THE OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA, 
1861-65. 
BY 
T. M. MAGUIRE, LL.D. 
(0/ the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law'). 
(A Lecture delivered at the Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich, 23rd 
Lt.-Colonel C. H. Spragge, R.A., in the Chair. 
Colonel Spragge and Gentlemen, 
The most a lecturer can do, when asked to discuss a subject so 
vast as that selected, is to content himself with an attempt to set forth 
the general ideas upon which the several operations were based and the 
outlines of the manoeuvres. To enter into details would be both useless 
and perplexing. 
Before an audience such as this, I need not discuss, at any length, the 
origin of the great American Civil War. Many causes of discontent, 
but particularly the anti-slavery views of the Northern States, alienated 
the minds of the people of the Southern States from the union. Once 
Mr. Lincoln was elected president, preparations for secession commenced 
in many States. It was no longer a question of negro slavery or 
emancipation ; Carolina first, and then ten other States, asserted the 
right of detaching themselves from the central government at will, and 
formed a new confederacy with a capital at Richmond in Virginia. 
Some States wished to be neutral, but had the usual fate of “ weaker 
natures ” between the “ fell strokes of mighty opposites ; ” the other 
States were true to the old federal government at Washington, and 
adhered, at all costs, and, with no regard to mere abstract theories, to 
Mr, Lincoln’s resolve that the mightiest of republics should, even as the 
most absolute of monarchies, be one and indivisible.! 
When Major Anderson, who commanded for the government in Fort 
Sumter at Charleston, was obliged to surrender to General Beauregard 
and the Carolina State troops, April 13th, civil war began. 
Many of the best officers of the old regular army were of opinion that 
* This lecture was delivered ex tempore and profusely illustrated by notes on the black¬ 
board during delivery ; so that this is merely a general sketch of the lecture.— A.J.A. 
f The names of the several States are given in the appendix. 
6. VOL. XIX. 
32 
