Continental Monthly, Vol. I., No. IV., April, 1862 by Various

V >> Various >> Continental Monthly, Vol. I., No. IV., April, 1862

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

Nothing discouraged by this result, Blair resumed the work of organizing
for the future. The Fillmore party gave no thanks to the free-soilers
for their aid in the presidential election, nor did the latter ask any.
They had simply taken the choice of evils; and now, renouncing all
alliances, Blair became the champion and leader of a self-existing,
self-reliant State party, that should accomplish emancipation in
Missouri. He again established a newspaper to inculcate free principles
in the State. By untiring effort, he revived and recruited his party. He
gave it platforms, planned its campaigns, contested every election in
St. Louis, whether for municipal officers, for State legislature, or for
Congress; and always fought his battles on the most advanced ground
assumed by the growing free-soil party of the Union. The powerful and
rapidly-increasing German population of St. Louis responded nobly to his
zeal and skillful leadership. Soon a victory was gained; and St. Louis
declared for freedom, amid acclamations that reverberated throughout the
States that extended from the Ohio to the lakes, and from the
Mississippi to the Atlantic. But, having wrenched victory from a people
so intolerant as the pro-slavery population of Missouri, it was not to
be expected that he would retain it easily. He was set upon more
fiercely than ever. The loss of the city of St. Louis was considered a
disgrace to the State; and the most desperate personal malignity was
added to the resentment of pro-slavery wrath in the future election
contests in that city. The corrupting appliances of federal power were
at last invoked, under Buchanan's administration; and Blair was for the
moment overwhelmed by fraud, and thrown out of Congress. But, with a
resolution from which even his friends would have dissuaded him, and
with a persistency and confidence that were a marvel to friend and foe,
he contested his seat before Congress, and won it. And this verdict was
soon ratified by his brave and faithful constituency at the polls. Such
was the Republican party, such their leader in St. Louis, when the black
day of disunion came. And in their hands lay the destiny of the State.

As soon as the presidential election was decided, and the choice of
Abraham Lincoln was known, the disunionists in Missouri commenced their
work. Thomas C. Reynolds, the lieutenant-governor, made a visit to
Washington, and extended it to Virginia, counseling with the traitors,
and agreeing upon the time and manner of joining Missouri in the revolt.
The legislature of Missouri met in the latter part of December, about
two weeks after the secession of South Carolina. A bill was at once
introduced, calling a State convention, and passed. The message of
Claiborne F. Jackson, the governor, had been strongly in favor of
secession from the Union. The Missouri _Republican_, the leading
newspaper of the State, whose advocacy had elected the traitor,
declared, on the last day of the year, that unless guaranties in defence
of slavery were immediately given by the North, Missouri should secede
from the Union. And so the secession feeling gathered boldness and
volume.

Candidates for the State convention came to be nominated in St. Louis,
and two parties were at once arrayed--the unconditional Union party, and
the qualified Unionists, who wished new compromises. Frank Blair was one
of the leaders of the former, and he was joined by all the true men of
the old parties. But the secessionists--they might as well be so called,
for all their actions tended to weaken and discredit the
Union--nominated an able ticket. The latter party were soon conscious of
defeat, and began to hint mysteriously at a power stronger than the
ballot-box, that would be invoked in defence of 'Southern rights.' To
many, indeed to most persons, this seemed an idle threat. Not so to
Frank Blair. He had imbibed from Benton the invincible faith of the
latter in the settled purpose of the 'nullifiers' to subvert and destroy
the government. And in a private caucus of the leaders of the Union
party, on an ever-memorable evening in the month of January, he startled
the company by the proposition that the time had come when the friends
of the government must arm in its defence. With a deference to his
judgment and sagacity that had become habitual, the Unionists yielded
their consent, and soon the enrolment of companies began; nightly drills
with arms took place in nearly all the wards of the city; and by the
time of election day some thousands of citizen soldiers, mostly Germans,
could have been gathered, with arms in their hands, with the quickness
of fire signals at night, at any point in the city. The secessionists
had preceded this armed movement of the Union men by the organization of
a body known as 'minute-men.' But the promptness and superior skill that
characterized Frank Blair's movement subverted the secession scheme; and
it was first repudiated, and then its existence denied. The day of
election came, and passed peacefully. The unconditional Union ticket was
elected by a sweeping majority of five thousand votes. The result
throughout the State was not less decisive and surprising. Of the entire
number of delegates composing the convention, not one was chosen who had
dared to express secession sentiments before the people; and the
aggregate majority of the Union candidates in the State amounted to
about eighty thousand. The shock of this defeat for the moment paralyzed
the conspirators; but their evil inspirations soon put them to work
again. Their organs in Missouri assumed an unfriendly tone towards the
convention, which was to meet in Jefferson City. The legislature that
had called the convention remained in session in the same place, but
made no fit preparations for the assembling of the convention, or for
the accommodation and pay of the members. The debate in the legislature
on the bill for appropriations for these purposes was insulting to the
convention, the more ill-tempered and ill-bred secession members
intimating that such a body of 'submissionists' were unworthy to
represent Missouri, and undeserving of any pay. The manifest ill feeling
between the two bodies--the legislature elected eighteen months
previously, and without popular reference to the question of secession,
and the convention chosen fresh from the people, to decide on the course
of the State--soon indicated the infelicity of the two remaining in
session at the same time and in the same place. Accordingly, within a
few days after the organization of the convention, it adjourned its
session to the city of St. Louis. It did not meet a cordial reception
there. So insolent had the secession spirit already grown, that on the
day of the assembling of the convention in that city, the members were
insulted by taunts in the streets and by the ostentatious floating of
the rebel flag from the Democratic head-quarters, hard by the building
in which they assembled.

Being left in the undisputed occupancy of the seat of government, the
governor, lieutenant-governor, and legislature gave themselves up to the
enactment of flagrant and undisguised measures of hostility to the
federal government. Commissioners from States that had renounced the
Constitution, and withdrawn, as they claimed, from the Union, arrived at
Jefferson City as apostles of treason. They were received as
distinguished and honorable ambassadors. A joint session of the
legislature was called to hear their communications. The
lieutenant-governor, Reynolds, being the presiding officer of the joint
session, required that the members should rise when these traitors
entered, and receive them standing and uncovered. The commissioners were
allowed to harangue the representatives of Missouri, by the hour, in
unmeasured abuse of the federal government, in open rejoicings over its
supposed dissolution, and in urgent appeals to the people of Missouri to
join the rebel States in their consummated treason. Noisy demonstrations
of applause greeted these commissioners; and legislators, and the
governor himself, in a public speech in front of the executive mansion,
pledged them that Missouri would shortly be found ranged on the side of
seceded States. The treason of the governor and legislature did not stop
with these manifestations. They proceeded to acts of legislation,
preparatory to the employment of force, after the manner of their
'Southern bretheren.' First, it was necessary to get control of the city
of St. Louis. The Republican party held the government of the city,
mayor, council, and police force--a formidable Union organization. The
legislature passed a bill repealing that part of the city charter that,
gave to the mayor the appointment of the police, and constituting a
board of police commissioners, to be appointed by the governor, who
should exercise that power. He named men that suited his purposes. The
Union police were discharged, and their places filled by secessionists.
Next, the State militia was to be organized in the interests of
rebellion, and a law was passed to accomplish that end. The State was
set off into divisions; military camps were to be established in each;
all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and fifty were liable
to be called into camp and drilled a given number of days in the year;
and, when summoned to duty, instead of taking the usual oath to support
the Constitution of the United States, they were required only to be
sworn 'to obey the orders of the governor of the State of Missouri.'
These camps were styled camps of instruction. One of them was
established at St. Louis, within the corporate limits of the city, about
two miles west of the court-house, on a commanding eminence.

Thus the lines began to be drawn closely around the Unionists of St.
Louis. The State convention had adjourned, and its members had gone
home, having done but little to re-assure the loyalists. They had,
indeed, passed an ordinance declaring that Missouri would adhere to the
Union; but the majority of the members had betrayed such hesitancy and
indecision, such a lack of stomach to grapple with the rude issues of
the rebellion, that their action passed almost without moral effect.
Their ordinance was treated with contempt by the secessionists, and
nearly lost sight of by the people; so thoroughly were all classes
lashed into excitement by the storm of revolution now blackening the
whole Southern Hemisphere.

The friends of the Union could look to but one quarter for aid, that was
Washington, where a new administration had so recently been installed,
amid difficulties that seemed to have paralyzed its power. The
government had been defied by the rebellion at every point; its ships
driven by hostile guns from Southern ports; its treasures seized; its
arsenals occupied, and its abundant arms and munitions appropriated.
Nowhere had the federal arm resented insult and robbery with a blow.
This had not been the fault of the government that was inaugurated on
the fourth of March. It was the fruit of the official treason of the
preceding administration, that had completely disarmed the government,
and filled the new executive councils with confusion, by the numberless
knaves it had placed in all departments of the public service, whose
daily desertions of duty rendered the prompt and honest execution of the
laws impossible. But the fact was indisputable; and how could St. Louis
hope for protection that had nowhere else been afforded? The national
government had an arsenal within the city limits. It comprised a
considerable area of ground, was surrounded by a high and heavy stone
wall, and supplied with valuable arms. But so far from this
establishment being a protection to the loyal population, it seemed more
likely, judging by what had occurred in other States, that it would
serve as a temptation to the secession mob that was evidently gathering
head for mischief, and that the desire to take it would precipitate the
outbreak. The Unionists felt their danger; the rebels saw their
opportunity. Already the latter were boasting that they would in a short
time occupy this post, and not a few of the prominent Union citizens of
the town were warned by secession leaders that they would soon be set
across the Mississippi river, exiles from their homes forever. As an
instance of the audacity of the rebel element at this time, and for
weeks later, the fact is mentioned that the United States soldiers, who
paced before the gates of the arsenal as sentinels on duty, had their
beats defined for them by the new secession police, and were forbidden
to invade the sacred precincts of the city's highway. The arsenal was
unquestionably devoted to capture, and it would have been a prize to the
rebels second in value to the Gosport navy-yard. It contained at this
time sixty-six thousand stand of small arms, several batteries of light
artillery and heavy ordnance, and at least one million dollars' worth of
ammunition. It was besides supplied with extensive and valuable
machinery for repairing guns, rifling barrels, mounting artillery, and
preparing shot and shell. The future, to the Union men of St. Louis,
looked gloomy enough; persecution, and, if they resisted, death, seemed
imminent; and no voice from abroad reached them, giving them good cheer.
But deliverance was nigh at hand.

About the middle of January, Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, of the Second
Infantry, U.S.A., arrived in St. Louis with his company; and his rank
gave him command of all the troops then at the arsenal and Jefferson
Barracks, a post on the river, ten miles below, the department being
under the command of Brigadier General Harney. Capt. Lyon had been
garrisoning a fort in Kansas. He was known to some of the Union men of
St. Louis; and his resolute spirit and devoted patriotism marked him as
their leader in this crisis. Frank Blair at once put himself in
communication with Capt. Lyon, and advised him fully and minutely as to
the political situation. He exposed to him the existence of his
volunteer military organization. At his request Capt. Lyon visited and
reviewed the regiments; and it was arranged between them that if an
outbreak should occur, or any attempt be made to seize the arsenal,
Capt. Lyon should receive this volunteer force to his assistance, arm it
from the arsenal, and take command for the emergency. It should be
known, however, to the greater credit of the Union leaders of St. Louis,
that they had already, from private funds, procured about one thousand
stand of arms, with which their nightly drills, as heretofore stated,
had been conducted. As soon as Capt. Lyon's connection with this
organization was suspected, an attempt was made to have him removed, by
ordering him to Kansas on the pretext of a court of inquiry; but this
attempt was defeated. Thus matters stood for a time, the Union men
beginning to be reassured, but still doubtful of the end. After a while,
Fort Sumter was opened upon, and fell under its furious bombardment. The
torch of war was lit. President Lincoln issued his proclamation for
volunteers. Gov. Jackson telegraphed back an insolent and defiant
refusal, in which he denounced the 'war waged by the federal government'
as 'inhuman and diabolical.' Frank Blair instantly followed this
traitorous governor's dispatch by another, addressed to the Secretary of
War, asking him to accept and muster into service the volunteer
regiments he had been forming. This offer was accepted, and the men
presented themselves. But Brig. Gen. Harney, fearing that the arming of
these troops would exasperate the secession populace, and bring about a
collision with the State militia, refused to permit the men to be
mustered into service and armed. This extraordinary decision was
immediately telegraphed to the government, and Gen. Harney was relieved,
leaving Capt. Lyon in full command. This was the 23d of April. In a week
four full regiments were mustered in, and occupied the arsenal. A
memorial was prepared and sent to Washington by Frank Blair, now colonel
of the first of these regiments, asking for the enrolment of five other
regiments of Home Guards. Permission was given, and in another week
these regiments also were organized and armed. The conflict was now at
hand. Simultaneously with this arming on the part of the government for
the protection of the arsenal, the order went forth for the assembling
of the State troops in their camps of instruction. On Monday, the 6th of
May, the First Brigade of Missouri militia, under Gen. D.M. Frost, was
ordered by Gov. Jackson into camp at St. Louis, avowedly for purposes of
drill and exercise. At the same time encampments were formed, by order
of the governor, in other parts of the State. The governor's adherents
in St. Louis intimated that the time for taking the arsenal had arrived,
and the indiscreet young men who made up the First Brigade openly
declared that they only awaited an order from Gov. Jackson--an order
which they evidently had been led to expect--to attack the arsenal and
possess it, in spite of the feeble opposition they calculated to meet
from 'the Dutch' Home Guards enlisted to defend it. A few days
previously, an agent of the governor had purchased at St. Louis several
hundred kegs of gun-powder, and succeeded, by an adroit stratagem, in
shipping it to Jefferson City. The encampment at St. Louis, 'Camp
Jackson,' so called from the governor, was laid off by streets, to which
were assigned the names 'Rue de Beauregard,' and others similarly
significant; and when among the visitors whom curiosity soon began to
bring to the camp a 'Black Republican' was discovered by the
soldiers,--and this epithet was applied to all unconditional
Unionists,--he was treated with unmistakable coldness, if not positive
insult. If additional proof of the hostile designs entertained against
the federal authority by this camp were needed, it was furnished on
Thursday, the 9th, by the reception within the camp of several pieces of
cannon, and several hundred stand of small arms, taken from the federal
arsenal at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which was then in the possession of
the rebels. These arms were brought to St. Louis by the steamboat _J.C.
Swon_, the military authorities at Cairo having been deceived by the
packages, which were represented to contain marble slabs. On the arrival
of the _Swon_ at the St. Louis levee, the arms were taken from her, sent
to Camp Jackson, and received there with demonstrations of triumph.

When Capt. Lyon was entrusted with full command at St. Louis, President
Lincoln had named, in his orders to him, a commission of six loyal and
discreet citizens with whom he should consult in matters pertaining to
the public safety, and with whose counsel he might declare martial law.
These citizens were John How, Samuel T. Glover, O.D. Filley, Jean J.
Witsig, James O. Broadhead, and Col. Frank P. Blair. The last
mentioned--Colonel Blair--was Capt. Lyon's confidential and constant
companion. They were comrades in arms, and a unit in counsel. Their
views were in full accord as to the necessity of immediately reducing
Camp Jackson. Defiance was daily passing between the marshalling hosts,
not face to face, but through dubious partisans who passed from camp to
camp, flitting like the bats of fable in the confines of conflict. Capt.
Lyon's decision, urged thereto by Col. Blair, was made without calling a
council of the rest of his advisers. They heard of it, however, and,
though brave and loyal men all, they gathered around him in his quarters
at the arsenal, Thursday evening, and besought him earnestly to change
his purpose. The conference was protracted the livelong night, and did
not close till six o'clock, Friday morning, the 10th. They found Capt.
Lyon inexorable,--the fate of Camp Jackson was decreed. Col. Blair's
regiment was at Jefferson Barracks, ten miles below the arsenal, at that
hour. It was ordered up; and about noon on that memorable Friday, Capt.
Lyon quietly left the arsenal gate at the head of six thousand troops,
of whom four hundred and fifty were regulars, the remainder United
States Reserve Corps or Home Guards, marched in two columns to Camp
Jackson, and before the State troops could recover from the amazement
into which the appearance of the advancing army threw them, surrounded
the camp, planting his batteries upon the elevations around, at a
distance of five hundred yards, and stationing his infantry in the roads
leading from the grove wherein their tents were pitched. The State
troops were taken completely by surprise; for, although there had been
vague reports current in camp of an intended attack from the arsenal,
the cry of the visitors at the grove, 'They're coming!' 'They're
coming!' raised just as the first column appeared in sight, found them
strolling leisurely under the trees, chatting with their friends from
the city, or stretched upon the thick green grass, smoking and reading.

* * * * *

BEAUFORT DISTRICT,--PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

The sovereign State of South Carolina seems from the beginning to have
been actuated by the desire not only to mold its institutions according
to a system differing entirely from that of its sister States, but even
to divide its territory in a peculiar manner, for which reason we find
in it 'districts' taking the place of counties. The south-west of these
bears the name of its principal town, 'Beaufort.' It is bounded on the
west by the Savannah River, and on the south by the Atlantic. Its length
from north to south is fifty-eight miles, its breadth thirty-three
miles, and it contains about one and a quarter millions of acres of land
and water. Considered geologically, Beaufort is one of the most
remarkable sections of the United States. As recent events have brought
it so prominently before us, we propose to consider its history,
capacities, and prospects.

From its proximity to the Spanish settlements in the peninsula of
Florida, its beautiful harbors and sounds were early explored and taken
possession of by the Spaniards. It is now certain they had established a
post here called 'Fort St. Phillip,' at St. Elena,[B] as early as
1566-7; this was probably situated on the south-western point of St.
Helena Island, and some remains of its entrenchment can still be traced.
From this fort Juan Pardo, its founder, proceeded on an expedition to
the north-west, and explored a considerable part of the present States
of South Carolina and Georgia.

How long the Spaniards remained here is now uncertain, but they long
claimed all this coast as far north as Cape Fear. The French planted a
colony in South Carolina, and gave the name Port Royal to the harbor and
what is now called Broad River; but they were driven off by the
Spaniards, and history is silent as to any incidents of their rule for a
century. In 1670 a few emigrants arrived in a ship commanded by Capt.
Hilton, and landed at what is now known as 'Hilton's Head,' the
south-western point of Port Royal harbor, which still perpetuates his
name. The colony was under the management of Col. Sayle; but the
Spaniards at St. Augustine still claimed the domains, and the settlers,
fearing an attack, soon removed to the site of Old Charleston, on Ashley
River. In 1682, Lord Cardoss led a small band from Scotland hither,
which settled on Port Royal Island, near the present site of Beaufort.
He claimed co-ordinate authority with the governor and council at
Charleston. During the discussion of this point the Spaniards sent an
armed force and dislodged the English, most of whom returned to their
native country. A permanent settlement was finally made on Port Royal
Island in 1700. The town of Beaufort was laid out in 1717, and an
Episcopal church erected in 1720. The name was given from a town in
Anjou, France, the birthplace of several of the Huguenot settlers.

For many years the Spaniards threatened the coast as far north as
Charleston, but the settlement increased, and extended over St. Helena
and other islands. Slavery was here coeval with settlement, and the
peculiar institution was so earnestly fostered, that in 1724 it was
estimated that South Carolina contained 18,000 slaves to only 14,000
whites. The slaves were mostly natives of Africa of recent importation,
and were poorly adapted to clear up the forests and prepare the way for
extensive plantations, but their cost was small, and every year they
improved in capacity and value. In the succeeding half century were laid
the fortunes of the prominent families who have controlled the district,
and often greater interests, to our day. Grants of land could be had
almost for the asking, especially by men of influence; and fertile
islands were given, containing hundreds and sometimes thousands of
acres, to a single family, who have here been monarchs of all they
survey, including hundreds of slaves, till _the Hegira_ or _flight_ A.D.
1861.

When we take into account the salubrity of the climate and the fertility
of the soil, we must allow that this district has many natural
advantages which can not be excelled by any section of the same extent
in this country. A considerable part of the district is composed of
islands, which are supposed to be of a comparatively recent formation,
many of them beautiful to the eye, and rich in agricultural facilities;
they are in number upwards of fifty, not less than thirty of them being
of large size. Upon the sea-coast are Reynolds, Prentice, Chaplins,
Eddings, Hilton Head, Dawfuskie, Turtle, and the Hunting Islands. Behind
these lie St. Helena, Pinckney, Paris, Port Royal, Ladies', Cane,
Bermuda, Discane, Bells, Daltha, Coosa, Morgan, Chissolm, Williams
Harbor, Kings, Cahoussue, Fording, Barnwell, Whale, Delos, Hall, Lemon,
Barrataria, Lopes, Hoy, Savage, Long, Round, and Jones Islands. These
are from one to ten miles in length, and usually a proportional half in
width. St. Helena is over twenty miles in extent, and could well support
an agricultural population of twenty thousand. Port Royal is next in
size, but, being of a more sandy formation, is not so fertile. These
islands are all of an alluvial formation,--the result of the action of
the rivers and the sea. There is no rock of any kind, not even a pebble
stone, to be found in the whole district.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20