Only a few men doubted that the South would conquer the North, and among these was Herschel V. Johnson. There was an idea abroad, that one Southerner could whip a dozen Northerners. Nobody knows how this idea got out, nor why the absurdity2 of it was not plain to all; but the newspapers were full of it, and the speech makers3 insisted on it so roundly that the people began to believe it. One orator4 declared that he could take one company of "Southrons," arm them with popguns, and run a regiment5 of Yankees out of the country. Another stated that he would be willing to drink all the blood that would be shed as the result of secession. It is said that both of these orators6 were asked for an explanation by their constituents7 after the war was over. The first said that the reason he didn't run the Yankees out of the country with popguns was because they wouldn't fight that way. The second one, who had promised to drink all the blood, said that exposure in camp had interfered9 with his digestion10, and his appetite wasn't as good as it ought to be.
At this time and afterwards there was an overwhelming sentiment in favor of the union in some parts of North Georgia. The people of that section had few slaves, and the arguments in favor of the protection of slavery in the Territories did not appeal to them: consequently they were opposed to secession. There was but one thing that prevented serious trouble between these union men and the State government, and that was the fact that Joe Brown was governor. He knew the North Georgians thoroughly11, and he knew precisely12 how to deal with them. General Harrison W. Riley, a leading citizen of Lumpkin County, declared that he intended to seize the mint at Dahlonega, and hold it for the United States. This threat was telegraphed to Governor Brown by some of the secession leaders in that part of the State, and they appealed to him to send troops to Dahlonega at once, and seize the mint by force. But the governor knew Riley and the people of North Georgia too well to make any show of force. He knew that any such demonstration13 would excite sympathy for Riley, and inflame14 the union sentiment there.. So Governor Brown wrote to some of Riley's friends, telling them what he had heard, and saying that he had known General Riley too long, and had too high an opinion of his good sense and patriotism15, to believe the report. At the same time the governor informed the superintendent16 of the mint that the State of Georgia now held that institution. The superintendent said he was willing to act under the orders of the governor.
At Jasper, the county seat of Pickens County, the feeling of loyalty17 to the union was very strong. The delegate from that county to the State convention had refused to sign his name to the ordinance18 of secession. Soon after the State had seceded, the citizens of Jasper planted a pole, and raised on it a United States flag, and kept it floating there for several weeks in open defiance19 of the Confederate and State authorities. This was an event to be delicately handled. The slightest mistake would have created a state of feeling in North Georgia that would have given no end of trouble during the whole war. But the union flag floating in Pickens County irritated the rest of the State; and hundreds of appeals were made to Governor Brown to send troops to Jasper, and have the flag taken down by force. To these appeals he made but one response, and then turned a deaf ear to all criticism. "Let the flag float there," he said. "It floated over our fathers, and we all love the flag now. We have only been compelled to lay it aside by the injustice20 that has been practiced under its folds. If the people of Pickens desire to hang it out and keep it there, let them do so. I shall send no troops to interfere8 with it."
While this wise management on the part of Governor Brown did not change the sentiments of the union men of North Georgia, it prevented any serious outbreak, and kept them soothed21 and quieted throughout the war. Matters were managed differently in East Tennessee; and the result was, that the union men of that section went into the business of bushwhacking, and created a great deal of trouble. While Governor Brown exercised authority without regard for precedent22, the time and the occasion being without precedent, he was very wise and very prudent23 in meeting such emergencies as those that arose in North Georgia.
By the time the election for governor came on, Joe Brown had aroused a good deal of opposition24. He had had a controversy25 with the Confederate authorities because the latter had enrolled26 troops from Georgia without first making a requisition on the governor. He had seized several cargoes27 of salt which the speculators had been holding for higher prices. There was at that early day, and all during the war, a salt famine in the South. The farmers found it difficult to save their meat, owing to the scarcity28 of salt. It is a curious fact, that, when the famine was at its height, a pound of salt was worth a pound of silver. Foreseeing this famine, a great many shrewd business men had laid in large stocks of salt, storing it about in large warehouses29 in different parts of the State. They were about to realize immense fortunes out of the sufferings of the people, when Governor Brown stepped in and seized all the salt the State authorities could lay hands on, and prohibited the shipment of the article out of the State. The Legislature afterwards came to the support of the governor; but if the matter had been discussed in the Legislature in advance of the action of the executive, the speculators would have had timely notice, and the State authorities would have found no salt to seize.
The Salt Famine 284
This salt famine was almost as serious as any result of the war, and it hung over the State until the close of the contest. In thousands of instances the planters who had been prodigal30 of salt before the war, dug up the dirt floors of their smokehouses, and managed to extract a small supply of the costly31 article. The Legislature was compelled to organize a salt bureau, and for that purpose half a million dollars was appropriated. The State, in self-defense, took into its own hands the monopoly of manufacturing salt and of distributing it to the people.
The next difficulty with which the people of Georgia had to contend was the Conscription Act. This act passed the Confederate Congress in April, 1862. It had been recommended by Mr. Davis in a special message, and Congress promptly32 passed it. Nobody in Georgia could understand why such a law had been recommended, or why it had passed. It was the most ruinous blunder of the Confederate Government during the war. If such a law was necessary, it showed that the Confederacy had fallen to pieces. If it was not necessary, its enactment33 was a stupendous piece of folly34; and such it turned out to be. Under the last call for troops for Confederate service, Governor Brown had no difficulty in furnishing eighteen regiments35. He could have gone on furnish ing troops as long as there was any fighting material left in the State; but as soon as the Conscript Act went into operation, the ardor36 of the people sensibly cooled. The foolish law not only affected37 the people at home, but hurt the army in the field. It was a reflection on the patriotism of the whole Southern population. The law was the occasion of a controversy between Governor Brown and President Davis, in which Brown, in the nature of things, had a decided38 advantage; for the Conscript Act wiped out the whole theory of State rights, on which the people of the South depended to justify39 secession. But Georgia did not stand in the way of the law. It was enforced, and the terms of its enforcement did the work of disorganization more thoroughly than the hard times and the actual war were doing it.
In March, 1863, the governor issued a proclamation convening40 the Legislature in special session to discuss the subject of bread. This was a very important subject at that time. In his message, the governor said that the time had come for the farmers to raise bread instead of cotton. He also laid before the Legislature' the reports of the distribution of the fund of two and a half millions of dollars for the support of the indigent41 families of soldiers. These reports showed what havoc42 the war had created among the people of a State which, not much more than two years before, was one of the most prosperous in the country. The fund had been distributed among more than eighty-four thousand people. Of this number, about forty-six thousand were children, twenty-four thousand were kinswomen of poor living soldiers, eight thousand were orphans43, four thousand were widows of dead soldiers, and five hundred were soldiers disabled in service. Governor Brown, out of his own barn, gave the people of Cherokee County four thousand dollars' worth of corn. These events show the straits to which the people had been reduced by two years of actual war.
It should be borne in mind, however, that the people had to fight the union army in front, and the speculators and extortioners in the rear. Governor Brown tried hard to make the lives of this latter class entirely44 miserable45, and he succeeded in a way that delighted the people. Wherever he could get his hands on a speculator or extortioner, he shook him up. He made many seizures46, and confiscated47 the hoards48 of a great many men who had influence with some of the newspapers; and in this way life in the State was made almost as exciting as the experience of the soldiers at the front.
In 1863, Governor Brown wanted to retire from office. The strain on his health and strength had been very severe, and he felt that he was breaking down. He wanted to make Toombs, who was then a general in the army, his successor. But Brown's friends insisted that he should make the race. The public opinion of Georgia and of the whole South insisted on it. So he became a candidate for a fourth term. He had two opponents,—Joshua Hill, who had been a strong union man; and Timothy Furlow, who was an ardent49 secessionist and a strong supporter of the Confederate administration; but Governor Brown was elected by a large majority over both candidates.
The war went steadily50 on, and during the year 1864 Georgia became the battle ground,—the strategic point. This fact the union commanders realized very early, and began their movements accordingly. Virginia was merely the gateway51 to the Confederacy, but Georgia was very near the center of its vitality52. This was shown by the fact that when Atlanta fell, and Sherman began his destructive march to the sea, it was known on all sides that the Confederate Government was doomed53. This movement, strange to say, was hastened by the Confederate authorities. General Joseph E. Johnston, one of the greatest commanders of the war, was removed at a critical moment, when his well-disciplined army had reached Atlanta. He was ordered from Richmond to turn his army over to the command of General Hood54, and within a very few days the fate of the Confederacy had been decided. Hood at once ordered an attack on Sherman's lines. He was repulsed55, and then compelled to evacuate56 the city. General Sherman detached General Thomas from his main army to follow Hood on his march toward the Tennessee, and moved across the State to Savannah. Within a very few months thereafter the war was brought to a close. Colonel I. W. Avery, in his "History of Georgia," says that on the thirty-first day of December, 1864, one dollar in gold was worth forty-nine dollars in Confederate money. The private soldier received eleven dollars of this money for a month's service. He could buy a pound of meat with his month's pay. He could buy a drink of whisky, and have one dollar left over. With four months' pay he could buy a bushel of wheat. General Toombs once humorously declared that a negro pressman worked all day printing money, and then until nine o'clock at night to pay himself off. There was a grain of truth in this humor,—just enough to picture the situation as by a charcoal57 sketch58.
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1
seceded
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| v.脱离，退出( secede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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8
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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10
digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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inflame
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| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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ordinance
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| n.法令；条令；条例 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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21
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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22
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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cargoes
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| n.（船或飞机装载的）货物( cargo的名词复数 )；大量，重负 | |
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scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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prodigal
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| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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40
convening
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| 召开( convene的现在分词 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合 | |
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41
indigent
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的 | |
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42
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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43
orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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44
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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45
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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46
seizures
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| n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物 | |
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47
confiscated
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| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
hoards
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| n.（钱财、食物或其他珍贵物品的）储藏，积存( hoard的名词复数 )v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的第三人称单数 ) | |
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49
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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50
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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51
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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52
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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53
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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54
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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55
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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56
evacuate
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| v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便 | |
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57
charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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58
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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