1861, p. 223 waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression, or for Congressional Globe, any purpose of conquest or subjection, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired." lem of invading the South The only way to break up the Confederacy, and to bring the states back into the Union, was to invade the South, a 374. Prob- region naturally very strong. The eastern and southern boundary was the Atlantic and Gulf coast, most of the harbors of which were quickly fortified. The western boundary of the Confederacy was a wilderness. Now an invading army is like a serpent which can strike only with its head, and as it moves forward leaves the length of its body exposed. Such an army must follow some kind of highway Jover which supplies and reënforcements may be sent up to the front; hence the rough and impassable Appalachians and heavily wooded country east and west of them covered the middle of the Confederate northern boundary, and seemed a sure protection. The Confederate military frontier early in 1861 left to the Union Fort Monroe, the opposite "eastern shore" of Virginia, and the country just across the Potomac from Washington; the line then followed a little to the south of the Potomac River, and through the mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky; then ran to the two Confederate forts of Donelson and Henry, on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers; touched the Ohio at Paducah, crossed the Mississippi at Belmont, and then passed about midway through Missouri. Nevertheless that strong line of defense was weakened by four routes into the interior of the Confederacy, and along them were fought most of the campaigns of the Civil War: (1) the lower Mississippi River, deep enough to admit ships from the sea; (2) the upper Mississippi, a great national highway, abounding in steamers; (3) the line of railroad from Louisville to Nashville, and thence across the mountains to Chattanooga and Atlanta; (4) a strip of territory lying east of the mountains in Virginia, which was crossed by three railroads leading south from Washington to the Shenandoah valley, Lynchburg, and Richmond. 375. The two armies To fight its battles, the South had a population accustomed to outdoor life, to the use of firearms, and to the management of horses; and it had also commanders trained in the national military school of West Point and in the wars of the Union. Since the negroes did the hard work at home, nearly all the able-bodied white men could be enlisted. According to Colonel Livermore, the authority on this question, over 1,230,000 different men were enlisted in the Confederate army, and served long enough to be equivalent to 1,080,000 men under arms an average term of three years. Though the North was not considered to be a military people, the first call for 75,000 militia for three months brought out 92,000 "citizen soldiers"; and during 1861 660,000 men were enlisted for three years. Of each call for troops during the war a proportion was assigned to each state. At first volunteers poured in, but in 1863 this impulse lost strength and a draft was ordered, which, however, produced only 36,000 men. In the course of the whole war about 2,500,000 adult men were in the military service of the Union, of whom about 400,000 reënlisted at least once. The total service was equivalent to 1,560,000 serving for three years. To raise, organize, and supply such enormous forces required a great man as Secretary of War. In January, 1862, Lincoln practically removed Simon Cameron from that Department, and appointed Edwin M. Stanton, chosen for his loyalty to the Union, his rugged honesty, and his great ability, although he had the worst of tempers, and would occasionally defy the President. navy and the block ade The regular navy was at first disorganized, because more than a third of the officers resigned to join the Confederacy, 376. The and all the navy yards in the southern states were seized by the Confederacy, with the vessels that happened to be in port. Of the ninety vessels nominally in the Union navy, only seven steamers and five wooden cruisers were in home ports and available when the war began. The President's proclamation of blockade, April 19, 1861, was a notice to foreign ships that he purposed to put squadrons outside all the southern ports, to capture vessels going in or running out. Thus began the celebrated "anaconda policy" of pressing on the Confederacy from all sides at once. form the necessary blockading squadrons, merchant vessels, both sail and steam, were hastily bought and equipped, naval volunteers were enrolled, and in a few months squadrons were actually blockading the coast and making frequent captures. To To evade the blockade, small and very swift steam "blockade runners were built abroad, to run from the near-by Bahama and Bermuda islands to Confederate ports, carrying in military stores and miscellaneous cargoes, and carrying out cotton, compressed into small bulk. Many of these vessels were captured, but their profits were so great that two successful trips would pay for a vessel. As the war advanced, the blockade grew more and more effective; in all about 1500 captures were made by the Union fleet, and the trade of the South with the rest of the world was nearly throttled. 377. Confederate navy and privateers Energetic efforts were made by the Confederate authorities to build a navy. They did construct several fleets for harbor defense, but their only seagoing ships were the "commerce destroyers." The South at once began to issue "letters of marque" (commissions to private ships to capture Union merchantmen) and also to send out cruisers, or public armed ships. At first the United States tried to make out that the crews of such vessels were pirates, and several of |