150-years-ago -- The New Posmaster-General

The Charleston Mercury
March 7, 1861

Judge John H. Reagan
Confederate Postmaster-General
(Library of Congress)

     The telegraph brings the announcement of the appointment and confirmation of Judge Reagan, of Texas, as Postmaster-General of the Confederate States.
     John H. Reagan was born in Sevier county, Tennessee, October 8, 1818. Having chosen the profession of law, and emirgrated to the Republic of Texas, he advanced, by his own merits, through many honorable grades of civic and military distinction, until 1852, when he was appointed a Judge of the District Court of Texas. In 1857 he was elected a member of the Thirty-Fifth Congress, which position he retained, serving with tact and success as a member of various important Committees.
     We have no doubt that in the discharge of the arduous duties of his new position, Judge Reagan will show that his administrative talent is not less than his ability as a legislator.

150-years-ago -- Confederate Government in Full Operation

The Richmond Daily Dispatch
March 5, 1861

Affairs at the Southern Capital.


     MONTGOMERY, Alabama - The Capital of the Southern Confederacy seems to be as popular with office-seekers as the Washington. There were 104 arrivals per day at the Exchange Hotel from the 11th to the 22d ult. The papers announce that the residence of Col. Ed. Harrison has been procured for the use of President Davis. One day last week a wag advertised for 20 accountants, the applicants to apply at the "Government Building." The consequence was a terrific rush, and equally terrific disappointment.--The Columbia (Ga.) Times publishes a series of interesting letters, giving a view of affairs at Montgomery. From one dated the 27th ult., we take the following:
     The President has his quarters at the Exchange Hotel, where he transacts the public business. A house has been rented for him for the period of one year at the sum of $5,000, in a convenient part of the city. The Vice-President, Mr. Stephens, and the Secretary of State, Mr. Toombs, have rooms together in a small, pretty house, a few blocks from the Exchange. They are the great men, to whose advice and counsel much weight is attached in the present crisis.
     The government is moving along slowly and gaining strength day by day. There is harmony and good feeling in Congress, and the secret sessions facilitate the business. There is no talk of reconstruction, nor will the idea be entertained for a moment. The all-absorbing theme is, how to build up the new government so as to combine strength and durability. A conflict of arms being anticipated, every provision is made to preserve our credit, relying upon the patriotism of the people to bear temporary inconveniences and submit to sacrifices.
     The policy of Congress is that of peace and not war. The President has entertained but one opinion, to wit: that coercion will be attempted, and the present difficulties will have to be settled by the arbitrament of the sword. Hence, his earnest desire is to be in the defensive, and have the Republicans inaugurate the war. This will put us right with all Christendom, and will command more sympathy from the border States than an aggressive war.
     The Commissioners have left for Washington. Rather, Mr. Crawford has gone, and will await the arrival of Messrs. Forsyth and Romain. The prevailing opinion here is, that Carolina is rather impatient. While admiring the spirit and chivalry of the brave boys who are anxious to attack Sumter, they fear matters will be precipitated by their overzealous patriotism, making us initiate the war. Arrangements are in progress to put fifty thousand volunteers in the field and prosecute the war with vigor.
     Captain Baxton Bragg, of a "little more grape" notoriety, has been telegraphed for to command the brave troops at Charleston.--They want an officer there to restrain the impetuosity of the soldiers, and in whose judgment and skill they have confidence.




Stephen Mallory of Florida was
appointed Secretary of  the Navy.
(Library of Congress)

     The President believes that Mr. Mallory, of Florida, is well fitted for the post of Secretary of the Navy, but this gentleman is vigorously opposed by the men from his own State. In all probability Capt. Ingraham will be selected. He has gained some reputation as a Naval Commander, and would do well as a Cabinet officer.
     Mr. Yancey has not left yet for Europe. He is sanguine that our Government will be recognized by foreign powers, and that they will resist blockade. Mr. Toombs, it is said, would have preferred a mission, to the high post he occupies.
     It is not probable that Montgomery will be selected as the permanent Capital. The high board and rather poor fare have turned the scale against her. Atlanta, Macon, Columbus, or some other central spot, will be looked to.
     A small tax of one eighth of one per cent. has been levied upon cotton exported, to take effect after next August, if the contingency requires it.
     The permanent Constitution is not yet adopted. It provides for a term of six years for the President, and gives the Cabinet officers the power of vindicating themselves, and speaking in Congress, but not to vote. It preserves the three-fifths ratio of representation in slaves.
     Hon. Howell Cobb makes a capital President of Congress, and Dixon, of Georgia, cannot be surpassed as a Clerk.

150-Years-Ago -- Lincoln becomes president of the northern states.

The Charleston Mercury
March 4, 1861

A soldier from the 7th New York State Militia
at Camp Cameron in Washington, D.C. in 1861,
ready to launch Lincoln's war of coercion.
(Library of Congress)

     AbrahamLincoln, as President of the States that have not withdrawn from the Union, speaks for the first time to-day. He can scarcely avoid foreshadowing, in some degree, the policy of his administration. He must proclaim peace of declare war. He must virtually recognize the independence of the Confederate States, or encounter them in a conflict of arms. In his Western railroad speeches, while sedulously flattering the vanity and the ignorance of the rabble, by his frequent and pleasant allusions to the "enforcement of the laws," he has been shrewd enough to allow himself a wide margain for a change of mind. How far he will avail himself of this comfortable reservation, he will probably tell us to-day. His wily advisers are evidently in sore distress. They begin to understand the madness of coercion, yet looking upon the tid of Northern prejudice and ambition which has thus far borne them upward, they dare not falter. Like Frankenstein, they have raised a monster which they cannon quell. Let them solve their riddle as best they may. The strength of the South is her safety.

150-Years-Ago - WARLIKE PREPARATIONS AT THE SOUTH

Richmond Daily Dispatch
February 27, 1861




Confederate soldier
(Library of Congress)

 --The Southern papers are full of items concerning the warlike preparations in the Confederated States. There are three powder mills in PickensDistrict, S. C., turning out some 50 kegs a day. A firm in Savannah has contracted for 3,000 shot and shell for South Carolina, and another firm, in Mobile, is casting cannon balls, grape, &c. A company of 70 recruits, for the South Carolina army, passed through Augusta, Ga., on the 23d inst., from Tennessee. For the regular army of Georgia, recruiting is going on all over that State. In Athens a company of 40 had been enlisted up to the close of last week. The volunteers in Fort Pulaski are to be discharged, and the new regulars substituted for them. The Columbus Times publishes a letter from a delegate to the Southern Congress, in which he says:



"We intend to put the strongest force in the field which can be raised, and the President will accept from the States all the men that may be tendered. They will be received with their own officers, but the President must settle all questions of rank and position under the authority of Congress. My information is, that Davis will endeavor to secure for the officers of the U. S. Army, who have resigned, the best positions first, upon the ground that they are experienced and capable. There has, as yet, been nothing done by the Congress as to the raising of troops, except, possibly, in committee. We are delaying much time over the most trivial matters. We have a set of new men, uninformed upon the laws of the United States, and all anxious to speak."

150-Years-Ago -- Louisiana Celebrates Mardi Gras

[Excerpt by UT Tyler Digital Archives]

SUGAR PLANTER [WEST BATON ROUGE, LA], February 25, 1860, p. 2, c. 2

On the brink of War, Louisiana was still
celebrating Mardi Gras. The above 9th
Plate Ambrotype is believed to be an early
war New Orleans militiaman.
(Blog author's collection.)

Mardi Gras.—Quite a number of young men of our parish took it into their heads on Shrove Tuesday to keep up the time-honored custom of parading around en masque, much to the horror, wonder and astonishment of a large portion of our "culled" population who had never witnessed such dresses or faces in all their lives before. The number of maskers was quite large, and the variety of costumes added greatly to the interest of their procession. Several balls wound up the frolics of the day. One of the maskers took our hat from the beauty of the mule he rode, and the extreme delicacy of the rabbit tailed ringlets which adorned his magnificent head—Come down and get our hat—we havn't [sic] got nary more use for it.

"The institution," was celebrated in Red Stick as well as the deplorable condition of the weather would permit. A "member" whose perseverance and strength of muscle are worthy of the most intense appreciation, purchased a five cent mask, an immense crinoline (with the other feminine arrangements) and a tenor drum, paraded the streets upon his own hook, and pounded upon the last named article with such vigor and seriousness as became an individual who seemed to think that the whole responsibility of celebrating the day rested upon his shoulders. Another "member" who invariably requires facts and figures to substantiate everything—and who by the way constituted the entire procession following the drum—gives it as his positive opinion that the labors of the individual upon the drum did not cease more than ten minutes during that many hours. The indefatigable drummer marched past some points eight or ten different times, seeming perfectly indifferent as to whether any one was following him or not. He looked neither to the right nor left, but pressed forward with the air of a man who knew he had a celebration to "do" and he was bound to "do" it.

150-Years-Ago -- TEXAS SECESSION

The Richmond Dispatch
Feb. 20, 1861

Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.


the secession of Texas.

An unidentified young Confederate
volunteer. The image came out of  an
estate in Seguin, Texas.
(Blog author's collection)

Long Point, Washington Co., Texas, February 5, 1861.

The Convention of the people of Texas has passed a Secession Ordinance; but, in consequence of some of the counties not being represented in the Convention, (which was caused by the opposition of Gov. Houston,) it is referred back to the people for adoption or rejection — the election to take place on the 23d inst. It will be adopted almost unanimously. Old Sam has always exercised a magic influence over a large portion of the old settlers of Texas until the recent secession movement, which he opposed; but when he saw most of his old guard leaving him, he wheeled, and has come right side up. The offer of the State of New York to furnish money and men to coerce the Southern States into Black Republican rule, has aroused the latent sparks of his once flaming patriotism, and he now says that he is with Texas either for weal or for woe, and that he will sanction anything her people may do. Texas will certainly go out on the 2d day of March next.
S. W.

150-Year-Ago -- JEFFERSON DAVIS CALLS FOR PEACE IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Jefferson Davis, first president of the
Confederate States of America.
(Library of Congress)

President Jefferson Davis' First Inaugural Address


Alabama Capitol, Montgomery, February 18, 1861

Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, Friends and Fellow-Citizens:

     Called to the difficult and responsible station of Chief Executive of the Provisional Government which you have instituted, I approach the discharge of the duties assigned to me with an humble distrust of my abilities, but with a sustaining confidence in the wisdom of those who are to guide and to aid me in the administration of public affairs, and an abiding faith in the virtue and patriotism of the people.
     Looking forward to the speedy establishment of a permanent government to take the place of this, and which by its greater moral and physical power will be better able to combat with the many difficulties which arise from the conflicting interests of separate nations, I enter upon the duties of the office to which I have been chosen with the hope that the beginning of our career as a Confederacy may not be obstructed by hostile opposition to our enjoyment of the separate existence and independence which we have asserted, and, with the blessing of Providence, intend to maintain. Our present condition, achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations, illustrates the American idea that governments rest upon the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish governments whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.
     The declared purpose of the compact of Union from which we have withdrawn was "to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity;" and when, in the judgment of the sovereign States now composing this Confederacy, it had been perverted from the purposes for which it was ordained, and had ceased to answer the ends for which it was established, a peaceful appeal to the ballot-box declared that so far as they were concerned, the government created by that compact should cease to exist. In this they merely asserted a right which the Declaration of Independence of 1776 had defined to be inalienable; of the time and occasion for its exercise, they, as sovereigns, were the final judges, each for itself. The impartial and enlightened verdict of mankind will vindicate the rectitude of our conduct, and He who knows the hearts of men will judge of the sincerity with which we labored to preserve the Government of our fathers in its spirit. The right solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the States, and which has been affirmed and reaffirmed in the bills of rights of States subsequently admitted into the Union of 1789, undeniably recognize in the people the power to resume the authority delegated for the purposes of government. Thus the sovereign States here represented proceeded to form this Confederacy, and it is by abuse of language that their act has been denominated a revolution. They formed a new alliance, but within each State its government has remained, the rights of person and property have not been disturbed. The agent through whom they communicated with foreign nations is changed, but this does not necessarily interrupt their international relations.
      Sustained by the consciousness that the transition from the former Union to the present Confederacy has not proceeded from a disregard on our part of just obligations, or any failure to perform every constitutional duty, moved by no interest or passion to invade the rights of others, anxious to cultivate peace and commerce with all nations, if we may not hope to avoid war, we may at least expect that posterity will acquit us of having needlessly engaged in it. Doubly justified by the absence of wrong on our part, and by wanton aggression on the part of others, there can be no cause to doubt that the courage and patriotism of the people of the Confederate States will be found equal to any measures of defense which honor and security may require.
     An agricultural people, whose chief interest is the export of a commodity required in every manufacturing country, our true policy is peace, and the freest trade which our necessities will permit. It is alike our interest, and that of all those to whom we would sell and from whom we would buy, that there should be the fewest practicable restrictions upon the interchange of commodities. There can be but little rivalry between ours and any manufacturing or navigating community, such as the Northeastern States of the American Union. It must follow, therefore, that a mutual interest would invite good will and kind offices. If, however, passion or the lust of dominion should cloud the judgment or inflame the ambition of those States, we must prepare to meet the emergency and to maintain, by the final arbitrament of the sword, the position which we have assumed among the nations of the earth. We have entered upon the career of independence, and it must be inflexibly pursued. Through many years of controversy with our late associates, the Northern States, we have vainly endeavored to secure tranquillity, and to obtain respect for the rights to which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a choice, we have resorted to the remedy of separation; and henceforth our energies must be directed to the conduct of our own affairs, and the perpetuity of the Confederacy which we have formed. If a just perception of mutual interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue our separate political career, my most earnest desire will have been fulfilled. But, if this be denied to us, and the integrity of our territory and jurisdiction be assailed, it will but remain for us, with firm resolve, to appeal to arms and invoke the blessings of Providence on a just cause.
     As a consequence of our new condition and with a view to meet anticipated wants, it will be necessary to provide for the speedy and efficient organization of branches of the executive department, having special charge of foreign intercourse, finance, military affairs, and the postal service.
     For purposes of defense, the Confederate States may, under ordinary circumstances, rely mainly upon their militia, but it is deemed advisable, in the present condition of affairs, that there should be a well-instructed and disciplined army, more numerous than would usually be required on a peace establishment. I also suggest that for the protection of our harbors and commerce on the high seas a navy adapted to those objects will be required. These necessities have doubtless engaged the attention of Congress.
     With a Constitution differing only from that of our fathers in so far as it is explanatory of their well-known intent, freed from the sectional conflicts which have interfered with the pursuit of the general welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that States from which we have recently parted may seek to unite their fortunes with ours under the government which we have instituted. For this your Constitution makes adequate provision; but beyond this, if I mistake not the judgment and will of the people, a reunion with the States from which we have separated is neither practicable nor desirable. To increase the power, develop the resources, and promote the happiness of a confederacy, it is requisite that there should be so much of homogeneity that the welfare of every portion shall be the aim of the whole. Where this does not exist, antagonisms are engendered which must and should result in separation.
      Actuated solely by the desire to preserve our own rights and promote our own welfare, the separation of the Confederate States has been marked by no aggression upon others and followed by no domestic convulsion. Our industrial pursuits have received no check. The cultivation of our fields has progressed as heretofore, and even should we be involved in war there would be no considerable diminution in the production of the staples which have constituted our exports and in which the commercial world has an interest scarcely less than our own. This common interest of the producer and consumer can only be interrupted by an exterior force which should obstruct its transmission to foreign markets--a course of conduct which would be as unjust toward us as it would be detrimental to manufacturing and commercial interests abroad. Should reason guide the action of the Government from which we have separated, a policy so detrimental to the civilized world, the Northern States included, could not be dictated by even the strongest desire to inflict injury upon us; but otherwise a terrible responsibility will rest upon it, and the suffering of millions will bear testimony to the folly and wickedness of our aggressors. In the meantime there will remain to us, besides the ordinary means before suggested, the well-known resources for retaliation upon the commerce of an enemy.
     Experience in public stations, of subordinate grade to this which your kindness has conferred, has taught me that care and toil and disappointment are the price of official elevation. You will see many errors to forgive, many deficiencies to tolerate, but you shall not find in me either a want of zeal or fidelity to the cause that is to me highest in hope and of most enduring affection. Your generosity has bestowed upon me an undeserved distinction, one which I neither sought nor desired. Upon the continuance of that sentiment and upon your wisdom and patriotism I rely to direct and support me in the performance of the duty required at my hands.
     We have changed the constituent parts, but not the system of our Government. The Constitution formed by our fathers is that of these Confederate States, in their exposition of it, and in the judicial construction it has received, we have a light which reveals its true meaning.
     Thus instructed as to the just interpretation of the instrument, and ever remembering that all offices are but trusts held for the people, and that delegated powers are to be strictly construed, I will hope, by due diligence in the performance of my duties, though I may disappoint your expectations, yet to retain, when retiring, something of the good will and confidence which welcome my entrance into office.
     It is joyous, in the midst of perilous times, to look around upon a people united in heart, where one purpose of high resolve animates and actuates the whole--where the sacrifices to be made are not weighed in the balance against honor and right and liberty and equality. Obstacles may retard, they cannot long prevent the progress of a movement sanctified by its justice, and sustained by a virtuous people. Reverently let us invoke the God of our fathers to guide and protect us in our efforts to perpetuate the principles which, by his blessing, they were able to vindicate, establish and transmit to their posterity, and with a continuance of His favor, ever gratefully acknowledged, we may hopefully look forward to success, to peace, and to prosperity.