unmoved the changes sought to be engrafted upon a constitution they had so long held sacred. The high principles that actuated them, the sincerity of their beliefs, and their unfaltering devotion to the Constitution as they understood it-and they did understand it—were neither known nor appreciated by those who so bitterly opposed them. It is for this reason that the time has not yet come when a history of the war between the States can be written from the victor's viewpoint that will be just, or that can show the motives by which the people of the South were dominated. A new generation has grown up since the war was ended and to all of this new generation whose fathers or grandfathers bore a part in that series of conflicts unparalleled in the history of the world it may be said by all candid men that to neither side was there shame, to neither all the glory of brave deeds done. The meeting of Greek with Greek was but a diminutive type of the clash between the free men of America-the heroes on both sides who fought with a courage and a valor never known before in the story of the world's wars. To decry the part taken by the South in that war is but to utterly shame the North. That the South, without resources and with inferior numbers, with hopeless odds against her from the beginning, for four years resisted armies that had the wealth of the world and the men of all nations to draw from, is its own commentary on the valor of the men who wore the gray and on the spirit that animated them. The passing of the years has much softened the animosities engendered by the conflict, but not yet has the time come when the South's entrance into that conflict may be understood or understandingly set down save by her own people. There are men like Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Nathan Bedford Forrest, whose fame has brightened as the years went by, and the North concedes their brilliant military genius. The motives and deeds of Jefferson Davis have become better understood and have been appreciated even by many of Northern sympathies. But upon the war as a whole the Southern light must be thrown if the historian of the future is to know the truth. Passions ran high when in the North there was not a hamlet without the knowledge that some of its best men were buried in unmarked graves on the bloody battlefields of four years past. It was then that much was written that must be forgotten now, but which is still quoted and used by the Northern historian. The loyalty of the South to the restored Union was shown in the war with Spain, and then, as always before, she sent her bravest to the front. The day of national brotherhood has dawned again, and it is in the spirit of exact justice that the authors of this volume have set forth the motives and causes that impelled the South to resistance in the bygone days. There is no bitterness, but the truth should in all things be set down. All that is possible in a single volume-and what has been attempted by the authors of this volume-has been to state the Southern view of the war and of its origin, the plans of campaign adopted by the North and the general movements by which these plans were carried out, as well as the manner in which they were viewed at the South. Even a cursory mention of much that is interesting has been of necessity omitted. As far as possible, the original sources of information have been consulted, and some events are here correctly narrated for the first time. The endeavor has been to present a brief, yet sufficiently truthful and comprehensive narrative of the four years of battles. It is the great central movements affecting the final result that it has been sought to outline, as showing the manner in which the subjugation of the South proceeded and the determined opposition that was offered. The unfortunate death of Captain William Robertson Garrett, who outlined the plan on which the work was to be written and completed the equivalent of about eight chapters, left the work to be completed by another. One of his last acts was to urge me to complete this volume, in which he was intensely interested. After he consulted with the editor, I agreed, on the night before Captain Garrett's death, that I would complete it. The warm friendship and close relations existing between the two authors, and Captain Garrett's full explanation of his plans for the remainder of the volume, were such as to insure unity of design in the completion of the work, which follows closely the lines originally planned. ROBERT AMBROSE HALley. Nashville. CONTENTS The centripetal and centrifugal forces of the Union. promise the framework of the Constitution. Acquisition of Lincoln's inaugural address. Non-interference with slavery. Enforcement of Fugitive Slave provisions. The Union is per- CHAPTER PAGES The president's constitutional arguments and constitutional III SUBJUGATION OF THE BORDER STATES The Border States and their importance to the combatants. 71-98 |
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