USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1872, Vol. II > Part 24
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" A message was then sent, informing the Senate that the House was waiting to receive them, in order that, in joint body, the Elec- toral votes might be opened and counted. As the Senate entered the Hall of Representatives, the House rose, and remained stand- ing until the Senators took their seats in a semi-circular range before the Speaker's desk. Vice-President Breckinridge, who was one of the candidates for the Presidency, and who, by virtue of the office he held, presided over the Senate, took his seat at the right of the Speaker. As soon as order was restored, Vice-Pres- ident Breckinridge rose, and said :-
"We have assembled, pursuant to the Constitution, in order that the electoral votes may be counted, and the result declared for President and Vice-President, for the term commencing on the 4th of March, 1861; and it is made my duty, under the Con-
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stitution, to open the certificates of election in the presence of the two Houses, and I now proceed to the performance of that duty." He then took the package of each State, one after the other, broke the seal, and handed it to the Tellers to be counted.
" The scene then and there presented, was one which has never been paralleled in the United States. The galleries were crowded with the most distinguished personages in the land, who had been drawn, by the momentous occasion, to the city. Some looked cheerful and hopeful ; some, with compressed lips, were pale and anxious ; while many notorious conspirators were seen in groups, gloomy and threatening. There was deathly silence as the result was announced, which was as follows: One hundred and eighty votes were cast for Abraham Lincoln. Seventy-two for John C. Breckinridge. Thirty-nine for John Bell. Twelve for Stephen A. Douglas. This gave Abraham Lincoln a majority of fifty- seven over all the other candidates. Whereupon the Vice-Presi- dent, rising, said :-
" Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, having received a majority of the whole number of Electoral votes, is duly elected President of the United States, for the four years commencing on the 4th of March, 1861. And Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, having received a majority of the whole number of Electoral votes, is duly elected Vice-President for the same term."
" He then announced. that the business being completed, for which the two Houses had assembled, the Senate would return to their ow chamber. The members of the House rose, and re- . mained standing until the Senators had left the Hall. The five thousand spectators crowding the galleries silently retired. and Abraham Lincoln stood forth before the world, the constitution- ally elected President of the United States.
By means of the telegraph, it was known throughout the Union, on the 7th of November, 1860, the day after the election, that Abraham Lincoln had been elected President of the United States. This result had been perfectly foreseen and foretold, ever since the several presidential nominations. The slaveholders had insisted on such a platform and presidential candidate, that no political party could yield to their demands, and live as a party, for a mo- ment. They deliberately drove the democratic party to a double nomination, Douglass and Breckenridge, for the avowed purpose of electing the Northern candidate, who was especially nominated
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on the platform of freedom, which at that time contemplated nothing further than to prevent the extension of slavery into ter- ritory then free. The slaveholders, for a long series of years, had laid all their plans, and used their best endeavors to bring about a crisis, such as had now arrived, unless they could, inside of the general government, mould it to its own views, and make it the perpetual defender of the institution of slavery. Yet these un- scrupulous upholders of this most inhumanly vile institution, made the fact of the election of a Northern man as President, the pre- text for secession and the disruption of the government, and for commencing the most causeless and cruel civil war, that ever afflicted any civilized nation.
Lincoln was elected in November, but he could not enter upon the execution of the duties of his office till the 4th of March fol- lowing. In the mean time, the General Government was thor- oughly in the hands of the slaveholders. They had still four months, in which they could make all their preparations, and launch their daring conspiracy upon the startled country. Never did villains work with greater zeal, or more effectually. James Buchanan, the President of the United States, had been elected to office on a platform dictated by the slaveholders, pledging him to pursue the general policy required by them. He was surround- ed by men of far greater ability than himself, and he dared not assert his independence, and stand by the flag of his country. He was like a babe, in the fatal embrace of the conspirators.
The majority of his cabinet were unscrupulous and arrant reb- els and knaves. In their hands he was " like a reed shaken in the wind." In his feebleness and vacilation of mind, he was, "as clay in the hands of the potter"-they mot .ded him at will. Howell Cobb, a slaveholder of Georgia, was Secretary of the Treasury. When he entered upon his office, the treasury was full, to overflowing, and the nation was in the full tide of prosperity. It was very necessary, to the full success of the conspirators, that it should be depleted-that the incoming administration should ifind the treasury beggared, and thus it would be without pecnn- iary means to resist a rebellion. This was accomplished in an in- credibly short space of time. When the new administration came into power, it found an empty chest. More than six millions of dollars were stolen, and no doubt went into the treasury of the rebels. The Treasury being thus rendered harmless to the rebel- lion, Mr. Cobb resigned his office, and hastened to take office un- der the conspirators.
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Jacob Thompson, a slaveholder from Mississippi, was Secretary of the Interior. It was his role in the great conspiracy to pre- vent the reenforcement of the fortresses of the nation. If the forts should be reenforced, they could protect themselves from surprise or capture by the rebels, and could control the commerce of the ports, and hermetically seal them, if necessary. Effectu- ally did he perform this ignoble and wicked work. After much consultation, the Star of the West was privately sent with sup- plies for the garrison in Fort Sumter, which was on the verge of starvation. Mr. Thompson, aware of the fact by virtue of his office, immediately notified the armed conspirators in Charleston, and this steamer, which was without arms, was driven back by the rebel batteries. In a speech which he subsequently made to the rebels in Oxford, Miss., he boasted of this abominable act of treachery, in the following words :-
"I sent a dispatch to Judge Longstreet, that the Star of the West was coming with reinforcements. The troops were then put on their guard, and when the Star of the West arrived, she received a warm welcome from booming cannon, and soon beat al retreat."
"We have here the unblushing avowal of a member of the Cabinet, that he betrayed, to those who under arms were seeking to destroy his country, information derived from his official posi- tion. In consequence, that frail vessel was met by hostile batte- ries, the lives of two hundred and fifty men, in the service of the Government, were imperiled, and the heroic little garrison of seventy-five men in Fort Sumter were abandoned to their fate. Secretary Thompson, having accomplished this feat, resigned his office, and joined the rebels, where he was received with open arms.
" The subsequently notorious John B. Floyd, a slave master of Virginia, was Secretary of War. It was the well-matured plan of some of the conspirators, to assassinate President Lincoln on his journey to Washington to be inaugurated. They designed, in the panic which would ensue, to pour in troops from the adjacent Slave States of Maryland and Virginia, and seize upon Washing- ton, with all its treasures, that it might become the capital of their new Confederacy. In the accomplishment of this plan, it was im- portant that the army of the United States, but a few thousand in number, should be so dispersed, that they could not be rallied for the defense of the Government; and that the arsenals at the
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North should be so despoiled, that the free eitizens could find no weapons to grasp, by which they might rush to the rescue. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, did this work effectually. The army was so scattered in remote fortresses in the far West, as to leave all the forts in the slaveholding States defenseless. Thus fortifi- cations containing twelve hundred cannon, and which cost over six millions of dollars, were seized and garrisoned by the rebels.
" At the same time Secretary Floyd, by virtue of that power which his office gave him, and in infamous violation of his oath, disarmed as far as possible the Free States, by emptying their ar- senals, and sending their guns to the Slave States, where bands of rebels were already organized and drilling, prepared to receive them. One hundred and fifteen thousand arms, of the most ap- proved pattern, were transferred from Springfield, Mass., and from Watervliet, N. Y., to arsenals throughout the Slave States. In addition to this, he sold to different Slave States, United States muskets, worth $12 each, for $2.50. A vast amount of cannon, mortar, balls, powder and shells, were also forwarded to the reb- els. Having accomplished all this, Floyd sent in his resignation as Secretary of War, and, joining the rebels, received the appoint- ment of general in their army. Thus General Scott, when the hour of trial came, and Washington was threatened with assault by a sudden rush from the slaveholding States, found it difficult to concentrate even a thousand troops for the defense of the Cap- ital. Washington was saved from capture only by the almost mi- raculous interposition of God.
"Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, was Secretary of the Navy. Our fleet then consisted of ninety vessels, of all classes, carrying about 2,415 guns; and was manned by a complement of about 7,600 men, exclusive of officers and marines. It was a matter of the utmost moment, at this critical hour, that this fleet should be in our own waters to aid the Government. It was a matter of the utmost moment to the traitors, that this fleet should be dis- persed, where it could do them no harm. It was accordingly dis- persed. Five of these vessels were sent to the East Indies, three to Brazil, seven to the Pacific Ocean, three to the Mediterranean, seven to the coast of Africa, and so on, leaving, of our whole squadron, but two vessels, carrying twenty-seven guns and two hundred and eighty men, in Northern ports .*
"On the 21st of February, 1861, a select committee of five, ap-
* Report of Secretary of the Navy, July 4, 1861.
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pointed by the House of Representatives, in a report upon the conduct of the Secretary of the Navy, spoke as follows :-
"From this statement it will appear, that the entire naval force available for the defense of the whole Atlantic coast, at the time of the appointment of this committee, consisted of the steamer Brooklyn, 25 guns, and the storeship Relief, 2 guns; while the former was of too great draft to permit her to enter Charleston harbor with safety, except at spring tide, and the latter was under orders to the coast of Africa, with stores for the African squadron. Thus the whole Atlantic sea-board has been, to all intents and purposes, without defense, during all the period of civil commo- tion and lawless violence, to which the President (Buchanan) has called our attention, as 'of such vast and alarming proportions, as to be beyond his power to check or control.'
" The Committee can not fail to call attention to this extraor- dinary disposition of the entire naval force of the country, and especially in connection with the present no less extraordinary and critical juncture of political affairs. They can not call to mind any period in the past history of the country, of such pro- found peace and internal repose, as would justify so entire an abandonment of the coast of the country to the chance of for- tune. Certainly, since the nation possessed a navy, it has not be- fore sent its entire available force into distant seas, and exposed its immense interests at home, of which it is the special guardian, to the dangers from which, even in times of the utmost quiet, pru- dence and forecast do always shelter them
" To the Committee, this disposition of the naval force, at this most critical period, seems extraordinary. The permitting of ves- sels to depart for distant seas, after these unhappy difficulties had broken ont at home, the omission to put in repair and commission, ready for orders, a single one of the twenty-eight ships dismant- led and unfit for service, in our ports, and that, too, while $646- 639.70 of the appropriation for repairs of the navy, the present year, remain unexpended, were, in the opinions of your Commit- tee, grave errors-without justification or excuse."
"Thus the Government was despoiled by its own imbecile or traitorous officials. Enemies within, opened the door of the for- tress for the entrance of the beleaguering foc. The President, overawed and nerveless, was a silent observer of the march of the conspirators. At last, however, he summoned courage to say to Congress, in tones alike of weakness and despair, that the rebell-
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ion had attained such "vast and alarming proportions, as to place the subject entirely above and beyond Executive control." Nay more, instead of hurling the thunderbolts he might have wielded, into the ranks of the rebels, he acquiesced in their movements, and could hardly be forced to adopt any measure which did not meet with their approval.
" It is difficult to find in all the annals of the past, an example of executive power bowing the neck so meekly beneath the heel of traitorous arrogance. His Cabinet was mostly filled with slave- holding conspirators, who first endeavored to betray their coun- try by the most insane measures, and then disclosed to their con- federate traitors all that transpired in the Executive counsels. President Buchanan was anxious for peace. His political sympa- thies were, however, with the conspirators, and bitterly hostile to those who were the foes of human bondage. As the storm of passion increased in violence, the only measure he could suggest was unconditional surrender of the Government to the wishes of the slaveholders. This was called a compromise. The North, on its part, was to surrender everything. The South, on its part, would consent to accept the surrender.
"Speaking of this rebellion and the plan to conciliate the rebels, by surrendering to slavery all the United States territory south of 36° 30', a concession which the rebels would not accept, Mr. Lovejoy, in the House of Representatives, uttered the memora- ble words :
" There never was a more causeless revolt since Lucifer led his cohorts of apostate angels against the throne of God ; but I never heard that the Almighty proposed to compromise the matter, by allowing the rebels to kindle the fires of hell south of the celes- tial meridian of thirty-six thirty."
Mr. Wigfall, Senator from Texas, exclaimed, in one of his char- acteristic outbursts, "It is the merest balderdash-that is what it is-it is the most unmitigated fudge for any one to get up here, and tell men who have sense and who have brains, that there is any prospect of two-thirds of this Congress passing any proposi- tions as an amendment to the Constitution, that any man who is white, twenty-one years old, and whose hair is straight, living south of Mason and Dixon's line, will be content with."
" One of the most marvelons revelations of history is the phe- nomenon, that the most majestic of national movements may of- ten be controlled by very small minorities. Brissot de Warville
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says, that the French Revolution was carried by not more than twenty men. The whole number of slaveholders in the South did not exceed three hundred thousand. Not more than a hund- red thousand of these possessed any large amount of this species of property. And yet this petty oligarchy, entirely subordinate to a few leading minds, organized the most gigantic rebellion which ever shook this globe. "The future historian," says the Hon. Charles Sumner, "will record, that the present rebellion, not- withstanding its protracted origin, the multitudes it has enlisted, and its extensive sweep, was at last precipitated by fewer than twenty men; Mr. Everett says, by as few as ten. It is certain that thus far it has been the triumph of a minority-but of a mi- nority inspired, combined, and aggrandized by slavery."
" While Congress was disenssing measures of compromise, the . Sonth was marshaling her hosts for battle. When the news of Lincoln's election reached Charleston, S. C., tumultuous throngs in the streets received the tidings with long continued cheering for a Sonthern Confederacy. In Washington, many of the people boldly assumed the secession cockade, knowing that the insulted, humiliated Government of the United States, in the hands of Pres- icent Buchanan, was impotent to harm them. The Palmetto flag was hoisted and saluted; "minute men " were organized. All through the cotton and slaveholding States, the excitement was intense the secessionists striving to overawe the friends of the Union, and preparing.for the arbitrament of the sword, in the success of which arbitrament, they, in their ignorance and self- confidence, cherished not a doubt. They had been accustomed to regard all men who labored as degraded, as on a footing with their slaves. The Northerners they stigmatized as " greasy mechanies," and "mudsills," any five of whom could be instantly put to flight by one chivalrous Southron." 1
We have said that the election of Abraham Lincoln was not the cause, but only the pretext for the rebellion. It was a cry by which the leading rebels and life-long conspirators against the in- stitutions of the country songht, "to fire the Southern heart," and forever destroy our free constitution. It turned out to be an admirable expedient for the purpose intended, among the igno- rant masses of the South. A single example will show this :-
The Hon. A. H. Stephens, long a member of the United States
t Abbott's History of the Civil War in America.
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House of Representatives from Georgia, and one of the most in- finential and able men in that State, addressed an immense assem- blage of his constituents, in the Hall of the House of Represent- atives, at Milledgeville, Ga., November 14, 1860. He then said : "The first question that presents itself is, Shall the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States ? My coun- trymen, I tell you frankly, candidly, and earnestly, that I do not think they ought. In my judgment, the election of no man, con- stitutionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining the Constitution of the country. To make a point of resistance to the Government, to withdraw from it, be- canse a man has been constitutionally elected, puts us in the wrong. We are pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us have sworn to support it. Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a man to the Presidency, and that, too, in accordance with the prescribed forms of the Constitution, make a point of resistance to the Government, without becoming the breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves ?
" I look upon this country, with our Institutions, as the Eden of the world-the paradise of the Universe. It may be, that ont of it we may become greater and more prosperous; but I am can- did and sincere in telling you that I fear, if we rashly evince pas- sion, and, without sufficient cause, shall take that step, that, in- stead of becoming greater or more peaceful, prosperous, and hap- py, instead of becoming gods, we will become.demons, and, at no distant day, commence cutting one another's throats."
But the words of the wisest statesmen of the South were not to be heeded. All union opposition to secession was overborne. Even Stephens himself, a few days after making the speech, of which the above is an extract, took back his own brave and honest words, and made a ranting speech on the other side of the ques- tion, and a little later, accepted the Vice-Presidency of the slave- holders' confederacy. Several of the Southern States, almost im- mediately began to make warlike preparations and appropriations, and the whole Southern community was in a blaze of excitement.
On the 20th day of December, 1860, South Carolina seceded, or, in the polite phrase of the time, withdrew its original con- sent to the Constitution of the United States, and resumed its condition as a sovereign State! The news of this action, which
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was unanimous, was hailed with enthusiasm throughout the South- ern States. On the 9th of January, 1861, the Mississippi Conven- tion passed an ordinance of secession. Florida followed suit on the 10th, and Alabama the next day Georgia seceded on the 19th, and Louisiana on the 26th. The Texas convention passed a secession ordinance, Feb. 1st, 1861, subject to a vote of the peo" ple, and on the 4th, declared the State out of the union ! Vir- ginia passed an ordinance of secession the 17th of April, Arkan- sas, May 6th, and North Carolina, May 29th.
Meanwhile, the rebels were rapidly seizing the forts, arsenals, navyyards and mints, within the limits of the seceded States, while Gen Twiggs, in Texas, traitorously surrendered the greater portion of the little army of the United States, it having been placed there for this purpose by the Secretary of War.
But still the meek Buchanan did nothing but appoint a day for fasting and prayer throughout the nation, on the 4th of January, 1861, which was generally observed at the North, and as generally disregarded at the South, and to send a messenger or two to the South, to beg of them, in piteous terms, to do nothing rash during the brief remainder of his official term. His action disgusted his political friends in the North, not less than all other parties.
It was on the occasion of this fast that Woodbury took its frst part in the stirring events of the times. Thoroughly law abiding, as its citizens always had been, for two hundred years, always at- tentive to the suggestion of rulers, they generally attended, on this occasion, at their several places of worship, to supplicate the Lord of Hosts, that the evils which threatened the na- tion, and which the government seemed utterly unable to success- fully oppose, might be averted. It was on this occasion that the late Rev. Noah Coe, who was then supplying the pulpit of the First Congregational church, and who, not being the settled pas- tor of the church, and, on account of the temper of the times, was not afraid of being accused of "preaching politics," uttered his memorable prayer, a passage of which follows :-
"Oh ! Lord, we have assembled in Thy presence, in response to the call, in his feebleness, of the President of the United States. We thank Thee that he has been brought to see the need of fasting and prayer, and that he has felt the necessity of asking the pray- ers of Thy people. Oh! Lord, Thou knowest that his sins are manifold in Thy sight, and that he greatly needs them. Let him still further see the error of his ways, and apply his heart unto
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wisdom, that Thou canst see it possible to save him. Oh God, Thou knowest he has done evil enongh. He has multiplied his wickedness. But save him ont of Thine abundant mercy. Oh Lord, we thank Thee that his time is short. That he can not do much more evil in the land. And we do greatly thank Thee, that Abraham Lincoln, that great and good man, a man af- ter Thine own heart, is so soon to succeed him, when we devoutly hope we shall see a ruler in the land full of righteousness, who · will carry out Thy will, and show forth Thy praise."
In the sadness, uncertainty and general apprehension of the time, this bold, blunt prayer, had a marked effect upon the hearers. Though unusual in its terms, and plainness of speech, it was deemed to be appropriate to the situation of the country at that perilous period. There is but one prayer on record, which has ever come to the writer's notice, similar to it. And that was, the prayer of Parson Champion, of Litchfield, a red-hot patriot in the days of the Revolutionary War.1
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