Chapter 17

[Footnote: This was not a sudden movement on their part. The sectional difference between the North and the South had its source in the difference of climate, which greatly modified the character and habits of the people; also, while the agricultural pursuits and staple products of the South made slave labor profitable, the mechanical pursuits and the more varied products of the North made it unprofitable. These antagonisms, settled first by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, reopened by the tariff of 1828, bursting forth in the nullification of 1832, pacified by Clay's compromise tariff, increased through the annexation of Texas and the consequent war with Mexico, irritated by the Wilmot Proviso, lulled for a time by the compromise of 1850, awakened anew by the "squatter sovereignty" policy of 1853, roused to fury by the agitation in Kansas, spread broadcast by the Dred Scott decision, the attempted execution of the Fugitive Slave Law and the John Brown raid, had now reached a point where war was the only remedy. The election of Lincoln was the pivot on which the result turned. The cause ran back through thirty years of controversy to the difference in climate, in occupation, and in the habit of life and thought. Strange to say, each section misunderstood the other. The Southern people believed the North to be so engrossed in money-making and so enfeebled by luxury that it could send to the field only mercenary soldiers, who would easily be beaten by the patriotic Southerners. They said, "Cotton is King;" and believed that England and France were so dependent upon them for that staple, that their republic would be recognized and defended by those European powers. On the other hand, the Northern people did not believe that the South would dare to fight for slavery when it had 4,000,000 slaves exposed to the chances of war. They thought it to be all bluster, and hence paid little heed to the threat of secession or of war. Both sides sadly learned their mistake, only too late.]

They now declared that it was time to leave a government which had fallen into the hands of their avowed enemies. Since the time of Calhoun they had been firm believers in the doctrine of State rights, which taught that a State could leave the Union whenever it pleased. In December (1860) South Carolina led off, and soon after Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas passed ordinances of secession. In February (1861) delegates from these States met at Montgomery, Ala, and formed a government called the "Confederate States of America". Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. United States forts, arsenals, customhouses, and ships were seized by the States in which they were situated. Buchanan did nothing to prevent the catastrophe. General Scott urged action, but the regular army was small, and the troops were widely scattered. The navy had been sent to distant ports. The Cabinet largely sympathized with the secessionists. Numerous unsuccessful efforts were made to effect a compromise.

It was the general expectation that there would be no war, and the cry, "No coercion," was general. Yet affairs steadily drifted on toward war.

[Footnote: Even the New York Tribune declared--"Whenever any considerable section of our Union shall deliberately resolve to go out, we shall resist all coercive measures to keep them in."]

FORT SUMTER--All eyes were now turned on Fort Sumter. Here Major Anderson kept the United States flag flying in Charleston harbor. He had been stationed in Fort Moultrie (map, p. 280), but fearing an attack, had crossed over (December 26) to Fort Sumter, a stronger position. The South Carolinians, looking upon this as a hostile act, took possession of the remaining forts, commenced erecting batteries, and prepared to reduce Fort Sumter. Major Anderson was compelled by his instructions to remain a quiet spectator of these preparations. The Star of the West, an unarmed steamer, bearing troops and supplies to the fort, was fired upon and driven back. The Southern leaders declared that any attempt to relieve Fort Sumter would be a declaration of war. The government seemed paralyzed with fear. All now waited for the new President.

STATES ADMITTED DURING THE FOURTH EPOCH.

The number of States increased during this epoch from thirteen to thirty-four. The following is the order in which they were received:

VERMONT, the fourteenth State, and the first under the Constitution, was admitted to the Union March 4, 1791. It was so called from its principal range of mountains (_verd_, green, and _mont_, mountain). Champlain discovered and explored much of it in 1609. The first settlement was made in 1724, in the present town of Brattleborough, where Fort Dummer was erected. The region was claimed by both New Hampshire and New York (see p. 110). In 1777, the inhabitants declared the "New Hampshire grants" an independent State, under the title "New Connecticut, alias Vermont." In 1791, however, New York consented to relinquish her claim on the payment of $30,000, and Vermont was accordingly admitted into the Union.

KENTUCKY, the fifteenth State, was admitted to the Union June 1, 1792. The name, "dark and bloody ground," had its origin in the fierce conflicts which took place between the whites and the Indians. Daniel Boone, a famous hunter, for two years rambled through the forests of this region, delighted with its scenery and the abundance of game. After many thrilling adventures and narrow escapes from the Indians, he established a fort at Boonesborough, and removed his family thither in June, 1775. This was the first permanent settlement in the State, then a part of Virginia, from which it was not separated till 1790.

TENNESSEE, the sixteenth State, was admitted to the Union June 1, 1796. It was named from the river Tennessee, the "river with the great bend." It is thought that DeSoto, in his wanderings, visited the spot where Memphis now stands. The first permanent settlement in the State was at Fort Loudon, thirty miles from the present site of Knoxville, in 1756. In 1780, James Robertson crossed the mountains with a party, and located where Nashville now stands, but which was then a wilderness. In 1789, North Carolina gave up her claim on the region, and the next year it was joined with Kentucky to form an independent territory. It received a distinct territorial government two years before it became a State.

[Footnote: This was the first permanent English settlement south of Pennsylvania and west of the Alleghanies.] was at Fort Loudon, thirty miles from the present site of Knoxville, in 1756. In 1780, James Robertson crossed the mountains with a party, and located where Nashville now stands, but which was then a wilderness. In 1789, North Carolina gave up her claim on the region, and the next year it was joined with Kentucky to form an independent territory. It received a distinct territorial government two years before it became a State.

OHIO, the seventeenth State, was admitted to the Union November 29, 1802. It was so called from the river of that name, signifying the "beautiful river." The first explorations were made by the French, under LaSalle, about 1680. The first permanent settlement was at Marietta, in 1788. It was the first State carved out of the great Northwestern Territory.

[Footnote: This territory was created in 1787, and included all the public land north of the Ohio. It embraced the present States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. It was a part of New France before the French authority ceased in 1763. The British held possession for twenty years, when the country was ceded to the United States (see Map of VIth Epoch, and p. 146)]

LOUISIANA, the eighteenth State, was admitted to the Union April 8, 1812. The territory was named in honor of Louis XIV, king of France. The French explored the river Mississippi to the sea in 1682 (see p. 34), but their first settlement was made by Iberville at Biloxi, near its mouth, in 1699. New Orleans was founded in 1718.

[Footnote: The colony was granted to the great Mississippi Company, organized by John Law, at Paris, for the purpose of settling and deriving profit from the French possessions in North America. When this bubble burst, the French crown resumed the country. (See Brief History of France, p. 176.)]

The territory was ceded to Spain in 1762, but in 1800 was receded to France. When the United States purchased it (see p. 155), Louisiana included all the region north and west between the Mississippi and the Pacific (except those portions then occupied by Spain: see California) and north to the British possessions. In 1804, this region was divided into two parts--the territory of Orleans, which included the present State of Louisiana, and the district of Louisiana, which comprised the remainder. The former was admitted to the Union as Louisiana, and the name of the latter changed to Missouri.

INDIANA, the nineteenth State, was admitted to the Union December 11, 1816. The name is derived from the word Indian. The exact date of the first settlement is undetermined. When Ohio was taken from the Northwestern Territory, the remainder was called Indiana. It was reduced to its present limits in 1809, and was the second State admitted from the Northwestern Territory. After the Indian difficulties which hindered its early development had subsided, its growth was very rapid. Between 1810 and 1820, its population increased five hundred per cent.

MISSISSIPPI, the twentieth State, was admitted to the Union December 10, 1817. It is named from the Mississippi River, the "Great Father of Waters." De Soto was the first European who traversed this region. In 1700, Chevalier de Tonty, with a party of Canadian French, ascended the river to the Natchez country, where they selected a site for a fort and called it Rosalie. A settlement called St. Peters was made in 1703, on the Yazoo. In 1728, the Indians swept every vestige of civilization from the present limits of the State. Under the French governors who followed, fierce and bloody wars were waged with the Natchez, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Indians. In 1763, Louisiana east of the Mississippi, including a part of what is now Mississippi and Alabama, was ceded to the British, and became a part of Georgia. The Mississippi Territory was created in 1798, and lands were afterward added until it embraced the present States of Mississippi and Alabama. The latter became a separate Territory in March, 1817.

ILLINOIS, the twenty-first State, was admitted to the Union December 3, 1818. Its name is derived from its principal river, signifying "River of men." Its first settlements were made by La Salle.

[Footnote: That enterprising traveler, after exploring the Illinois River, built a small fort which he called Crevecoeur (krave-kur), and left it in command of the Chevalier de Tonty. Three years afterward he returned with some Canadians and founded Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and other towns, which early became flourishing, though the settlers, in manners and habits, were assimilated to the Indians.]

After the States of Ohio and Indiana, and the Territory of Michigan had been taken from the Northwestern Territory, the remainder was styled the Illinois Territory, and comprised the present States of Illinois, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota. The settlement of this Territory was greatly impeded by Indian hostilities. The massacre at Fort Chicago, August 15, 1812, and the Black Hawk war, are instances of the dangers and trials which beset the pioneer. The great prosperity of the State dates from the year 1850, when munificent grants of land were made to the Central Railroad. The prairie wilderness was rapidly settled, and towns and cities sprang up as by magic.

ALABAMA, the twenty-second State, was admitted to the Union December 14, 1819. Its name is of Indian origin, and signifies "Here we rest." It was originally a part of Georgia. (See Mississippi.) The fierce contests with the Creek Indians, ended by Jackson, gave to the State a vast and fertile region. The first settlement was made by Bienville on Mobile Bay, in 1702. Nine years afterward, the present site of Mobile was occupied. Mobile was the original seat of the French colonization in Louisiana, and for many years the capital. Having been ceded to Great Britain and then to Spain, in 1813 it was surrendered to General Wilkinson, and has since remained in the possession of the United States (p. 146).

MAINE, the twenty-third State, was admitted to the Union March 15, 1820. (See p. 60.)

MISSOURI, the twenty-fourth State, was admitted to the Union August 10, 1821. Its name is derived from its principal river, and means "Muddy water." Its oldest town, St. Genevieve, was founded in 1755. St. Louis was settled nine years after, but was not incorporated as a town until 1809; its first newspaper was published in 1808, and the first steamboat arrived at its wharf in 1817. The District of Louisiana was organized as Louisiana Territory in 1805, with St. Louis as its capital. When Louisiana became a State, the name of the Territory was changed to Missouri.

ARKANSAS, the twenty-fifth State, was admitted to the Union June 15, 1836. It took its name from a now extinct tribe of Indians. It was discovered and settled by the French under Chevalier de Tonty, as early as 1685. It followed the fate of the other portions of Louisiana. On the admission of the State of Missouri, Arkansas was organized as a Territory, including the present State and a part of Indian Territory.

MICHIGAN, the twenty-sixth State, was admitted to the Union January 26, 1837. The name is of Indian origin, signifying "Great Lake." It was early visited by missionaries (see p. 33) and fur traders. Detroit was founded in 1701 by Cadillac. This region, first a part of the Northwestern Territory, then of Indiana Territory, was organized as a separate Territory in 1805. The country north of the present States of Indiana and Illinois was annexed to Michigan in 1818. The act of admission gave the State its present boundaries.

FLORIDA, the twenty-seventh State, was admitted to the Union March 3, 1845. The Spanish word _florida_, means "blooming" (see p. 27). Its early visitors, Ponce de Leon, De Narvaez, and De Soto, its first settlement at St. Augustine, its history under the Spaniards, and the Seminole war, have been incidentally described. It was organized as a Territory March 3, 1819.

TEXAS, the twenty-eighth State, was admitted to the Union December 27, 1845. It was explored by De Leon and La Salle. The latter, intending to found a French settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi, sailed by it unawares, and, landing at Matagorda Bay, built Fort St. Louis on the Lavaca. The Spaniards afterward explored and partially settled the country, establishing missions at various points. These did not prosper, however, and the region was populated mainly by roving bands of Indians. Civil war had impoverished the few settlers who were unable to flee from the country, and Galveston was nearly deserted, when, in 1820, Moses Austin, a native of Connecticut, obtained from the Spanish authorities in Mexico a grant of land. Emigration from the United States was encouraged, and in 1830 there were twenty thousand Americans in Texas. The jealousy of Mexico being excited, acts of oppression followed, and in 1835 the Texans were driven to declare their independence. After a year of severe fighting and alternating victories, Santa Anna was conquered.

[Footnote: Santa Anna, with four thousand men, having attacked the Alamo, a fort garrisoned by only one hundred and seventy-two men, every one of that gallant few died at his post except seven, who were killed while asking for quarter. Here David Crockett, the famous hunter, who had volunteered to fight with the Texans for their liberty, fell, pierced with wounds, but surrounded by the corpses of those whom he had cut down ere he was overpowered. In the battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna, with fifteen hundred men, was defeated by eight hundred, under General Sam. Houston (See Barnes's Popular History of the United States, p. 445.)]

The next year (1837) Texas sought admission into the Union. In 1844 the question was revived. The last act of Tyler's administration was to sign a bill for its admission. This bill was ratified by a convention of the State, July 5th of the same year.

IOWA, the twenty-ninth State, was admitted to the Union December 28, 1846. Its name is of Indian origin, signifying "Drowsy ones." Julien Dubuque, a Canadian Frenchman, obtained, in 1788, a large tract of land, including the present site of Dubuque. He there built a fort and traded with the Indians till 1810. The first permanent settlement was made at Burlington in 1833, by emigrants from Illinois. The same year, Dubuque was founded. This Territory belonged to the Louisiana tract and partook of its fortunes. It was successively a part of Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin Territories, but was organized separately in 1838. It then included all of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, but when admitted as a State was reduced to its present limits.

WISCONSIN, the thirtieth State, was admitted to the Union May 29, 1848. Its name is derived from its principal river, and signifies "The gathering of the waters." It was explored by French missionaries and traders as early as 1639. Green Bay was founded in 1745. This region was also a part of the Northwestern Territory. It was comprised in the Territory of Illinois, then of Michigan, and in 1836 became a separate Territory.

CALIFORNIA, the thirty-first State, was admitted to the Union September 9, 1850 (see p. 190). Sir Francis Drake, in 1579, sailed along its coast, naming it New Albion, and visited San Francisco harbor (see p. 35). In 1769, the Spaniards established the mission of San Diego (de-a'-go), and in 1776 (the year of the Declaration of Independence), one at San Francisco.

[Footnote: In 1835, a shanty owned by one Richardson was the only human habitation and the vast bay was a solitude The first survey of streets and town lots was in 1839 The principal trade was in exporting hides and that was small. In 1846 an American man of war entered the harbor and took possession in the name of the United States. The town was known as Yerba Buena (good herb) until 1847 when it was changed to its present name. About that time it had a population of four hundred and fifty nine. The discovery of gold in 1848 gave the city its first start toward its present distinction. Within eighteen months following December 1849, the city lost by fire $16,000,000 of property though its population did not exceed thirty thousand. Such however, was the enterprise of its citizens that these tremendous losses scarcely interrupted its growth or prosperity. Its magnificent harbor and its railroad communications give it an extensive commerce on the Pacific Coast.]

In 1803, they had eighteen missions with over fifteen thousand converts, and the entire government of the country was in the hands of the Franciscan monks. The Mexican revolution, in 1822, overthrew the Spanish power in California, and in a few years the Franciscans were stripped of their wealth and influence. In 1831, the white population did not exceed five thousand. From 1843 to 1846, many emigrants from the United States settled in California, and, under the leadership of Fremont and others, wrested the country from Mexico (see p. 188). By the treaty at the close of the Mexican war, Upper California was ceded to the United States. It embraced about 450,000 square miles, comprising what is now known as California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and parts of Colorado and New Mexico. (Maps of IVth and VIth Epochs.)

MINNESOTA, the thirty-second State, was admitted to the Union May 11, 1858. It is so called from the river of that name, and signifies "Cloudy water." In 1680, La Salle and Hennepin penetrated this region. Other travelers followed, and within the present century the whole country has been thoroughly explored. Fort Snelling was established in 1819. St. Paul was settled in 1846 by emigrants from the East. The Territory of Minnesota was organized in 1849, with the Missouri and White rivers for its western boundary, thus embracing nearly twice the area of the present State. At this time its population was less than five thousand, consisting of whites and half-breeds settled about the various missions and trading-posts. In 1851, the Sioux ceded a large tract of land to the United States. After this, the population increased so rapidly that in six years Minnesota applied for admission into the Union.

OREGON, the thirty-third State, was admitted to the Union February 14, 1859. It is said to derive its name from the Spanish _oregano_, wild marjoram, abundant on its coast. It constituted a part of the Louisiana purchase, though for a long time little was known of this portion of that vast territory. In 1792, Captain Gray, of Boston, entered the river to which he gave the name of his ship, the Columbia. On his return, he made such a flattering report that there was a general desire to know more of the country. In 1804, the year after the Louisiana purchase, Jefferson sent an exploring party, under the command of Captain Lewis and Lieutenant Clark, which followed the Missouri to its source and descended the Columbia to the Pacific. The history of their adventures is one of the most romantic of the century. An extensive fur-trade soon began. Fort Astoria was built in 1811 by the American Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor was a prominent member. Hunters and trappers in the employ of American and British companies roamed over the whole region. Fort Vancouver was occupied by the Hudson Bay Company, a British organization, till 1860. In 1839, the first American emigration set toward this region. The danger of war which had seriously threatened its dawning prosperity was averted when the northwest boundary was settled by the treaty of 1846. In 1848, it was organized as a Territory, and included all the possessions of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains. In 1850, Congress granted three hundred and sixty acres to every man, and the same to his wife, on condition of residence on the land for four years. Eight thousand claims were made for farms. In 1853, Washington Territory was organized north of Columbia River. When Oregon was admitted as a State, it was reduced to its present limits.

KANSAS, the thirty-fourth State, was admitted to the Union January 29, 1861. The name is of Indian origin, and is said to mean "Smoky water." This region was also a part of the Louisiana purchase. After the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota had been carved from it, there was left a vast, unoccupied tract at the west, which was organized by the Kansas and Nebraska Act of 1854. The history of the strife which decided whether it should be slave or free has been narrated.

Summary of the History of the Fourth Epoch, arranged in Chronological Order.