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Maryland State Archives Adam Goodheart Collection MSA SC 5826 msa_sc5826_3_1-0031 Enlarge and print image (888K) |
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Maryland State Archives Adam Goodheart Collection MSA SC 5826 msa_sc5826_3_1-0031 Enlarge and print image (888K) |
| msa_sc5826_3_l-0031 ©Maryland State Archives - 31 - the direction of the popular breeze, that he might set his sails accordingly, in the direction of the White House, that he mistook the opinions of those around him, like Mason and Slidell, for the sentiments of the Nation, and yielding to his own hair splitting scruples on constitutional powers, he let the opportunity pass in /6l, which Jackson seized so promptly in /32 when he might have crushed the rebellion in embryo, or at least hare stopped it of its most sanguinary features. Had he seized as Jackson did the prominent military and commercial points, and used his small military force to advantage, no military or naval man of any capacity would have thought for a moment of leaving our service, and the fight would have been confined to the politicians where it belonged* As it was, such was the vascillation douht and uncertainty in the acts and edicts of the Government, that Officers who wished to stay with the North received the im- pression that they were expected to resign, and that it was their duty to side with their own people. It is within my personal knowledge that some went with the greatest reluctance and the bitterest regrets, from the idea alone that they were not wanted or expected to stay with the North. This will appear more dis- tinctly as we approach nearer to that awful and stirring period. This is not offered as an excuse or palliation of the act on the part of those Officers but it is thrown out as a hint to our rulers that a timely admonition on their part, by pointing the path of duty, and more manly action in denouncing heresies in their incipient state, adds great strength to a military organization, and weakens the barriers of resistance to a Nation's will. The gentlemen I have named as the leading Union men of Charleston, with their families treated the Officers of both services, with great cordiality and hospitality, and after it became evident that hostilities would not occur, other parties on the opposite side treated us very civilly. |