A MEASURING ROD
To
TEST TEXT BOOKS, AND REFERENCE BOOKS
In
Schools, Colleges and Libraries
Prepared By
MILDRED LEWIS RUTHERFORD
ATHENS, GA.
At the Request of the
UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS
RESOLUTIONS BY UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS
The following Resolutions were offered by General C. Irvine
Walker of Charleston, S. C, at the Reunion in Atlanta, Octo-
ber 8th, after Miss Rutherford's address on the importance
of having the South 's history correctly taught in our schools:
"Whereas, we have heard with the deepest interest the pa-
triotic, historic, instructive and suggestive address of the illus-
trious Southern Historian, Miss Mildred Rutherford, Therefore
Be it Resolved:
"1st. That our thanks are due and are hereby tendered to
Miss Rutherford for her eloquent and truthful presentation of
the facts of Confederate history.
"2nd. That we accept her suggestion as to having such facts
imparted to the young of our country, so that they may learn
correctly the rights and the history of that great struggle for
which we offered our lives and gave everything save our sacred
honor.
"3rd. That to make an organized effort to accomplish what
she suggests, a committee of five be appointed, and if by it
deemed practicable, to carry out the same, under the authority
of this federation.
"4th. That the cooperation of the Sons of Confederate Vet-
erans and United Daughters of the Confederacy be invited and
each asked to appoint five members to form a part of our Com-
mittee. "
COMMITTEE APPOINTED
At the Reunion held in Atlanta, October 7-11, 1919, the United
Confederate Veterans resolved to inaugurate a movement to
disseminate the truths of Confederate history.
To carry out the same, the following Committee was ap-
pointed :
GEN. C. IRVINE WALKER, Honorary Comdr.-in-Chief, TL C.
V., Chairman, Charleston, S. C.
GEN. JULIAN S. CARR, Comdr. Army No. Va., U. C. V., Dur-
ham, N. C.
GEN. CALVIN B. VANCE, Comdr. Army Tenn., U. C. V.,
Batesville, Miss.
GEN. VIRGIL Y. COOK, Comdr. Trans. Miss., U. C. V, Bates-
ville, Ark.
GEN. A. J. TWIGGS, Comdr. East Ga. Brigade, U. C. V.,
Augusta, Ga.
2
The Sons of Confederate Veterans have appointed the fol-
lowing Committee to cooperate with the Veterans:
REV. J. CLEVELAND HALL, Chairman, Danville, Va.
DR. JNO. W. HOOPER, Roanoke, Ala.
W. C. CHANDLER, Memphis, Tenn.
W. S. LEMLEY, Temple, Texas.
J. J. SLAUGHTER, Muskogee, Okla.
A MEASURING ROD FOR TEXT-BOOKS
" 'A Measuring Rod For Text-Books,' prepared by Miss Mil-
dred L. Rutherford, by which every text-book on history and
literature in Southern schools should be tested by those desiring
the truth, was submitted to the Committee. This outline was
read and carefully considered.
"The Committee charged, as it is, with the dissemination of
the truths of Confederate history, earnestly and fully and
officially, approve all that is herein so truthfully written as to
that eventful period.
"The Committee respectfully urges all authorities charged
with the selection of text-books for colleges, schools and all
scholastic institutions to measure all books offered for adoption
by this "Measuring Bod" and adopt none which do not accord
full justice to the South. And all library authorities in the
Southern States are requested to mark all books in their collec-
tions which do not come up to the same measure, on the title
page thereof, "Unjust to the South."
"This Committee further asks all scholastic and library au-
thorities, in all parts of the country, in justice and fairness to
their fellow citizens of the South, to yield to the above request.
"C. IRVINE WALKER, Chairman."
INDEX* Page
I. The Constitution of the United States, 1787, Was a
Compact between Sovereign States and Was not
Perpetual nor National 6
II. Secession Was not Rebellion 7
III. The North Was Responsible for the War between the
States 8
IV. The War between the States Was not Fought to Hold
the Slaves 9
V. The Slaves Were Not Ill-Treated in the South and the
North Was largely Responsible for their Presence
in the South 10
VI. Coercion Was not Constitutional 11
VII. The Federal Government Was Responsible for the
Andersonville Horrors 12
VIII. The Republican Party that Elected Abraham Lincoln
Was not Friendly to the South 13
IX. The South Desired Peace and Made every Effort to
Obtain it 14, 15, 16
X. The Policy of the Northern Army Was to Destroy
Property — the Southern Army to Protect it 18-21
XL The South Has never Had its Rightful Place in Liter-
ature 22-23
* See "Truths of History," by Mildred Lewis Rutherford, Athens, Ga., for
additional testimony.
A FOREWORD FROM MISS RUTHERFORD
Realizing that the text-books in history and literature which
the children of the South are now studying, and even the ones
from which many of their parents studied before them, are in
many respects unjust to the South and her institutions, and
that a far greater injustice and danger is threatening the South
today from the late histories which are being published, guilty
not only of misrepresentations but of gross omissions, refusing
to give the South credit for what she has accomplished, as His-
torian of the U. D. C, and one vitally interested in all that per-
tains to the South, I have prepared, as it were, a testing or
measuring rod. Committees appointed by Boards of Education
or heads of private institutions and their teachers can apply this
test when books are presented for adoption, so that none ivho
really desire the truth need be hampered in their recommenda-
tion for acceptance or rejection of such books.
Absolute fairness to the North and South is stressed as only
Truth is History.
MILDRED LEWIS RUTHERFORD,
Athens, Georgia.
4
WARNING* f
Do not reject a text-book because it does not contain all that
the South claims — a text-book cannot be a complete encyclopedia.
Do not reject a text book because it omits to mention your
father, your grandfather, your personal friend, socially or polit-
ically— it would take volumes to contain all of the South 's
great men and their deeds.
Do not reject a text-book because it may disagree with your
estimate of the South 's great men, and the leaders of the South 's
Army and Navy — the world can never agree with any one per-
son's estimate in all things.
But — reject a book that speaks of the Constitution other than
a Compact between Sovereign States.
Reject a text-book that does not give the principles for which
the South fought in 1861, and does not clearly outline the in-
terferences with the rights guaranteed to the South by the
Constitution, and which caused secession.
Reject a book that calls the Confederate soldier a traitor or
rebel, and the war a rebellion.
Reject a book that says the South fought to hold her slaves.
Reject a book that speaks of the slaveholder of the South as
cruel and unjust to his slaves.
Reject a text-book that glorifies Abraham Lincoln and villifies
Jefferson Davis, unless a truthful cause can be found for such
glorification and villification before 1865.
Reject a text-book that omits to tell of the South 's heroes
and their deeds when the North's heroes and their deeds are
made prominent.
Refuse to adopt any text-book, or endorse any set of books,
upon the promise of changes being made to omit the objection-
able features.*
A list of books, condemned or commended by the Veterans,
Sons of Veterans, and U. D. C, is being prepared by Miss Ruth-
erford as a guide for Text-Book Committees and Librarians.
This list of course contains only the names of those books
which have been submitted for examination. Others will be
added and published monthly in "The Confederate Veteran/'
Nashville, Tennessee.
* The endorsement of a series of Historical Novels. "The Real Romance of
History," was once given by the Historian-General, U. D. C, upon the prom-
ise to change the objectionable statements regarding the War between the
States. The endorsement was used but the promise was not kept — her endorse-
ment sold many books containing the falsehoods.
t There was not time to submit this "Warning" to the Veterans or Sons of
Veterans, but Miss Rutherford thinks it will meet with their approval.
A Measuring Rod for Text Books
(See " Truths of History," by Mildred Lewis Rutherford,
Athens, Ga., for additional testimony).
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
1787, WAS A COMPACT BETWEEN SOVEREIGN
STATES, AND WAS NOT PERPETUAL NOR
NATIONAL.
AUTHORITY:
Elliott 's Debates, Vol. V., p. 214:
"When the Constitution was outlined and read, the
words Perpetual Union which had been in the Articles of
Confederation were omitted. Alexander Hamilton and
others noticing it, and desiring a Union, opposed the adop-
tion of the Constitution. Some one moved to have it made
a National Government, but this motion was unanimously
defeated. Senator Ellsworth of Connecticut and Senator
Gorham of Massachusetts have testified to this."
Daniel Webster, "The Federalist," p. 908:
"If the states were not left to leave the Union when their
rights were interfered with, the government would have
been National, but the Convention refused to baptize it by
that name."
Daniel Webster, Capon Springs Speech, in 1851 :
"The Union is a Union of States founded upon Compact.
How is it to be supposed that when different parties enter
into a compact for certain purposes either can disregard
one provision of it and expect others to observe the rest?
"If the Northern States wilfully and deliberately refuse
to carry out their part of the Constitution, the South would
be no longer bound to keep the compact.
"A bargain broken on one side is broken on all sides."
Daniel Webster in 1833 said :
"If a contract, it rests on plighted faith, and the mode
of redress would be to declare the whole void. States may
secede if a League or Compact."
Henry Cabot Lodge says :
"The weak place in Webster's armour in the Hayne-
Webster Debate was historical — the facts were against him.
And Chief Justice Story in that controversy never once
mentioned secession, he was only stressing nullification."
II.
Secession Was Not Rebellion
AUTHORITY:
Dr. Henry Wade Rogers, Dean of the Law Department of Yale :
"When peace came it was found that the Articles of
Confederation were weak, in that the Central government
could not legally assume sovereign power — that power re-
sided in those free, sovereign and independent States, and
there was no delegation of any rights to a central head.
"It became necessary, therefore, to change the Articles
of Confederation so that the States should be brought to
cooperate, by realizing that the government should not be
a perpetual Union, but an agreement by which certain
rights were reserved for the Federal government, and cer-
tain rights were reserved for the State."
Rawle 's "View of the Constitution" was a text-book used at
West Point. Rawle said:
"It will depend upon the State itself whether it will
continue a member of the Union."
"If the States are interfered with they may wholly with-
draw from the Union." (pp. 289, 290).
"General Lee told Bishop Wilmer, of Louisiana, that if
it had not been for the instruction received from Rawle 's
text-book at West Point he would not have left the United
States Army and joined the Confederate Army at the
breaking out of the War between the States."
Benjamin T. Wade, Senator from Ohio, 1858 :
"Who is to be the final arbiter — the government or the
States — why, to yield the right of the States to protect its
own citizens would consolidate this government into a mis-
erable despotism."
Goldwin Smith of Cornell University:
"The Southern leaders ought not to have been treated as
rebels — secession is not rebellion."
Judge Black, of Pennsylvania, said :
"John Quincy Adams, in 1839, and Abraham Lincoln,
1847, made elaborate arguments in favor of the legal right
of a State to Secede." — Black's Essays.
American Conflict, Horace Greeley, Vol. I, p. 359:
"Let the people be told why they wish to break up the
Confederation, and let the act of secession be the echo of an
unmistakable popular fiat. Then those who rush to carnage
to try to defeat it would place themselves clearly in the
wrong;. ' '
III.
The North Was Responsible for the War Between the States
AUTHORITY:
The New York Herald, April 7, 1861 :
"Unless Mr. Lincoln's administration makes the first
demonstration and attack, President Davis says there will
be no bloodshed. "With Mr. Lincoln's administration, there-
fore, rests the responsibility of precipitating a collision, and
the fearful evils of protracted war."
The New York Herald, April 5, 1861 :
"We have no doubt Mr. Lincoln wants the Cabinet at
Montgomery to take the initiative by capturing two forts
in its waters, for it would give him the opportunity of
throwing the responsibility of commencing hostilities. But
the country and posterity will hold him just as responsible
as if he struck the first blow. ' '
Sheppard's "Life of Lincoln" :
"Please present my compliments to General Scott and
tell him confidentially to be prepared to hold or retake the
forts as the case may require after my inauguration." —
Abraham Lincoln.
Horton's History, p. 71:
' ' The withdrawal of the Southern States from the Union
was in no sense a declaration of war upon the Federal gov-
ernment but the Federal government declared war on them,
as history will show."
Gideon Welles:
"There was not a man in the Cabinet that did not know
that an attempt to reinforce Sumter would be the first
blow of the war."
Seward said :
"Even preparation to reinforce will precipitate war."
Stephen Douglas said:
' ' Lincoln is trying to plunge the country into a cruel war
as the surest means of destroying the Union upon the plea
of enforcing the laws and protecting public property."
Zack Chandler wrote to Governor Blair:
"The manufacturing States think a war will be awful,
but without a little blood-letting the Union will not be worth
a curse."
William Seward said :
' ' The attempt to reinforce Sumter will provoke war. The
very preparation of such an expedition will precipitate war.
I would instruct Anderson to return from Sumter."
IV.
The War Between the States Was Not Fought to Hold the
Slaves
AUTHORITY:
A Resolution was passed unanimously by Congress July 23,
1861:
"The war is waged by the Government of the United
States, not in the spirit of conquest or subjugation, nor for
the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights
or institutions of the states, but to defend and protect the
Union."
Abraham Lincoln, in his Inaugural Address :
' * I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with
the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I
believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no in-
clination to do so."
George Lunt's "Origin of the Late War," p. 432:
"A war simply for the abolition of slavery would not
have enlisted a dozen regiments at the North."
Unanswerable arguments will be found in the facts that a
slaveholder, General U. S. Grant, was placed in command of the
Union Army, and General Robert E. Lee who had freed his
slaves put in command of the Confederate forces. Two hun-
dred thousand slaveholders only were in the Southern Army
while three hundred and fifteten thousand slaveholders were in
the Northern Army.
General Grant (Democratic Speaker's Handbook, p. 33), said:
"Should I become convinced that the object of the Gov-
ernment is to execute the wishes of the abolitionists, I
pledge you my honor as a man and a soldier I would re-
sign my commission and carry my sword to the other side. ' '
Simon Cameron, Lincoln's Secretary of War, wrote to General
Butler in New Orleans:
"President Lincoln desires the right to hold slaves to be
fully recognized. The war is prosecuted for the Union
hence no question concerning slavery will arise. ' '
Y.
Slaves Were Not Ill-Treated in the South. The North Was
Largely Responsible for Their Presence in the South.
AUTHORITY:
The servants were very happy in their life upon the old planta-
tions. William Makepeace Thackeray, on a lecture tour in
America, visited a Southern plantation. In ''Roundabout
Papers" he gives this impression of the slaves:
"How they sang ! How they danced !" How they laughed !
How they shouted ! How they bowed and scraped and com-
plimented ! So free, so happy ! I saw them dressed on Sun-
day in their Sunday best — far better dressed than our
English tenants of the working class are in their holiday
attire. To me, it is the dearest institution I have ever seen
and these slaves seem far better off than any tenants I have
seen under any other tenantry system.' '
Major General Quitman of the United States Army thus de-
scribed life on the "Old Plantation" in 1822 while stationed in
Mississippi :
The mansions of the planters are thrown open to all
comers and goers free of charge. The owner of this planta-
tion is the widow of a Virginia gentleman of distinction,
who was an officer in the last war with Great Britain.
"Her slaves are a happy, careless, unreflecting, good na-
tured race. They are strongly attached to ' old massa, ' and
' old missus ' ; but their devotion to ' young massa ' and ' young
missus ' amounts to enthusiasm. While in a way these slaves
appear to be free, they are very obedient and polite and
they do their work well.
"These 'niggers,' as you call them, are the happiest peo-
ple I have ever seen. They are oily, sleek, bountifully fed,
well clothed and well taken care of. One hears them at all
times whistling and singing cheerily at their work
"But a negro will sleep — sleep at his work, sleep on his
carriage box, sleep standing up, sleep bare-headed in the
sun, and sleep sitting on a high rail fence. Yet, compared
with the ague-smitten and suffering settlers in Ohio, or the
sickly, half-starved operatives in the factories and mines of
the North and the Northeast, these Southern slaves are in-
deed to be envied. They are treated with such great hu-
manity and kindness. ' '
Chas. E. Stowe, the son of Harriet Beecher Stowe, in speaking
at a negro college, said :
' ' If you ask me if the slaves were better off under the in-
stitution of slavery than they are under freedom, I must in
candor answer that some were — they were not fit for free-
dom."
10
Coercion Was Not Constitutional
AUTHORITY:
William Seward to London Times Correspondent, Mr. Russell,
April 4, 1861 :
' ' It would be contrary to the spirit of the American Gov-
ernment to use force to subjugate the South."
Mr. Seward to Charles Francis Adams, Sr., Minister to Eng-
land, April 10, 1861 :
"Only a despotic and imperial government car 3oerce
seceding States."
Edward Everett:
"To try to hold fifteen States to the Union is preposter-
ous. ' '
President James Buchanan to Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary
of War :
"There is no power under the Constitution to coerce a
seceding State."
The New York Herald :
1 ' The day before Fort Sumter was surrendered two-thirds
of the newspapers in the North opposed coercion in any
shape or form, and sympathized with the South. Three-
fifths of the entire American people sympathized with the
South. Over 200,000 voters opposed coercion and believed
the South had a right to secede. ' '
11 The Journal of Commerce fought coercion until the
United States mail refused to carry its papers in 1861."
Charles Sumner said :
"Nothing can possibly be so horrible, so wicked or so
foolish as a war against the South. ' '
James S. Thayer, of New York, on January 21, 1861, said :
"If the incoming Administration shall attempt to carry
out a line of policy which has been foreshadowed, and con-
struct a scaffold for coercion — another name for execution
— we will reverse the order of the French Revolution and
save the blood of the people by making those who would in-
augurate a ' Reign of Terror' the first victim of a national
guillotine." (Enthusiastic applause).
11
VII.
The Federal Government Was Responsible for the Anderson-
ville Horrors
AUTHORITY:
Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, said:
"We think after the testimony given that the Confederate
authorities and especially Mr. Davis ought not to be held
responsible for the terrible privations, suffering, and in-
juries which our men had to endure while kept in Confed-
erate Military Prisons, the fact is unquestionable that while
Confederates desired to exchange prisoners, to send our
men home, and to get back their own men, General Grant
steadily and strenuously resisted such an exchange. ' ' — New
York Sun.
General Butler said :
"The reason for this was that the exchange of prisoners
would strengthen Lee 's army and greatly prolong the war. ' '
General Grant said:
"Not to take any steps by which an able-bodied man
should be exchanged until orders were received from him.,,
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton's statistics testify that
while there were fifty thousand more of prisoners in Southern
prisons than in Northern, the mortality among Southern men in
Northern prisons was far greater.
General Grant, again, said :
If we hold these men caught they are no more than dead
men. If we liberate them we will have to fight on until the
whole South is exterminated."
This agrees with General Lee's testimony (Official Records War
of the Rebellion) :
"I offered General Grant to send into his lines all of the
prisoners within my Department provided he would return
man for man. When I notified the Confederate authorities
of my proposition, I was told if accepted they would gladly
place at my disposal every man in our Southern prisons. I
also made this offer to the Committee of the United States
Sanitary Commission — but my propositions were not ac-
cepted."
12
VIII.
The Republican Party That Elected Abraham Lincoln Was
Not Friendly to the South
AUTHORITY:
Wendell Phillips:
"The Eepublican party is in no sense a National party;
it is a party pledged to work for the downfall of Democracy,
the downfall of the Union, and the destruction of the United
States Constitution. The religious creed of the party was
hate of Democracy, hate of the Union, hate of the Consti-
tution, and hate of the Southern people."
Again, he says :
"The Republican party is the first sectional party ever
organized in this country. It does not know its own face
and calls itself National, but it is not National, it is sec-
tional. It is the party of the North pledged against the
South. It was organized with hatred of the Constitution.
"The Republican party that elected Abraham Lincoln is
pledged to the downfall of the Union and the destruction
of the United States Constitution.
"William Lloyd Garrison believed in the Constitutional
right to hold slaves, and said the Union must be dissolved
to free them.
"He believed in the Constitutional right of secession, so
was willing to publicly burn the Constitution to destroy
that right and called it 'a compact with death and a league
with hell.'"
Charles Beecher Stowe said:
"The party that elected Abraham Lincoln was a party
avowedly hostile to the institution of slavery."
Had they not heard him say in his address at Cooper Insti-
tute that:
"The anti-slavery sentiment had already caused more
than a million votes which could only be seen by Southern
States to mean a danger and menace. Consequently when
they drew the sword to defend the doctrine of States rights
and the institution of slavery, they certainly had on their
side the Constitution and the laws of the land, for the Na-
tional Constitution justified the doctrine of State rights."
Mr. Raymond, in the New York Times, says:
"His election was more by shouts and applause which
dominated the convention than from any direct labors of
any of the delegates." — Boston Courier, May 26, 1860.
13
IX.
The South Desired Peace and Made Every Effort to Obtain It
AUTHORITY:
The Mississippi Convention sent a commissioner to Maryland
and when asked what was the intention of the Southern States
by secession, (Shaffner's "Secession War," London, 1862),
he replied:
"Secession is not intended to break up the present gov-
ernment, but to perpetuate it. Our plan is to withdraw from
the Union in order to allow amendments to the Constitu-
tion to be made, guaranteeing our just rights. If the North-
ern States will not make these amendments — then we must
secure them ourselves by a government of our own. ' '
Lord Charnwood's "Life of Lincoln":
"This madness appeared when the Congress met in De-
cember, 1860. In order to allay the apprehensions of the
Southern people regarding the purposes of the party just
ready to come into power, the Southern members offered
resolution after resolution looking to tranquility. These
resolutions were all rejected by the House of Representa-
tives.
"Then was offered in the Senate the celebrated 'Critten-
den Compromise,' yielding all that the North demanded in
regard to exclusion of slavery from the Territories, but in-
sisting that the Constitution be respected as to fugitive
slaves, and that the Constitution be maintained and its pro-
vision be kept as adjudicated by the Supreme Court of the
land. The South made no new request ; it went not outside
of the Constitution. It rested its case on the Constitution
and on its interpretation by the highest court of the land.
It was strictly loyal to the Constitution.
Why was the Crittenden Compromise rejected? Be-
cause Mr. Lincoln willed it. He wrote letters to his party
leaders to defeat it. He said 'he had no compromises to
make with the South. ' The idea was that he had triumphed
and that triumph meant no surrender in any respect of the
new policies.
"It was a tragic day when the Crittenden Compromise
was defeated. Not a single Republican voted for it.
The Crittenden Resolutions were a most generous proposition
from the South to allow out of the 1,200,000 square miles of
territory acquired by conquest and purchase, 900,000 square
miles for free territory and the remaining 300,000 square miles
14
to be free or slave as each new State formed might choose, and
this, too, when Southern prowess had largely gained the terri-
tory. These resolutions in the interest of peace were offered by
Northern and Southern Democrats. Lincoln notified all Re-
publican States through Senators Harlan and Zach Chandler
to vote against these resolutions. Had he not done this they
would have passed. Unjust as they were to the South, the
South would have accepted them, and Thurlow Weed and Seward
would have seen that they were passed by the North. It was
Lincoln's fault they were rejected. George Lunt said Lincoln
later acknowledged that he regretted this.
Again Lord Charnwood said:
"Senator Chandler, of Michigan, had telegraphed to the
Governor of Michigan to send delegates to the Peace Con-
gress, 'but to send stiff-necked men or none — for without a
little blood letting the Union will not be worth saving.' "
George Lunt, p. 423, says :
"The propositions of the Peace Conference evidently
formed a sound basis for settlement of the controversy.
These resolutions were introduced by Mr. Crittenden, of
Kentucky, and had they been adopted, they would have
saved the country from its coming trials. On the commit-
tee of thirteen reporting these resolutions were Jefferson
Davis, of Mississippi ; Mr. Hunter, of Virginia ; Robert
Toombs, of Georgia ; five from slave States — eight from
free States. General Toombs reported to his constituents
in Georgia that the Black Republican solidly voted against
the resolutions. Mr. Douglas, in the Senate, said: 'Every
member from the South including Messrs. Davis and
Toombs, from the Cotton States, expressed a willingness to
accept the resolutions as a final settlement of the contro-
versy. Hence the responsibility of our disagreement, and
the only difficulty in the way of an amicable adjustment is
with the Republican party." (See Congressional Globe,
Appendix 1800-61, p. 41).
"Mr. Toombs, in the Senate, said there were some condi-
tions he would prefer, but for the sake of peace — perma-
nent peace — he would accept them."
Mr. Pugh, of Ohio, said he had heard the senator from
Mississippi (afterwards President Davis) before leaving
the Senate Chamber say he would accept it to maintain
the Union. There is no doubt but that a two-thirds vote
would have saved the Union."
15
When it came to a final vote every Republican voted against
them except Mr. Seivard who refused to vote at all. The resolu-
tions were lost by a vote of 20 to 19. How could peace have
been brought about?
Mr. Dixon, of Connecticut, in I860, had the true idea. He said :
"The true way to restore harmony is by cheerfully and
honestly assuring every section its Constitutional rights.
No section professes to ask more; no section ought to offer
less."
Mr. Brown, a personal friend and colleague of Jefferson Davis,
of Mississippi, replied:
"If that same spirit could prevail which actuates the
senator from Connecticut, who has just taken his seat, a
different state of things might be produced in twenty days. ' '
The Rejection of the Crittenden Resolutions created a crisis:
"The Southern leaders then called a conference. What
was to be done? All their proposals of compromise, look-
ing to peace, tranquility, security within the Union, had
failed. They asked each other: 'What is the purpose of
this anti-South party? What means the rejection of our
compromises? Why did Mr. Lincoln discountenance any
compromise? What means this secession from the Consti-
tution ? This refusal to abide by the decisions of the United
States Supreme Court? What means Mr. Lincoln's atti-
tude in opposing the Crittenden Compromise V
"Despairing of their rights within the Union, the South-
ern leaders advised the Southern States to throw themselves
back on their reserved rights and withdraw from the Union.
But it was too late. It could have been done in 1S50, but
not in 1861. From 1850 to 1860 the North had educated
the people of the North out of the Jefferson theory of State
rights." — George Lunt.
Second Peace Congress, Ex-President John Tyler, President,
Washington, D. C. :
"Virginia did not act at the time with the Southern
States that organized the Confederacy, but called a 'Peace
Conference.' Twenty-one States responded to the call.
The venerable John Tyler, ex-President of the United
States, was chosen president. They met in Washington
on February 4, 1861. But Salmon P. Chase, to be the Sec-
retary of the Treasury under the new administration, was
there as the representative of Mr. Lincoln and the new vic-
torious party. His speech destroyed all hope of any recon-
ciliation. He refused all compromises, and said Northern
16
States would never fulfill that part of the Constitution in
regard to fugitive slaves, and that the decision of the Su-
preme Court would not be abided. The failure of this con-
ference was a great disappointment, especially to Virginia.
Mr. Lincoln took the same stand as he did regarding the
Crittenden Compromise." — Lord Charn wood's "Life of
Lincoln."
Judge Salmon P. Chase in Peace Congress :
' ' I must tell you further that under no inducements what-
ever will we consent to surrender a principle which we be-
lieve to be sound, and so important as that of restricting
slavery within State limits."
And again he said :
"The people of the free States who believe that slavery
is wrong cannot and will not aid in returning runaway
slaves and the law becomes a dead letter. ' '
Now, this was in defiance of the decision of the Supreme
Court in the Dred Scott case.
Secretary Chase announced that:
"The Republican party would concede nothing in regard
to slave extension in the Territories, and the Northern
States would never fulfill their Constitutional obligations."
(There was nothing to do but to adjourn).
The third attempt was when the Peace Commissioners were sent
from the Confederate government with this message :
"The undersigned are instructed to make to the Govern-
ment of the Hinted States overtures for the opening of ne-
gotiations, assuring the Government of the United States
that the President, Congress, and people of the Confeder-
ate States earnestly desire a peaceful solution of these great
questions; that it is neither their interest nor their wish to
make any demand which is not founded in strictest justice,
nor do any act to injure their late Confederates."
Vessels were manned and armed while the delegates were
waiting in Washington; and were sent to provision and rein-
force Sumter. The last effort at peace was the HAMPTON
ROADS CONFERENCE. It failed. (See Gen. Julian Oarr's
pamphlet).
17
X.
The Policy of the Northern Army Was to Destroy Property —
That of the Southern Army to Protect It
AUTHORITY:
Sheridan's Official Report:
"I have burned two thousand barns filled with wheat
and corn, all the mills in the whole country, destroyed all
the factories of cloth, killed or driven off every animal,
even the poultry that could contribute to human sustenance.
"Nothing should be left in the Shenandoah but eyes to
lament the war."
Sherman's Memoirs:
' ' It will not be necessary to sow salt on the site of Charles-
ton after the Fifteenth Corps has done its work."
"One hundred million dollars of damage has been done
to Georgia ; $20,000,000 inured to our benefit, the remainder
simply waste and destruction."
"On General Howell Cobb's plantation I told my men to
spare nothing."
"I'll not restrain the army lest its vigor and energy be
impaired." (p. 185).
"In South Carolina I kindled my fire with an old mantel
clock, and a piece of a handsome old bedstead." (p. 225).
"Orders to kill Jeff Davis and his Cabinet on the spot"
were found on the person of Dahlgren in Richmond, Va.
Lord Palmerson in the British House of Commons took oc-
casion to express deepest indignation at General Butler's in-
famous order No. 28 against the ladies of New Orleans.
General Grant to Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley, Vir-
ginia :
"Nothing shall be left to invite the enemy to return."
' "City Point, July 14, 1864.
" 'Major-General Halleck, "Washington, D. C.
" 'If the enemy has left Maryland, as I suppose he has,
he should have upon his heels veterans, militiamen, men on
horseback, and everything that can be got to follow to eat
out Virginia clear and clean as they go, so that the crows
flying over it will have to carry their provender with them.
"(Signed) U. S. GRANT,
" 'Lieutenant-General.' "
" 'City Point, August 26, 1864.
" 'Major-General Sheridan, Halltown, Va. :
" 'Do all the damage to railroads and crops you can.
Carry off stock of all descriptions and negroes, so as to pre-
vent further planting. We want the Shenandoah Valley
to remain a barren waste.
" '(Signed) U. S. GRANT,
" 'Lieutenant-General.' "
" 'Headquarters Middle Military Division,
" 'Harrisburg, Sept. 28, 1864, 10:30 p. m.
" 'Brig.-Gen. W. Merritt, Commanding First Cavalry Di-
vision :
" 'General: The general commanding directed that you
leave a small force to watch Swift Run and Brown Gap and
with balance of your command and Custer's Division to
swing around through or near Piedmont, extending toward
and as near Staunton as possible. Destroy all mills, all
grain, and all forage you can and drive off or kill all stock
and otherwise carry out instructions of Lieutenant-General
Grant, an extract of which is sent you and which means
'leave a barren waste.'
" ' (Signed) JAMES W. FORSYTH,
" 'Lieut.-Col. and Chief of Staff to General Sheridan.' "
" 'Headquarters of the Army, Washington, D. C,
" 'December 18, 1864.
" 'Major-General Sherman, Savannah:
" 'Should you capture Charleston, I hope that by some
accident the place may be destroyed; and if a little salt
should be sown upon the site, it may prevent the growth of
future crops of nullification and secession.
" '(Signed) W. H. HALLE CK,
" 'Chief of Staff' "
" 'Field Headquarters of the Military Division of
the Mississippi, Savannah, December 24, 1864.
" 'Major-General W. H. Halleck, Chief of Staff, Wash-
ington, D. C. :
" 'I will bear in mind your hint as to Charleston, and I
do not think 'salt' will be necessary. When I move, the
Fifteenth Corps will be on the right of the right wing, and
their postiion will bring them into Charleston first ; and if
you have watched the history of this corps, you will have
remarked that it generally does its work pretty well.
^ " 'The truth is, the whole army is burning with an insa-
tiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I
almost tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves all
19
that seems in store for Tier. We must make old and young,
rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war as well as their
organized armies.
" ' (Signed) W. T. SHERMAN,
" 'Major-General.' "
Major Nichols, "The Story of a Great March, November 15,
1864 (p. 38), Atlanta, Ga. :
"A grand and awful spectacle is presented to the be-
holders of this beautiful city now in flames. The Heaven
is one expanse of lurid fire. The air is filled with flying,
burning cinders. Buildings covering 200 acres are in ruins
or flames."
"We are leaving Atlanta. Behind we leave a track of
smoke and flame. Yesterday we saw in the distance a pillar
of smoke ; the bridges were all in flames. I heard a soldier
say, 'I believe Sherman has set the very river on fire.' His
comrades replied, ' If he has its all right. ' The rebel inhab-
itants are in an agony. The soldiers are as hearty and jolly
as men can be." (p. 37).
"The soldiers are hunting for concealed things and these
searches are one of the pleasant excitements of our march."
(p. 39).
Sherman's Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 287:
"In my official report of the conflagration of Columbia
I distinctly charged it to General Wade Hampton, and now
I confess I did it pointedly to shake the faith of his people
in him."
Gregg's History, p. 375 :
"The devastation of the Palatine hardly exceeded the
desolation and misery wrought by the Republican invasion
and conquest of the South. No conquered nation of modern
days, not Poland under the heel of Nicholas, nor Spain or
Russia under that of Napoleon, suffered from such individ-
ual and collective ruin or saw before so frightful a pros-
pect as the States dragged by force in April, 1865."
CONTRAST :
President Davis:
"In regard to the enemy's crews and vessels you are to
proceed with the justice and humanity which characterize
our government and its citizens."
"General Lee, for fear his soldiers should pillage while
foraging in Pennsylvania, had the roll call three times
daily."
20
It is true General Early did burn Chambersburg, Pa., but it
was only after a refusal by the people to pay the $100,000 de-
manded for General Hunter's destruction in the Shenandoah
Valley.
"When at York, Pa., he was urged to burn that place in retalia-
tion. He said:
"We do not make war on women and children."
General John B. Gordon to the women in York, Pa. :
"If the torch is applied to a single dwelling or an insult
offered to a woman by a soldier in my command, point me
the man and you shall have his life."
Charles Francis Adams testified:
"I doubt if a hostile foe ever advanced in an enemy's
country or fell back from it in retreat leaving behind it
less cause for hate and bitterness than did the Army of
Northern Virginia."
R. E. Lee, Commanding General, Chambersburg, Penn., June
21, 1863:
"The commanding general considers that no greater dis-
grace could befall the army, and through it our whole peo-
ple, than the perpetuation of the barbarous outrages upon
the unarmed and defenseless and the wanton destruction
of private property that have marked the course of the
enemy in our own country.
"Such proceedings not only degrade the perpetrators and
all conected with them, but are subversive of the discipline
and efficiency of the army and destructive of the ends of
our present movement. It must be remembered that we
make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take
vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without
lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence has
been excited by the atrocities of our enemies and offending
against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose
favor and support our efforts all prove in vain. The com-
manding general, therefore, earnestly exhorts the troops to
abstain, with most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or
wanton injury to private property, and he enjoins upon all
officers to arrest and bring to summary punishment all who
shall in any way offend against the orders on this subject."
21
XL
The South Has Never Had Her Rightful Place In Literature
AUTHORITY:
Harriet Martineau said :
"For more than fifty years after the Revolution the best
specimen of periodical literature that this country afforded
was 'The Southern Review,' published at Charleston, S. C,
by Bledsoe/ '
Hamilton W. Mabie placed Poe, Timrod and Lanier as equal
in poetic quality with Bryant, Whittier and Longfellow. He
said:
"In the widening literary activity the South has borne
a very notable part — indeed, it may be said that it has
borne the chief part."
Pancoast, of Philadelphia, says:
"The Southern story writers have done more than given
us studies of new localities. We feel instinctively a differ-
ent quality in their work. Contrasted with the New Eng-
land writers we feel the richer coloring, the warmer blood,
and the quicker pulses. When you read Hawthorne and
then turn to 'Marse Chan' and 'Meh Lady' by Thomas Nel-
son Page, it is like passing from the world of thought to the
world of action — from the analysis of life to true living.
It is a world where the men are full of knightly deeds."
Hamilton Mabie said:
1 ' The genius of the Old South went into the management
of public affairs and gave the country a group of statesmen
that will not suffer by comparison with the foremost public
men of any country."
Then again:
"The South of today has no explanations to make; her
quota of writers of original gift and genuine art is perhaps
more important than that furnished by any other section of
our country. These writers exhibit certain qualities of the
Southern temperament from which much may be expected
in the literature of the future. Their work comes from the
heart rather than from analytical faculties. It is made of
flesh and blood, and it is therefore simple, tender, humor-
ous and altogether human, and those qualities give assur-
ance that it has long life before it." — The Outlook.
What does John Fiske, a great historian of this century say?
22
While unjust to the South in many things he realizes the part
the South has played in the making of the Nation :
"Jefferson, "Washington, Madison, Marshall and Alexan-
der Hamilton are distinguished above all others and in an
especial sense they deserve to be called the founders of the
American Union.
"The Declaration of Independence ranks with the Magna
Charta and the Bill of Rights as one of the three greatest
" of State papers.
"John Marshall, Chief Justice for thirty years, settled
the relations of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
branches of the government.
"James Madison, as a constructive thinker, did more than
all others not only to create the Constitution, but to secure
its ratification."
What section of the country ever produced greater orators
than Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, John Forsyth, Benjamin
H. Hill, Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, Alexander Stephens,
Robert Y. Hayne, William H. Yancey and a host of others ?
The greatest American dramatist was Augustin Daly? North
Carolina.
In "The Outlook" in 1899 appeared this article from the pen
of Hamilton Mabie:
"The South never lacked institutions to keep alive the
best traditions of scholarship — never lacked culture to keep
in touch with the best of thought and art in the Old World
and the New. A love of letters was really keener in the
South than in New England, and there was a much larger
group of highly educated men in the South than in New
England — but ethics and religion made literature of sec-
ondary importance.
"The genius of the Old South went into the manage-
ment of public affairs, but it gave the country a group of
statesmen who would add dignity to the most illustrious
periods of statesmenship — such men as Washington, Jeffer-
son, Madison, and Marshall — they will not suffer by com-
parison with the foremost public men of the country."
23
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