CHAPTER X-PRACTICE OF SECESSION

58. Secession Spirit in Mississippi (1860)

BY REPRESENTATIVE REUBEN DAVIS (1889)

Davis was a member of Congress from 1857 to 1861, and later a member of the Confederate Congress; but his life was spent chiefly in Mississippi, where both before and after the Civil War he was very prominent as a lawyer. This extract is from his recollections, written over twenty-five years after the event. - Bibliography: Channing and Hart, Guide, § 206.

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O say that the nomination and election of Lincoln caused the war is to make a mistake. It was the signal for battle, but the troops were marshalled and war declared, long before. During the long contest for speaker, passion on both sides had been intensified, and the excitement and danger of collision continued to increase until the last hour of the session.

Lincoln's nomination took place about two weeks before adjournment. The intelligence came like a thunderbolt. Members from the South purchased long-range guns to take home with them. The unthinking among them rejoiced that the end was in sight, but those who considered more deeply were dismayed by the prospect.

It was regarded almost certain that Lincoln would be elected, unless Breckenridge or Douglas could be withdrawn from the field, and it was idle to hope that this could be done. . . .

The presidential campaign was, as was inevitable, one of extraordinary violence. In all my speeches in Mississippi, I broadly asserted that war was unavoidable. For this I was often blamed, but I replied that it was our duty to deal frankly with the people, who had confided such vast interests to our hands.

Governor John J. Pettus issued a proclamation, by which he called upon the legislature to meet, in extra session, upon the third Monday in November, 1860. He also invited the senators and representatives to meet him in Jackson, some days before the meeting of the legislature,

in order that he might counsel with them in regard to his message and what he should say upon the subject of secession.

We met there upon this invitation. Congressman John J. McRae was not present. There was much discussion, in which divers opinions were maintained. Some opposed separate state action in secession. Some were opposed to secession, unless eight other States would consent to go out at the same time.

As these discussions were prolonged without seeming to lead to anything definite, I at last proposed a resolution that the governor should recommend the legislature to call a convention to secede the State of Mississippi, by separate action, such action to take effect eo instanti.

This resolution was voted for by Governor Pettus, O. R. Singleton, William Barksdale, and myself. It was practically a declaration of war. Governor Pettus then showed us a telegram which he had received from the governor of South Carolina, requesting his opinion whether the South Carolina secession convention, which was then about to meet, should make their ordinance of secession take effect instantly, or on the 4th of March.

Being called upon for a resolution upon this point, I offered one that the reply should advise the ordinance to take effect instantly. The same four votes adopted this resolution also, and our work was done. If a convention was called, and delegates in favor of secession elected, there would be no pause or tarrying.

Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar and General Ethel Barksdale were invited by the people of Brandon to make addresses at that place, the day after these resolutions had been adopted.

Returning home, it was necessary for me to pass immediately through Brandon, and Lamar and Barksdale, with their accustomed courtesy, sent me an invitation to arrange my journey with reference to joining them. It was with great pleasure that I accepted this invitation, knowing that I should hear from both gentlemen speeches of unusual eloquence.

Mr. Lamar made the opening address, speaking with even more than his wonted fluency and beauty. It is useless to attempt to describe his peculiar style. His fame is national, and he stands upon a pedestal wrought out by his own great gift of words. It was remarked that in this speech he made no reference to the possibilities of war, or the horrors that must result from disunion.

As soon as the applause which greeted the conclusion of Lamar's

address had subsided, General Barksdale invited me to speak. I had made no preparation, but the subject to be handled had occupied my mind exclusively for many weeks, and had become so much a part of my consciousness that I had but to look at a crowd and open my mouth, and speech flowed spontaneously. I was, so to speak, so saturated with the thoughts and passions of the time, that the difficulty was not so much how to speak as how to leave off.

After stating the issues between the two sections, I informed the people how far, and in what spirit, the struggle had been carried on, telling them frankly that we had reached a point where to turn back would be dishonor. . .

...

As we came down from the stand, some of the principal citizens in the crowd came to me, and said, "Your boldness startled us. Is it your sober judgment that we are in such peril as you have described?" I replied that by the first of January they would see for themselves.

A gentleman then said, "I believe your opinions are correct, but do you not doubt the propriety of saying these things in public? Would it not be wiser to preserve a discreet silence until everything is ready?" To this I made answer that it was the people's right to know where they were going, and our duty to give them fair warning. Otherwise, they might justly utter the reproach that they had been led blindfold to the very brink of a precipice, and their representatives had given them no warning. The gentleman looked at me for a moment as if in doubt, and then said, "Well, that's honest, any way."

Reuben Davis, Recollections of Mississippi and Mississippians (Boston, etc., 1891), 389–394 passim.

59. Crisis in South Carolina (1860)

BY ASSISTANT-SURGEON SAMUEL WYLIE CRAWFORD (1887)

Crawford was sent in 1860 to act as surgeon for the troops stationed at Charleston, and remained with them there until the surrender of Fort Sumter. His description is that of an eye-witness, and, although a reminiscence, it is accurate. Later, during the war, Crawford entered the infantry and rose to high rank through his distinguished bravery. — Bibliography as in No. 58 above.

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ARDLY had the Convention assembled at Columbia when a resolution was introduced by Chancellor J. A. Inglis to the effect that "it is the opinion of the Convention that the State should forthwith

secede from the Federal Union known as the United States of America, and that a committee be appointed to draft an ordinance to be adopted by the Convention in order to accomplish this purpose of secession.".. It passed without a dissenting voice.

Meantime, a contagious disease having broken out in the city, the Convention resolved to change its session to Charleston, and it reassembled in that city on the 18th. . . .

In the large room of Institute Hall, the Convention reassembled at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 18th of December. Crowds of excited people thronged the streets and open squares of the city, and filled the passage and stairways of the hall. Congratulations were exchanged on every side, while earnest dissatisfaction was freely expressed that the passage of the Secession Ordinance had been delayed.

Blue cockades and cockades of palmetto appeared in almost every hat; flags of all descriptions, except the National colors, were everywhere displayed. Upon the gavel that lay upon the Speaker's table, the word "Secession" had been cut in deep black characters. The enthusiasm spread to the more practical walks of trade, and the business streets were gay with bunting and flags, as the tradespeople, many of whom were Northern men, commended themselves to the popular clamor by a display of coarse representations on canvas of the public men, and of the incidents daily presenting themselves, and of the brilliant future in store for them. . . .

On the 19th the Convention reassembled at St. Andrews Hall. . . . The special order of the day being the resolution in reference to that part of the message of the President of the United States which refers to the property of the United States in South Carolina, it was considered, and a committee of thirteen was appointed, at the head of which was A. G. Magrath, to report to the Convention upon the resolution.

It was resolved, also, to send three commissioners, bearing an authenticated copy of the Secession Ordinance to Washington to be laid before the President and Congress. And, also, that these commissioners should be empowered to treat for the delivery of the forts, magazines, and other "real estate ;" and they were authorized to treat of the public debt, and for a division of all the property held by the United States as the agents of the States, and until a new Confederacy should be formed. This latter resolution was referred to the "Committee on Foreign Relations."

Early on the morning of the 20th knots of men were seen gathered here and there through the main streets and squares of Charleston. The Convention was not to meet until 12 o'clock, but it was understood that the Committee were ready to report the Ordinance of Secession, and that it would certainly pass the Convention that day. The report soon spread. Although this action had been fully anticipated, there was a feverish anxiety to know that the secession of the State was really accomplished, and as the hour of noon approached, crowds of people streamed along the avenues towards St. Andrew's Hall and filled the approaches. A stranger passing from the excited throng outside into the hall of the Convention would be struck with the contrast. Ordinary business was quietly disposed of; the Mayor and Governor and the officials of the Legislature were invited to seats upon the floor; committees authorized by previous resolutions were announced by the President, the more noticeable being that of the late United States Judge Magrath, to head the Committee on so much of the President's message as related to the property in the harbor, and W. P. Miles on Foreign Relations looking to the ordeal in Washington. Quietly the Convention had met, and had been opened with prayer to God. There was no excitement. There was no visible sign that the Commonwealth of South Carolina was about to take a step more momentous for weal or woe than had yet been known in her history.

Then followed the introduction of a resolution by Mr. R. B. Rhett, that a committee of thirteen be appointed to report an ordinance providing for a convention to form a Southern Confederacy, as important a step as the secession of the State itself. It was referred to the appropriate committee, when Chancellor Inglis of Chesterfield, the Chairman of the Committee to report an ordinance proper of secession, arose and called the attention of the President.

An immediate silence pervaded the whole assemblage as every eye turned upon the speaker. Addressing the chair, he said that the Committee appointed to prepare a draft of an ordinance proper, to be adopted by the Convention in order to effect the secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union, respectfully report that they have had the matter under consideration, and believe that they would best meet the exigencies of the occasion by expressing in the fewest and simplest words all that was necessary to effect the end proposed, and so to exclude everything which was not a necessary part of the "solemn act of secession." They therefore submitted the following: