A Decision That Caused The Fall of the Confederacy

October 1861:

According to Wikipedia October 3 was the day that Governor Thomas Moore of Alabama (actually he was Governor of Louisiana) declared an embargo that restricted the export of cotton from the state to England and other European nations. 

Governor Thomas Moore

This was done to force an artificial shortage of cotton driving unemployment and unrest in these nations. It was hoped that such an outcome would pressure the governments of these countries to recognize and assist the Confederacy in its struggle for independence. This policy was quickly adopted by the national government, headed by President Jefferson Davis, and put into effect. The ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’ quickly went into play.

At that time the Union blockade was paper thin and easily bypassed by ships of all nations. The Confederate embargo had the unforeseen effect of making the Blockade appear more effective than it actually was in fact. This resulted in strengthening the Union claim that this was an internal affair of suppressing rebellious provinces, and that the Confederacy was not an independent nation as it claimed to be. The European Monarchies of the time, despite their intense dislike of the American Republic, hated and feared breakaway provinces in their own countries even more. Instead of rallying to the Confederate cause, the Europeans watched and waited, withholding the recognition so desired by the Confederates.

Wharfs  Stacked With Cotton Bales

Great Britain was especially thrown into turmoil by the cotton shortage.The ruling politicians were, by and large, favorably disposed toward the Confederacy’s struggle for independence. The British were more than happy to see the upstart Americans tear themselves apart in Civil War. Two quarreling nations instead of a larger united country would be less of an economic rival to the United Kingdom. This was in keeping with long established British European policy of not allowing one power to dominate the Continent of Europe that had worked so well keeping peace on the Continent since the days of Napoleon. Moreover, many British workers in the textile mills were rendered unemployed by the cotton shortage, and the demands for relief for such workers swiftly mounted. Such developments came close to bringing the British to recognize the Confederacy.

Civil War Cotton Fields

Countering these inclinations was the deeply held detestation of slavery by the British common people, even those who were unemployed by the lack of cotton. No British government could ignore the will of the people so expressed, and hope to remain in power, no matter their own personal inclinations. The unemployment was partly assuaged by the expanding arms and ship building industries fueled by the demands of the American War. Abraham Lincoln had shipments of foods and other commodities sent to the workers of Great Britain, and even today, a statue of Lincoln stands in Manchester England in gratitude for such generosity. Cotton growers in Egypt and India, both under British rule at the time, were more than happy to step up production to fill the gaps caused by the loss of American cotton.

By the time the Confederate Government recognized their embargo as a failed policy, the blockade had become markedly more effective, prices of needed military supplies had risen due to demands of the War, and the value of the Confederate dollar, backed only by the word of the Confederate Government, had fallen to a fraction of the original face value. Furthermore, many blockade runners found cargoes of luxury items, rather than military supplies to be more financially rewarding, further damaging the Confederate military effort.

Blockade Runner

Hindsight is of course often a 20/20 vision of what should have or could have been done differently. In this case a better plan for the Confederates in 1861 might have been to conduct a massive shipment of the available cotton to Europe where it could have been stored in the event of a long war, and then used as a financial underpinning for the Confederate paper money. Few people in 1861 predicted a long or protracted war. The Confederate policy of States Rights might very well have led to legal challenges to the authority of the government to take such drastic action.

In the Ken Burns Series ‘The Civil War’ there is a quote stating the on the tombstone of the Confederacy is written: 

Confederate President Jefferson Davis

"If the Confederacy fails," CSA President Jefferson Davis lamented, "...there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a Theory."

Written by Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Presented by Brother Wendell G. Small Jr, Camp Chaplain
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1

Lincoln’s Melancholy

Lincoln’s Melancholy

Abraham Lincoln holds a unique place in American History. During his lifetime, and certainly during his Presidency, he was reviled by his political opponents, both in the North as well as in the South. Following his assassination he was revered as the savior of the nation’s unity in the North and greatly respected and even loved in the South for his mild (compared to what actually happened) Reconstruction policies. Times and opinions change, however, and Southerners now regard him more as did their war time ancestors, not as did their 20th century forbearers.

Historians have written about the shifting of the fortunes Lincoln’s reputation and have attempted several explanations to account for this change.  Some have reasoned that Lincoln was motivated by racial or economic factors. Others have commented on his supposed periods of depression, which in the 19^th century was referred to as ‘melancholy’, and tried to portray him as being in the grips of mental illness, that he was something of a manic depressive, which the psychiatrists now call the bi-polar state. In other words, his reputation is erratic because his behavior was erratic.

It is always a difficult task to diagnose mental conditions, and doubly so when the patient has not been personally examined by the diagnostician. Moreover, the word ‘depression’ has many different meanings, and has to be carefully defined by the user. A review of some of the incidents of Lincoln’s life should give any armchair psychiatrist pause before trying to attach a label of any mental illness to the man.

Lincoln’s early life was scarred by a harsh father, and only somewhat eased by a kind stepmother.  His first love of his life, Ann Rutledge, died at an early age, and his subsequent courting of Mary Todd was tumultuous, to say the least.

Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln

The marriage was also marked by recurrent wifely tantrums, as reported by contemporaries, but nonetheless the relationship managed to endure. 

A son, Edward, died before the election and this loss was understandably difficult for both parents to bear.  

Edward Baker Lincoln

When the Lincolns took office on March 4, 1861, Mary’s achievement of her lifelong ambition to be First Lady should have given her the happiness she always craved.  Instead the War torn the nation apart, and several of Mary’s relatives, who disliked Lincoln to begin with, openly served the Confederacy and exposed her to charges of disloyalty. These divisions of her family, coupled with her extravagant spending habits were sources of criticism both for Mary and also for the President, who was dealing with the Fort Sumter crisis, and could afford little time to be so distracted.

The War had barely begun when Col Elmer Ellsworth was shot and killed in Alexandria, Virginia in May 1861. 

Col. Elmer Ellsworth 

Ellsworth was regarded as a son by the President, and his death was an intensely painful experience for Lincoln, one which he was trying to come to terms with when the first Battle of Manassas/Bull Run was fought.

Col. Edward Baker

In October of that year, Lincoln’s close friend and political ally Col Edward Baker, for whom his deceased son had been named, was killed at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, causing another heavy personal burden for Lincoln, who was then entangled in the diplomatic issue of the Trent Affair and trying to avoid war with Great Britain.

In February 1862, 11 year old Willie Lincoln died in the White House.

Lincoln and Son Willie

Perhaps the favorite child of the family, Lincoln’s grief over Willie’s death not only severely strained his own emotions, but he was powerless to deal with his wife’s intense anguish, and the exacerbation of her already erratic behaviors to the point of, and perhaps beyond, the bounds of sanity.  Two weeks later, he was faced with the issue of the Confederate ironclad Virginia (Merrimack).

In June and July of 1863, the twin crises of Gettysburg and Vicksburg competed for Lincoln’s attention. However, Mary had sustained a life threatening head injury during a buggy ride, and spent several weeks in uncertain recovery, which was by no means guaranteed. In September of that year, the Confederates managed to win a great (but essentially meaningless for them) victory at Chickamauga. Confederate General Ben Helms was killed in the action. 

Confederate General Ben Helms

He was the brother in law of the Lincolns, and was apparently one of the few Todd relatives who both was liked by and who in turn liked Lincoln. Mourning at the White House for the fallen general was sincere, but had to be conducted in secret in order to allay the rumors of disloyalty which were always just below the surface for anyone to use to criticize the President.

The Overland campaign in 1864 was not only bloody, but appeared to be at best a stalemate, not a victory. Lincoln faced bitter opposition for his re-nomination by the Republicans due to the perception that he could not be re-elected. Only Sherman’s capture of Atlanta and Sheridan’s dramatic ride to victory at Cedar Creek in September and October enabled Lincoln to win on a Union, not Republican, Party ticket.

The spring of 1865 should have been a happy time for the Lincolns. The War was close to being won, and the plans for peace were being made. Critics of the President then took aim at his son Robert, sometimes referred to as ‘Prince of Rails’, who had spent the war safely at Harvard. 

Robert Todd Lincoln

Lincoln was agreeable for Robert to serve in the military, and was uncomfortable with the charge that he sent other men’s sons to fight, but kept his own son in safety.  Mary was bitterly opposed to placing her son in such danger. As a compromise, General Grant secured Robert a safe from the battlefield staff position.  This protected Lincoln from the somewhat justified critics, but earned the unending hatred of the by now overtly unbalanced Mary. During a visit in late March by the wives of several dignitaries and officers, including Mrs. Grant, Mary exhibited such an embarrassing emotional outburst that Mrs. Grant refused to accompany the Lincolns to their fateful visit to Ford’s Theater in April.

Assassination at Ford Theater 

Mary Todd Lincoln in her Mourning Cloth

The trials that Lincoln faced both before and especially during his time in the White House make the assumption of mental illness difficult to sustain. Indeed, his ability to persevere in the face of such trials speaks volumes for his essential mental stability.

Presented: Brother Gerard Devine MD, Patriotic Instructor
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1.