The Life of Jefferson Davis

President Davis and General Lee were concurrent in their convictions of the wisdom of a campaign which should drive the enemy from Virginia, locate the army in an abundant and hostile country, and compensate for any disasters which might be sustained in the West, by an overwhelming defeat in the enemy’s country of his main army, which at once covered his capital and the approaches to his large cities.

This bold and brilliant conception was equally justified by the situation, and consistent with that able military policy which was throughout characteristic of the Confederate authorities, and based upon the only theory on which a weak power can be successfully defended against invasion.

The strategic theory which dictated the invasion of Pennsylvania was that of the “defensive, with offensive returns,” made forever famous by its triumphant practice by Frederick the Great – the favorite theory of Napoleon – not less signally illustrated by Jackson’s Valley campaign, and grandly executed by Lee in his irresistible onset upon Pope.

Twitted by the newspapers for their infatuation with the defensive attitude, and condemned by the voice of the public, for the maintenance of a policy which continually subjected the soil of the South to the devastations of the enemy, the Confederate authorities, neither in the invasion of Maryland, in 1862, nor in the invasion of Pennsylvania, yielded merely to public clamor. In both instances President Davis and General Lee were governed by the sound military considerations, which in each case justified the assumption of the offensive. Nothing is more universally conceded than the ultimate subjection of a people who permit themselves to be forced always on the defensive. On the other hand, no blows have been so telling in warfare, as those delivered by an antagonist who, lately on the defensive, at the opportune moment, when the foe is stunned by defeat, assumes a skillful and vigorous offensive.

It was now the third year of the war, and for more than twelve months no considerable success had rewarded the enormous sacrifices and expenditures of the North. The fluctuating sentiment, characteristic of that section, had settled down into a feeling of indifference and distrust, beyond which there was but one step to the abandonment of the war as a hopeless experiment. The evident apprehension, by the Federal Government, of an invasion of Pennsylvania, attended by a ruinous defeat of Hooker’s army, a result which both sides considered probable, plainly demonstrated, that the virtual termination of the war would be the reward of a successful assumption of the offensive by the Confederates.

A more favorable conjuncture, for a final trial with its old antagonist, could not have been desired by the Army of Northern Virginia. The invincible veterans of Longstreet, oftener victors than the Tenth Legion of Cæsar, had rejoined their companions, who boasted the additional honors of Chancellorsville. Reënforcements from other quarters were added,61 and the Army of Northern Virginia, a compact and puissant force, seventy thousand strong, which had never yet known defeat, instinctively expected the order for advance into the enemy’s country. Never was the morale of the army so high, never had it such confidence in its own prowess, and in the resources of its great commander, and never was intrusted to its valor a mission so grateful to its desires, as that tendered by President Davis, “to force the enemy to fight for their own capital and homes.”

Under Lee were trusted lieutenants, whose fame, like that of their followers, was world-wide, and whose laurels were a part of the unnumbered triumphs of the matchless valor of that noble army. Longstreet, the Lannes of the South, was again at the head of his trained corps – the assembled chivalry of the South, in whose exploits every State of the Confederacy claimed a glory peculiarly its own. The bronzed veterans of Jackson, who had shared the glory of their immortal leader from Manassas to Chancellorsville, now followed Ewell, the maimed hero, whom Jackson had named as his successor. Under Hill, the youngest of the corps commanders, were men worthy of a leader who, in twelve months, had filled the successive grades from Colonel to Lieutenant General. The cavalry was still intrusted to Stuart, that bold, able chief, and “rarely gallant and noble gentleman, well supporting by his character the tradition that royal blood flowed in his veins.” With such leaders, and with thoroughly tried and efficient subordinate officers, improved transportation, equipment and clothing, and with numbers approaching nearer an equality with the Federal army, than at any other period, the Army of Northern Virginia no more doubted, than did its commander and the Government, that it was at the outset of a campaign brilliant and decisive beyond parallel in its history.

About the middle of May, General Lee visited Richmond, when the general features of the campaign were determined. The movement from the camps near Fredericksburg and the Rapidan, commenced early in June. The incipient feature of General Lee’s plan was a flank movement, while still confronted by the army of the enemy – perhaps the most delicate and difficult problem in war – by which, leaving the south bank of the Rappahannock, he sought to draw the Federal army away from its position. To meet the contingency of a movement by the enemy in the direction of Richmond, A. P. Hill, with his corps d’armée, was left near Fredericksburg. That skillful officer ably executed his instructions, checking the Federal demonstrations near his lines, and concealing the absence of the main body of the army until the advance was well under way. General Stuart fully performed his important part of covering the movements of the infantry, by seizing the mountain passes, and detaining the advance of the enemy, in the execution of which he fought several fierce cavalry engagements, winning them all with inferior forces. The army was marched through an abundant country, not desolated by war, and affording good roads. Important incidents of the advance were the capture of Winchester, Berryville, and Martinsburg, by the forces of Ewell, with their garrisons, aggregating seven thousand men, and considerable material of war.

These brilliant results of Lee’s strategy were accomplished with wonderful regularity and promptitude, and were attended with inconsiderable loss.

Crossing the Potomac, the second stage of the campaign was the occupation of Western Maryland – the least friendly section of the State – where the army could be abundantly supplied, and the important objects of destroying the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Cumberland Canal, so valuable to the enemy, could be accomplished. The next step was to advance into Pennsylvania, capturing large supplies much needed by the army, occupying several large towns of that State, and destroying communications – meanwhile the army living on the enemy, and kept well in hand for a general engagement, whenever battle could be advantageously offered. In the execution of this portion of the plan, an extensive and fertile section of Pennsylvania was occupied, strong detachments were pushed far into the interior, and a movement against Harrisburg was in preparation, when the advance of the Federal army induced General Lee to concentrate his forces for battle.

The consummate strategy of Lee had now made him apparently master of the situation, and gave him the option of tendering or declining a grand and decisive engagement. It is impossible to overestimate the generalship, which, within twenty-five days, had transferred an army, in the presence of the enemy, from the Rappahannock to the interior of Pennsylvania, making large captures en route, and inflicting heavy damage upon the Federal communications, without being even momentarily arrested. Never once had been relaxed the grasp of that master-hand which controlled the army in all its movements. Its various parts, within easy supporting distance, were clearly so disposed, as to be readily assembled, to meet the exigency that was inevitable. When Lee drew in his several columns around Gettysburg, the South confident in the invincibility of the army, and in the genius of its leader, never doubted the issue of the grand trial of arms which was at hand. With more than apprehension the North awaited the fate of the army, upon which its last hope of security rested. A defeat of the Army of the Potomac now would signify, not a check in a boastful advance upon Richmond, but the capture of Washington, the presence of the avenging columns of Lee upon the banks of the Delaware – perhaps of the dreaded Stuart upon the Hudson.

It was contemplated that the invasion of Pennsylvania would result in a decisive battle. Indeed, that result was inevitable, unless the Federal authorities should unresistingly submit to the invasion – an event not for a moment to be anticipated. But a vital feature in the theory of the invasion was that the position of Lee would necessitate an advance against him by the Federal commander, leaving to Lee the choice of time and place for giving battle. The calculation was that Lee would be master of the situation at all times, as indeed he undoubtedly was until the engagement of Gettysburg was joined. We are not here at liberty to discuss the details of that battle, or to consider how far it was a departure from, or in pursuance of the original design of the Confederate campaign.62 If competent criticism shall condemn the tactics of Lee at Gettysburg, he has yet disarmed censure by the surpassing magnanimity with which he assumed the responsibility.

The great joy of the North did not exaggerate the terrible blow sustained by the Confederacy in the failure of the Pennsylvania campaign. It was the last serious demonstration upon Federal soil undertaken by the South – all movements of an offensive character subsequently undertaken being merely raids or diversions, designed to give relief to the sorely-pressed Confederate capital. It imposed upon the South the cruel necessity of a continuation of the war upon its own soil – a precarious defensive, with a capacity of resistance greatly diminished.

Gettysburg marked the most serious step in that decline of Confederate fortunes which the fall of Jackson, in the moment of his greatest triumph, so ominously presaged.63

Yet the condition of Lee’s army was far from desperate on the morning of the 4th of July, when it still confronted its antagonist, neither evincing a disposition to attack. Retiring in perfect order, and bringing off his extensive trains and seven thousand prisoners, he tendered the enemy battle at Hagerstown, while making preparations to recross the Potomac. General Meade, an able and prudent soldier, made as vigorous a pursuit as the crippled condition of his army would permit. In a short time General Lee was once more upon the lines of the Rapidan, and General Meade soon took position upon the Rappahannock. Here the campaign terminated, and the two armies, like giants exhausted by a mighty wrestle, gladly availed themselves of a season of repose.

But Gettysburg did not complete the agony of the South. The disastrous failure of the most prodigious and promising enterprise, undertaken by its largest, and heretofore invincible army, was simultaneous with an event hardly less fearful in its consequences. On the fourth of July, the garrison of Vicksburg, reduced to the point of starvation, surrendered to the persevering and indomitable Grant. This event signified the loss of an army of twenty-five thousand men, the possession by the enemy of the Confederate Gibraltar of the Mississippi Valley, the loss of all tenure upon the great river by the South, and the severance of the Confederacy. Port Hudson, with its garrison of five thousand men, being no longer tenable, after the fall of Vicksburg, was immediately surrendered to the besieging army of General Banks. The sum of Confederate disasters in the summer of 1863, was completed by the failure of the attempt to capture Helena, Arkansas, followed by the capture of Little Rock, and Federal control of the important valley in which it is situated.

Within ninety days the South was brought from the hope of almost instant independence to the certainty of a long, bitter, and doubtful struggle. Its armies terribly shattered, its resources in men and means apparently almost exhausted, it seemed for a time doubtful whether the Confederacy was capable of longer endurance of the terrible ordeal. The exultation of the North was proportionate to the extent of its victories. A new lease was given to the war. Confidence was fully restored, and the Federal Government could now make no demand, that would be thought extravagant, upon the energies of the North, for the promotion of the object it had so much at heart. But a few months sufficed to show that the constancy and fortitude of the South was still capable of a desperate struggle with the power and determination of the North.

This period of misfortune and apprehension was signalized by a most determined arraignment of the Confederate administration. It is worthy of remark, however, that in all the embittered censure visited upon President Davis, for his alleged responsibility for the crushing reverses of the summer campaign, there was avowed but little censure of the most fatal of those disasters – the failure of the movement into Pennsylvania. The privilege of assailing Mr. Davis with or without reason, did not include the privilege to condemn Lee and his army.

In the case of Vicksburg circumstances were assumed to be different. Without even waiting for the facts, or for any explanation of that terrible calamity, General Pemberton was accused of having betrayed his command. He was of Northern birth, and he had surrendered on the fourth of July – such was the evidence of Pemberton’s treason. Despite the fact that Johnston was known to be in the neighborhood with a force collected for the relief of Vicksburg, and though it had been plain to the country for weeks, that Vicksburg could not be saved, except by a successful demonstration by that force, it was not admitted among the possibilities of the case, that Johnston64 shared the responsibility for the disaster.

When, however, the Federal accounts revealed the gallant defense made by Pemberton, and thus put to shame the unworthy insinuation of treachery, the censure of that unfortunate commander and the President assumed another direction. Pemberton, it was asserted, was notoriously incompetent, so proven, and so represented to the President before his assignment to command in Mississippi; and the indignation of the country was invoked upon the most signal instance of favoritism yet exhibited. The extent to which this censure of Mr. Davis was successful, may be estimated, when it is stated that no act of his administration so imperiled his popularity as did the appointment of General Pemberton. Yet it is undeniable that this was the result of the unfortunate sequel at Vicksburg, and dictated by popular passion in a moment of terrible disappointment, rather than by any sufficient reason ever urged to show that the appointment was unwise and undeserved.

Sustained by the recommendations of several of the first officers in the Confederate army, President Davis made Pemberton a Lieutenant-General, and assigned him to the command of the Department of Mississippi. The command was one of vital importance to the country, and within its limits were the home and all the possessions of Mr. Davis. In October, 1862, General Pemberton took charge of his department, finding it in a most disordered and embarrassing condition. His administration was of a character to give great satisfaction to the Government, and its fruits were speedily realized in the thorough and efficient reorganization of an army, but lately defeated, the improved efficiency of its various departments, and the successful defense of an extensive district, with forty thousand men, against the armies of Grant and Banks, the smallest of which nearly equaled the entire force of Pemberton. Indeed, it can hardly be alleged that the administration of General Pemberton, previous to the siege of Vicksburg, was faulty or unsatisfactory. With what justice, then, can it be charged that Mr. Davis retained in command an officer proven to be incompetent?

In the reports of Generals Johnston and Pemberton, written from different stand-points, and each with the object of vindicating its author, the operations which led to the retirement of the latter within the lines of Vicksburg were elaborately discussed. It is at least safe to state that General Pemberton’s reasons are as forcibly stated in explanation of his own conduct, as are General Johnston’s in demonstration of the errors of his subordinate. Pemberton was controlled in all his movements by the paramount purpose of holding Vicksburg, the last obstruction to the enemy’s free navigation of the Mississippi, and the connecting link between the two great divisions of the Confederacy. If he had abandoned Vicksburg, with a view to save his army, and refused to stand a siege, can it be reasonably supposed that his assailants would have been more merciful? His mission was to save Vicksburg and the Valley of the Mississippi, and, when forced back by the overwhelming numbers of Grant, he preferred even to risk his army, rather than to surrender the objects of the whole campaign without an effort.

During the siege, the engineering skill of General Pemberton, and his fertility of expedients were conspicuously displayed. Works, which, under the unceasing and concentrated fire of hundreds of guns, were demolished, re-appeared, in improved forms, which only consummate ingenuity could have devised. Works built to withstand guns used in ordinary warfare were found wholly inadequate to resist the heavy metal of the enemy; and, subjected to the incessant and galling fire of musketry, the artillery could with difficulty be worked. But the energy and resources of General Pemberton met even these difficulties. The position of the pieces was constantly changing; embankments disappeared under the enemy’s fire; but the Confederate artillery would still be found in position, and stronger than before.

But the skill of the commander and the heroic endurance of the garrison were unavailing. From the first, relief from without was expected. For forty-eight days this hope stimulated the commander and the garrison, and General Pemberton subsequently declared that he “would have lived upon an ounce a day, and have continued to meet the assaults of all Grant’s army, rather than have surrendered the city, until General Johnston had realized or relinquished that hope.” When the hope of aid was finally abandoned, the surrender of Vicksburg was simply a question of time and honor. The alternative was either to capitulate or attempt to cut through the enemy’s lines. In a council of his officers, Pemberton favored the latter plan, but yielded to the views of the majority.

The case of General Pemberton was a striking instance of public ingratitude. Vindicating his devotion to the cause of the South, by surrendering his commission in the Federal service, turning his back upon his kindred, and leaving a large property in the country of the enemy, he was stigmatized by the very people in whose cause he had made these sacrifices. His loyalty, capacity, and fidelity were questioned, even while he was in the front of death. His noble reply to these accusations can never be forgotten. Said he to his troops: “You have been told that I was disloyal and incompetent, and that I would sell Vicksburg. Follow me, and you shall see at what price I shall sell it.” The story of the devotion shown at Vicksburg is no mean one in the history of the Confederacy. But the great qualities of this abused man have even a nobler testimony than the gallantry of that defense. Convinced that the cloud of prejudice and misrepresentation which followed him, rendered useless to the cause his services in high position, he tendered his resignation as a Lieutenant-General, and requested to be ordered to duty with his original rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery.65

When the facts belonging to the unfortunate campaign in Mississippi were made known, the censure of Pemberton was rather for what he failed to do, than what he had done. But suppose the same test should be applied to General Johnston; would there not be found an equal wanting of results? If Johnston was powerless to make even a diversion with more than twenty thousand men, (his force at the time of Pemberton’s surrender,) how much more helpless was Pemberton to check Grant?

A dispassionate and careful inquiry will demonstrate that the operations of General Pemberton, antecedent to the siege of Vicksburg, are far less censurable than was assumed by his assailants. There can be no manner of doubt, that if worthy of blame, he should not be visited with the whole responsibility. It is difficult to imagine how Pemberton could have adopted a different course, consistently with the main purpose of the campaign – which was to prevent the capture of Vicksburg. It is certain that he would have been doubly condemned, if he had executed a safe retreat, and abandoned the stronghold without an effort to save it.

A sufficient reply to the statement that Pemberton was appointed without the desirable evidence of fitness, is that the occasion was one precluding the employment of any officer whose capacity for such a command had been proven by ample trial. Every officer of established merit was then in a position from which he could not be spared. The presence of Lee in Virginia was deemed necessary by the whole country. The most popular of his lieutenants (Longstreet) was then freely criticised for an assumed failure in a recent independent command; and, besides, he was obviously needed in the Pennsylvania campaign. Beauregard was also thought to be in his appropriate place, in charge of the coast defenses; and, indeed, it was next to impossible to avoid the employment of a comparatively untried commander in some important position. The confidence of Mr. Davis in Pemberton, too, was amply sustained by the testimony of officers, in whose judgment the country confided.

But Pemberton failed, and it was the misfortune of the President to have conferred distinction upon an unsuccessful commander. Waiving all discussion of the extent to which Pemberton may be justified, and even conceding the appointment to have been a bad one, let us remember how few really capable commanders are produced by even the greatest wars. Was President Davis to call twenty into existence, fit to command armies, when Napoleon declared his armies did not afford half a dozen? Let it be remembered, too, that it was his penetration that sustained Lee, Sidney Johnston and Jackson, in the face of popular clamor; that he rewarded, with suitable acknowledgment, the skill and gallantry of Ewell, Early, Stuart, Gordon, Longstreet, and Hood; of Breckinridge, Cleburne, Magruder, Morgan, and others whose names make up the brilliant galaxy of Confederate heroes.66

That President Davis was tenacious of his opinions is unquestionably true, and his firm grasp of his purposes was the explanation of his ascendancy over other minds, and a leading attribute of his fitness for his position. But this strenuous adhesion to a settled aim, characteristic of all men born for influence, is a very different quality from that unreasoning zealotry which belongs to weak minds. If, indeed, the favoritism of Mr. Davis lost Vicksburg, with equal justice, it may be claimed that it won the Seven Days’ victories, Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.

An interesting event in the history of this period of the war, was the unsuccessful mission of Vice-President Stephens, to the Federal authorities, designed, as explained by President Davis, “to place the war upon the footing of such as are waged by civilized people in modern times.” The annexed correspondence requires hardly a word of explanation. Consistent with the forbearance and humanity, with which Mr. Davis had endeavored to prevent war, by negotiation, was this effort to soften its rigors and to abate the bitterness which it had then assumed.

Recent atrocities of the Federal authorities67 had compelled the Confederate Government to seriously entertain the purpose of retaliation. Reluctant to adopt a course which would remove the last restraint upon the spirit of cruelty and revenge, making the war a system of unmitigated barbarism upon both sides, President Davis determined to make an earnest appeal to the humanity of the Federal authorities. In addition to this object the mission of Mr. Stephens sought the arrangement of all disputes between the governments, respecting the cartel of exchange, upon a permanent and humane basis, by which the soldiers of the two armies should be sent to their homes, instead of being confined in military prisons.