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Chapter 4:
- Threats of arrest -- departure from Washington -- indications of public anxiety -- “will there be war?” -- organization of the army of Mississippi -- lack of preparations for defense in the South -- evidences of the good faith and peaceable purposes of the Southern people.
During the interval between the announcement by telegraph of the secession of Mississippi and the receipt of the official notification which enabled me to withdraw from the Senate, rumors were in circulation of a purpose, on the part of the United States government, to arrest members of Congress preparing to leave Washington on account of the secession of the states which they represented. This threat received little attention from those most concerned. Indeed, it was thought that it might not be an undesirable mode of testing the question of the right of a state to withdraw from the Union. No attempt, however, was made to arrest any of the retiring members; after a delay of a few days in necessary preparations, I left Washington for Mississippi, passing through southwestern Virginia, east Tennessee, a small part of Georgia, and north Alabama. A deep interest in the events which had recently occurred was exhibited by the people of these states, and much anxiety was indicated as to the future. Many years of agitation had made them familiar with the idea of separation. Nearly two generations had risen to manhood since it had begun to be discussed as a possible alternative. Few, very few, of the Southern people had ever regarded it as a desirable event, or otherwise than as a last resort for escape from evils more intolerable. It was a calamity which, however threatened, they had still hoped might be averted or indefinitely postponed, and they had regarded with contempt, rather than anger, the ravings of a party in the North which denounced the Constitution and the Union and persistently defamed their brethren of the South. Now, however, as well in Virginia and Tennessee, neither of which had yet seceded, as in the more Southern states, which had already taken that step, the danger so often prophesied was perceived to be at the door, and eager inquiries were made as to what would happen next—especially as to the probability of war between the states. The course which events were likely to take was shrouded in the greatest uncertainty. In the minds of many there was the not unreasonable hope (which had been expressed by the commissioner sent from Mississippi to Maryland) that the secession of six Southern states—certainly
