The Project Gutenberg eBook, Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States, by Raphael Semmes

Title: Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States

Author: Raphael Semmes

Release Date: January 2, 2011 [eBook #34827]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF SERVICE AFLOAT, DURING THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES***

 

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MEMOIRS

OF

SERVICE AFLOAT,

DURING THE

WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.

 

BY

ADMIRAL RAPHAEL SEMMES,

OF THE LATE CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY,

Author of “Service Afloat and Ashore, during the Mexican War.”

 

 

Illustrated with Steel Engraved Portraits and Six Engravings from Original Designs printed in Chromo-Tints.

 

 

 

BALTIMORE:
KELLY, PIET & CO., 174 Baltimore Street.

 

NEW YORK, L. P. LEVY; LOUISVILLE, KY., F. I. DIBBLE & CO.; ST. LOUIS, MO., J. HART & CO.;
RICHMOND, VA., R. T. TAYLOR; NEW ORLEANS, LA., C. W. JARRATT;
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., H. H. BANCROFT & CO.
LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY.

1869.

 

 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
KELLY, PIET & CO.
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Maryland.

 

PRESS OF
KELLY, PIET & CO.

 

 

TO THE MEMORY

OF THOSE

SAILORS AND SOLDIERS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES,

WHO LOST THEIR LIVES, IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES
IN DEFENCE OF THE LIBERTIES WHICH HAD BEEN
BEQUEATHED TO THEM BY THEIR FATHERS,
THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY
AND AFFECTIONATELY
INSCRIBED BY
THE AUTHOR.

 

 

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PREFACE.

 

A number of publications have appeared, first and last, concerning the author and his career, as was naturally to have been expected. The Alabama was the first steamship in the history of the world—the defective little Sumter excepted—that was let loose against the commerce of a great commercial people. The destruction which she caused was enormous. She not only alarmed the enemy, but she alarmed all the other nations of the earth which had commerce afloat, as they could not be sure that a similar scourge, at some future time, might not be let loose against themselves. The Alabama, in consequence, became famous. It was the fame of steam. As a matter of course, she attracted the attention of the book-makers—those cormorants ever on the lookout for a “speculation.” A number of ambitious literateurs entered the seductive field. But it was easier, as they soon found, to enter the field than to explore it, and these penny-a-liners all made miserable failures,—not even excepting the London house of Saunders, Otley & Co., to whom the author was induced to loan his journals, in the hope that something worthy of his career might be produced. To those who have chanced to see the “Log of the Sumter and Alabama,” produced by that house, it will be unnecessary to say that the author had no hand in its preparation. He did not write a line for it, nor had he any interest whatever in the sale of it, as the loan of his journals had been entirely gratuitous. So far as his own career was concerned, the author would gladly have devolved the labor of the historian on other shoulders, if this had been possible. But it did not seem to be possible, after the experiments that had been made. With all the facilities afforded the London house referred to, a meagre and barren record was the result. The cause is sufficiently obvious. The cruise of a ship is a biography. The ship becomes a personification. She not only

“Walks the waters like a thing of life,”

but she speaks in moving accents to those capable of interpreting her. But her interpreter must be a seaman, and not a landsman. He must not only be a seaman, he must have made the identical cruise which he undertakes to describe. It will be seen, hence, that the career of the author was a sealed book to all but himself. A landsman could not even interpret his journals, written frequently in the hieroglyphics of the sea. A line, or a bare mark made by himself, which to other eyes would be meaningless would for him be fraught with the inspiration of whole pages.

Besides, the Alabama had an inside as well as an outside life. She was a microcosm. If it required a seaman to interpret her as to her outside life, much more did it require one to give an intelligible view of the little world that she carried in her bosom. No one but an eye-witness, and that witness himself a sailor, could unveil to an outside world the domestic mysteries of the every-day life of Jack, and portray him in his natural colors, as he worked and as he played. The following pages may, therefore, be said to be the first attempt to give anything like a truthful picture of the career of the author upon the high seas, during the late war, to the public. In their preparation the writer has discarded the didactic style of the historian, and adopted that of memoir writing, as better suited to his subject. This style gave him more latitude in the description of persons and events, and relieved him from some of the fetters of a mere writer of history. There are portions of the work, however, purely historical, and these have been treated with the gravity and dignity which became them. In short, the author has aimed to produce what the title of his book imports—an historical memoir of his services afloat during the war. That his book will be generally read by the Northern people he does not suppose. They are scarcely in a temper yet to read anything he might write. The wounds which he has inflicted upon them are too recent. Besides, men do not willingly read unpalatable truths of themselves. The people of America being sovereign, they are like other sovereigns,—they like those best who fool them most, by pandering to their vices and flattering their foibles. The author, not being a flatterer, cannot expect to be much of a favorite at the court of the Demos.

A word now as to the feeling with which the author has written. It has sometimes been said that a writer of history should be as phlegmatic and unimpassioned as the judge upon the bench. If the reader desires a dead history, in other words, a history devoid of the true spirit of history, the author assents to the remark. But if he desires a living, moving,

breathing picture of events—a personam instead of a subjectam, the picture must not be undertaken by one who does not feel something of that which he writes. Such a terrible war as that through which we have passed could not be comprehended by a stolid, phlegmatic writer, whose pulse did not beat quicker while he wrote. When all the higher and holier passions of the human heart are aroused in a struggle—when the barbarian is at your door with the torch of the incendiary in one hand, and the uplifted sword of diabolical revenge in the other,—feeling is an important element in the real drama that is passing before the eyes of the beholder. To attempt to describe such a drama with the cold words of philosophy, is simply ridiculous. If the acts be not described in words suited to portray their infamy, you have a lie instead of history. Nor does it follow that feeling necessarily overrides judgment. All passions blind us if we give free rein to them; but when they are held in check, they sharpen, instead of obscuring the intellect. In a well-balanced mind, feeling and judgment aid each other; and he will prove the most successful historian who has the two in a just equipoise. But though the author has given vent occasionally to a just indignation, he has not written in malice. He does not know the meaning of the word. He has simply written as a Southern man might be supposed to think and feel, treading upon the toes of his enemies as tenderly as possible. If he has been occasionally plain-spoken, it is because he has used the English language, which calls a rogue a rogue, notwithstanding his disguises. When the author has spoken of the Yankee and his “grand moral ideas,” he has spoken rather of a well-known type than of individual men. If the reader will bear these remarks in mind as he goes along, he will find them a key to some of the passages in the book. In describing natural phenomena, the author has ventured upon some new suggestions. He submits these with great diffidence. Meteorology is yet a new science, and many developments of principles remain to be made.

Anchorage, near Mobile, Ala.,
December, 1868.

 

 

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. PAGE A Brief Historical Retrospect 17   CHAPTER II. The Nature of the American Compact 24   CHAPTER III. From the Foundation of the Federal Government down to 1830, both the North and the South held the Constitution to be a Compact between the States 36   CHAPTER IV. Was Secession Treason? 45   CHAPTER V. Another Brief Historical Retrospect 52   CHAPTER VI. The Question of Slavery as it affected Secession 62   CHAPTER VII. The Formation of the Confederate Government, and the Resignation of Officers of the Federal Army and Navy 71   CHAPTER VIII. Author proceeds to Montgomery, and reports to the New Government, and is dispatched northward on a Special Mission 81   CHAPTER IX. The Commissioning of the Sumter, the First Confederate States Ship of War 89   CHAPTER X. The Preparation of the Sumter for Sea—She drops down between the Forts Jackson and St. Philip—Receives her Sailing Orders—List of her Officers 97   CHAPTER XI. After long Waiting and Watching, the Sumter runs the Blockade of the Mississippi, in open Daylight, pursued by the Brooklyn

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@34827@[email protected]#Page_108" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">108   CHAPTER XII. Brief Sketch of the Officers of the Sumter—Her First Prize, with other Prizes in Quick Succession 120   CHAPTER XIII. Rapid Work—Seven Prizes in Two Days—The Sumter makes her First Port, and what occurred there 132   CHAPTER XIV. The Sumter on the Wing again—She is put wholly under Sail for the first time—Reaches the Island of Curaçoa, and is only able to enter after a Diplomatic Fight 144   CHAPTER XV. The Sumter at Curaçoa—Her Surroundings—Preparations for Sea—Her Captain solicited to become a Warwick—Her Departure—The Capture of other Prizes—Puerto Cabello, and what occurred there 155   CHAPTER XVI. Steaming along the Coast of Venezuela—The Coral Insect, and the Wonders of the Deep—The Andes and the Rainy Season—The Sumter enters the Port of Spain in the British Island of Trinidad 170   CHAPTER XVII. On the Way to Maranham—The Weather and the Winds—The Sumter runs short of Coal, and is obliged to “bear up”—Cayenne and Paramaribo, in French and Dutch Guiana—Sails again, and arrives at Maranham, in Brazil 188   CHAPTER XVIII. The Sumter at Maranham—More Diplomacy necessary—The Hotel Porto and its Proprietor—A week on Shore—Ship coals and sails again 210   CHAPTER XIX. The Sumter at Martinique—Proceeds from Fort de France to St. Pierre—Is an Object of much Curiosity with the Islanders—News of the Arrest of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on board the British Mail Steamer, The Trent—Mr. Seward’s extraordinary Course on the Occasion 232   CHAPTER XX. Arrival at St. Pierre of the Enemy’s Steam-sloop Iroquois—How she violates the Neutrality of the Port—Arrival of the French Steamer-of-War Acheron—The Iroquois blockades the Sumter—Correspondence with the Governor—Escape of the Sumter 252   CHAPTER XXI. The Sumter pursues her Voyage across the Atlantic—Capture and Burning of the Arcade, Vigilant, and Ebenezer Dodge—A Leaky Ship and a Gale—An Alarm of Fire! 268   CHAPTER XXII. Voyage across the Atlantic pursued—Christmas-day on board the Sumter—Cape Fly-away, and the Curious Illusion produced by it—The Sumter passes from the Desert Parts of the Sea into a Tract of Commerce once more—Boards a large Fleet of Ships in one Day, but finds no Enemy among them—Arrival at Cadiz 283   CHAPTER XXIII. Annoyance of the Spanish Officials—Short Correspondence with the U. S. Consul—The Telegraph put in Operation by the Officials between Cadiz and Madrid—The Sumter is ordered to leave in twenty-four Hours—Declines Obedience to the Order—Prisoners land, and Ship Docked after much ado—Deserters—Sumter leaves Cadiz 297   CHAPTER XXIV. The Sumter off Cadiz—The Pillars of

Hercules—Gibraltar—Capture of the Enemy’s Ships Neapolitan and Investigator—A Conflagration between Europe and Africa—The Sumter anchors in the Harbor of Gibraltar; the Rock; the Town; the Military; the Review, and the Alameda 306   CHAPTER XXV. The Sumter still at Gibraltar—Ship crowded with Visitors—A Ride over the Rock with Colonel Freemantle—The Galleries and other Subterranean Wonders—A Dizzy Height, and the Queen of Spain’s Chair—The Monkeys and the Neutral Ground 320   CHAPTER XXVI. The Sumter in Trouble—Finds it impossible to coal, by reason of a Combination against her, headed by the Federal Consul—Applies to the British Government for Coal, but is refused—Sends her Paymaster and Ex-Consul Tunstall to Cadiz—They are arrested and imprisoned in Tangier—Correspondence on the Subject—The Sumter laid up and sold 329   CHAPTER XXVII. Author leaves Gibraltar and arrives in London—Mr. Commissioner Mason—Confederate Naval News—Short Sojourn in London—Author embarks on board the Steamer Melita for Nassau—Receives new Orders from the Navy Department—Returns to Liverpool 346   CHAPTER XXVIII. A Brief Resumé of the History of the War, from the date of the commissioning the Sumter, to the commissioning of the Alabama—Secretary Mallory and the Difficulties by which he was surrounded—The Reorganization of the Confederate States Navy 361   CHAPTER XXIX. The Legality of the Equipment of the Alabama, and a few Precedents for her Career, drawn from the History of the War of 1776 370   CHAPTER XXX. The Equipment of the Alabama illustrated by that of sundry Colonial Cruisers during the War of 1776—Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane sent to Paris as Chiefs of a Naval Bureau—The Surprise and the Revenge—Captains Wickes and Conyngham, and Commodore John Paul Jones 388   CHAPTER XXXI. Author leaves Liverpool to join the Alabama—Arrives at Terceira—Description of the Alabama—Preparing her for Sea—The Portuguese Authorities—The commissioning of the Ship—A Picture of her Birth and Death—Captain Bullock returns to England—The Alabama on the High Seas 400   CHAPTER XXXII. The Alabama a Ship of War, and not a Privateer—Sketch of the Personnel of the Ship—Putting the Ship in Order for Service—Sail and Steam—The Character of the Sailor—The First Blow is struck at the Whale Fishery—The Habitat and Habits of the Whale—Capture of the Ocmulgee 414   CHAPTER XXXIII. Capture of the Starlight; Ocean Rover; Alert; Weather Gauge—A Chase by Moonlight—Capture of the Altamaha; Virginia; Elisha Dunbar—A Rough Sea, Toiling Boats, and a Picturesque Conflagration in a Gale 428   CHAPTER XXXIV. The Yankee Colony of the Island of Flores—What the Captains of the Virginia and Elisha Dunbar said of the Alabama when they got back among their Countrymen—The Whaling Season at the Azores at an End—The Alabama changes her Cruising Ground—What she saw and what she did 445   CHAPTER XXXV. Capricious Weather of the Gulf Stream—Capture of the Packet-Ship Tonawanda; of the Manchester and Lafayette—A Cyclone, the Alabama’s First Gale—How she behaved 463  

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@34827@[email protected]#CHAPTER_XXXVI" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">CHAPTER XXXVI. The Physiognomy of Ships—Capture of the Lafayette—Decree of the Admiralty Court on board the Alabama in her Case, and in that of the Lauretta—The Criticisms of the New York Press—Further Evidence of the Rotary Nature of the Winds—The Lauretta captured—The Crenshaw captured—The New York Chamber of Commerce cries aloud in Pain—Capture of the Baron de Castine, and of the Levi Starbuck—Capture of the T. B. Wales—Lady Prisoners 479   CHAPTER XXXVII. The Calm-Belts and the Trade-Winds—The Arrival of the Alabama at the Island of Martinique—The Curiosity of the Islanders to see the Ship—A Quasi Mutiny among the Crew, and how it was quelled 498   CHAPTER XXXVIII. The Alabama at Martinique—Is blockaded by the Enemy’s Steamer San Jacinto—How she escaped the Old Wagon—The Island of Blanquilla, the Alabama’s new Rendezvous—Coaling Ship—A Yankee Skipper and his Alarm—How the Officers and Men amused themselves at this Island—The Alabama sails again—Capture of the Parker Cooke, Union, and Steamer Ariel 514   CHAPTER XXXIX. The Alabama is disabled by an Accident, and stops to repair her Machinery—Proceeds to her New Rendezvous at the Arcas Islands, and thence to Galveston—Engagement with the United States Steamer Hatteras, which she sinks 536   CHAPTER XL. The Alabama proceeds to Jamaica, where she lands her Prisoners and refits—Her Commander visits the Country—Intercourse with the English Naval Officers—Earl Russell’s Letter—Preparations for Sea—A Boat Race by Moonlight, in which Strange Tactics are practised—Captain Blake of the Hatteras complains of “Dixie” being played by the English Bands—How the Matter is settled 551   CHAPTER XLI. Departure from Jamaica—Capture of the Golden Rule—Coasting the Island of Hayti—Capture of the Castelaine—The Old City of St. Domingo and its Reminiscences—The Dominican Convent and the Palace of Diego Columbus—Capture of the Palmetto, the Olive Jane, and the Golden Eagle—How the Roads are blazed out upon the Sea—Captain Maury 563   CHAPTER XLII. The Crossing of the 30th Parallel—The Toll-Gate upon the Sea—How the Travellers pass along the Highway—Capture of the Washington; John A. Parks; the Bethia Taylor; the Punjaub; the Morning Star; the Kingfisher; the Charles Hill; and the Nora—Alabama crosses the Equator—Capture of the Louisa Hatch—Arrival at Fernando de Noronha 581   CHAPTER XLIII. Fernando de Noronha—Its Famous Peak—Is a Penal Settlement of Brazil—A Visit from the Governor’s Ambassadors—A Visit to the Governor in return—The Aristocracy of the Island—Capture of the Lafayette and the Kate Cory—Burning of these two Ships with the Louisa Hatch—Prisoners sent to Pernambuco—The Cloud Ring and the Rainy and Dry Seasons 596   CHAPTER XLIV. The Alabama leaves Fernando de Noronha for a Cruise on the Coast of Brazil—Enters the great Highway, and begins to overhaul the Travellers—Capture of the Whalers Nye; Dorcas Prince; Union Jack; Sea Lark—A Reverend Consul taken Prisoner—Alabama goes into Bahia—What occurred there—Arrival of the Georgia—Alabama proceeds to Sea again—Capture of the Gildersleeve; the Justina; the Jabez Snow; the Amazonian; and the Talisman 610   CHAPTER XLV. The Alabama continues her Cruise on the Coast of Brazil—American Ships under English Colors—The Enemy’s Carrying-Trade in Neutral Bottoms—The Capture of the Conrad—She is commissioned as a Confederate States Cruiser—The Highways of the Sea, and the Tactics of the Federal Secretary of the Navy—The Phenomena of the Winds in the Southern Hemisphere—Arrival at Saldanha Bay, on the Coast of Africa 626   CHAPTER XLVI. The connecting

Thread of the History of the War taken up—A brief Review of the Events of the last twelve Months, during which the Alabama has been commissioned—The Alabama arrives at Cape Town—Capture of the Sea-Bride—Excitement thereupon—Correspondence between the U. S. Consul and the Governor on the Subject of the Capture 642   CHAPTER XLVII. A Gale at Cape Town—The Alabama gets under way for Simon’s Town—Capture of the Martha Wenzell—The Tuscaloosa—Her Status as a Ship of War considered—She proceeds to Sea—The Alabama follows her—They, with the Sea-Bride, rendezvous at Angra Pequeña 660   CHAPTER XLVIII. The Alabama on the Indian Ocean—The Passengers questioned, and contracted with—The Agulhas Current—The brave West Winds—A Theory—The Islands of St. Peter and St. Paul—The Tropic of Capricorn—The South-east Trade-Winds, and the Monsoons—The Alabama arrives off the Strait of Sunda—Capture of the Amanda—Runs in and anchors under the Coast of Sumatra 674   CHAPTER XLIX. The Alabama passes through the Strait of Sunda, seeing nothing of the Wyoming—Burns the Winged Racer just inside of the Strait—The Malay Boatmen, and their Alarm—Alabama makes for the Gaspar Strait, and burns the Contest, after an exciting Chase—She passes through the Carimata Passage—Discharges her Prisoners into an English Ship—Miniature Sea-Serpents—The Currents—Island of Pulo Condore—Arrives at Singapore 690   CHAPTER L. The Alabama at Singapore—Panic among the Enemy’s Shipping in the China Seas—The Multitude flock to see the Alabama—Curious Rumor concerning a Portion of her Crew—The Author rides to the Country and spends a Night—The Chinese in possession of the Business of Singapore—Alabama leaves Singapore—Capture of the Martaban, alias Texan Star—Alabama touches at Malacca—Capture of the Highlander, and Sonora—Alabama once more in the Indian Ocean 708   CHAPTER LI. The Alabama crosses the Bay of Bengal—The Pilgrims to Mecca, and how they received her Boarding-Officer—The Burning of the Emma Jane—The Town of Anjenga, and the Hindoos—The Great Deserts of Central Asia, and the Cotton Crop of Hindoston—The Alabama crosses the Arabian Sea—The Animalculæ of the Sea—The Comoro Islands—Johanna, and its Arab Population—The Alabama passes through the Mozambique Channel—Arrives at the Cape of Good Hope 722   CHAPTER LII. The Alabama again in Cape Town—The Seizure of the Tuscaloosa, and the Discussion which grew out of it—Correspondence between the Author and Admiral Walker—Action of the Home Government, and Release of the Tuscaloosa 738   CHAPTER LIII. The Alabama at the Cape of Good Hope—Leaves on her Return to Europe—Capture of the Rockingham, and of the Tycoon—She crosses the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere, and arrives at Cherbourg on the 11th of June, 1864—The Engagement between the Alabama and the Kearsarge 744   CHAPTER LIV. Other Incidents of the Battle between the Alabama and the Kearsarge—The Rescue of a Portion of the Crew of the Alabama by the English Steam-Yacht Deerhound—The United States Government demands that they be given up—The British Government refuses Compliance—The rescued Persons not Prisoners—The Inconsistency of the Federal Secretary of the Navy 761   CHAPTER LV. The Federal Government and the English Steam-Yacht Deerhound—Mr. Seward’s Despatch—Mr. Lancaster’s Letter to the “Daily News”—Lord Russell’s Reply to Mr. Adams, on the Subject of his Complaint against Mr. Lancaster—Presentation of a Sword to the Author by the Clubs of England; of a Flag by a Lady 777   CHAPTER LVI. Author makes a Short Visit to the Continent—Returns to London, and embarks on his Return to the Confederate States—Lands at Bagdad, near the Mouth of the Rio Grande—Journey through Texas—Reaches

Louisiana; crosses the Mississippi, and reaches his Home after an Absence of four Years 789   CHAPTER LVII. Author sets out for Richmond—Is two Weeks in making the Journey—Interview with President Davis; with General Lee—Author is appointed a Rear-Admiral, and ordered to command the James River Squadron—Assumes Command—Condition of the Fleet—Great Demoralization—The Enemy’s Armies gradually increasing in Numbers—Lee’s Lines broken 799   CHAPTER LVIII. The Evacuation of Richmond by the Army—The Destruction of the James River Fleet—The Sailors of the Fleet converted into Soldiers—Their helpless Condition without any Means of Transportation—The Conflagration of Richmond, and the Entry of the Enemy into the Confederate Capital—The Author improvises a Railroad Train, and escapes in it, with his Command, to Danville, Va. 809   CHAPTER LIX. Interview with President Davis and Secretary Mallory—Author’s Command organized as a Brigade of Artillery—The Brigade marches to Greensboro’, N. C.—Capitulation between General Joseph E. Johnston and General Sherman—Dispersion of Johnston’s Command in Consequence—Author returns Home, and is arrested—Conclusion 817

 

 

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MEMOIRS OF SERVICE AFLOAT.

 

CHAPTER I.

A BRIEF HISTORICAL RETROSPECT.

 

The disruption of the American Union by the war of 1861 was not an unforeseen event. Patrick Henry, and other patriots who struggled against the adoption of the Federal Constitution by the Southern States, foretold it in burning words of prophecy; and when that instrument was adopted, when the great name and great eloquence of James Madison had borne down all opposition, Henry and his compatriots seemed particularly anxious that posterity should be informed of the manly struggle which they had made. Henry said, “The voice of tradition, I trust, will inform posterity of our struggles for freedom. If our descendants be worthy of the name of Americans, they will preserve, and hand down to the latest posterity, the transactions of the present times; and though I confess my explanations are not worth the hearing, they will see I have done my utmost to preserve their liberty.”

The wish of these patriotic men has been gratified. The record of their noble deeds, and all but inspired eloquence, has come down to posterity, and some, at least, of their descendants, “worthy of the name of Americans,” will accord to them the foremost rank in the long list of patriots and sages who illustrated and adorned our early annals.

But posterity, too, has a history to record and hand down. We, too, have struggled to preserve our liberties, and the liberties of those who are to come after us; and the history of that struggle must not perish. The one struggle is but the complement of the other, and history would be incomplete if either were omitted. Events have vindicated the wisdom of Henry, and those who struggled with him against the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Events will equally vindicate the wisdom of Jefferson Davis, and other Confederate patriots, who endeavored to preserve that Constitution, and hand it down, unimpaired, to their posterity.

The wisdom of a movement is not always to be judged by its success. Principles are eternal, human events are transitory, and it sometimes takes more than one generation or one revolution to establish a principle. At first sight, it may appear that there is some discordance between Patrick Henry and Jefferson Davis, as the one struggled against the adoption of the Constitution, and the other to preserve it. But they were, in fact, both engaged in a similar struggle; the object of both being to preserve the sovereignty of their respective States. Henry did not object so much to the nature of the partnership, into which his State was about to enter, as to the nature of the partners with whom she was about to contract. He saw that the two sections were dissimilar, and that they had different and antagonistic interests, and he was unwilling to trust to the bona fides of the other contracting party. “I am sure,” said he, “that the dangers of this system are real, when those who have no similar interests with the people of this country are to legislate for us—when our dearest interests are to be left in the hands of those whose advantage it will be to infringe them.”

The North, even at that early day, was in a majority in both houses of Congress; it would be for the advantage of that majority to infringe the rights of the South; and Henry, with much more knowledge of human nature than most of the Southern statesmen of his era, refused to trust that majority. This was substantially the case with Jefferson Davis and those of us who followed his lead. We had verified the distrust of Henry. What had been prophecy with him, had become history with us. We had had experience of the fact, that our partner-States of the North, who were in a majority, had trampled upon the rights of the Southern minority, and we desired, as the only remedy, to dissolve the partnership into which Henry had objected to entering—not so much because of any defect in the articles of copartnership, as for want of faith in our copartners.

This was the wisdom of Jefferson Davis and his compatriots, which, I say, will be vindicated by events. A final separation of these States must come, or the South will be permanently enslaved. We endeavored to bring about the separation, and we sacrificed our fortunes, and risked our lives to accomplish it. Like Patrick Henry, we have done our “utmost to preserve our liberties;” like him, we have failed, and like him, we desire that our record shall go down to such of our posterity as may be “worthy of the name of Americans.”

The following memoirs are designed to commemorate a few of the less important events of our late struggle; but before I enter upon them, I deem it appropriate to give some “reason for the faith” that was in us, of the South, who undertook the struggle. The judgment which posterity will form upon our actions will depend, mainly, upon the answers which we may be able to give to two questions: First, Had the South the

right to dissolve the compact of government under which it had lived with the North? and, secondly, Was there sufficient reason for such dissolution? I do not speak here of the right of revolution—this is inherent in all peoples, whatever may be their form of government. The very term “revolution” implies a forcible disruption of government, war, and all the evils that follow in the train of war. The thirteen original Colonies, the germ from which have sprung these States, exercised the right of revolution when they withdrew their allegiance from the parent country. Not so with the Southern States when they withdrew from their copartnership with the Northern States. They exercised a higher right. They did not form a part of a consolidated government, as the Colonies did of the British Government. They were sovereign, equally with the Northern States, from which they withdrew, and exercised, as they believed, a peaceful right, instead of a right of revolution.

Had, then, the Southern States the peaceful right to dissolve the compact of government under which they had lived with the North? A volume might be written in reply to this question, but I shall merely glance at it in these memoirs, referring the student to the history of the formation of the old Confederacy, prior to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States; to the “Journal and Debates of the Convention of 1787,” that formed this latter instrument; to the debates of the several State Conventions which adopted it, to the “Madison Papers,” to the “Federalist,” and to the late very able work of Dr. Bledsoe, entitled “Is Davis a Traitor?” It will be sufficient for the purpose which I have in view—that of giving the reader a general outline of the course of reasoning, by which Southern men justify their conduct in the late war—to state the leading features of the compact of government which was dissolved, and a few of its historical surroundings, about which there can be no dispute.

The close of the War of Independence of 1776 found the thirteen original Colonies, which had waged that war, sovereign and independent States. They had, for the purpose of carrying on that war, formed a league, or confederation, and the articles of this league were still obligatory upon them. Under these articles, a Federal Government had been established, charged with a few specific powers, such as conducting the foreign affairs of the Confederacy, the regulation of commerce, &c. At the formation of this Government, it was intended that it should be perpetual, and was so declared. It lasted, notwithstanding, only a few years, for peace was declared in 1783, and the perpetual Government ceased to exist in 1789. How did it cease to exist? By the secession of the States.

Soon after the war, a convention of delegates met at Annapolis, in Maryland, sent thither by the several States, for the purpose of devising some more perfect means of regulating commerce. This was all the duty with which they were charged. Upon assembling, it was found that several of the States were not represented in this Convention, in consequence of which, the Convention adjourned without transacting any business, and recommended, in an address prepared by Alexander Hamilton, that a new convention should be called at Philadelphia, with enlarged powers. “The Convention,” says Hamilton, “are more naturally led to this conclusion, as in their reflections on the subject, they have been induced to think, that the power of regulating trade is of such comprehensive extent, and will enter so far into the great system of the Federal Government, that to give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its precise nature and limits, may require a corresponding adjustment in other parts of the Federal system. That these are important defects in the system of the Federal Government is acknowledged by the acts of those States, which have concurred in the present meeting. That the defects, upon closer examination, may be found greater and more numerous than even these acts imply, is at least, so far probable, from the embarrassments which characterize the present state of our national affairs, foreign and domestic, as may reasonably be supposed to merit a deliberate and candid discussion, in some mode which will unite the sentiments and counsels of all the States.”

The reader will observe that the Government of the States, under the Articles of Confederation, is called a “Federal Government,” and that the object proposed to be accomplished by the meeting of the new Convention at Philadelphia, was to amend the Constitution of that Government. Northern writers have sought to draw a distinction between the Government formed under the Articles of Confederation, and that formed by the Constitution of the United States, calling the one a league, and the other a government. Here we see Alexander Hamilton calling the Confederation a government—a Federal Government. It was, indeed, both a league and a government, as it was formed by sovereign States; just as the Government of the United States is both a league and a government, for the same reason.

The fact that the laws of the Confederation, passed in pursuance of its League, or Constitution, were to operate upon the States; and the laws of the United States were to operate upon the individual citizens of the States, without the intervention of State authority, could make no difference. This did not make the latter more a government than the former. The difference was a mere matter of detail, a mere matter of machinery—nothing more. It did not imply more or less absolute sovereignty in the one case, than in the other. Whatever of sovereignty had been granted, had been granted by the States, in both instances.

The new Convention met in Philadelphia, on the 14th of May, 1787, with instructions to devise and discuss “all such alterations, and further provisions as may be necessary to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union.” We see, thus, that the very Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, equally called the Articles of Confederation a Constitution. It was, then, from a Constitutional, Federal Government, that the States seceded when they adopted the present Constitution of the United States! A Convention of the States assembled with powers only to amend the Constitution; instead of doing which, it abolished the old form of government altogether, and recommended a new one, and no one complained. As each State formally and deliberately adopted the new government, it as formally and deliberately seceded from the old one; and yet no one heard any talk of a breach of faith, and still less of treason.

The new government was to go into operation when nine States should adopt it. But there were thirteen States, and if nine States only acceded to the new government, the old one would be broken up, as to the other four States, whether these would or not, and they would be left to provide for themselves. It was by no means the voluntary breaking up of a compact, by all the parties to it. It was broken up piece-meal, each State acting for itself, without asking the consent of the others; precisely as the Southern States acted, with a view to the formation of a new Southern Confederacy.

So far from the movement being unanimous, it was a long time before all the States came into the new government. Rhode Island, one of the Northern States, which hounded on the war against the Southern States, retained her separate sovereignty for two years before she joined the new government, not uttering one word of complaint, during all that time, that the old government, of which she had been a member, had been unduly broken up, and that she had been left to shift for herself. Why was this

disruption of the old government regarded as a matter of course? Simply because it was a league, or treaty, between sovereign States, from which any one of the States had the right to withdraw at any time, without consulting the interest or advantage of the others.

But, say the Northern States, the Constitution of the United States is a very different thing from the Articles of Confederation. It was formed, not by the States, but by the people of the United States in the aggregate, and made all the States one people, one government. It is not a compact, or league between the States, but an instrument under which they have surrendered irrevocably their sovereignty. Under it, the Federal Government has become the paramount authority, and the States are subordinate to it. We will examine this doctrine, briefly, in another chapter.

 

 

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