School History of North Carolina Part 36

5. When, in November, 1860, it was known that the Republicans had triumphed in the national election, and that Abraham Lincoln would be chosen President of the United States by a majority of the electors in the different State electoral colleges, then it was realized that the extreme Southern States would, at an early period, sever their connection with the government at Washington.

1861.

6. South Carolina and others said that protection of their property would now be impossible in the Union, and therefore, before the inauguration of President Lincoln, on March 4th, 1861, seven States had a.s.sembled conventions, and by their ordinances declared the ties formerly binding them to the Republic of the United States null and void.

7. On the 1st of January, 1861, the Legislature then in regular session pa.s.sed, by a large majority in each House, an act declaring that in its opinion the condition of the country was so perilous "that the sovereign people of the State should a.s.semble in convention to effect an honorable adjustment of the difficulties whereby the Federal Union is endangered, or otherwise to determine what action will best preserve the honor and promote the interest of North Carolina."

8. At the same time that the delegates were to be elected the act required that the sense of the people should be taken whether there should be a convention at all or not. The election was held on 28th of February, 1861, and upon the question of convention or no convention, the official count showed a majority of 194 votes against convention, that is to say, 45,509 votes for convention and 45,603 votes against convention. The vote of Davie county, which was not received in time to be counted, would have increased the majority against convention some 200 votes.

9. How the delegates elected were divided in sentiment on the day of election cannot be ascertained, nor was such division to be relied upon, for changes were daily taking place, and men, no matter how reluctantly, were rapidly coming to believe that in United action by the South lay the only hope for the future.

10. In April, President Lincoln, in consequence of the attack upon and capture of Fort Sumter, required of Governor Ellis North Carolina's proportion of an army of seventy five thousand men, which was to be used in the coercion of the seceded States. This demand Governor Ellis promptly refused; and he at once convened the Legislature in special session, declaring in his proclamation that the time for action had come, and, upon his recommendation, twenty thousand volunteers were called for by the General a.s.sembly to sustain North Carolina in her course.

11. A State Convention was called by the Legislature on the first of May, and met on the 20th of May, 1861; in the hall of the House of Commons. On this anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration the Ordinance of Secession was pa.s.sed, and North Carolina made haste to connect herself with the " Confederate States of America."

12. The Ordinance of Secession was as follows

"AN ORDINANCE DISSOLVING THE UNION BETWEEN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA AND THE OTHER STATES UNITED WITH HER UNDER THE COMPACT OF GOVERNMENT ENt.i.tLED 'THE CONSt.i.tUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. '

"We, the people of the State of North Carolina, in Convention a.s.sembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the ordinance adopted by the State of North Carolina in the Convention of 1789, whereby the Const.i.tution of the United States was ratified and adopted; and also all acts and parts of acts of the General a.s.sembly ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Const.i.tution, are hereby repealed, rescinded and abrogated.

"We do further declare and ordain, That the Union now subsisting between the State, of North Carolina and the other States, under the t.i.tle of 'The United States of America,' is hereby dissolved, and that the State of North Carolina is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State."

13. The number of submissionists in North Carolina was very small, and the real differences of opinion did not so much regard final action in the crisis as they did the way and the time in which it should be reached. Many preferred separate State action; many others preferred concert of action among the States.

Some preferred immediate action; others thought it advisable to wait until some actual "overt act," as it was called, was committed by the new administration. But no matter how much people were divided on these points, on one point they were a unit, that is to say, in the desire that final action should represent as near as possible every phase of public sentiment.

And to secure this greatly to be desired unanimity in action, many personal preferences and original opinions were sacrificed.

14. Many good people had hoped and prayed that the troubles between the North and South would be peaceably arranged; but all hope of such a blessing was now lost, and the whole State resounded with the notes of preparation for the war. In every county men pressed forward by thousands to enlist at the call of the State.

15. Governor Ellis was in the last stages of hopeless disease, but, with great resolution, he addressed himself to the discharge of the onerous duties of his station until his death, on June 9, 1861. He was succeeded by Colonel Henry Toole Clark, of Edgecombe, who became Governor of the State by virtue of his office as Speaker of the Senate.

16. Colonel John F. Hoke, of Lincoln, was succeeded as Adjutant- General by James G. Martin, of Pasquotank, late a major in the army of the United States. The forts, Johnston, Macon and Caswell, were seized, as was also the Federal a.r.s.enal at Fayetteville; and, in this way, fifty-seven thousand stand of small firearms and a considerable store of cannon and ammunition were secured.

17. After many years of peace and prosperity, the people of North Carolina were once again to exhibit their patriotism, courage and endurance under the most trying circ.u.mstances. In the first revolution they had contributed twenty-two thousand nine hundred and ten men to the defence of the United Colonies; in this second upheaval more than a hundred and fifty thousand crowded to the fray, and grew famous on more than a hundred fields.

QUESTIONS.

1. How was the Presidential contest of 1860 viewed?

2. What was the issue? Who were the candidates; and what were their platforms?

3. What was the real issue between the Democrats and Republicans?

What views were held by each party?

4. To whom were most of the Southern people giving support? How did they view the probable election of Mr. Lincoln?

5. Who were elected? What did some of the Southern States intend to do?

6. What occurred before the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln?

7. What act was pa.s.sed by the North Carolina Legislature?

8. Can you tell the result of the vote upon this question?

9. What was the South beginning to realize?

10. What call was made upon North Carolina by Mr. Lincoln? With what result?

11. When did North Carolina leave the Union?

12. Can you repeat the Ordinance of Secession?

13. Mention the political opinions to be found in the State upon these questions?

14. What had been the hope of many of our people? How was the news of secession received?

15. What occurred on June 9th? Who succeeded Governor Ellis?

16. What seizures were made by North Carolina authorities?

17. What are the thoughts upon this period?

CHAPTER LV.

THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.

A. D. 1861.

The people of North Carolina loved the Union of States that had been in such large part constructed by the heroism and wisdom of their own fathers. They well knew its value to themselves under an unbroken Federal Const.i.tution; they knew, too, the danger incurred in the attempt to absolve them selves from further Federal connections. But they knew, also, their rights under the Const.i.tution, and were fully determined neither to surrender them nor to aid in the subjugation of their sister States. As the State had entered the Union by action of a convention of her own people, she now resolved to leave it in the same manner.

2. For more than a month before the memorable 20th day of May, 1861, when the secession ordinance was pa.s.sed, troops were volunteering and being received by Governor Ellis from many portions of the State. The first ten companies were embodied in a regiment, of which Major Daniel H. Hill was elected colonel by the commissioned officers. They were at once sent to Yorktown, in Virginia.

3. On June 9th, General Benjamin F. Butler, who was in command of the United States forces at Fortress Monroe, in Virginia, sent a column of troops up the peninsula for the purpose of ascertaining the possibility of reaching Richmond, which city had recently become the Capital of the Southern Confederacy.

Early the next morning the Federal advance became confused in the darkness and two of their regiment, fired upon each other.

4. At Big Bethel, on the 10th, they found the regiment of Colonel Hill supporting a battery of the "Richmond Howitzers."

There were also present two infantry and three cavalry companies belonging to Virginia. This force was a.s.sailed by the Federal army, but the attack was repelled and the a.s.sailants retired in disorder to Old Point Comfort. Only one Confederate soldier was killed in the action, and that was private Henry Wyatt, of Edgecombe county. He belonged to Captain J. L. Bridgers'

company, and was the first Southern soldier slain in the war between the States.

5. The whole affair was insignificant, both as to the number engaged and the results achieved, but was hailed as a happy omen by the South. North Carolina, with all her deliberation in taking part in the struggle, was thus to afford the first martyr of the South, and was present with her troops to arrest the first Federal invasion of Southern soil.

6. On the 18th and 21st days of July occurred much greater and more serious conflicts at Mana.s.sas and Bull Run, also in Virginia. Another Federal army, commanded by General Irvin McDowell, and numbering more than forty thousand men, left Washington with orders to attack the Confederates under General G. T. Beauregard. The Fifth, Sixth and Twenty-first Regiments of North Carolina troops were present, and gallantly aided in the Federal defeat.

7. Colonel Charles F. Fisher was especially valuable in the aid he rendered in restoring a ditched train to the track, and thus making possible the timely approach of the reinforcements under General E. Kirby Smith, which so speedily resulted in the flight of General McDowell's army. It is mournful to add, that, after performing this signal service, and after gallantly capturing the celebrated Rickett's Battery, Colonel Fisher was slain in the battle. He fell at the head of his regiment, beyond the battery and still in pursuit of the enemy. This memorable victory was very grateful to the South, but it did not delude the people into the belief that the war was at an end; it was useful, too, in that it gave them time to prepare for the greater conflicts still to come.

8. It had been hoped by Mr. Lincoln and his advisers that all Southern opposition would be overcome in ninety days, but at Bull Run and Mana.s.sas they were convinced that only by a great and prolonged struggle were such adversaries to be subdued. The short periods of enlistment were abandoned by both sides, and the winter was spent in preparation for a gigantic struggle in the spring.