pendence," solemnly read to the assembly, began with these words: "We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain . . . that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States under the name of 'The United States of America' is hereby dissolved." Not an hour passed after the reading of the declaration when the vote was taken, and the entire assembly, without a dissenting voice, voted in the affirmative. The scene in Charleston on that twentieth day of December, 1860, defies description. The session of the convention was held in secret, but the news of its action soon spread to the impatient multitudes that thronged the streets of the city, and the cheers that rent the air resembled those that had greeted the ringing of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia nearly a century before. Palmetto flags were hoisted in all parts of the city, all the church bells were rung, and the boom of cannon announced the glad tidings to the outlying sections. On the evening of that day the signing of the Ordinance of Secession by the members of

the convention that had passed it took place

The hall was

After a rever

in the largest hall in the city. crowded to its utmost capacity. ent invocation for the blessing of the Almighty God on the action of the State, the Ordinance of Secession was solemnly read to the multitude and signed by the members of the convention amid wild and unrestrained enthusiasm.

South Carolina had thus crossed the Rubicon, had taken the first step toward forming, as the people believed, a southern republic, which should make slavery, the stone which the builders rejected, the chief corner-stone. Little did the people realize at that moment what dreadful disasters would overtake their beloved State within the next few years. Little did they dream of the destruction of property, the desolation of their homes, the sacrifice of their loved ones, that their act would bring upon them. The world must condemn the cause in which they fought; but their devotion to that cause, their prowess on the battle-field, and their powers of endurance have marked them as true Americans, and must ever elicit the admiration of mankind.

CHAPTER III

GREAT LEADERS IN CONGRESS DURING THE WAR

THERE is a tradition among the Indians that the ancestors from which they sprung were a race of giants, of beings far superior to themselves. This tendency to idealize the heroes of the past is not confined to the red race. We are all to some extent affected by the enchantment lent by distance; we look to a past age for our models of heroism and of intellectual superiority. Our own country is still in its youth, and yet the times of its beginning seem like ancient times, and the statesmen and heroes of that day have been idealized in popular fancy until they have almost become demigods. Few realize that in later times, even in our own day, there may be found, here and there, a public man of patriotism as pure, and ability as great, as those of a century ago.

It is a curious fact that during the Revolu tionary period there was but one man whose military record brought him great and enduring fame, while numerous are the great names from the field of legislation that are placed in the highest column of American celebrities. On the other hand, the Civil War brought out several great military leaders, but only one from civil life whose achievements brought him immortal renown.1

In our heaping honors on the great war President and the leading commanders in the field, we are apt to forget to give due honor to the memory of those secondary lights who shaped the vast work of Congress during that

1 Washington stands without a second as the military leader of the Revolution. Greene and Lafayette, who come next, must be classed far below him. But Franklin, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and John and Samuel Adams are all among the firstrank heroes in the popular mind. The Civil War gave us Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and Farragut, closely seconded by Meade and Thomas, and, if we include the other side, Lee and Jackson. But outside the battle-field Lincoln stands grandly alone. Other great names we have there were Seward, Sumner, Chase, Fessenden, Wade, and Stevens; but most of them had reached their acme of fame before the war, and none of the galaxy are classed in popular fancy as stars of the first magnitude.

memorable period. To a notice of a few of these this chapter will be devoted. But first let us give a passing glance at a few of the

Leading Spirits of the South.

Among the leading statesmen who resigned their seats in Congress to cast their lot with the South, Jefferson Davis stands foremost. Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, the great opposing chieftains during the war, were born in the same State, but a year apart. Both left their native State in early life, the one drifting northward and absorbing the free soil sentiments of his adopted section until it became the guiding principle of his life; the other, migrating in the opposite direction, made his home in Mississippi, espoused the cause of the slaveholder, and rose in public life until he became the recognized leader of the far-famed aristocracy of the South. What might have been the effect on our history had the direction of the migrating of these two been reversed, we can only conjecture. Certain it is that environment has much to do in shaping a man's course and moulding his destiny.

VOL. II. - E