Presidents'' War : Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

398 Pages·2014·3.61 MB·English

by  Derose

T P ’ W
HE RESIDENTS AR
A C D R
LSO BY HRIS E OSE
Congressman Lincoln: The Making of America’s Greatest President
Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that
Saved a Nation
T P ’ W
HE RESIDENTS AR
Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided
Them
C D R
HRIS E OSE
For Nolan Davis, mentor and friend, with profound appreciation for the life you
made possible, this book is gratefully inscribed by the author.
Copyright © 2014 by Chris DeRose
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for
permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, PO Box
480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Lyons Press is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Project editor: Meredith Dias Layout: Adam Caporiccio

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeRose, Chris (Christopher) The presidents’ war : six American presidents and the Civil War that divided
them / Chris DeRose.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN 978-1-4930-1087-5
1. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865—Adversaries. 2. United States—Politics and government—1861-1865. 3.
Ex-presidents—Political activity—United States—History—19th century. 4. United States—Politics and
government—1815-1861. I. Title.
E458.D45 2014
973.7092—dc23
2014011002
C
ONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright

Prologue: In Jackson's Time
Chapter 1: I Met Nullification at Its Threshold
Chapter 2: The Freshmen
Chapter 3: The Setting Sun
Chapter 4: . . . And Tyler, Too
Chapter 5: War in Mexico!
Chapter 6: The 30th Congress
Chapter 7: A Final Settlement
Chapter 8: A Hell of a Storm
Chapter 9: The Final Election of the Old America
Chapter 10: General Jackson Is Dead!
Chapter 11: The First and Only Choice of the Republicans of Illinois
Chapter 12: A Startling Tide of Reckless Fanaticism
Chapter 13: Five against Licoln
Chapter 14: The Gathering Storm
Chapter 15: The Tug Has to Come
Chapter 16: The Last Winter of Peace
Chapter 17: That All Will Yet Be Well
Chapter 18: Home Again
Chapter 19: Breakfast at Fort Sumter
Chapter 20: The Meeting That Never Was
Chapter 21: The Border States
Chapter 22: Twilight at Wheatland, Dawn at Manassas
Chapter 23: To Lose Kentucky Is Nearly the Same as to Lose the Whole Game
Chapter 24: Capture on the High Seas
Chapter 25: The Bottom Is Out of the Tub
Chapter 26: Greenbacks and Ironclads
Chapter 27: Any Explanations Which You May Offer Would Be Acceptable
Chapter 28: West and East
Chapter 29: The Very Vortex of Hell
Chapter 30: Destroy the Rebel Army, If Possible
Chapter 31: A Continuation of War by Other Means
Chapter 32: A Storm of Lead
Chapter 33: If My Name Ever Goes into History, It Will Be for This Act
Chapter 34: We Are Ruined
Chapter 35: The Brave Men, Living and Dead
Chapter 36: The Fourth of July
Chapter 37: A New Birth of Freedom
Chapter 38: Our Old Home
Chapter 39: Those Not Skinning Can Hold a Leg
Chapter 40: Not Unworthy to Remain in My Present Position
Chapter 41: The Last Full Measure

Epilogue: Do Not Despair of the Republic

Acknowledgments
Sources
Photographs
Bibliography
About the Author
Index
Would it promote the peace of the community, or the stability of the
government to have half a dozen men who had had credit enough to be
raised to the seat of the supreme magistracy, wandering among the people
like discontented ghosts, and sighing for a place which they were destined
never more to possess?
—A H , F 72
LEXANDER AMILTON EDERALIST

Whatsoever God willeth must be, though a nation mourn.
—E G
PITAPH OF THE ONLY CIVILIAN KILLED AT ETTYSBURG
P
ROLOGUE

In Jackson’s Time

April 13, 1830
Brown’s Indian Queen Hotel
Washington City, District of Columbia

A Toast.
The banquet in honor of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday was a splendid one, even
by the standards of the national capital, “unsurpassed for richness and variety,
elegance and abundance.” More than one hundred congressmen, leaders of the
American military, and members of the president’s cabinet sat at two tables the
length of the hall terminating in a perpendicular head table occupied by the
president of the United States.
By tradition, the hosts of the gala would share their sentiments, called the
“regular toasts.” Subsequently, “volunteer toasts” were given in order of
standing.
As members of an ascendant political party presiding over a prosperous,
growing country, the banqueters should have been enjoying a night of pure
celebration. But an uneasy tension hung over the room, perhaps more palpable
than the scent of the evergreen branches that adorned the walls. Dividing this
once happy family was the doctrine of nullification, the principle that a state
could refuse to be bound by national laws with which it disagreed. The tariffs of
1828 and 1832, which boosted northern manufacturers but burdened southern
agriculture, gave rise to a movement in South Carolina to “veto” what was
believed to be an unconstitutional policy. The planners of this event had chosen
to use it to make a statement. The regular toasts, twenty-four in all, embraced
this controversial new doctrine, even seeking to give it Jefferson’s imprimatur.
When the regular toasts had concluded, the president of the United States was
called on to give the first volunteer toast. Andrew Jackson had listened long
enough. Though known as an ardent supporter of states’ rights, Jackson’s
remarks would sorely disappoint the nullifers.
“Our Union—” Jackson said “—it must be preserved.”
The president’s toast “electrified the country,” recollected one senator, who
had chosen to stay at the dinner while others walked out. The tough old general
had issued a challenge, setting forth the terms of debate in what would become
the gravest crisis yet presented to the young Union. Jackson had chosen his
words carefully. The day before, he had read a newspaper article alerting him
that the nullifiers had hijacked the gala. He drafted three possible toasts and,
after consulting with trusted friends, decided on the one that “fell among the
nullifiers like an exploded bomb!” as one biographer put it.
Vice President John Caldwell Calhoun of South Carolina, the leading
exponent of nullification, was next in order. He did not shrink from the
challenge offered by the chief executive. “The Union—next to our liberty the
most dear; may we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the
rights of the states and distributing equally the benefit and burden of the Union.”
Next was the secretary of state, Martin Van Buren of New York. “Mutual
forbearance and reciprocal concessions; through their agency the Union was
established—the patriotic spirit from which they emanated will forever sustain
it.”
Three toasts at the end of a long evening. From the president came the view
that the Union was sacred and permanent, paramount to other considerations.
From the vice president, the Union was important but subject to the South’s
unique standard of liberty, dissolvable in the event that the Union was no longer
advantageous. From the secretary of state, a reminder that the Union in its
origins and preservation had always been the product of compromise. These
divergent perspectives would clash, compete, and come to define the presidency
of Jackson and those of his successors, not to be resolved until the close of a
great war, some seeds of which were planted that evening at the Indian Queen.
Several days later a South Carolina congressman came to visit the president on
his way out of town. Jackson “received him with great kindness, offering his
hand, and begging him to be seated.”
After a brief conversation, the congressman rose to leave. Was there anything
the president wished to convey to his friends in South Carolina?
“No, I believe not,” said Jackson. After a moment, however, the president
reconsidered. “Please give my compliments to my friends in your state,” he said.
“And say to them, that if a single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition
to the laws of the United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hand on
engaged in such treasonable conduct, upon the first tree I can reach.”