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out an effort to preserve it, met in con- anny of the military power, and the vention at Knoxville, May 30th. More still greater tyranny of a corrupt and than a thousand representatives assem- subsidized press. In Memphis, for inbled to take counsel in regard to the stance, out of more than 5,000 votes, present crisis. The Hon. Thomas Nel- only five freemen, at the risk of their son was chosen president, and addresses lives, cast in Union votes. Numerous were made by Gen. Arnold and Senator other statements were made, showing Johnson. The proceedings were mark- how little of fairness or honesty had ed by earnest, intelligent, outspoken been practised by the leaders in dispatriotism. Secession was denounced, union and rebellion. and the people throughout the state But there was now almost no opporwere besought to resist it and vote it tunity for redress, or, as was contemdown on the day appointed, June 8th. plated, for separate action. The state The people of the eastern counties was in the vortex of secession, and nothresponded nobly to the appeal of the ing could rescue it but the strong interconvention. In twenty-nine counties position of the United States governthe vote reached 32,923 against seces- ment. So far from upholding the indesion, while in its favor were cast 14,780, pendence of their mountain region, the but these were made up fully one-half loyal men of Eastern Tennessee, after by the rebel troops voting without any an ineffectual struggle, were hunted, right whatever. The vote of the entire imprisoned, and driven into exile. state, as proclaimed by Gov. Harris, Thousands crossed the mountains by stood 104,019 for separation; 47,238 stealth to serve in the ranks of the against. The entire vote in February had been, for no convention, 70,000, against, 50,000, and but three secessionists had been elected in the state. Yet, in only four months, Tennessee apparently underwent so marvellous a change; fit illustration of what political demagogues and schemers can and will do to accomplish their wicked ends.

The convention was again called together at Greenville, June 17th. A declaration of grievances was adopted, in which was a full recital of the course pursued by rebels and traitors. In no part of the state but East Tennessee, it was set forth, was the recent election free, and no where else was the Union allowed to be spoken of and advocated. Loyal men were overawed by the tyr

Union army, that they might return to their homes under the flag of the Republic, and rescue their families and friends from the intolerable tyranny which oppressed them. The brave and much enduring men of this region were compelled to bide their time;* yet it was not wholly in silence; for Eastern Tennessee had men who were able and willing to raise their voices, as well as their armis, in her defence. Besides

* When Gen. Schoepf repulsed the rebels at Camp Wild Cat (see p. 39) the East Tennesseeans expected him to come to their aid. Deceived by the rebel re

ports of their great force at Bowling Green, Schoepf, after advancing two or three days in the direction of Cumberland Gap, retreated towards the Ohio, strewing the road with wrecked wagons, dead horses, etc., and leaving East Tennessee to her fate, much to the disappointment of those who loved the cause of

loyalty and devotion to the common interests of our

country.

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CH. III.]

POSITION OF LOYAL MEN AND REBELS.

47

many years' laborious efforts; they had forced it upon the loyal supporters of the Constitution and laws of the United States; they had driven up to the point of fury and hatred the larger portion of the people of the South, and had compelled them to face the inevitable result. And now it was to be tested, whether this great Republic was worthy

Brownlow, Nelson and others, Andrew prepared themselves for this issue by Johnson stood prominently forward. The high position attained by this last, in consequence of the assassination of President Lincoln, in 1865, will justify a brief notice here of his life and career. Andrew Johnson was born at Raleigh, N. C., in 1808. While very young he lost his father, and was deprived of all advantages of education. He was apprenticed to a tailor, and of its name and place in the family served out his full term, seven years. of nations, or whether it was to be In 1826, he removed to Greenville, broken in pieces, and become a subject Tennessee, where he served in several for scorn and contempt among the local offices. Having, by the severest enemies of freedom throughout the labor and determination, improved him- world. self in every possible way, reading and studying at night, he was advanced still further in popular favor. In 1841, he went into the state senate; two years later, he entered Congress; was elected governor of Tennessee in 1853, and again in 1855; and in 1857, was chosen United States Senator for the long term, six years. In politics, Johnson ranked among the old Jacksonian democracy; and when the rebellion broke out, he took his stand firmly on the side of law and order.

Such being the issue, and such, as all men now saw, being the only mode of settlement, it may be well here to note briefly the relative position of the parties concerned in this memorable conflict, and to seek to form a clear conception of the prospects of those who had ranged themselves on the side of law and order, and on the side of disunion and revolution.

As regards population, according to the census of 1860 (see vol. iii., p. 553), the free states and territories contained nineteen millions, the slave states something over twelve In addition to all

1861.

Evidently, the sword was now fully drawn. The question at issue was to be settled, not by words, not by appeals millions. on either hand, not by menaces or the free states, which were for the threatenings, not at all, in fact, but by Union, of course, Delaware, Marythe stern, fearful, last arbitrament, that land, Kentucky and Missouri were of blood. They who loved their coun- ranked in the same connection; the try, and its honor and integrity, had no population of the loyal over the secealternative; they had but to accept the ding states was, consequently, rather issue thrust upon them, or see the more than two to one. In the arts of Union rent in pieces, and national pros- industry, in commerce, trade, manufac perity swallowed up in the abyss. The tures, shipping, etc., the free states were leaders in the southern conspiracy had largely superior. In these respects, and

in the universally recognized claim to those particular things in which which all established governments have southern men excelled. The citizen upon the fealty of their people, there soldiers were excellent in their way can be no doubt that the loyal states but they were bred in time of peace, stood, not only before the world, but in and never expected to be employed fact, in the position best calculated to otherwise than in the customary discommand sympathy and enforce the plays in time of peace. requirements of the supreme law of the land. But, while all this was true, and no less important than true, it must be borne in mind, that the so-called "Confederacy" had several very decided advantages over the Union and its defenders.

To this must be added the fact of the vastly superior position of the "Confederacy" for self-defence, for direct communication with each and all its parts, and for facility of intercourse by means of railroads and telegraphs. The secessionists had long been preparing for the contest; they understood thoroughly the topography of the country; they had made their calculations with great shrewdness and ability; and, counting largely upon the sympathy and co-operation of many in the North as well as in the old world, they were ready to enter with all their heart and soul into the war for disunion and separation from those whom they professed to, and probably did, hate and despise. The North was wholly un-prepared for war; the government had everything, almost, to learn armies had to be created, in fact; and the vast distances between various points of attack, where to pierce the confederacy and break down its military power, increased immensely the difficulties in the way of Mr. Lincoln and his advisers. And further, believ ing, as the rebels did, that "cotton was king," they were so persuaded of its importance to the world, especially to England and France, that they expected the great powers of Europe to break

The people of the South, principally owing to the fact of their being slaveholders, were not only bred up in aristocratic notions of superiority, and in contemptuous disregard for labor and its adjuncts, but were trained from boyhood in the use of fire-arms, and in various kinds of exercises fitting them for military life and its excitements. In the war of 1812, and in that with Mexico, the South furnished nearly twice as many soldiers as the North. So long as the system of slavery prevailed, and the class of laborers was such as rendered it degrading, in their eyes, for a white man to work, the masters were of course at liberty to devote themselves to the fascinating employments of hunting, racing, contests of skill, and the like; and "the chivalry" of the South was rarely deficient in zeal and spirit where its peculiar qualifications had room for display. At the North, on the other hand, the great mass of the population were engaged in the peaceful avocations of life, and had no time, even if they up directly any blockade which might had the inclination, to devote attention | be attempted to be put in force by the

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