INTRODUCTION.

MANY good histories of the Civil War have been written. Nearly all of them devote much space to the details of battles and campaigns, a most excellent thing for those who wish to devote their time to a comprehensive study of the war. The following chapters have been prepared for those who wish a more condensed account of the important events.

The facts have been diligently collected from leading standard works, and are presented in a new form. Instead of treating the subject chronologically, as works generally do, the author has written entirely by campaigns. The movements of one army have been fully treated before the discussion of another has commenced. It is hoped that this method of treatment will be found both interesting and profitable. Indeed, this method of presentation of the subject to young men and young women in the school-room has resulted in awakening increased interest in the study of the great war, and has been the means of preventing many confusions that would otherwise occur; and it has made the time spent in the study of the war more fruitful in result.

The military campaign maps tracing the movements of the armies are entirely original, and have been prepared expressly for this volume. A careful study of the maps "Grant's Campaign in the West," "Campaigns of Buell and Bragg," "Sherman's March to the Sea," and the "Army of the Potomac," will aid greatly in giving a clear and definite idea of the great theaters of the Civil War. The maps locating the battles and sieges have been copied from larger works. All fanciful pic

tures have been avoided; only maps intended to simplify the study of battles, campaigns, and the great movements of the armies, have been inserted.

But little attention has been paid to the movements of the various corps of the armies upon the field of battle. Too great detail has been purposely avoided. Those who desire this phase of the war are referred to the comprehensive works.

Many interesting minor events have been barely mentioned, some omitted entirely. The war was full of dramatic incidents. Books might be written, and in fact have been written, upon them. My aim is to present here only the main facts of the war, with now and again an incident appended to enliven and embellish the study of the movements of these ponderous armies in their Titanic struggles.

It is hoped that the omission of technical terms and the use of the campaign methods of treatment, illustrated by the military campaign mraps, will be the means of so simplifying the subject that even the casual student may gain a clear idea of the various campaigns of the war in the minimum of time.

But little attention is generally paid by the average person to the study of the sources of revenue, without which governments cannot exist. The chapter on the financial measures to provide revenue for the war is inserted to supply at least an outline on the subject, and should elicit a more careful study of the financial question.

If the book finds its way into the hands of those who have not the time to read nor the means to procure the numerous excellent comprehensive works on the Civil War, and aids in promoting a better understanding of this great epoch in the history of our Nation, the mission of the author in writing the work will be fully attained.

TOPEKA, KANSAS.

ELI G. FOSTER.

1

THE CIVIL WAR BY CAMPAIGNS.

CHAPTER I.

THE CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR.

Slavery and States' Rights were the two causes of the Civil War in the United States. They came before the people in a variety of forms, which, in spite of repeated compromises, only widened the sentiments between the North and South. The Missouri Compromise was the first of a series of enactments and struggles between the two sections on the subject of Slavery. The election of Abraham Lincoln on a platform opposed to the extension of slavery was the last of the series, which grew more bitter and antagonistic until it culminated in the firing upon Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861.

The Nullification Act of South Carolina, in 1832, was the first serious manifestation of the doctrine of States' Rights, which ended, finally, in the secession ordinances of the Southern States and precipitated the great American conflict.

STATE RIGHTS.-Different views were held by statesmen from the very beginning of our national history as to the nature of the bond which held the States together. It was maintained by one class of statesmen that the Union was a league or confederation, which might be dissolved at the will of any of the

States. Under this theory a failure on the part of the General Government to protect the rights, expressed or assumed, of any of the States, entirely released these States from obligations to the Union, and restored them to their former position of separate sovereign States.

Another class of statesmen held that the Federal Union constituted a nation, with a strong central government, and that no State could secede from the Union without the consent of all the others. These were the different constructions placed upon the Constitution, from which no serious conflict arose until certain material questions came before the people for solution. Chief among these were those which related to tariff and slavery. The South, which was engaged entirely in agricultural industries, demanded free trade. The North, which derived much of its wealth from manufacturing industries, called for protection. When the Tariff Act of 1832 became a law, it caused intense opposition among the people of the South, and led South Carolina to declare the act null and void, and to threaten to secede from the Union if the Federal Government should endeavor to enforce the law. The prompt and vigorous action of President Andrew Jackson in sending troops to the rebellious State, restored order; and Clay's compromise measure the following year pacified the leaders for a time. They however did not abandon the principle of secession, but only shifted it from the tariff issue, in which they had scored a victory, to the much compromised and yet uncompromising issue of slavery extension.