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by Horatio Nelson Taft

SUNDAY 27

The snow is about 6 or 7 inches deep and some attempts at sleigh riding are made but there seems to be a sad deficiency in vehicles of that kind, but the ring of sleigh bells has been quite common today. It has thawed in the sun all day. I was in at Willards. The House seemed to be quite full. Called at Cramers and spent an hour. Mr Russell from Saratoga there, took tea there. The moon is at its full and it is almost as light as day out. Every one you meet looks grave and anxious.

January 27, 1861, The New York Herald

The State of Louisiana is now added to the list of seceding States. The ordinance of secession was passed in the State Convention yesterday by a vote of 113 to 17. A deathlike silence prevailed during the calling of the roll, and many members were in tears. When the vote was announced the President of the Convention declared Louisiana a free and sovereign republic. The Convention adopted a resolution guaranteeing the free navigation of the Mississippi river.

The chronological order of the secession movement is as follows:

1. Dec. 20. South Carolina.
2. Jan. 9 Mississippi..
3. Jan. 11 Florida.
4. Jan. 11 Alabama.
5. Jan. 19 Georgia
6. Jan. 26 Louisiana.

The secession junta at Washington, having learned the intention of the government to reinforce the forts on the gulf coast, have telegraphed to Charleston and Pensacola, advising the State authorities to be on the alert. Major Chase, the commander of the Florida forces at Pensacola, has been advised to seize upon Fort Pickens, and as the officer in command of the garrison is represented to be a man of spirit and determination, it is likely that we shall soon have news of a hostile collision between the opposing forces.

The State troops of Louisiana, on the 11th inst., seized upon the United States barracks, situated about two miles below New Orleans, which have been used as a marine hospital for the treatment of sick sailors. At the time of the seizure there were two hundred and sixteen invalids and convalescents in the hospital. The Collector of New Orleans was required to remove the convalescents immediately, and the sick as soon as practicable. The only reason assigned for this discreditable conduct on the part of the State authorities, is, that they wanted the buildings for quarters for their own troops. It is said the federal government has no authority nor means to make provision for the invalids, and they are consequently thrown upon the charity of persosn more merciful than the authorities of Louisiana.

January 27, 1861, The New York Herald

The period has manifestly arrived, for our brethren in the British provinces of North America, and especially in Eastern and Western Canada, to be up and stirring, in view of the contagion of revolution which is rapidly spreading over the continent. The mad efforts of fanatics at the North, and the reactionary movement of extremists at the South, have been crowned with success, and the hard, undeniable fact lies before the world, that the two sections of the country will be compelled, hereafter to work out their respective destinies separately. The constitution which was framed to meet the wants of thirteen sparsely settled colonies, is declared to be insufficient of the requirements of thirty three States, with their prodigious background of uninhabited territory, and the exigencies of national economy and growth are believed to involve the necessity of change. The south looks with eager eyes towards Mexico, Central America, Venezuela and Cuba, out of which, with the fifteen existing slaveholding States, to found an empire that shall extend from the Orinoco to Mason and Dixon’s line, have its capital in New Orleans, and in the midst of which the Gulf of Mexico will form an inland sea. It cannot effect these ends, so long as the Union remains as it is. On the other hand, our Sewards, Sumners and Hales, see in the expanse between the great lakes and the Arctic Ocean, materials out of which nature has called for the establishment of scores of free States, which will spring into being and become prosperous and flourishing, so soon as they are regrafted on the tree to which they belong. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that a perceptible leaven of agitation is visible in the British territory and it is the duty as well as for the interest of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, to take a speedy initiative in the movement of separating themselves from the from the mother country, and constituting themselves a part of the Northern United States. The south which has, heretofore opposed the annexation of free territory will have no object in doing so any longer.

It is in the nature of things that the fever which rages in the veins of the American people, should spread before long across our northern boundary, and lead to results there similar to those that have been witnessed here. Loss of respect for the rights of property would appear to be but a corollary of the movement that convulses our Union. Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana, have emulated the example of South Carolina, and laid hands upon the possessions of the federal government, without a thought that their acts may, at some future period, be reprobated. They have broken the links that bind them to the confederation; seized upon Forts Moultrie, Pinckney, Pulaski, Morgan, Read more

January 27, 1861, The New York Herald

The present generation have not experienced the horrors of war upon their own soil, or felt its intolerable burdens, and hence flippant journalists at the North and at the South, and demagogues who desire to fish in troubled waters, can with impunity urge the country to take a leap in the dark over the fearful precipice of civil war - the most horrible, cruel and exhausting of all wars.

Greely formerly belonged to the peace sect, and was as much opposed to fighting as a Quaker. He denounced all sorts of war, even foreign war, and within a few weeks he said it would be contrary to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the doctrines of human liberty to prevent the peaceable secession of the Southern States. He is now infected with the republican mania for coercion and civil war. At the time of the Mexican war the Tribune denounced the invasion on the part of the United States as a national sin, and endorsed the patriotic wish of Tom Corwin that our army sent to Mexico might be with bloody hands sent to hospitable graves. But, accordingly to Greeley, now, an army sent from the North to butcher our own citizens at the south, because they are not willing tamely to submit to Northern aggression and injustice, would be doing God service; and if they perished they would be enrolled in heaven as noble army of martyrs, in company with John Brown.

If the instigators to war were only successful in their design, they would soon pay the penalty of their wickedness to an impoverished, ruined people awakened to a sense of their folly. The last war with England prostrated the country, exhausted its resources and left it bankrupt. Funds were raised only at heavy ruinous discounts and private individuals were applied to for help in the struggle. Between the disaffection of the New England States and the want of the sinews of war, it was unable to carry on the contest for twelve months longer, and hence the government after three years fighting, was compelled to make peace. If foreign war is so disastrous, what would be the result of a civil war, in which American citizens - those of fifteen sister States on one side, and those of eighteen on the other - divided only by a geographical line, should cut each other’s throats and carry devastation into each other’s territory?

There is only one way which this matter can be settled without a disruption of the Union, and that is by inserting declaratory amendments in the constitution explaining those provisions which have been violated or evaded by the Read more

January 27, 1861, The New York Herald

At no period in the commercial history of New York have the prospects of a profitable and flourishing trade in the approaching spring and summer been more bright than at the present time, apart from the obstructions which the political troubles of the day interpose to the fulfillment of the promises which the financial condition of affairs hold out. Specie has been pouring in upon us by millions from Europe and California for some time past, until at the present moment there is probably not less than thirty seven millions in gold and silver deposited in this city, awaiting the settlement of the great political questions of the day to be thrown into active and productive application.

From the crises of the past few years the country has been just relieved, and New York is prepared now to avail herself, as she has ever done, of the rejuvenated prosperity which blesses the land; but, unhappily, the incertitude of public affairs surrounds commerce with embarrassment as with a wall of adamant, arrests progress, and puts checks upon all mercantile transactions; for who will move in an onward direction with a future clouded as our is? Capital finds no outlet, opportunities are lost and resources are thrown away, while the country balances on the verge of chaos. Could the existing political difficulty be settled, the business of this metropolis would experience a revival in the coming spring such as it never knew before.

New York leans upon two sections of the country for its commercial prosperity - the West and the South; and it has so happened in past times that when one section failed her the other held good. In 1857, the financial pressure came principally from the West. The loose system of credit which we had adopted, followed by two years of short crops, bought on the disaster then, and the West became bankrupt; but the Southern trade was good, the cotton crop was abundant, and the south redeemed itself, thus staving off what otherwise must have been inevitable ruin to all the commercial interests of this city.

Now the West is recovering from the blow. The harvest of 1860 were more luxuriant than any which that section of country has ever before known. The granaries are laden with abundance, and but await an outlet for their store to enrich the producers. For the past two or three years the West has been buying comparatively little; hence her wants of all Read more

by Horatio Nelson Taft

SATURDAY 26

A regular snow storm today, snow four or five inches deep. Nothing important occurs from day today here. But the Govt is posting troops in different parts of the City for its protection. We were just startled by hearing two pistol shots and a cry of Watch Watch on Franklin Square near our house. Did not go down to the “Avenue” this evening on account of the snow. Usualy do go down to the Hotels and get the “Herald” or “Times,” sometimes the “Tribune.” I take the City papers (two). The Balt “Sun,” Home J[ournal]l, N.Y. Lyons paper, Scientific American, &c. I read daily a number of other papers and a good deal in Books, mostly relating to Steam. Business in the Pa[ten]t office is very dull this winter as might be expected.

edited by G.W. Cable

Jan. 26, 1861.—The solemn boom of cannon today announced that the convention have passed the ordinance of secession. We must take a reef in our patriotism and narrow it down to State limits. Mine still sticks out all around the borders of the State. It will be bad if New Orleans should secede from Louisiana and set up for herself. Then indeed I would be “cabined, cribbed, confined.” The faces in the house are jubilant to-day. Why is it so easy for them and not for me to “ring out the old, ring in the new”? I am out of place.

January 26, 1861, The New York Herald

The poor of New York are divided into two great classes - those who have homes, such as they are, and those who when they awake in the morning know not where they will sleep the next night. Of this latter class there are at least a thousand in the city, of whom about one half find shelter every night in the different stations houses throughout the city. This portion is made up of laborers, tradesmen and poor women out of employment, with a small number of unfortunate inebriates who have managed to escape being sent up on the Island as vagrants. In estimating the number of houseless poor in New York at a thousand we are certain we fall very considerably short of the actual count, but then it must be remembered that many of these procure temporary employment and are enabled to provide themselves with a home for at least a week at a time. There are, however, at least a thousand who wander about the city every day, living upon whatever alms they receive, and sleeping in the police stations or cheap lodging houses where they can procure a bed for six pence or a shilling a night, the owners thereof being very little better off than themselves. The number of these homeless and destitute poor, although subject to frequent reductions under the Vagrant act which consigns them to the public institutions, is constantly recruited by the daily accessions made to it by the unemployed who come in from the country, where they have worked upon farms, but where their services are no longer required. We have shown how several of these unfortunate free white citizens are obliged to bind themselves into slavery to the State for certain terms, during which they are obliged to work in return for their food alone! This is the only alternative which is left to save them from starvation, and in some cases that we have seen they are only too willing to accept it. During the present winter there has been a large increase in the class of unfortunates, as shown by the returns of the past four or five days, compared with the average daily returns of the same time last year. From the report of the Superintendent of Police for the quarter ending January 31, 1860, we find that the number of persons accommodated with lodgings in the twenty six station houses of New York was 22, 051. This gives a nightly average of about 240, which is about one half of the number who now find shelter within their walls, although, as will be seen, that shelter is to some instances not of the same Read more

January 26, 1861, The New York Herald

Our Washington correspondent announces that the government has despatched reinforcements to Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, and Fort Pickens, at Pensacola, and this report is somewhat confirmed by the departure of the steam sloop-of-war Brooklyn from Norfolk on Thursday, bound South, with sealed orders, having on board two companies of soldiers from Fort Monroe. The preparations of the government have been quietly made and there is reason to believe the expedition will prove successful.

There was a report current in Washington yesterday that the Grand Jury of the district had indicted Mr. Floyd, ex-Secretary of War, for malfeasance in office.

A company of fifty United States troops from Governor Island was landed yesterday on pier No. 1, East river, destined for Washington city.

January 26, 1861, The Charleston Mercury

The information that the Brooklyn sailed on Thursday evening from Hampton Roads, with troops on board, bound South, reached this city on the same night. It is to be presumed that her destination is Pensacola, although a bright lookout will be kept for her at the entrance of this harbor. The people of South Carolina have so perfectly lost faith in the Government of the United States, that it is preposterous to expect them to remain tranquil so long as Fort Sumter is liable to reinforcements; and consequently the certain knowledge of the intelligence above referred to has renewed to some extent the excitement of a few weeks past.

We surmise, however, that the destination of the Brooklyn is Pensacola, as that place is, from its situation, its harbor, fortifications, and Navy Yard, a position of prime military importance. To send her there, therefore, seems the most natural move of the United States Government, and we may expect to hear of her arrival at that point within the next five or six days. Should she succeed in reinforcing Fort Pickens, Pensacola, the only fortified point within our grasp with a harbor suitable for naval purposes, will be lost to the South, and will be used by the enemy to fit out and shelter its fleets. With these facts, which are as plain as daylight before us, Southern politicians are to be found who have counselled an inaction which can only result in the catastrophe alluded to. So soon as Fort Pickens is reinforced, we presume the surrender of the Navy Yard, under the cover of its guns, will be demanded, and this being refused, it will be reduced to ashes by the shells from the fortifications; thus will be destroyed not only the only Navy Yard on the Gulf, but the only one in the southern Confederacy - which we hope to see formed, but which our reconstruction politicians are by sinister and secret efforts striving to strangle in its birth. Enough already has the South yielded for peace; let us no longer be deceived by its dreams, and let us learn that our only salvation is in looking to ourselves, and in leaving the Federal Union, as we would leave any other foreign Government to take care of itself. We have done with it forever; and let us crush, as we would a viper, any man who would whisper in our ears the word reconstruction.

January 26, 1861, The New York Herald

The seizure by the local authorities of Georgia of the United States Arsenal at Augusta, with its store of arms, adds but another to the numerous proceedings of a similar character which have placed all the seceded States in the attitude of undeniable revolution against the general government of the Union. At the same time the Conventions, Legislatures and people of said States are steadily and harmoniously progressing to a Southern confederacy. A general Convention of the cotton States will meet at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 4th of February, for the purpose of organizing their general government, and, with some modifications it is understood that they will adopt the federal system embraced in the constitution of the United States. We may thus safely predict, that in advance of the day of Mr. Lincoln’s inauguration, a southern confederacy will be organized, comprehending the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and, perhaps, several others, all banded together as a unit for Southern independence.

The first difficulty, therefore, that will present itself to President Lincoln, as the officer charged with the execution of the laws of the United States, will be their execution within the limits of the seceded States. To meet the requisitions of the law he must restore to his government the possession of the various forts, arsenals, navy yards, &c. seized and held in the seceded States as State property under the law of revolution. How is this to be done? We are answered that it will be done through enforcement of the laws. Fleets and armies are to be employed, and the seceded States, like rebellious provinces, are to be subjugated by the strong arm of federal power. It is granted that the regular army and navy of the Union will be unequal to this task; but it is supposed by the republican party that, in a call upon the militia the Northern States will furnish any number of troops that may be demanded by the President to assist him in the execution of the laws. Such, fairly stated is the program resolved upon by the incoming administration and the party supporting it.

Let us briefly consider the probable consequences of this policy. Several federal forts at Charleston are occupied by the revolutionists. They must be dispossessed. Accordingly a fleet of armed vessels and transports bearing an army are despatched to Charleston. The forts in question are recovered. But what then? The war has been commenced, in Read more

by Horatio Nelson Taft

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1861.

The weather has been moderate today without rain, or sunshine. Political excitement appears to be subsiding in a measure. The conservative feeling in the border States is now relied upon to save the Union, or Civil War. Many prominent men are here now from different sections of the U.S. Kentucky has refused to call a convention as required by the secessionists. It is a good omen for the future. I was down at the “National” and at “Willards” tonight, could learn no news of importance. The condition of the country is still the absorbing topic of conversation.

January 25, 1861; The Charleston Mercury

Surgeon General GIBBES respectfully thanks a lady of Charleston for two dozen under shirts, and another lady of Charleston for twenty more. They have been sent as requested. He also acknowledges the patriotic present of bandages and lint for Mollie’s of Talladega, Alabama. He also thanks many ladies of Charleston for continued contributions of bandages and lint.

January 25, 1861; The Charleston Mercury

 (From the Mobile Advertiser.)

Popular interest in warlike movements now centres nearer at home than when Charleston was the only point from which radiated the war excitements of the day. The immense interest of at least three States - Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida - is now becoming alive to the importance of occupying the forts within the borders of the latter commonwealth. We see repeated at Pensacola the manoeuvre of Anderson at Moultrie. There are three forts at Pensacola, a Navy Yard, and a redoubt. Commander Armstrong has abandoned the Navy Yard and Fort Barancus, removing munitions, and spiking guns, and transferring his forces, amounting in the aggregate to between two and three hundred men, from the main land to Santa Rosa Island, has prepared to make good his position within the immensely strong fortifications of Fort Pickens. Whether he has abandoned Fort McCree, also, we are not advised, but we doubt if he has. This fortress is a powerful and castle-like masonry erection, built on a low sand pit of the main land, and appearing to rise out of the water. It is further seaward than Fort Pickens, of which it is the vis a vis across the channel, and a vessel entering must needs run the gauntlet of its guns before approaching the latter, which, however, of itself effectually closes the harbor against the admission of an enemy of even very heavy force.

Fort Pickens is designed to mount no less than two hundred and twelve guns, and under the protection of it immense batteries the ships of an enemy could make good their harbor in the Bay of Pensacola, or if they did not care to run the risk from shore batteries, which could not be in very dangerous range, they could land forces and supplies on the fort to the eastward of Santa Rosa Island, which is some forty miles long, and thus throw in reinforcements and rendezvous even an army at the fort without interruption, unless of a force intrenched on the Island itself, in the rear of the fort - which, however, is almost if not quite as defensible from rear as front. If we are to have war, the seizure of this stronghold is, of course, of the first importance, for unless it is occupied by us, it will secure to the enemy a base of operations along our whole gulf coast, and keep open a road right in the heart of the South, which cannot be obstructed by any fixed fortifications. Once within the gates of the harbor, and an army could be disembarked at any point on the wide bay which it might select. It could run up beyond the Escambia river and land many hours ahead of any opposing force which might be at Pensacola; beside placing a wide river between it and the latter - or even two rivers, the Escambia and Blackwater - by going far enough up. Hence, with a start of at least forty-eight hours, it could march into Interior Alabama. An enemy holding Fort Pickens could rendezvous a naval force there and keep up a blockade of all the ports of the Gulf unless we could meet it on the sea.

January 25, 1861; The Charleston Mercury

Let the patriots and planters of the South keep back their cotton. In March Europe will need supplies. If our ports are blockaded, Europe will find a way to open them. We can live - our Southern people - for we only send a surplus crop to market. The Cotton States have only need to agree, in confederation, and as an independent power, demand the recognition of Europe. Texas alone, was gladly acknowledged as such, and Great Britain, through her diplomats, tried her best to keep her from entering the United States Confederacy. With all the Cotton States united, we can bind the world to pledges of recognition, and even alliance. We can declare our ports free to the trade of all the world, New England excepted; discriminate between Southern and Northern bottoms; issue letters of marque and reprisal, and play such a game with our blockading gentry as will cure them very soon of their warlike passions. Only be firm, trust no business politicians, and let the COLT’S and the cannon be ready.

January 25, 1861, The New York Herald

It appears that above Vicksburg, by direction of Gov. Pettus, a battery has been erected, and that every boat hailing from north of Mason and Dixon’s line is compelled to round to and give an account of itself. This, we think, whatever the specific object may be, is a dangerous experiment on the part of the local authorities of the State of Mississippi. The people of the Northwestern States regard the Mississippi river as a free national highway, their natural commercial outlet to the sea. They also have the will and the power to make good their claim against any attempt and any combination to obstruct the free navigation of said river, or, as Mr. Calhoun called it, “inland sea.” Therefore if the authorities of Mississippi do not wish to invite a collision with the eight or ten millions of people of the Northern and Northwestern States who are directly interested in the right of way up and down Father of Waters, these batteries, which would reduce the lower river to the condition of the Dardanelles, will be abandoned. There can be no such a thing as the control of the Mississippi river by a Southern State or a Southern confederacy. It would be as easy to turn back the mighty stream itself as the trade which nature has declared shall float upon its bosom to the sea.

January 25, 1861, The New York Herald

Governor Brown, of Georgia, backed by seven hundred State troops, yesterday morning demanded the surrender of the United States Arsenal at Augusta. At noon the demand was complied with. The federal troops saluted their flag and retired. The arsenal, at the time of the surrender, was occupied by a company of United States soldiers, who had, it is reported, been sent to Augusta at the solicitation of the citizens, who desired to protect the property from apprehended attack by a mob.

The Louisiana State convention met on Wednesday, and after organizing, adopted a resolution providing for the appointment of a committee which reported an ordinance of secession yesterday. Entire unanimity prevailed throughout the proceedings. The Legislature of Louisiana has endorsed the action of the Governor with reference to the capture of the fortifications.

Our Washington despatches state that news had reached there that the Legislature of Kentucky had decided against calling a State Convention. This is considered as equivalent to a declaration against secession.

Ex-President Tyler, the Virginia Commissioner appointed to wait upon the President and urge the avoidance of a collision with the secessionists, had an interview with Mr. Buchanan yesterday. It is believed that the only danger of a collision rests with the secessionists themselves. If they remain peaceable there will be no trouble.

Captain Doubleday, writing from Fort Sumter on the 20th inst., denies the report put in circulation by Charleston papers that disaffection exists among the garrison. He represents the troop as in cheerful spirits, and prepared to defend the fort to the last. He also states that mortars have been placed by the South Carolinians on the land nearest the fort, and that two steamers watched the fort all night on the 19th inst.

Just previous to the sailing of the steamship Montgomery for Savannah yesterday afternoon, a posse of the steamboat squad of police went on board for the purpose of examining the freight put on board by Adam’s Express Company. Capt. Berry notified them he was just ready to leave, and to prove the act to them ordered the fasts to be cut (having been previously singled), at the same time starting the engine ahead, when, to avoid a trip to sea, the police hastily scrambled ashore and the steamer shot out into the North river amid the cheers of the crowd assembled on the dock, who gave three cheers for Capt. Berry and three more for Capt. Fletcher.

January 25, 1861; The Charleston Mercury

The Fairfield Volunteer Company desire, through the MERCURY, to thank ‘Several Ladies of Charleston’ for acceptable presents.

The Palmetto Guard return their thanks to the ladies of Summerville for the bounteous donation of many delicacies.

The thanks of the Union District Volunteers are hereby tendered to Hon. ROBERT BEATTY for his thrice welcome presents of fine hams, &c.

The Cadets stationed at Fort Morris return their sincere thanks to their kind friends who have not forgotten them in their absence. To the lady who sent them the hoods and gloves, they are much indebted, and can assure her that they have done good service in this very inclement weather. The box of sewing materials, lint, bandages, &c. will be of service if the Cadets are allowed the honor of aiding in planting the Palmetto flag on the ramparts of Fort Sumter. They must also gratefully acknowledge the favor of our former Professor, Col. C. C. TEW, which will contribute to lessen the hardships of the campaign. Their friends have been so attentive that they can not enumerate their several acts of kindness, but they must be assured that they were gratefully received.

by Horatio Nelson Taft

THURSDAY 24

There was a little snow last night and this morning it rained and the streets were in an awful condition. I did not go to the office until 10 o’clock. No news stirring. Was down at the “National” this evening. It seems to be filling up, as do all the Hotels. People seem less excited than they did, but await the events of the next month with much solicitude, but confidence is in a great measure restored and the Govt is expected to go on as usual. The Presidents Peace policy is generaly approved of as best for the time being.

January 24, 1861, The Charleston Mercury

Our Vicksburg Correspondence.

VICKSBURG, Miss., Jan. 14, 1861. Guarding the ‘Father of Waters.’- Suspended Steamboats brought to. - A Six Gun Battery upon the Mississippi Firing into a Cincinnati Steamboat. - The Resistance Feeling in the State, etc., etc.

A despatch was received here on Friday, from Memphis, to the effect that it was expected that General HARNEY, with a body of five hundred Federal troops, would soon come down the Mississippi on the steamboat Silver Wave, to recapture the Louisiana forts and arsenals. Instantly the whole city was astir. It did not take long for our people to determine that no troops should ever pass here on such an errand. A half a dozen twelve pounders were immediately brought out and planted upon the bluff commanding the river. A company of Minute Men, manned the battery, and a rigid watch was kept upon the stream, night and day. Every boat passing downward toward New Orleans was hailed and examined, and most of them took the necessary interruption in good part.

Thus matters wore along until 10 o’clock yesterday morning, when the steamer J. O. Taylor, of Cincinnati, made her appearance, downward bound. As she paid no attention to the hailing, a blank cartridge was fired at her to give her a hint that she must stop. This, too, being disregarded the shotted guns were brought to bear upon her. This had the desired effect. She speedily rounded to, and after submitting to the proper investigation was permitted to pass on. This watch, so necessary at a time like the present when old SCOTT is at his tricks, will be resolutely maintained, and the coercionists, if they mean to subjugate the South, must take some other route than the Mississippi.

Since this State has been out of the Union all party lines have been obliterated, and the people are daily growing more united and determined for resistance. Hundreds of our young men are eager to help to fight the battles of your State if she should need their services.

January 24, 1861, The Charleston Mercury

It is indeed a goodly sight to see the spirit with which the people of the South are hastening to offer substantial aid towards the defence of Charleston. Almost daily our columns contain acknowledgments of liberal and unsolicited contributions in money from citizens of our sister States. Not content with this, scores of gallant Southerners, from beyond our borders, are coming into our city to vie with the sons of the Palmetto Republic for the post of peril.

We learn that F. POPHAM, Esq., a member of the last Virginia Legislature, is now doing duty as a private in the ranks of the Carolina Light Infantry.

Yesterday Messrs. J. M. SABLETT and THOMAS ANDERSON, both of Yazoo city, Mississippi, arrived to tender their services to sustain our cause. They report that they left large numbers in their immediate neighborhood who are ready to come the moment they are needed.

January 24, 1861, The New York Herald

An opinion prevails among the republicans that in the event of the Southern States seceding and forming a separate confederacy, they would be unable to command influence or credit abroad. This is a mistake. A Southern confederacy would enjoy as much credit as might be required either in London, Paris or New York. The mere fact of its being the only great cotton producing country in the world, and so having the world dependent upon it, would insure this; and however great the repugnance of the English to the institution of slavery, it will be a long time before they leave off wearing shirts, because those useful articles happen to be manufactured from slave grown cotton. In order to enable the confederacy to raise an ample revenue it would be only necessary to impose an export duty of a cent per pound upon the staple product. Cotton consumers would have no alternative but to submit, and there is no doubt they would do so willingly. Moreover, the southern States are possessed of more mineral treasures than may be generally supposed. The mountains of the northern slave States abound in coal and iron more than the British islands ever did; and yet coal and iron made England what she is. Missouri is particularly rich in this respect. So is Georgia. Gold is found in sufficient quantities, here and there over the entire territory, to yield a large profit beyond the expenses of mining, and there are many other natural advantages which might be enumerated as belonging to this section of our country.

There is now gaining strength in Canada, and indeed throughout the whole of British North America, a strong revolutionary feeling in favor of a confederation of all the colonies; and should there really be an irrevocable split in the United States, there will be no slight probability of one or more of these forsaking the protection of England and joining the Northern confederacy. There is no natural boundary between Canada and Maine, and very little difference of opinion.

January 24, 1861, The New York Herald

A sentry on Sullivan’s Island, in the harbor of Charleston, fired into a boat from Fort Sumter on Monday night. The boat was manned by three men, and as they neared the beach they were ordered off; but failing to obey, the sentry fired upon them, whereupon they beat a retreat. It was believed that one man was wounded badly. While some persons supposed the men in the boat were deserters, others believed that they were a party bound upon the desperate expedition of spiking the guns of the secession battery.

The muskets seized on board the Savannah steamer Monticello on Tuesday still remain at the arsenal in Seventh avenue, and General superintendent Kennedy says that no claimant appeared yesterday with a view of recovering the same. The United States district Attorney was notified that a large quantity of powder and cartridges were shipped on board the Charleston steamer yesterday, but no steps were taken to prevent the departure of the alleged contraband goods to their destination.

The Second ward police yesterday, by direction of Superintendent Kennedy, seized twenty five cases, containing five hundred muskets, on board the schooner Caspian. These arms were intended for some point at the south, and were seized as contraband merchandise.

by Horatio Nelson Taft

WEDNESDAY 23

United States troops are quietly being brought here and are now quartered in different parts of the City. The President is undoubtedly informed of all the movements of the Traitors, and preparations are being made for the reception of any such visitors. The conspiracy has its ramifications through all the departments without a doubt. Men receiving pay from the Govt (as Clerks &c) but ready to turn against it at a moments warning. I can hardly hope that that all will be well six weeks hence. Heaven grant that it may be. Was at Willards an hour tonight.

January 23, 1861, The New York Herald

All danger of an immediate collision of the federal and State forces at Forts Sumter and Pickens is at an end. It is understood that peace shall be preserved until the 4th of March. Whether the armistice will continue after that date no one can predict.

The House Navy and Army committees are, it is reported, engaged in the preparation of bills placing both arms of the public service on a war footing. The enrollment of volunteers will be recommended, and also the construction of a number of light draft steamers for coast service.

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