386

TENNESSEE IN DANGER OF RUIN.

minute-men, and the forces of the State had seized, for the second time, the National forts on the sea-coast;' also the Mint at Charlotte," and •April 20, the Government Arsenal at Fayetteville,' in which were thirtyseven thousand stand of arms, three thousand kegs of gunpow. der, and an immense amount of munitions of war. Within three weeks

1861.

⚫ April 28.

after the passage of the Ordinance of Secession, there were not less than twenty thousand North Carolina volunteers under arms. They adopted a flag which was composed of the colors red, white, and blue, differently

arranged from those in the National flag.'

The Governor of Tennessee (Harris) and a disloyal majority of the Legislature now commenced the work of infinite mischief to the people of their State. Harris called the Legislature together on the 25th of April, and delivered to that body a message, in which he strongly urged the necessity for the immediate secession of the State. Remembering that • February 9, less than eighty days before the people had declared in favor of the Union by sixty-five thousand majority, he was unwilling to trust the question of secession to them now. He argued, that at the opening of a revolution so vitally important, there was no propriety in wasting the time required to ascertain the will of the people by calling a convention, when the Legislature had the power to submit an ordinance of secession to

NORTH CAROLINA FLAG.

1861.

2 The colors were arranged as follows in this flag of the "Sovereign State of North Carolina:"-The red formed a broad bar running parallel with the staff, on which was a single star, and the dates arranged as seen in the engraving," May 20, 1775," which was that of the promulgation of the so-called "Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence" (mentioned in note 2, page 385), and "May 20, 1861," on which day the politicians of North Carolina declared the bond that bound that State to their own chosen Union was forever dissolved.

TENNESSEE LEAGUED WITH THE "CONFEDERACY."

387

them without "encumbering them with the election of delegates." accordingly recommended the Legislature to adopt such an ordinance at once, and call upon the people to vote upon it speedily.

a

• April 30, 1861.

A few days after the Governor's message was submitted to the Legislature, Henry W. Hilliard, a leading member of the "Methodist Church South," appeared before that body as a commissioner of Jefferson Davis and his confederates, clothed by them with authority to negotiate a treaty of alliance between the State of Tennessee and the "Confederate States of America," similar to that already completed between the Virginia politicians and the conspirators at Montgomery. He was allowed to submit his views to the Legislature. He regarded the question at issue "between the North and the South as one "of constitutional liberty, involving the right of the people to govern themselves." He believed there was not a true-hearted man in the South who would not rather die than submit to "the Abolition North." The idea of reconstruction must be utterly abandoned. They would never think of "going back to their enemies." He considered the system of government founded on Slavery, which had been established at Montgomery, as the only permanent form of government that could be maintained in America. His views were warmly supported by some prominent Tennesseans. Ex-Governor Neil S. Brown, in a letter published at about that time, expressed his belief that it was "the settled policy of the Administration" and of "the whole North, to wage a war of extermination against the South," and urged the people to arm themselves, as the Border States, he believed, would be the battleground. Ex-Congressman Felix R. Zollicoffer declared that Tennessee was "already involved in war," and said, "We cannot stand neutral and see our Southern brothers butchered.”

b May.

On the 1st of May the Legislature authorized the Governor to enter into a military league with the "Confederate States," by which the whole military rule of the Commonwealth should be subjected to the will of Davis. He appointed Gustavus A. Henry, Archibald O. W. Totten, and Washington Barrow as commissioners for the purpose. They and Mr. Hilliard negotiated a treaty, and on the 7th the Governor announced to the Legislature the conclusion of the business, and submitted to it a copy of the "Convention." By it Davis and his confederates were authorized to exercise absolute military control in Tennessee until that Commonwealth should become a member of the "Confederacy" by ratifying its permanent constitution. The vote on the treaty in the Senate was fourteen ayes to six noes, and in the lower House, forty-two ayes to fifteen noes. Eighteen of the members, chiefly from East Tennessee, were absent or did not vote.'

1 It was stipulated by the convention, in addition to the absolute surrender of all the military affairs of the State to Jefferson Davis, that the State of Tennessee should, “on becoming a member of said Confederacy, under the permanent Constitution of said Confederate States, if the same shall occur, turn over to said Confederate States all the public property, naval stores, and munitions of war, of which she may then be in possession, acquired from the United States, on the same terms and in the same manner as the other States of said Confederacy have done in like cases." Governor Harris had already (on the 29th of April) ordered the seizure of Tennessee bonds to the amount of sixty-six thousand dollars, and five thousand dollars in cash, belonging to the United States, which were in possession of the Collector of the Port of Nashville. The pretext for the seizure was, that the amount might be held in trust, as a sort of hostage, until the Government should return to the State and its citizens property contraband of war which had been taken from the steamer Hillman, at Cairo.

388

USURPATION AND FRAUD IN TENNESSEE.

991

The Legislature, in the mean time, had passed an act, to submit to a vote of the people a "Declaration of Independence, and an Ordinance dissolving the Federal Relations between the State of Tennessee and the United States of America;" and also an Ordinance for the adoption of the Constitution of the "Provisional Government of the Confederate States." The Governor was empowered to raise fifty-five thousand volunteers "for the defense of the State," and, if it should become necessary, to call out the whole available military strength of the Commonwealth, to be under the absolute control of the Governor. He was also authorized to issue the bonds of the State to the amount of five millions of dollars, to run ten years and bear an annual interest of eight per cent. Thus the purse and the sword of the violated Commonwealth were placed in the hands of its bitterest enemy, and before the day had arrived on which the vote was to be taken on the question of Separation or No Separation," Harris June 8, had organized twenty-five thousand volunteers and equipped 1961. them with munitions of war, a greater portion of which had been stolen from National arsenals, and brought to Nashville by the disloyal Ex-Congressman Zollicoffer, who had been sent by the Governor to Montgomery on a treasonable mission, at the middle of May. The people found themselves practically dispossessed of the elective franchise, one of the most sacred rights of freemen, by a usurper-the head of a military despotism, in complicity with the conspirators at Montgomery. That despotism had been of quick and powerful growth under the culture of men in authority, and was possessed of amazing energy. Its will was law. The people were slaves. Its mailed heel was upon their necks, and they perceived no way to lift it. They knew that their voice at the ballot-box might be silenced by the bayonet, yet they ventured to speak; and it is asserted by the most competent authority, that a decided majority of the votes cast were against the disunion schemes of the Governor and his friends, who at once inaugurated a system of terrorism such as the history of tyrants has seldom revealed. Fraud and violence were exercised everywhere on the part of the disloyalists, and after the operation of a concerted plan for making false election returns, and the changing of figures in the

This action was kept secret for several days. When the intrepid Brownlow (see page 38) heard of it, he denounced it vehemently in his journal, the Knoxville Whig. "The deed is done, and a black deed it is," he said. "The Legislature of Tennessee, in secret session, passed an Ordinance of Secession, voting the State out of the Federal Union, and changing the Federal relations of the State, thereby affecting, to the great injury of the people, their most important earthly interests." He denounced the Governor and legislators as usurpers. and called upon the people to vote against the Ordinance. "Let every man," he said, "old and young, halt and blind, contrive to be at the polls on that day. If we lose then, our liberties are gone, and we are swallowed up by a military despotism more odious than any now existing in any of the monarchies of Europe.”

2 In a letter to the Governor, after his return, Zollicoffer gave an account of his mission, and revealed facts which throw considerable light on subsequent events. He said that" President Davis" desired and expected to furnish Tennessee with fifty thousand muskets, but there were difficulties in the way. An attempt to procure arms from Havana had failed, but they expected muskets from Belgium "in British bottoms." General Pillow. it seems, had no idea of respecting Kentucky neutrality [see Chapter XIX.], but had, so early as the middle of May, proposed to occupy Columbus, in that State, as a "Confederate" military post. Davis thought such a movement at that time was premature. He said he had once proposed the same thing to Governor Magoffin. but he would not then consent. Davis was also doubtful about the propriety of "throwing the military forces of Tennessee upon the Ohio and Missouri frontiers of Kentucky," which Governor Harris had proposed, because he doubted whether Magoffin would approve of it. "He thinks Governor Magoffin, Mr. Breckinridge, and others," said the writer, "are merely floating with the tide of Southern feeling in Kentucky, not leading it," but that "Governor Jackson, of Missouri, was in advance of his people, and leading to the utmost of his power In defense of the South." Davis also thought it would be better for the Kentuckians true to "the South" to retire, under military leaders, to Tennessee, and there "rally and organize."

EAST TENNESSEANS LOYAL.

389

aggregates, at Nashville, by the Governor and his confederates, Harris asserted, in a proclamation issued on the 24th of June, that the vote in the State was one hundred and four thousand nine hundred and thirteen for Separation, and forty-seven thousand two hundred and thirty-eight against it, or a majority in favor of disunion of fifty-seven thousand six hundred and seventy-eight. Even this false report showed that East Tennessee-the mountain region of the State, which, like Western Virginia, was not seriously poisoned by the virus of the Slave system-was loyal to the Republic by a heavy majority. It is said that one-half of the votes cast in favor of Separation in East Tennessee were illegal, having been given by soldiers of the insurgent army, who had no right to vote anywhere. All through the war that ensued East Tennessee remained loyal, but at the cost of fearful suffering, as we shall observe hereafter.

Thus Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, by the treasonable action of their respective governors, their legislatures, and their conventions, were placed in an attitude of hostility to the National Government, positively and offensively, before the people were allowed to say a word on the subject officially. These usurpers raised armies and levied war before the people gave them power to enlist a soldier, to buy an ounce of ammunition, or to move a gun.

The conspirators of Virginia had not only talked boldly and resolved courageously, but had, from the moment of the attack on Fort Sumter, labored zealously and vigorously in preliminary movements for the seizure of Washington and the National Government. Within twentyfour hours after the passage of the Secession Ordinance," as we have observed, they had set forces in motion for the capture of Harper's Ferry and the arms and ammunition there, and of the Navy Yard at Gosport, near Norfolk, with its vast amount of ordnance and stores.

• April 17, 1861.

Harper's Ferry is a small village in Jefferson County, Virginia, clustered around the base of a rugged hill at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, where the conjoined streams pass through the lofty range of the Blue Ridge, between fifty and sixty miles northwest from Washington City. It is on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the powerful commercial links which connect Maryland, and especially Baltimore, with the great West. There is the outer gate of the Shenandoah or great Valley of Virginia, and was, at the time we are considering and throughout the war, a point of much strategic importance as a military post. There, for many years, a National Armory and Arsenal had been situated, where ten thousand muskets were made every year, and from eighty to ninety thousand stand of arms were generally stored.

2 See Sketches of the Rise. Progress, and Decline of Secession, et cætera : by W. G. Brownlow, now (1865) Governor of Tennessee, page 222.

390

DESIGNS AGAINST HARPER'S FERRY.

When the secession movement began, at the close of 1860, the Government took measures for the security of this post. Orders were received there on the 2d of January for the Armory Guard, Flag Guard, and Rifle Company to go on duty; and these were re-enforced a few days afterward by sixty-four unmounted United States dragoons, under the command of Lieutenant Roger Jones, who were sent there as a precautionary measure. Colonel Barbour, of Virginia, was superintendent of the post.

Profound quiet prevailed at Harper's Ferry until after the attack on Fort Sumter, when it was disturbed by rumors that the Virginians were preparing to seize the Armory and Arsenal there. The rumor was true, and was soon verified. On the morning of the 18th of April, orders were received

from Richmond, by the militia commanders at Winchester and Charlestown, for the seizure of the Armory and Arsenal that night, and a march in force into Maryland, when the Minute-men of that State were expected to join them in an immediate attack on Washington. Notice was given to about three thousand men, but, owing to some misunderstanding, only Jefferson County troops, about two hundred and fifty strong, under Colonel Allen, were at Halltown, the designated place of rendezvous, at eight o'clock in the evening. This was a little village about half way between Charlestown Court House and Harper's Ferry, and four miles from each. Other troops, in the vicinity of Winchester, were on their march toward the Ferry at that time.

1 This is a view of Harper's Ferry as it appeared just after the destruction of the Armory and Arsenal buildings. The spectator is upon the hill back of the village, and looking toward the Potomac, where, with the waters of the Shenandoah, it passes through the Blue Ridge. Maryland Hights, which have become famous in history, are seen on the left of the picture.