, and a contemplated insurrection in Maryland was kept down by the prompt action of Gen. B. F, Butler of Massachusetts, who marched a detachment of northern troops from Annapolis to Baltimore, and occupied Federal hill, which, with Fort McHenry in the harbor, entirely commanded the city. Before this was effected, a Massachusetts and a Pennsylvania regiment had been attacked by a mob while passing through Baltimore (April 19), and a few lives lost in the encounter. The state convention of Virginia, which was then sitting, passed an ordinance of secession, to take effect when ratified by a vote of the people; but until that vote should be taken the state and all its military force were placed under the control of the confederate government. A similar course was adopted by Tennessee, though in both these states there was a very strong party devoted to the Union, eastern Tennessee and western Virginia being almost unanimously loyal, and the latter subsequently petitioning for admission into the Union as a separate state. The governor of Maryland at first counselled his state to remain neutral, but finally called out the quota of militia required of him by President Lincoln. Arkansas seceded May 6, and North Carolina May 21. Missouri and Kentucky decided to remain neutral. The number of seceded states now reached 11, a limit not since passed. The confederate congress adjourned from Montgomery May 21, to meet at Richmond July 20. Previous to its adjournment a permanent constitution had been framed and ratified by the states, in place of the provisional constitution previously adopted. In the mean time the confederates continued to seize all the military posts within their reach. The U. S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va., fell into their hands April 18, the garrison first setting fire to the building and destroying most of the arms. Preparations were also made to take possession of the Gosport navy yard, near Norfolk, Va., where, beside several useless vessels, were then the steam frigate Merrimac, receiving ship of the line Pennsylvania, sloops of war Germantown, Plymouth, and Cumberland, and brig Dolphin. The officers in command, despairing of a defence, set fire to the Pennsylvania (April 20), and scuttled and sunk all the other vessels except the Cumberland, which

they succeeded in getting out of the harbor. The buildings in the yard were partially burned, but all the ordnance, shot, and shell, of which there were immense quantities, fell into the hands of the confederates. The Merrimac also was comparatively little injured, and, being raised by the confederates and covered with iron armor, became subsequently a formidable engine of war. The condition of the federal government at this time was exceedingly precarious. There was no lack of men at its command, but it was almost destitute of arms; the loss of Harper's Ferry left it with only one arsenal of construction, that of Springfield, Mass.; the navy was scattered all over the world; nearly all the officers of southern birth in both army and navy were resigning, and all the departments were teeming with persons of at best doubtful loyalty. Agents were at once sent abroad to purchase arms; the private manufactories in the northern states were worked to their utmost capacity; vessels were recalled from distant stations; and the navy department proceeded to buy or charter numbers of merchant vessels and fit them out for purposes of war. On April 19 the president proclaimed a blockade of all ports in the seceding states. On May 3 he called for 42,000 volunteers, to serve for 3 years or the war, 22,714 men to be added to the regular army, and 18,000 seamen for the navy. Persons of known or suspected treasonable conduct were arrested by order of the secretary of state, and confined in some of the national forts, and military officers were instructed to disregard all writs of habeas corpus issued for the release of such prisoners. On May 24 the national forces advanced into Virginia, and took possession of Arlington heights and Alexandria on the Potomac, opposite Washington. Soon afterward Ohio and Indiana troops under Gen. McClellan entered western Virginia. The confederate government issued letters of marque and reprisal, and in order to force foreign nations to raise the blockade prohibited the exportation of cotton except through southern ports. Most of their available troops were brought forward, and posted along a line extending through Virginia from Harper's Ferry to Norfolk. Their strongest position was at Manassas Junction, on the direct road between Washington and Richmond, to which city their seat of government was removed in July, the vote of the people of Virginia, May 23, having confirmed the ordinance of secession. Batteries at the same time were planted along the right bank of the Potomac below Washington, necessitating the presence of a considerable naval force in that river until the spring of the next year. In June and the early part of July several unimportant engagements were fought in eastern Virginia, generally with advantage to the federal side; while the victories of McClellan, Kelley, Dumont, Rosecrans, and Lander in the western part of the state, at Philippi, Rich mountain, and other places, gave them entire command of that region.

About the middle of July the troops in and around Washington, to the number of 40,000, under command of Gen. Irvin McDowell, began to move toward Manassas Junction, where Gen. Beauregard was intrenched with 27,000 men. Gen. Patterson at the same time was posted near Winchester, about 50 m. N. W. of Manassas, with instructions to hold in check the confederate general Joseph E. Johnston, who was stationed there with 16,000 men. McDowell's corps was reduced by the necessity of holding open his lines of communication, by the return of the three months' militia, and by other causes, to such an extent that on reaching Bull run, a small stream near Manassas, he had but 18,000 men left. A severe battle was fought here July 21, victory inclining to the federal side until late in the afternoon, when Gen. Johnston, having eluded Patterson, effected a junction with Beauregard, and the national army was seized with a sudden panic and utterly routed. Their loss was 481 killed, 1,011 wounded, 1,200 prisoners, 27 cannon, and 4,000 muskets; the loss on the other side, according to official report, was 269 killed and 1,483 wounded. The next day Gen. McClellan was placed in command of the army of the Potomac, and soon began to reorganize and discipline his forces, in which the rest of the summer and the following winter were quietly passed. Immediately after the battle of Bull run, congress, which had met in extra session July 4, voted to raise 500,000 men, to serve for three years or the war, and the loyal states answered to the call with even greater enthusiasm than had been aroused at the fall of Fort Sumter. On Aug. 16 the president issued a proclamation forbidding intercourse with the seceded states. The same day Gen. Wool took command at Fortress Monroe, where a considerable force of northern troops had been for some time collected under Gen. Butler. The southern army soon after the battle of Bull run advanced their lines almost within gunshot of Washington, the federal forces remaining encamped partly on Arlington heights and partly on the N. side of the Potomac, above and below Washington. Meanwhile the military operations in other parts of the country were attended with varying success. On Aug. 28 and 29 Forts Hatteras and Clark, at Hatteras inlet, the main entrance to Pamlico sound on the coast of North Carolina, were bombarded and taken by a naval expedition under Com. Stringham; and the day after the confederates evacuated Fort Morgan, at Ocracoke inlet, another entrance to the same waters. A naval expedition under Flag Officer Samuel F. Dupont, consisting of 84 vessels including transports, and carrying 20,000 troops under Gen. T. W. Sherman, sailed from Hampton roads on Oct. 29 for Port Royal harbor, near Beaufort, S. C., and on Nov. 7 attacked Forts Walker and Beauregard at the entrance to the harbor. The attack was made by 16 vessels, sailing in an ellipse between the two forts, and deliver

ing fire at each alternately, and resulted after 3 hours' fight in the precipitate flight of the garrisons, leaving between 40 and 50 guns in the possession of the victors. The finest harbor on the southern coast was thus secured as a rendezvous for the blockading squadron, and a base for further operations. Missouri during these events had been almost in a condition of anarchy. Notwithstanding the neutrality which the state had determined to preserve, the gov ernor, Claiborne F. Jackson, and a majority of the legislature, were acting in the interest of the southern confederacy, and having fled from Jefferson City, the seat of government, on the approach of federal troops, were deposed by a state convention, July 30, Hamilton R. Gamble being appointed provisional governor. Gov. Jackson proceeded to Arkansas, where confederate troops were concentrating under Gen. McCulloch for an advance into Missouri. On July 5 a detachment of them under Gen. Rains was defeated at Carthage, in the S. W. part of Missouri, by Col. (now Gen.) Sigel, and on Aug. 10 another battle was fought at Wilson's creek, or Dug Spring, near Springfield, in the same part of the state, in which the federal general Lyon was killed. Col. Sigel, upon whom the command then devolved, fell back to Rolla, near the centre of the state, and the whole of S. Missouri, with its valuable lead mines, was thus abandoned to the enemy. In the mean time Gen. Fremont had been appointed to the command of the western depart ment (July 9), and on Aug. 31 proclaimed martial law in all that part of Missouri which was occupied by the national army. A memorable incident of the struggle in Missouri was the defence of Lexington, on the Missouri river in the W. part of the state, by 2,700 men under Col. James B. Mulligan, who held out for 3 days against an army of 26,000 commanded by Sterling Price, and only surrendered (Sept. 20) after they had been two days cut off from their supplies of water. A month later, having or ganized a force after almost incredible difficul ties, Fremont took the field and drove the confederates by degrees back to the S. W. corner of the state. On the eve of a battle which was to decide the possession of Missouri, he was super seded by Gen. Hunter (Nov. 2), and the Union army again retreated toward St. Louis, the enemy under Gen. Sterling Price advancing as they receded. On the 18th Gen. Halleck took command of the department, and by the end of December Price was again in full retreat toward Arkansas, losing within a few days 2,500 prisoners and a large amount of stores. About Oct.1 the confederate army before Washington began to fall back, and the national lines to be pushed forward. On the 21st a portion of Gen. Stone's command, having crossed the Potomac at Ball's bluff or Edwards's ferry, about midway be tween Harper's Ferry and Washington, was disastrously defeated by the confederate general Evans, with a loss of 900 out of 2,100 men. Col. E. D. Baker, U. S. senator from Oregon,