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I thought y'all were talking about real military preparations. After secession and Confederate calls for volunteers, was there a particular flurry of northern military clubs (outside of the Massachusetts governor)? No. These guys were not spoiling for a shooting war.
This started with Sherman's lamentation that there had been no preparation for the war that certainly looked inevitable. I'd really like a handle on what could have been done without touching off an arms race?
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Yes, and some would say that John B. Floyd was preparing, just in a different way.
In general, I don't think he was for most of his term in office. In December 1861 (as the financial scandal was blowing up about him, as his resignation was requested by the President, and as Anderson moved from Moultrie to Sumter), I think he suddenly looked to his future. In those few days he suddenly and unexpectedly orders 125 heavy guns to Southern forts still under construction, where they could be easily seized, and resigns. In this, I think he was trying to feather his nest as he headed South, and believe he betrayed his country as he did so.
I thought y'all were talking about real military preparations. After secession and Confederate calls for volunteers, was there a particular flurry of northern military clubs (outside of the Massachusetts governor)? No. These guys were not spoiling for a shooting war.
This started with Sherman's lamentation that there had been no preparation for the war that certainly looked inevitable. I'd really like a handle on what could have been done without touching off an arms race?
Ole
On March 4, 1861 as Lincoln took the oath of office in Washington, Davis in Montgomery was calling upon the Confederate states for the first troops under the allocation of 100,000 the new Confederate Congress had voted. The US House of Representatives adjourned the next day, IIRR, while the US Senate remained in session about a week to see if Lincoln needed them. Lincoln asked for no authority to raise troops, buy weapons, etc., and the Senate went home.
Lincoln could have asked the Congress to remain in session; he could have asked for funds/authority to raise troops or buy equipment. He did neither.
In this situation, the arms race is already on. The Confederacy has already started while the Union has not even tied their shoes yet.
The US could have begun buying/producing more weapons; could have voted to enlarge the Army and Navy; could have called on the states for Militia. Even starting from Lincoln's inauguration, the Federal government chose to give the Confederacy another 5 or 6 week headstart on arming (Jefferson Davis was already pushing hard for this).
Given the overall history of the war, I doubt it would have made a huge difference in the events. It does, however, show a major difference betwen Federal and Confederate intentions and methods.
The US could have begun buying/producing more weapons; could have voted to enlarge the Army and Navy; could have called on the states for Militia. Even starting from Lincoln's inauguration, the Federal government chose to give the Confederacy another 5 or 6 week headstart on arming (Jefferson Davis was already pushing hard for this).
Could have. And what would have provided a better call to war? That would have been a clear show of intentions and may well have lost the border states without the provocation of Sumter.
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In general, I don't think he was for most of his term in office.
I've read pretty much the same -- I think it was in Kevin Levin's blog. The upshot of that was that John Buchanan Floyd was not so much venal as he was incredibly incompetent. The transfer of muskets south might be explained in that newer muskets were being made and room had to be made for them. THE scandal was incredibly stupid. In doing a favor for a friend, he cost the government money allotted for Indians and didn't make a dime off it. It remains that his attempted transfer of guns to nascent forts cannot so easily be explained away.
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Gee! They were democrats too.
Are we forgetting that, at the time, the Democrats were the conservatives and that the Republicans were the party of progress?
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
From the posted excerpts of Sherman, it is not evident that he was coming down hard on the Republicans. Most (if not All) politicians were an anathama to Sherman and he looked back at Least 50 years before the begining of the war, when, even then, it was understood by most thiniking people, that due to slavery, war was inevitable (according to Sherman). From the post it is difficult to determine, that he faults those in gov't after March of 1861 more harshly than those in power, beginning fifty years (at least) before the war. It seems to me, that in Sherman's opinion, they were all equally culpable.
Sherman was just being Sherman -- finding fault with everything and everyone in all governments. Strange man. Hated every government that ever was or ever would be, but remained a stickler for the law.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Sherman was just being Sherman -- finding fault with everything and everyone in all governments. Strange man. Hated every government that ever was or ever would be, but remained a stickler for the law.
Ole
true, Ole.
If he truely thought war was imminent, what was he doing by getting a job at a Louisiana Military school in 1859? He waited till Jan. 18, 1861 to make his position known.
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
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