128 



CONFEDERATE STATES. 



national calamities, a bloody and devastating 

 and desolating war, enlisting the fiercest and 

 most destructive energies of hundreds of thou- 

 sands of men, is as inevitable as the fulfilment 

 of the decrees of God." 



It was a question in which much interest 

 was manifested, after the inauguration of the 

 new Government, what its policy would be in 

 relation to the Federal Union. It was soon 

 indirectly made known in the following lan- 

 guage : " It will be the policy of the new Gov- 

 ernment to preserve the status quo of affairs 

 until the 4th of March, when the inauguration 

 of Mr. Lincoln will enable him to indicate the 

 course his Administration will pursue towards 

 the Southern Confederacy. The hope is not 

 yet entirely relinquished that more rational 

 counsels may prevail at Washington, and that, 

 ' making a virtue of necessity,' the Republicans 

 will abandon their idea of coercion, and by a 

 peaceful and conciliatory policy endeavor to 

 preserve all that their folly has not entirely 

 lost to them commercial relations with the 

 South. It is probable that one of the first acts 

 of the new Government will be to send a com- 

 mission to Washington, to treat for a peaceable 

 and equitable arrangement of matters between 

 the two Republics the acknowledgment of our 

 independence, the surrender of the forts, a fair 

 division of the public property and of the pub- 

 lic debt. Until it is known how our commis- 

 sioners will be received, and whether the Fed- 

 eral Government is willing to treat for the 

 peaceable and equitable adjustment of these 

 matters, it would be unwise to take any steps 

 that would be likely to precipitate hostilities. 

 We should prepare for the worst while we hope 

 for the best. As the moral sense of a very 

 large portion of the North is on our side, we 

 should do nothing rashly to forfeit our just 

 claim to the fair judgment of that portion of 

 our late confederates, who are blameless for 

 the causes which led to the disruption of the 

 Union and forced the South to assume her 

 present attitude towards the Federal Govern- 

 ment." 



Military preparations, however, were not 

 neglected. The States of the South, like 

 those of the North, were, with insignificant ex- 

 ceptions, destitute of any well-organized mili- 

 tary force. Excepting officers of the army and 

 navy of the United States, and a few others 

 who had survived the Mexican war, military 

 experience and knowledge were most defective. 

 Munitions of war were also lacking. Never- 

 theless the military spirit of the people was of 

 the first order. Signs of a new life were seen. 

 The powder mills in Pickens district, South 

 Carolina, commenced manufacturing some fifty 

 kegs a day. A contract for three thousand 

 shot and shells for South Carolina was taken 

 in Savannah ; another for casting cannon-balls 

 and grape was taken in Mobile. Recruiting 

 for the regular army of Georgia commenced in 

 all parts of the State. Small squads of recruits 

 from Tennessee were passing to South Caro- 



lina. One of the delegates of the Confederate 

 Congress publicly declared their purpose in 

 these words : " We intend to put the strongest 

 force in the field which can be raised, and the 

 President will accept from the States all the 

 men that may be tendered. They will be re- 

 ceived with their own officers, but the Presi- 

 dent must settle all questions of rank and posi- 

 tion under the authority of Congress." 



The plan adopted at this time by Congress, 

 for the regular army of the Confederate States 

 was that it should consist of 10,483 men, rank 

 and file 100 of whom will be of the engineer 

 corps ; 3,372 of the artillery ; 763 of the cav- 

 alry ; 6,296 of the infantry. There will be 111 

 companies, 9 colonels, 8 lieutenant-colonels, 21 

 majors, 115 captains, 150 first lieutenants, 180 

 second lieutenants, 450 sergeants, 450 corpo- 

 rals, 8,878 privates, and 222 musicians. The 

 pay of a colonel is $2,340 to $2,520, ac- 

 cording to the corps of the service ; of a lieu- 

 tenant-colonel, $2,040 to $2,220 ; of a major, 

 $1,800 to $1,944 ; of a captain, $1,560 to $1,- 

 680; of a first lieutenant, $1,080 to $1,200; 

 of a second lieutenant, $960 to $1,080. Ser- 

 geants or master-workmen of engineer corps, 

 $34 per month; corporals or overseers, $20 ; pri- 

 vates of first-class, or artificers, $17 ; do. second- 

 class, or laborers and musicians, $13 ; sergeant- 

 major of cavalry, $21 per month ; first sergeant, 

 $20 ; sergeant, $17 ; farriers and blacksmiths, 

 $13 ; privates, $12 ; in infantry, privates $11. 

 Forage, fuel, and quarters additional to pay, 

 and ten cents per mile mileage when travelling 

 on duty. 



As each State adopted an ordinance of seces- 

 sion, large numbers of their citizens who were 

 officers of the Federal army and navy, resigned 

 their commissions and entered the service of 

 the Confederate States. On the 3d of March 

 Gen. G. T. Beauregard, one of these officers 

 who had thus resigned, was ordered from New 

 Orleans, to take the command of the Confeder- 

 ate forces at Charleston. 



On the 6th of March Congress passed an act, 

 which was approved by President Davis, au- 

 thorizing a military force of 100,000 men to be 

 raised. 



The principles upon which this new nation, 

 now rising up before the world, as its authors 

 believed, was to be founded, were very fully 

 declared by the second officer of the Govern- 

 ment, Mr. Stephens, in a speech delivered to 

 the citizens of Savannah, Georgia. In the first 

 place, the Constitution of the United States 

 was adopted, with some alterations and addi- 

 tions. In those alterations and additions con- 

 sisted all the objections that could be enter- 

 tained to their previous form of government. 

 After stating several changes of minor impor- 

 tance, he thus proceeded to explain the great 

 and cardinal feature of distinction between the 

 Government of the Confederate States and that 

 of the United States : 



" The new Constitution has put at rest for- 

 ever all the agitating questions relating to our 



