USA > New Jersey > New Jersey and the rebellion : a history of the service of the troops and people of New Jersey in aid of the Union cause, Pt. 1 > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
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Gc 973.74 N39f pt.1 1764748
IVI.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
1
GC
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01082 4941
598
NEW JERSEY
AND
THE REBELLION:
pt. 1
A
HISTORY OF THE SERVICES OF THE TROOPS AND PEOPLE OF NEW JERSEY IN AID OF THE UNION CAUSE. EN
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
BY
/ JOHN Y. FOSTER.
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE STATE.
NEWARK, N. J. : MARTIN R. DENNIS & CO. 1868.
302/1
.
5 98
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1764748
MAJ. GEN. KEARNY OF N. J.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012
http://archive.org/details/newjerseyrebe00fost
F 853.31
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by M. R. DENNIS & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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3298
1
NEWARK DAILY ADVERTISER PRINT.
PREFACE.
៛
THE story of New Jersey's part in the War for the Union, recorded in the following pages, has been written under many and serious difficulties. While the writer has in some cases been furnished with ample materials, in many others he has not been able to procure any official data whatever, while in nearly every instance he has found the testimony so conflicting and uncertain that it has been impossible to reach any really satisfactory conclusion. Com- pelled in some cases to examine hundreds of pages of manuscript to arrive at a single fact, and in others to travel scores of miles in quest of some authority which, when found, proved worthless or untrustworthy, the labor of gathering up the stray hints, the vague personal narratives, and the official statements out of which this Book is constructed, has been from first to last infinitely greater than any reader will conceive. But to the writer, this work, with all its embarassments and discouragements, and responsible as it proved, has been one of genuine pleasure; and if he has been so fortunate as to preserve any facts as to the gallantry of our troops, or the patriotism of our people, which might otherwise have been lost, he is wholly content.
In whatever else the record may be deficient, it certainly will be found to present conclusive evidences of the superiority of the troops who represented us in the field. No soldiers in all the armies of the Republic fought witli grander courage, or clung more steadfastly or with loftier faith to the Cause, than those who in every combat were girt about with memories of Princeton and Monmouth, and strengthened by the love of liberty that nowhere grows more robustly than on those revolutionary fields. Whether in the East or West, on the march or in the thick of battle; whether leading a forlorn hope or toiling in the trenches, New Jersey troops were found always brave, patient, faithful, obedient. Regarded at first by many commanders with a prejudice almost amounting to contempt, they literally fought their way into universal favor, coming at last to stand with the best and most popular troops of the service, insomuch that the very men who had at the outset spo- ken of them most meanly, contended, in later years, for the honor of leading them to battle. "Give us a brigade of these Jerseymen, and we'll beat the enemy still," cried Senator Wade, as he stood on the heights of Centreville, while the retreating columns from the first Bull Run drifted past him ; and more than once in after campaigns that same appeal, from commanders in sore straits, attested the universal confidence reposed in the battle-beaten veterans who, all the way from that first shameful day down to the hour when Johnston
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PREFACE.
vainly essayed at Bentonville to shake the lines of the brave Thirteenth, never, on one single occasion, faltered or turned away from obvious duty.
The plan of this work did not contemplate the incorporation of sketches of individual men, and I do not pretend that every Jerseyman who deserves honorable mention is named on these pages. There are hundreds, no doubt, as brave and true as any of those whose services are recorded, whose deeds have no mention here. But every man, whether officer or private, who exhib. ited conspicuous bravery in the field, of whom I have been able to procure . trustworthy report, is herein held up to public view. I have been, especially careful to preserve every instance of gallantry on the part of privates, feeling that these deserved to have their deeds perpetuated no less than those more fortunate ones, whose names so often shone in bulletins from gory fields.
To the many persons, not only in this State, but in other parts of the Union -in the South as well as the North-who have assisted me in my labors, I tender my sincere acknowledgments. I owe special thanks to the Chaplain of the Sixteenth Regiment, from whose unpublished narrative of the exploits of that command I have largely drawn. I am also largely indebted to Adjutant- General Stockton and his successor, General W. S. Stryker, as well as to Quartermaster-General Perrine, whose administration of his bureau during the war was no less efficient than it was unselfishly patriotic.
It should be stated, as enabling the reader to understand the enumeration of our regiments, as hercin sketched, that the four regiments composing the detached (militia) brigade were subsequently counted as the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth, and are so carried on the rolls of the Adjutant-General. This will account for the absence of any sketches of regi- ments bearing those numbers.
It remains only to be added that if any misstatement has been unconsciously embodied in this work, it will be cheerfully corrected upon the presentation of trustworthy evidence of inaccuracy. The pen now laid down, guided during all its task by a conscientious purpose and a controlling desire to do exact justice to all, could engage in no more satisfactory labor, now or here- after, than the correction of any error into which, from the absence of facts or the conflict of testimony, it may have been betrayed. J. Y. F.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. CAUSES OF THE REBELLION. The Relation of Slavery to the War. 1
CHAPTER II. THE UPRISING IN NEW JERSEY.
The State Unprepared for War-The Military Department-Governor Olden. ... .. 13
CHAPTER III. TROOPS SENT FORWARD.
Action of the Banks-The First Volunteers-Runyon's Brigade-Preparations of the State Authorities for Coast Defence, &c. 25
CHAPTER IV. HOSTILITIES COMMENCED.
Our Troops in Virginia-The Battle of Bull Run-The Action of Runyon and his Brigade-Of the First and Second Three Years' Regiments-Incidents of the Retreat. 30
CHAPTER V. THE FIRST BRIGADE.
General Kearney as its Commandant-The Occupation of Manassas, and its Inci- dents-The PENINSULA CAMPAIGN-The Brigade's First Battle at West Point- Its Fighting before Richmond-The Battle of Gaines' Mill-Heavy Losses of the Brigade-The Retreat to Harrison's Landing-The Pope Campaign-Death of General George W. Taylor-Gallant Achievement of the Brigade at Cramp- ton's Pass-The Battle of Antietam-Gallantry of the Brigade at Fredericks- burg-The Chancellorsville Campaign-The Rebel Invasion of Pennsylvania- The Brigade at Gettysburg-Winter Quarters-The Grand Final Campaign- Losses of the Brigade in the Wilderness Battles and at Cold Harbor-The Brigade Transferred to the Shenandoah-Engagements in the Valley-The Final Assault upon Petersburg-The General Record of the Brigade. ... 65
CHAPTER VI. THE SECOND BRIGADE.
Its Gallantry at Williamsburg-Incidents and Reports of the Battle-The Engage- ment of Fair Oaks-Other Fighting before Richmond-The Brigade at Bristow Station-At Chancellorsville-At Gettysburg-At McLean's Ford-The Bat- tles of the Wilderness-Cold Harbor-Before Petersburg-Engagements at Deep Bottom and the Jerusalem Plank Road-The Brigade at Hatcher's Run- The Final Fighting of the Campaign-Official Papers 129
CHAPTER VII. THE NINTH REGIMENT.
Loss of Colonel Allen off Hatteras Inlet-The Regiment at Roanoke Island-At Newbern-At Youngs' Cross Roads-At Tarborough-At Kinston-Other Battles-The Regiment in Virginia-Fighting before Petersburg-Again in ,
North Carolina-Final Achievements
203
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. THE TENTH REGIMENT.
Its Services at Suffolk-In Pennsylvania-As part of the First Brigade. ... 267
CHAPTER IX.
THE ELEVENTH REGIMENT.
Engaged at Fredericksburg-Gallantry at Chancellorsville - Official Report of the Battle-Losses at Gettysburg-Actions at Kelly's Ford and Loeust Grove- The Final Campaign ....... 276
CHAPTER X. THE TWELFTH REGIMENT.
Stationed in Maryland-Proceeds to Virginia-Its Services at Chaneellorsville-At Gettysburg-At Bristow Station-In the Wilderness Campaign -- Losses at Cold Harbor-Before Petersburg-The Final Movements. 300
CHAPTER XI. THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT.
Engaged at Antietam-Bravery at Chancellorsville-At Gettysburg-Transferred to the Southwest-Participates in the Atlanta Campaign-In the March to the Sea-In the Carolina Campaign-Efficient Service at the Battle of Benton- ville 316
CHAPTER XII. THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT.
Stationed at Monocaey-At Maryland Heights-Moves to Bealton Station-En- gaged at Loeust Grove-Participates in the Rapidan Campaign -- Gallantry at Cold Harbor-The Battle of Monocaey-Losses of the Regiment-Engaged in the Shenandoah-The Final Contest before Petersburg 356
CHAPTER XIII. THE FIFTEENTH REGIMENT.
Its Officers-Ineidents of the Battle of Fredericksburg-Gallantry of the Regi- ment-The Battle of Fredericksburg-The Wilderness Campaign-Fighting under Sheridan in the Shenandoah-Final Movements 382
CHAPTER XIV. THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT-(FIRST CAVALRY).
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Its Early Difficulties-In the Field-Pope's Advance-Cedar Mountain-Manassas Plains and Aldie-Scouting-Brandy Station-Gettysburg-Sulphur Springs and Bristow Station-Across the Rapidan-The Battles of the Wilderness- Sheridan's Raid to Richmond-Turning Lee's Rigiit-Operations around Petersburg-The Final Campaign. ...... 408
CHAPTER XV TO XXV-(INCLUSIVE). THE NINE MONTHS' REGIMENTS.
Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty- sixth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth and Thirty- first Regiments-Their Services in the Fredericksburg Battles .... 486
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE THIRTY- SECOND REGIMENT-(SECOND CAVALRY).
Sent to the Southwest-Its Marehes-Participates in an Expedition to Central Mississippi-Fight at Okolona, Mississippi-Pursues the Rebel Forrest-
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vii
CONTENTS.
Brilliant Fight at Guntown-The Sturgis Expedition-Engagement at Port Gibson-Expedition into Arkansas-Battle of Egypt Station-The Regiment sent to New Orleans-Subsequent Movements. 5SO
CHAPTER XXVII. THE THIRTY - THIRD REGIMENT.
Sent to Virginia-Thence to the Southwest-Engaged at Chattanooga-Its Scr- vices and Gallantry in the Atlanta Campaign-Its Assault at Dug Gap, Georgia-Official Reports of its Engagements-The March to the Sea-The Campaign of the Carolinas-Last Fight of the Regiment at Smithfield, North Carolina .. 609
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE THIRTY -FOURTH REGIMENT.
Its Field of Operations-Its Defence of Columbus, Kentucky-Participates in the Assault upon Mobile-General Record. 642
CHAPTER XXIX. THE THIRTY - FIFTH REGIMENT.
Its Early Movements-Joins the Army of General Sherman-Participates in the Atlanta Campaign-Its Gallantry at Resaca-At Decatur-Before Atlanta- The Georgia Campaign-The March through the Carolinas-Muster Out ..... 64S
CHAPTER XXX. THE THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT-(THIRD CAVALRY).
Its Participation in the Wilderness Campaign-Sent to the Shenandoah-Battle of Winchester-Other Engagements-Its Gallantry at Five Forks 661
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE THIRTY -SEVENTH REGIMENT.
Term of Service-Character of the Regiment-Its Efficiency-The Mortality of the Command
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE THIRTY -EIGHTH REGIMENT.
Its Term of Service brief-Engaged in Guard Duty-Its General Character.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT.
Its Gallantry in the Assault upon Petersburg-Losses of the Regiment. ..... 676
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE FORTIETH REGIMENT.
Attached to the First Brigade-Its Efficiency in the Closing Engagements of tlic War 679
CHAPTER XXXV.
BATTERY A-(FIRST ARTILLERY).
Its Organization and Record-Engaged at West Point, Virginia-At Mechanics- ville and Gaines' Mill-At Antietam-Participation in the Mud Campaign-Its Gallantry at Salem Church-At Gettysburg-In the Wilderness Campaign- Final Movements ..
680
CHAPTER XXXVI.
BATTERY B-(SECOND ARTILLERY).
Engaged in the Peninsula campaign-Its Efficiency at Seven Pines and Peach Orehard at Chaneellorsville-At Gettysburg-Participates in the Final Cam- paign-Its Losses
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
BATTERY C-THIRD ARTILLERY).
Its Organization-Services at White House Landing-At Deep Bottom and Reams' Station-Its Defence of Fort Haskell-Final Movements. 697
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
BATTERY D-(FOURTH ARTILLERY).
Its High Reputation-Its First Engagement-Assigned to the Defence of the Key of our Position-Its Splendid Services-Gallantry of Officers and Men in various Engagements-The Battery sent to New York-Its Movements upon returning to the Field. 704
CHAPTER XXXIX. BATTERY E-(FIFTH ARTILLERY).
Its Field of Operations-Largest Battery in the Service-General Character ... . 726
CHAPTER XL.
JERSEYMEN IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.
In the Excelsior Brigade-In the Harris Light Cavalry-In Bramhall's Battery- In Twentieth and Forty-eighth New York Regiments -In Eleventh Pennsyl- vania Cavalry-Individual Jerseymen in Commands of other States. ... 727
CHAPTER XLI. INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA IN 1863.
Services of Jerseymen in the "Emergency"-Their Honorable Record. .. 766
CHAPTER XLII. LEGISLATION OF THE WAR PERIOD.
Its General Charseter-Bounty and other Laws-Governor Parker-Provisions for the Care of our Soldiers-Institutions of Relief, &c. . 772
CHAPTER XLIII. POPULAR SYMPATHY WITH THE CAUSE.
Efforts of the People in aid of the Troops-Jersey Women as Nurses -Organiza- tions of Relief-The State Sanitary Commission 781
CHAPTER XLIV. ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH.
The Record of the several Denominations-Influence of their Example and Teachings
.... .. 794
CHAPTER XLV. DISTINGUISHED GENERAL OFFICERS.
Kearney-Mott-Torbert-MeAllister-Ramsey-Sewell-Kilpatrick-Heckman- Mindil-Taylor-Truex-Hall-Campbell-Harker-Bayard -- Price-Revere- Montgomery-Birney 804
CHAPTER XLVI.
INSTANCES OF GALLANTRY.
Drummer Magee-Exploit at Murfreesboro-Major Vredenburgh-His Brilliant Record . 856
CHAPTER XLVII.
CHAPLAINS AND SURGEONS.
Their Work and General Efficieney-The Number in Service. 863 Appended Notes 868
NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
CHAPTER I.
CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.
IN THE Eighty-Fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America, there was initiated by ambitious and misguided men an insurrection against the paramount and constitutional au- thority which, while apparently inconsiderable in its earlier mani- festations, finally developed into the most formidable rebellion of modern times, and in its ultimate consequences concerned the whole family of man. For five terrible years, the fierce debate of arms which followed upon this seditious outbreak, challenged the atten- tion of all civilized nations, the influences of the combat reaching to, and affecting, the remotest lands. Nor was the conflict, either in the import or gravity of the issues it involved, or the magnitude of the scale upon which it was waged, unworthy of the universal and profound interest which it excited. It was no ordinary con- troversy ; no mere contest of kings for feudal prerogatives, or of parliaments ambitious of aggrandizement or the conservation of endangered privileges, nor yet of embittered nations struggling for new geographical adjustments or territorial acquisitions. It origi- nated in no mere question of frontiers, like some more recent wars ; nor was it the outgrowth of any difference as to religious dogmas, like many other wars which have desolated the world. Its origin was in far higher causes. Primarily it was a contest between civi-
2
NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
lization and barbarism; between those ideas of enlightenment, of equality, of democracy which have their best and completest ex- position in the American system, and those eternally and merci- lessly hostile principles of caste, of ignorance and aristocracy which in all ages, savage and civilized alike, have denied the rights of the many and hedged about with sacred care the usurped authority of the few.1 From the earliest dawn of our history as a nation these principles had been in conflict, silently but desperately strug- gling for the mastery. For eighty years men and parties had been swept to power or to ruin as one sentiment or the other, in this un- ceasing controversy, had dominated the hour. For the most part that section in which education was confined to a feeble class, and which was distinguished by a social system which directed all thought and endeavor to the one purpose of perpetuating its own existence, had controlled the nation. But gradually power was slipping from its grasp. Civilization builds itself up slowly, but the law of its growth is sure, and so it came to pass that out of eighty dismal years of feudalism, "in which there had been but little talk of human right, but little obedience to divine reason," the Republic was slowly emerging at last into a nobler life and a grander destiny. The Hand of the Supreme, wheeling forward with stately purpose the chariot-wheels of Progress, and beating down whatever opposed the elevation of man and the enlarged recognition of his rights, would not stay at the bidding of any class or lords of misrule. He who established us a people and laid, broad and strong, the national foundations, did not mean that the nation's life should be kept forever wrapped "in the ancient cerecloths, and stiffening in the stony sarcophagus of a by-gone age." The North, with its schools, colleges, churches ; its manu- factures and agriculture, its active and intense thought; with its deepening culture, its concentrated population, and its ever-increas- ing appreciation of the principles under which it had grown and
1 Pollard's "Southern History of the War" says :
"The terrible war which ensued on disunion must be taken as the result of a pro- found and long-continued conflict between the political and social systems of North and South, with which slavery had a conspicuous connection."
3
CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.
flourished, grew steadily in strength and in influence in society and the government. The class that would dam the currents of na- tional freedom and human progress, hopelessly declined in power and respectability ; the class that sought to lift all weights from the shoulders of men, to widen and deepen the channels of liberty and progress, to subordinate forces to rights and government to humanity, as steadily augmented in vigor and numbers. At length, in 1860, the dominance of the North became, politically, complete. Upon the distinct issue, as to whether the principles and ideas which it symbolized, or those, on the contrary, which dis- tinguished the South, should henceforth rule, a decision fatal to the further supremacy of the latter was deliberately given. The key to the portal of power, so long worn at the Southern girdle, was trans- ferred absolutely to other hands. Then, seeing their downfall at hand, realizing that the Government could no longer be employed to shield er promote a sectional interest ; that it would be admin- istered for the good of all rather than for the advantage of a few, the minority, burning still with a lust of power-inflammable, pet ulant, audacious, eager to assail-rose in rebellion against the voice of the majority, threw off their allegiance to the central and con- stitutional authority, and madly attempted the dissolution of the Union, to the end that some fragment, falling to their share, might give them a new lease of power, and a foundation for a new empire dedicated to the perpetuation of those doctrines and ideas which, though rejected by all the world, they cherished as divine.
There were not a few-seers of the past, keen-eyed observers looking forward with prophetic ken into the shadowy future from the fields of past debates and controversies-who had anticipated with trembling this terrible collision. Reasoning from the analo- gies of history and the drift of Southern policy and avowals, no
2 Alexander H. Stephens, in a speech at Savannah, Georgia, March 20, 1861, said that " the foundations (of the new government) are laid, its corner-stone rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery-subordination to the superior race-is his natural and normal condition." After further remarks in the same vein, he reiterated the statement: "It is upon this our actual fabric is firmly planted," adding the blasphemous words, "This stone, which was rejected by the first builders, 'is become the chief stone of the corner' in our edifice."
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NEW JERSEY AND THE REBELLION.
less than from daily occurring events, they could not discern any escape from a death-grapple between the opposing elements in our life as a people.3 They felt that permanent concord was impossi- ble between a growing and advancing people, and one decaying; between strength always aspiring to new achievement, and weak- ness always declining to profounder chaos; between freedom seek- ing continually loftier heights of usefulness and enjoyment for the race, and slavery forever creeping with panting tongue and lustful eye towards fresh fields of conquest. So long as slavery should exist, there could be, in the nature of the case, as many believed, no homogeneity between the North and the South. The very fact that the industry of the South was in the hands of a servile race, constituted a bar of separation, for that industry could never be associated with ideas of ingenuity and skill, of knowledge and in- telligence, of constant progress and general comfort, more and more widely diffused among the people, which were the distinguishing characteristics of the North. These facts had ample and emphatic illustration in our history. The Southern ruling class had gone to decay while the North was rising in wealth and power. Born to command from the cradle a despised race, with the persons of men and women subject to their absolute power, the Southern planta- tion class were educated to arrogance, pride, sensuality,' and these very vices had eaten out all the vigor of their life. They were even becoming incapable of self-government, and openly declared
3 As early as 1790, disunion was openly urged in Virginia and elsewhere, as the only means of preserving the supremacy of Southern sentiment. Washington's Farewell Address grew out of the prevalence of this dangerous sentiment. John Randolph of Roanoke declared in a speech in the House of Representatives, in 1817, that "the Grand Arsenal of Richmond, Virginia, was built with an eye to putting down the Ad- ministration of Mr. Adams (the immediate successor of Washington as President), with the bayonet, if it could not be accomplished by other means." This feeling of hos- tility to the principles of which the goverment was the expositor, strengthened with the years, and formed a perpetual menace to the public peace.
4 Pollard, in his "Last Year of the War," says: "Slavery trained the white race of the South in habits of command : and though, sometimes, these may have degenerated into cruelty and insolence, yet they were generally the occasions of the revival of the spirit of chivalry in the nineteenth century. * * * Slavery relieved the better classes in the South from many of the demands of physical and manual labor ; but al- though in some instances idle or dissolute lives may have been the consequence of this, yet it afforded opportunity for extraordinary intellectual culture in the South,". &c.
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CAUSES OF THE REBELLION.
their abhorrence of freedom of speech and of the press.5 To gov- ern the negro they must govern also the non-slaveholder ; to govern him, he must be kept in ignorance and isolation from every ele- vating influence; and it was obvious that if slavery remained, an oligarchy supported by some power no less potent than the bayonet, must in time supplant the authority of the ballot, resting alike upon the virtue of all. This was the Southern tendency and con- dition, seen and known of men. But the North would not pause in its career. The march of opinion could not be stayed. The love of liberty in the souls of the Northern people could not be extinguished. Slavery, outwardly stately and powerful, but un- dermined and putrescent at the core, debauched more and more the society which nourished and maintained it. Thus daily the difference between the two sections grew more pronounced, and the danger of a collision more imminent. Barbarism cannot share the destiny of civilization ; vigorous and healthy life cannot be bound to disease and decay.6
5 Debow's Review, the chief organ of the Southern ruling class, said, at the time the contest was maturing : "The real contest of to-day is not simply between the North and South; but to determine whether for ages to chme our Government shall partake more of the form of monarchies or of more liberal forms;" and the same journal added : "The right to govern resides in a very small minority; the duty to obey is inherent in the great mass of mankind. * * There is nothing to which the South entertains so great a dislike as of universal suffrage. *
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