by Bruce Catton
Nevins, Vol. II, 214-15; Halstead, 43-44; Edward Stan-wood, A History of the Presidency from 1788 to 1897, Vol. 1, 266-69.
Pamphlet in the Newberry Library, "Speech of the Hon. William L. Yancey of Alabama, Delivered in the National Democratic Convention"; Halstead, 47-48.
10. Halstead, 48-50.
11. Ibid, 52, 58-59, 61.
12. Richmond Dispatch, May 5, 1860; Montgomery Weekly
Advertiser, May 16, 1860; Nichols, op cit, 303-4.
13. Halstead, 67-68, 71, 75.
4. "The Party Is Split Forever"
Emerson Davis Fite, The Presidential Campaign of 1860, 110-11; Halstead, 76; B. F. Perry, Biographical Sketches of Eminent American Statesmen, 148.
Official Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, 74-75; Halstead, 85-87.
3. Halstead, 97-98.
4. Benjamin F. Butler, Butler's Book, 138-40; Halstead, 88, 92;
Nichols, 308-9.
New York Times, May 2, 1860.
Richmond Dispatch, May 7, 1860.
7. Henry A. Wise to William Sergeant, May 28, 1858, in John
G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, Vol. II,
302. (Cited hereafter as Nicolay & Hay.)
8. Halstead, 101-3.
9. Jefferson Davis, Relations of the States: Speech of May 7,
1860, 13-14.
Congressional Globe, 35th Congress, First Session, Vol. I, 18.
Richard Malcolm Johnston and William Hand Browne, Life of Alexander H. Stephens, 365.
12. Ibid, 355-56.
5. The Crowd at the Wigwam
1. Halstead, 120.
Ibid, 208-12; Rhodes, Vol. II, 454. Note that Dumond (The Secession Movement, 94) insists that this group actually adopted "a distinctly Southern platform." He remarks: "It was not an endorsement of Federal supremacy, nor of majority rule, but rather of state rights and constitutional protection for the rights of minorities."
P. Orman Ray, The Convention that Nominated Lincoln, 5-8, 15.
Ibid, 11, 13-14.
Halstead, 122, 140.
6. Willard L. King, Lincoln's Manager, David Davis, 134-36.
According to Don G. Fehrenbacher, in Chicago Giant: A Biogra-
phy of Long John Wentworth, 177, David Davis had previously written to Lincoln recommending Wentworth's talents as a political manager: "You ought to have got him long ago to 'run' you."
King, op cit, 134. For a succinct discussion of the different candidates and their prospects when the convention opened, see William E. Baringer, Lincoln's Rise to Power, 204-7.
King, 138; telegram, Davis and Dubois to Lincoln, May 15, 1860, photostat in the Lincoln Collection, Chicago Historical Society.
Francis Fisher Browne, The Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln, 232-33.
Halstead, 129.
Ray, op cit, 19, 21.
Ibid, 22-23; Halstead, 131, 138-39.
Ray, 25-26; Halstead, 140.
6. Railsplitter
1. King, 139.
2. For a careful weighing of the evidence on this point, see
King, 137.
3. Halstead, 141.
Thomas Haines Dudley, a delegate from New Jersey, was one of the group meeting in Davis's headquarters suite, and he wrote a detailed account of the night's operations—"Report on Republican National Convention of 1860—Caucuses etc leading to nomination of Lincoln"—which has been followed in the preparation of this chapter. The manuscript is in the Thomas Haines Dudley Papers in the Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
For the generally accepted version of the deal with the Cameron men, see Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, Vol. II, 341-42. Alexander K. McClure Abraham Lincoln and Men of War Times, 29-30 insists that the Pennsylvania delegation caucused and voted to swing to Lincoln because of the pressure exerted by Governor Curtin and the influence of the Indiana delegation's action; he asserts (139) that the Lincoln managers definitely made a deal with Cameron but that they simply bought something they were going to get anyway. King's version is in his Lincoln's Manager, 140-41, 162-64.
Halstead, 143-44.
Ibid, 144-45.
8. For all of the foregoing, the Halstead account (149-51) is a
graphic and detailed bit of reporting.
9. Ray, op cit, 37.
10. Addison G. Procter, "Lincoln and the Convention of 1860:
an Address Before the Chicago Historical Society," 10-12.
11. Halstead, 153.
Chapter Two: DOWN A STEEP PLACE 1. Division at Baltimore
Letter of Lee to Major Earl Van Dorn, July 3, 1860, in the R. E. Lee Papers, Library of Congress.
cf Nichols (320): "The great majority of Americans no longer wished to compromise."
Halstead, 160; Nichols, 314.
Halstead, 176, 185.
Ibid, 154-56.
Dumond, 81-82; Nichols, 316; Halstead, 185.
7. This account follows Halstead, who gives the text of Doug-
las's letter to Dean Richmond and quotes liberally from the de-
bates. (Halstead, 187-99.)
8. Ibid, 205-6.
9. For a resume^ of the voting statistics and an excellent analy-
sis of their significance, see Nichols, 321. Douglas's letter to
Richardson, and Richardson's remarks on it, are from Halstead,
207.
10. Halstead (citing a news story in the Baltimore Sun), 217-
25.
11. Ibid, 227.
2. The Great Commitment
1. Since the Civil War ended, practically every conceivable interpretation of its causes and significance has been advanced. An almost indispensable survey and summary of these varying opinions can be found in Thomas J. Pressly's Americans Interpret Their Civil War. Highly recommended also is Howard K. Beale's What Historians Have Said About the Causes of the Civil War (Theory and Practice in Historical Study; a Report of the Committee on Historiography, Bulletin 54, 1946, Social Science Research Council.) Two sharply contrasting analyses which this writer found stimulating and informative are Avery Craven, The Coming of the Civil War (second revised edition, 1957) and Nevins, Vol. II, 462 et seq.
"The general period in American history from 1825 to 1860 was one of vast material growth and expansion. But it was also one in which the wealth and power of the few grew disproportionately to that of the many. Democracy was not functioning properly. . . . Injustice, lack of material prosperity, loss of equality or failure to achieve American purposes—all became matters of moral significance and evidence of God's plan thwarted." (Craven, "The Coming of the War Between the States: an Interpretation," Journal of Southern History, Vol. II, No. 3, 305.)
"The localization of a great manufacture so distant from its sources of supply was as radical an innovation in industrial geography as was Arkwright machinery in industrial mechanics." (Victor S. Clark, History of Manufactures in the United States, Vol. II, 1.)
Clark, op cit, 2.
Ibid, 7.
cf Charles and Mary Beard {The Rise of American Civilization, Vol. n, 6-7): "The amazing growth of northern industries, the rapid extension of railways, the swift expansion of foreign trade to the ends of the earth, the attachment of the farming regions of the west to the centers of manufacture and finance through transportation and credit, the destruction of state consciousness by migration, the alien invasion, the erection of new commonwealths in the Valley of Democracy, the nationalistic drive of interstate commerce, the increase of population in the north, and the southward pressure of the capitalistic glacier, all conspired to assure the ultimate triumph of what the orators were fond of calling 'the free labor system.' This was a dynamic thrust far too powerful for planters operating in a limited territory with incompetent labor and soil of diminishing fertility."
Frederick Law Olmsted, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States in the Years 1853-1854, with Remarks on Their Economy, Vol. I, 19-20. See also Ulrich B. Phillips, The Course of the South to Secess
ion, 152-53.
Mary Boykin Chesnut, A Diary from Dixie (cited hereafter as Mrs. Chesnut), 10-11, 21-22, 142.
3. By Torchlight
Nicolay & Hay, Vol. JJ, 284-85.
William E. Baringer, Campaign Technique in Illinois—1860;
Illinois State Historical Society Transactions for the Year 1932, 249.
3. Ibid, 253-56.
4. The Railsplitter was published between Aug. 1 and Oct. 27,
1860. The quotations in the text are from a reprint by the Abra-
ham Lincoln Bookshop, Chicago.
5. Baringer, op cit, 261.
6. Undated paper marked "Form of a reply prepared by Mr.
Lincoln with which his private secretary was instructed to answer
a numerous class of letters in the campaign of 1860," in the John
G. Nicolay Papers, Library of Congres.
Memorandum dated Nov. 5, 1860, in the Nicolay Papers.
Craven, The Growth of Southern Nationalism, 346.
9. "Speech Delivered by William H. Seward at St. Paul, Sept.
18, 1860," a pamphlet printed by the Albany Evening Journal.
Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 127.
Ibid, 128, citing The National Intelligencer for Oct. 5, 1860.
Edmund Ruffin Diaries, Vol. JV, 677, 682; in the Library of Congress.
Emerson David Fite, The Presidential Campaign of 1860, 314, 317-18.
4. Little Giant
There is a brilliant analysis of this situation in Craven's Growth of Southern Nationalism. Pointing out that the Industrial Revolution had already pronounced the doom of slavery, Craven remarks (340): "Douglas had simply recognized inevitable trends and had adjusted his course to them. But because Southern men resented what 'progress' had done to them, they saw in Douglas the symbol of it all and hated him accordingly. By rejecting him they were attempting to repudiate the great forces of change that threatened their civilization."
George Fort Milton, The Eve of Conflict, 492; The Campaign Plain Dealer and Popular Sovereignty Advocate, Cleveland, issue of Sept. 1, 1860. (This is an interesting Douglas campaign paper, counterpart of the Republican Party's Railsplitter mentioned in the previous chapter. Facsimile reproductions are published by Lincoln College, Lincoln, 111.)
Milton, op cit, 493; Fite, The Presidential Campaign of 1860, 282.
Howard Cecil Perkins, Northern Editorials on Secession, 38-39, 71.
5. Lucille Stillwell, John Cabell Breckinridge, 82-83.
6. King, Lincoln's Manager, 154-55, 158-59.
Diary of Edmund Ruffin, Vol. IV; Dwight L. Dumond, Southern Editorials on Secession, quoting the Charleston Mercury of Oct. 11, 1860.
Dumond, op cit, 185; Dunbar Rowland, Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches, Vol. IV, 540.
9. Nicolay & Hay, Vol. II, 306-7.
Ibid, 307-14.
Milton, The Eve of Conflict, 500.
5. Verdict of the People
1. Paul Angle, Here 1 Have Lived: a History of Lincoln's
Springfield, 1821-1865, 251-53; John G. Nicolay to his wife, Nov.
8, 1860, in the Nicolay Papers.
2. McMaster, Vol. VOI, 476, 478-79; Rhodes, Vol. IH, 118.
Johnston and Browne, Life of Alexander H. Stephens, 564-65.
Ibid, 370-71; Basler, Vol. IV, 146, 160. In the former book, Lincoln is quoted as saying ". . . while we think it is wrong and ought to be abolished." The quotation in the text is from Basler.
Memorandum dated at Springfield, Nov. 15, 1860; from the Nicolay Papers.
New York Tribune, Nov. 9, 1860.
Dunbar Rowland, op cit, Vol. IV, 541.
Henry Villard, Lincoln on the Eve of '61, 17.
9. Donn Piatt, Memories of Men Who Saved the Union, 30, 33-
34.
6. Despotism of the Sword
Winfield Scott, Memoirs of Lieut. General Scott, LL.D., Written by Himself, Vol. JJ, 609; James Buchanan, The Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion, 99, 287-88; Mss. copy of Scott's views, inscribed "To the Hon. E. Everett with the respects of his friend—W.S." in the Edward Everett Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Buchanan, op cit, 104; Brevet Major General Emory Upton, The Military Policy of the United States, 224; A. Howard Meneely, The War Department, 1861, 21-22, 24-26.
Philip Gerald Auchampaugh, James Buchanan and His Cabinet on the Eve of Secession, 130; Nicolay & Hay, Vol. II, 36-63, quoting from the diary of John B. Floyd.
4. Auchampaugh, op cit, 132-34.
Attorney General Black's opinion is from George Ticknor Curtis, Life of James Buchanan, Vol. II, 319-24. (Cited hereafter as Curtis.)
Letters of Thomas L. Drayton, dated Nov. 10 and Nov. 23, 1860, and letter of R. L. Ripley, dated Nov. 7, 1860, all in the Edwin M. Stanton Papers, Library of Congress.
Letter of William Henry Trescot dated Nov. 17, 1860, in the Robert N. Gourdin Papers, Duke University Library; letter of Trescot dated Nov. 19, in the Edwin M. Stanton Papers; Mrs. Chesnut, 28.
James D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VII, 3157-69.
Chapter Three: THE LONG FAREWELL 1. The Union Is Dissolved
Journal of the Convention of the People of South Carolina, Held in 1860-61, 3-5; John Amasa May and Joan Reynolds Faunt, South Carolina Secedes, 5-7.
Journal of the Convention, 18; Frank Moore, The Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events (cited hereafter as Moore's Rebellion Record), Vol. I, 3; New York Times, Dec. 18, 1860.
3. New York Times, Dec. 19 and Dec. 20, 1860.
Journal of the Convention, 46-47, 53; Nicolay & Hay, Vol. Ill, 13.
James Petigru Carson, Life, Letters and Speeches of James Louis Petigru, the Union Man of South Carolina, 361, 364.
Diary of Edmund Ruffin, Vol. TV, 713 ff.
Nicolay & Hay, Vol. in, 11-12.
8. Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War; the
Story of Sumter, 1860-61 (cited hereafter as Crawford), 54-55;
New York Times, Dec. 20 and Dec. 22, 1860.
9. May and Faunt, South Carolina Secedes, 18-19.
10. Journal of the Convention, 325-31, 332-44.
11. Letter of William Porcher Miles dated Dec. 20, 1860, in
the Robert N. Gourdin Papers.
New York Times, Dec. 22, Dec. 24, 1860.
Moore's Rebellion Record, Vol. I; Diary, 3; Documents, 1.
Mrs. Roger Pryor, Reminiscences of Peace and War, 110-
12; Buchanan's letter of Dec. 20 to James Gordon Bennett, in the James Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
2. A Delegation of Authority
1. The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Rec-
ords of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. I, 68-69. (This
invaluable compilation is hereafter cited as O.R. Unless other-
wise noted in the citation, the volumes are from Series I.)
2. O.R., Vol. I, 70-72.
There is a good brief sketch of Anderson in D.A.B., Vol. I, 274-75. His orders are in O.R., Vol. I, 73.
Anderson's first report from Fort Moultrie, Nov. 23, 1860, O.R., Vol. I, 74; Crawford, 6-7; Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (hereafter cited as B & L.), VoL I, 40.
O.R., Vol. I, 74-77
Ibid, 78-79.
Ibid, 81-82.
8. Crawford, 37-40. The letter from the South Carolina dele-
gation to President Buchanan is in the William Porcher Miles
Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Caro-
lina. On the back of this document is a note apparently in Bu-
chanan's handwriting, containing the statement: "I objected to
the word 'Provided' as this might be construed into an agreement
on my part which I never would make. They said nothing was
further from their intentions. They did not so understand & I
should not so consider it."
9. O.R., Vol. I,
82-83.
Crawford, 71-74; O.R., Vol., I, 89-90.
Buchanan, 106; O.R., Vol. I, 103.
Letter of Major Anderson to Dr. G. T. Metcalfe, Dec. 15, 1860, in the A. Conger Goodyear Collection, Historical Manuscripts Division, Yale University Library.
Letter of Major Anderson to the Rev. Mr. R. B. Duane, Dec. 19, 1860, in the Goodyear Collection.
Letter of Major Anderson, Dec. 12, 1860, to a friend whose name is not decipherable, in the Robert Anderson Papers, Library of Congress.
Crawford, 77-78.
Ibid, 81-84.
17. Unfinished draft of letter dated Dec. 20, in the James
Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
18. Crawford, 88.
3. An Action and a Decision
1. Crawford, 95; O.R., Vol. I, 106-7; Abner Doubleday, Rem-
iniscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-61, 49-50.
2. Doubleday, op cit, 60-64; also in B. & L., Vol. I, 44-45.
Captain James Chester, Inside Sumter in '61, in B. & L., Vol. I, 51-52; Diary of Edmund Ruffin, Vol. IV, 718.
Eba Anderson Lawton, Major Robert Anderson and Fort Sumter 1861, 8.
5. O.R., Vol. I, 2.
Crawford, 142-44; quoting liberally from Trescot's diary, to which Crawford apparently had access but which is no longer available. Buchanan's own account of his meeting with the South Carolina commissioners is in his book, The Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion, 181-82.
Auchampaugh, 66-67; Crawford, 37. A copy of Cass's letter of resignation, and a memorandum thereon by Buchanan, both in Buchanan's handwriting, are in the Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Crawford, 146; Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 213; George C. Gorham, Life and Public Services of Edwin M. Stanton, Vol. I, 158; Buchanan, 180-81.
Crawford, 148, giving the text of a letter he received in 1871 from James L. Orr with details of the meeting.
Crawford, 146.
Winfield Scott, Memoirs, Vol. II, 613; O.R., Vol. I, 112.
O.R., Vol. I, 109-10.
Buchanan, 182.
Nicolay & Hay, Vol. HI, 74.
Frank A. Flower, Edwin McMasters Stanton, 88.
16. Document of John Codman Ropes dated 1870, setting
