46

REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

1

terest so strong in the movement, I fear they will be violent beyond control." The seizure of the Government, before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration, was a part of the plan of operations, "The successful, unrestricted installation of Lincoln," wrote this viper, nestled in the warm bosom of the Republic, "is the beginning of the end of Slavery." Thompson afterward took up arms against the Republic, plotted the blackest crimes against the people of his country while finding an asylum in Canada, and was finally charged with complicity in the murder of President Lincoln. Floyd, indicted for enormous frauds on the Government while in office, perished ignobly, after wearing the insignia of a brigadier-general among the insurgent enemies of his country.

The Governors and Legislatures of several of the Slave-labor States took early action against the National Government. The South Carolina politicians moved first. They were traditionally rebellious, gloried in their turbulence, and were jealous of any leadership or priority of action in the great drama of Treason about to be opened.

Governor Gist called the South Carolina Legislature to meet in extraordinary session, in the old State House at Columbia, on Monday, the 5th of November, for the purpose of choosing, on the following day, Presidential electors. In his message to both Houses, he recommended the authorization of a convention of the people, to consider the expediency of with

2

drawing the State from the Union, in the event of Lincoln's election. He expressed a desire that such withdrawal should be accomplished. "The indications from many of the Southern States," he said, "justify the conclusion that the seces

sion of South Carolina will be immediately followed, if not adopted simultaneously, by them, and ultimately by the entire South. . . . The State has, by great unanimity, declared that she has the right peaceably to secede,3 and no power on earth can rightfully prevent it. If, in the exercise of arbitrary power, and forgetful of the lessons of history, the Government of the United States should attempt coercion, it will become our solemn duty to meet force by force; and, whatever may be the decision of the conven

1 Letter to Mr. Peterson, of Mississippi. It fell into the hands of United States troops while in that region, in 1863.

2 In South Carolina, political power had always been as far removed from the people as possible. The Governor of the State and the Presidential electors were, by a provision of the State Constitution, chosen by the Legislature, and not directly by the people.

3 In 1852, a State Convention in South Carolina reiterated the sentiments of the Nullification Convention twenty years before, and declared that the State had a "right to secede from the Confederacy whenever the occasion should arise justifying her, in her judgment, in taking that step." The Convention informed the world that the State forbore the immediate exercise of that right from considerations of expediency only.

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS COUNSEL REVOLUTION.

47

tion representing the sovereignty of the State, and amenable to no earthly tribunal, it shall, during the remainder of my administration, be carried out to the letter, regardless of any hazard that may surround its execution." He recommended the immediate arming, "with the most efficient weapons of modern warfare," every white man in the State between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and placing the whole military force of the Commonwealth "in a position to be used at the shortest notice, and with the greatest efficiency." He also recommended the immediate acceptance of ten thousand volunteers, to be officered and drilled, and held in readiness to be called upon at the shortest notice.

On

These recommendations to prepare for revolt were made on the day before the election of Mr. Lincoln. They met with a hearty response. that evening, prominent South Carolinians, who were in attendance, were serenaded and made speeches. One of these was James Chesnut, Jr., a member of the United States Senate. He told the crowd of listeners that he had no doubt of the election of Mr. Lincoln on the morrow, and that then they had arrived "at the initial point of a new departure. We have two ways before us," he said, "in one of which, whether we will or not, we must tread. . . . In both lie dangers, difficulties, and troubles, which no human foresight can foreshadow or perceive; but they are not equal in magnitude. One is beset with humiliation, dishonor, émeutes, rebellions-with submission, in the beginning, to all, and at all times, and confiscation and slavery in the end. The other, it is true, has its difficulties and trials, but no disgrace. Hope, duty, and honor shine along the path." "The Black Republicans,” he said, "claim the dogmas of the Declaration of Independence as part of the Constitution, and that it is their right and duty to so administer the Government as to give full effect to them. The people now must choose whether they will be governed by enemies or govern themselves. For myself, I would unfurl the Palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and, with the spirit of a brave man, determine to live and die as becomes our glorious ancestry, and ring the clarion notes of defiance in the ears of an insolent foe." He spoke of the undoubted right of South Carolina to withdraw from the Union, and recommended its immediate action in that direction, saying, "the other Southern States will flock to our standard." His speech was received with vehement applause, and met with greetings of satisfaction throughout the State.

November 6, 1860.

In a similar manner, W. W. Boyce, who had been a member of Congress since 1853, responded to a serenade on the following evening, from the balcony of the Congaree House. "In my opinion," he said, "the South ought not to submit. If you intend to resist, the way to resist in earnest is to act; the way to enact revolution is to stare it in the face. I think the only policy for us is to arm as soon as we receive authentic intelligence of the election of Lincoln. It is for South Carolina, in the quickest manner, and by the most direct means, to withdraw from the Union. Then we will not submit, whether the other Southern States will act with us or with our enemies. . . . When an ancient philosopher wished to inaugurate a revolution, his motto was: To dare! To dare!" From that moment, he was zealously engaged in efforts to destroy his Government.

48

EDMUND RUFFIN.-RESIGNATION OF CIVIL OFFICERS.

From the same balcony Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, a white-haired old man, made a speech to the excited people. He was well known as a political and agricultural writer, and a warm personal friend and admirer of John C. Calhoun and his principles. He had made it an important part of the business of his life to applaud the system of Slavery, and to create in the Slavelabor States a hatred of the people of the Free-labor States. He soon afterward acquired the unenviable distinction of having raised the first spadefull of earth in the construction of military works for the assault on Fort Sumter, and also of having fired the first shot at that fortification.' He had now hastened from his home in Virginia to Columbia, to urge the importance of immediate secession. "I have studied the question now before the country," he said, "for years. It has been the one great idea of my life. The defense of the South, I verily believe, is only to be secured through the lead of South Carolina. Old as I am, I have come here to join her in that

EDMUND RUFFIN,

lead. I wish Virginia was as ready as South Carolina, but, unfortunately, she is not. But the first drop of blood spilled on the soil of South Carolina will bring Virginia and every other Southern State to her side."

It had been agreed that revolutionary movements should commence immediately after the fact should be made known that Mr. Lincoln was elected. Accordingly, on the evening of the 7th," a dispatch went up to Columbia from Charles

• November,
1860.

ton, saying that many of the National officers had resigned. That morning, the United States District Court had assembled in Charleston, over which one of the leaders of rebellion, Judge A. G. Magrath, presided. The Grand Jury, according to instructions, declined to make any presentments. They said that the action of the ballot-box on the previous day had destroyed all hopes of a permanent confederacy of the "Sovereign States," and that the public mind was constrained to "rise above the consideration of details in the administration of law and justice, up to the vast and solemn issues that have been forced upon us-issues which involve the existence of the Government of which this Court is the organ.' They therefore declined to act. This solemn judicial farce was perfected by the formal resignation of Judge Magrath. With ludicrous gravity, he said to the jurors :-" For the last time I have, as Judge of the United

1 Ruffin was in Richmond at the close of the following summer, and visited the National prisoners who were captured at the battle of Bull's Run in July. He told them that he was then a resident of Charleston, in South Carolina, and boasted that he was the person who fired the first shot at Sumter. Mr. Ely, member of Congress, who was among the prisoners, speaks of him in his Journal, kept while in confinement in Richmond, as "a patriarchal citizen, whose long locks extended over his shoulders, whitened by the snows of more than seventy winters." Ruffin did not appear prominently in the war that ensued. He survived the conflict, in which he lost all of his property. On Saturday, the 17th of June, 1865, he committed suicide by blowing off the top of his head with a gun, at the residence of his son, near Danville, in Virginia. He left a note, in which he said: "I cannot survive the liberties of my country." The wretched man was then almost eighty years of age.

DISLOYAL PROCEEDINGS IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

49

States, administered the laws of the United States within the limits of South Carolina. So far as I am concerned, the Temple of Justice, raised under the Constitution of the United States, is now closed." He then laid aside his gown, and retired.

The Collector of Customs at Charleston, C. J. Colcock, and James Conner, the United States District. Attorney, resigned at the same time; and B. C. Pressley, the National Sub-treasurer, also announced his determination to resign, as soon as he could with due respect to President Buchanan. Although a convention to make a formal declaration of the withdrawal of the State from the Union had not yet been authorized, the conspirators and their political instruments throughout South Carolina now acted as if disunion had been actually accomplished.

1860.

On the morning of the 7th," when the telegraph had flashed November, intelligence of Lincoln's election over the length and breadth of the land, and bore tidings of great joy elsewhere because of the auspicious event, the enthusiasm of the rebellious people in Charleston was unbounded and irrepressible. The conspirators and their friends greeted each other with signs of the greatest exultation. They grasped each other's hands, and some of them cordially embraced, in the ecstasy of their pleasure. The Palmetto flag was everywhere unfurled; and from the crowded streets went up cheer after cheer for a Southern Confederacy. All day the enthusiasm was kept up by speeches, harangues, and the booming of cannon; and, at evening, the city was illuThe germ of revolution then planted had expanded, and budded, and blossomed, and now promised abundant fruit.

PALMETTO FLAG.

minated by bonfires. The wished-for pretext for insurrection was at hand, and the master spirits of treason were everywhere jubilant. Their work, begun so hopefully in the Convention at Charleston, in April, was now wellnigh finished in November.

There was intense excitement at Columbia, on the morning after the election. Governor Gist was the recipient of many messages by telegraph:"The Governor and Council are in session," said one from Raleigh, North Carolina. "The people are very much excited. North Carolina is ready to secede."-"Large numbers of Bell men," said another, from Montgomery, Alabama, "headed by T. H. Watts,' have declared for secession, since the announcement of Lincoln's election. The State will undoubtedly secede." -"The hour for action has come," said a message from Milledgeville, Geor

Thomas H. Watts was a "Bell-Everett" elector, but espoused the cause of the conspirators at the very beginning of their open career. He was elected Governor of Alabama in 1863, and used his official power to its atmost in favor of the rebellion.

VOL. I.-4

50

THE FEELING IN SLAVE-LABOR STATES.

gia. "This State is ready to assert her rights and independence. The leading men are eager for the business."-" There is a great deal of excitement here," said a dispatch from Washington City; "several extreme Southern men, in office, have donned the Palmetto cockade,' and declared

themselves ready to march South."-"If your State secedes," said another, from Richmond, Virginia, "we will send you troops of volunteers to aid you."-"Placards are posted about the city," said a message from New Orleans, "calling a convention of those favorable to the organization of a corps of Minute-men. The Governor is all right."-"Be firm," said a second dispatch from Washington; "a large quantity of arms will be shipped South from the Arsenal here, to-morrow. The President is perplexed. His feelings are with the South, but he is afraid to assist them openly."-"The bark James Gray, owned by Cushing's Boston line, lying at our wharves," said a message from Charleston, "has hoisted the Palmetto flag, and fired a salute of fifteen guns, under direction of her owner. The Minute-men throng the streets with Palmetto cockades in their hats. There is great rejoicing here."

SECESSION COCKADE,

Stimulated by these indications of sympathy, the South Carolina Legislature took bold and vigorous action. Joint resolutions were offered in both Houses, providing for the calling of a State Convention at an early day, for the purpose of formally declaring the withdrawal of the State from the Union. These, generally, contemplated immediate separate State action, before the excitement caused by the election should subside, and the heads of the people should become cool and capable of sober reflection. But there were able men in that Legislature, who foresaw the perils which a single State, cut loose from her moorings during a terrible storm of passion, would have to encounter, and pleaded eloquently for the exercise of reason and prudence. They were as zealous as their colleagues for ultimate secession, but regarded the co-operation of at least the other Cotton-growing States as essential to success. "If the State, in her sovereign capacity, determines that secession will produce the co-operation which we have so earnestly sought," said Mr. McGowan, of Abbeville, "then it shall have my hearty approbation. . . . If South Carolina, in Convention assembled, deliberately secedes-separate and alone, and, without hope of co-operation, decides to cut loose from her moorings, surrounded as she is by Southern sisters in like circumstances-I will be one of her crew, and, in common with every true son of hers, will endeavor, with all the power that God has given me, to

'Spread all her canvas to the breeze,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the God of storms,
The lightning and the gale." "

But these cautious men were overborne by the fiery zealots. One of these (Mullins, from Marion), in his eagerness to hurry the State out of the Union, revealed not only the fact that the heads and hearts of the great mass of the people of South Carolina were not in unison with the desperate

1 Made of blue silk ribbon, with a button in the center, bearing the image of a Palmetto-tree.