17,861. Had all of its 198 companies been on the frontier, the aggregate would have been 18,349. The actual strength August 1, 1855, was a little over 15,000 men.

From 1855 to 1861 the only law worthy of special notice was the one approved April 7, 1858. The first section authorized the President to receive into the service of the United States a regiment of Texas mounted volunteers, for the defense of the Texas frontier. The second section authorized him "for the purpose of quelling disturbances in the Territory of Utah, for the protection of supply and emigrant trains, and the suppression of Indian hostilities on the frontier," to call for and accept the services of any number of volunteers, not to exceed two regiments, to be organized at the discretion of the President as mounted infantry.

The term of service for all of the above volunteers was fixed at eighteen months. The men were to provide their own horses and horse equipments, for which they were to receive a compensation of 40 cents per day. The fourth section of the law provided that all of the officers should be appointed in the manner prescribed by law in the several States or Territories to which the regiments belonged, except the quartermasters and commissaries, who were to "be detailed from their respective departments of the Regular Army of the United States." This effort to secure economy was undoubtedly a wise step in the right direction, but like so much of our hasty and ill-digested military legislation it began at the wrong end. Had the President been allowed to call for the volunteers by companies, with authority to select the field officers, adjutants, and quartermasters from the Regular Army, not only the economy but the discipline and instruction of the regiments could have been controlled by trusted officers of the Government.

The military operations of 1848 to 1861 were limited chiefly to Indian wars and the Utah expedition of 1858.

The effect of the latter, although bloodless in its termination, was to transfer nearly all the troops of the Regular Army west of the Mississippi.

The expenditures for the Army and Navy from 1850 to 1861 is presented in the following table:

a Army Register, August 1, 1855.

168,079, 707.57

127,874, 500.72

The expenditures of the War and Navy Departments for the year 1849, in which

were closed up the accounts of the Mexican War, were as follows:

War Department.

Navy Department..

$14, 558, 473. 26 9,786,705.92

CHAPTER XVII.

MILITARY POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE REBELLION.

At the close of the year 1860 we presented to the world the spectacle of a great nation nearly destitute of military force. Our territory from ocean to ocean exceeded 3,000,000 square miles; our population numbered 31,000,000 people.

The Regular Army as organized consisted of 18,093" officers and men, but according to the returns it numbered only 16,367.

The line of the Army was composed of 198 companies, of which 183 were stationed on the frontier or were en route to distant posts west of the Mississippi. The remaining 15 companies were stationed along the Canadian frontier and on the Atlantic coast from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico.

As a guard for the national frontiers, the Army could not furnish two soldiers per mile; for protecting the settlements in the States and Territories west of the Mississippi but one soldier was available for every 120 square miles; to aid in the enforcement of the laws in the remaining States of the Union we had but one soldier for every 1,300 square miles.

The militia for a sudden emergency were scarcely more available than the Army. Nominally they numbered more than 3,000,000, but mostly unorganized. So destitute were they of instruction and training that a few regiments in the large cities excepted-they did not merit the name of a military force.

Such was the condition of the national defense when, on the 20th of December, 1860, South Carolina in convention passed the ordinance of secession.

Her example was followed on the 7th of January, 1861, by Florida, on the 9th by Mississippi, on the 11th by Alabama, on the 20th by Georgia, on the 26th by Louisiana, and on the 1st of February by Texas.

With a purpose clearly defined, the deputies appointed by these States met at Montgomery, February 4, adopted a provisional constitution on the 8th, and elected a President on the 9th.

In a brief space of five days these deputies, who styled themselves a "Congress of Sovereign States," inaugurated within our borders a rival republic and boldly proclaimed its freedom and independence. The measures which followed were no less bold and energetic. February 28, they directed their President to assume control of all military operations in every State, and further authorized him to accept, for a period not exceeding twelve months, as many volunteers as he might require.

a Army Register, 1860, p. 42.

b Ex. Doc. No. 23, Forty-fifth Congress, third session. 34760°-16-15

225

A week later, March 6, he dictated a call for 100,000 men to take the field under his unquestioned and supreme command. "

a

In contrast with these formidable preparations, such was our organization and so scattered was our Army that on the 15th of December, 1860, we had but five inexpansive companies available to garrison the nine fortifications along the southern coast. These garrisons six weeks later were increased by about 600 recruits.

The remainder of the Regular Army, scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was too remote to participate in the first shock of arms or even to provide a sufficient defense for the capital.

Alarmed at the impending danger, the President, as had been done so often before, turned to the militia. On the 9th of April a call was made upon the District of Columbia for ten companies, but when paraded for muster many through disloyalty refused to be sworn, while others imposed the condition that they should not be required to serve beyond the limits of the District. Subsequently, during the month of April, companies were mustered into service for three months, all but three with the stipulation "to serve within the District and not go beyond it."b

Although it should be stated that many of these companies did finally serve outside the District without protest, it should also be observed that their conduct afforded another proof that in time of great civil commotion, it is only raw troops who presume to dictate to their lawful commanders.

In the meantime so prompt was the response to the Confederate call for 100,000 volunteers, that by the middle of April 35,000 men were equipped for the field. Conscious of their strength, they at once seized our arsenals and began the seige of our forts.

April 12th, the first shot fired at Fort Sumter, followed two days later by the evacuation of the post, awakened the people to the dread reality of a long civil war.

To the commanding officer at Fort Moultrie, Secretary Floyd sent the following remarkable letter:

Major ANDERSON,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 21, 1860.

First Artillery, Commanding Fort Moultrie, S. C. SIR: In the verbal instructions communicated to you by Major Buell, you are directed to hold possession of the forts in the harbor of Charleston and, if attacked, to defend yourself to the last extremity. Under these instructions you might infer that you are required to make a vain and useless sacrifice of your own life and the lives of the men under your command upon a mere point of honor. This is far from the President's intentions. You are to exercise a sound military discretion on this subject.

It is neither expected nor desired that you should expose your own life or that of your men in a hopeless conflict in defense of these forts. If they are invested or attacked by a force so superior that resistance would, in your judgment, be a useless waste of life, it will be your duty to yield to necessity and make the best terms in your power.

This will be the conduct of an honorable, brave, and humane officer, and you will be fully justified in such action. These orders are strictly confidential and not to be communicated even to the officers under your command without close necessity.

Very respectfully,

JOHN B. FLOYD.

a Pollard's Life of Jefferson Davis, with a Secret History of the Confederacy, p. 91. Report of the Provost-Marshal-General, vol. 1, p. 7.

CALL FOR MILITIA.

In every stage of their prosecution the wars of the Revolution and of 1812 gave evidence that a system of national defense, based on the consent and cooperation of the States, possessed none of the elements of certainty or of strength.

Nevertheless, for the want of an expansive regular army or a system of national volunteers, the President was again compelled to look to the States, and therefore on the 15th of April, issued his proclamation calling for 75,000 militia for the period of three months.

The terms of the proclamation show that the President and Cabinet began the war with the same confidence in raw troops as was manifested by their predecessors in 1812.

The militia was not summoned for the defense of the capital, but to suppress "combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed." a In explanation of the call, the President further stated:

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union.

Language so unmistakable, and which had the sanction of our most distinguished statesmen, leads only to the conclusion that with raw troops, it was believed that a formidable rebellion, already covering a territory of 560,000 square miles, could be subdued within the brief space of three months.

REFUSAL OF THE GOVERNORS TO FURNISH MILITIA.

The conduct of the governors in this emergency, as in the war of 1812, was largely controlled by their party affiliations.

In the North, patriotic men rushed to arms in numbers far exceeding the requirements of the Government. From the South nothing was received but defiant refusals.

The replies from the border States were as follows:

Governor Letcher, of Virginia, under date of April 16, 1861, wrote: The militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States, and a requisition made upon me for such an object--an object in my judgment not within the purview of the Constitution or the act of 1795—will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate civil war, and, having done so, we will meet in a spirit as determined as the Administration has exhibited toward the South.

Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, under date of April 15, replied: Your dispatch is received, and, if genuine-which its extraordinary character leads me to doubt-I have to say in reply that I regard the levy of troops made by the Administration, for the purpose of subjugating the States of the South as in violation of the Constitution and a usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country, and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina. I will reply more in detail when your call is received by mail.

Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, on April 15, made this answer:

Your dispatch is received. In answer I say emphatically Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States.

a President's proclamation April 15, 1861, (Report of Provost-Marshal-General, vol. 2, p. 205).

Governor Harris, of Tennessee, on April 17, made this reply:

Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but 50,000, if necessary, for the defense of our rights or those of our southern brethren.

Governor Jackson, of Missouri, on April 22, followed with this statement:

Your requisition is illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical, and can not be complied with.

Governor Rector, of Arkansas, on the same date wrote:

None will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to injury, a

The State of Delaware failed to respond to the call for one regiment of militia, for a reason scarcely less illustrative of the inherent weakness of our military system. In a proclamation dated April 26, 1861, the governor stated:

Whereas the laws of this State do not confer upon the Executive any authority enabling him to comply with such requisition, there being no organized militia nor any law requiring such organization, and whereas it is the duty of all good and lawabiding citizens to preserve the peace and sustain the laws and Government under which we live, and by which our citizens are protected:

Therefore, I, William Burton, Governor of the said State of Delaware, recommend the formation of volunteer companies for the protection of the lives and property of the people of this State against violence of any sort to which they may be exposed. For these purposes such companies, when formed, will be under the control of the State authorities, though not subject to be ordered by the Executive into the United States service, the law not vesting in him such authority. They will, however, have the option of offering their services to the General Government for the defense of its capital and the support of the Constitution and laws of the country.

In their haste to defy the Government no reference of the President's call was made to the legislatures or highest judicial tribunals of the seceding States. The governors, as the commanders in chief of the militia, acted solely on their own responsibility. Possessing the power, they did not hesitate, but made a merit of paralyzing the military resources of six States which afterwards, on an appeal to the people, furnished for the Union no less than 251,787 men.

These facts possess a still deeper significance; on the one hand, they reveal the utter weakness of a military system, based on the theory of confederation; on the other, they represent the mighty power of a government which, instituted "by the people and for the people," makes its appeal directly to the people.

SPREAD OF THE REBELLION.

The fall of Fort Sumter was followed by the secession of Virginia, April 17; Arkansas and Tennessee, May 6; and North Carolina, May

20.

The prospective accession of so much territory to the cause of secession demanded renewed efforts for its defense.

April 29, Mr. Davis therefore, wrote to the Confederate Congress: There are now in the field at Charleston, Pensacola, Forts Morgan, Jackson, St. Philip, and Pulaski, 19,000 men, and 16,000 are now en route for Virginia. It is proposed to organize and hold in readiness for instant action, in view of the present exigencies of the country, an army of 100,000 men.d

a Report of Provost-Marshal-General, vol. 2, p. 130.

Extract from New York Herald, April 28, 1861, Frank Moore's Rebellion Record, vol 1, p. 155.

& Report of Provost-Marshal-General, vol. 2, p. 180.

d Pollard's Lost Cause, p. 117.