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time, and the people, determined to avoid war if possible, kept steadily on in their usual pursuits.
They heard the howling of the tempest without, but heeded not its turmoil for a time; and they were but little startled by the thunderbolt cast in their midst to alarm them, by
Senator Clingman, when, at the middle of February,
he telegraphed from
Washington:--“There is no chance for
Crittenden's proposition.
North Carolina must secede, or aid
Lincoln in making war on the
South.”
1 Finally, by pressure from without, and especially by the machinations of traitors nestled in her own bosom, the
State was placed in an attitude of open rebellion.
The people of
Tennessee, the daughter of
North Carolina, like those of the parent State, loved the
Union supremely; but their Governor,
Isham G. Harris, was an active traitor, and had been for months in confidential correspondence with the conspirators in the
Gulf States and in
South Carolina and
Virginia.
He labored unceasingly, with all of his official power, to place his State in alliance with the Al enemies of the
Union.
For that purpose he called a special session of the Legislature, to assemble at
Nashville on the 7th of January.
In his message, he recited a long list of so-called grievances which the people of the
State had suffered under the
National Government; appealed to their passions and prejudices, and recommended several amendments to the
Constitution, which would give to the support of Slavery
all that its advocates desired, as a remedy for those grievances.
The Legislature provided for a State Convention, but decreed that when the people should elect the delegates, they should vote on the question of Convention or No Convention; also, that any ordinance adopted by the
Convention, concerning “Federal relations,” should not be valid until submitted to the people for ratification or rejection.
The election, held on the 9th of February,
was very gratifying to the loyal people of the
State.
The Union candidates were 1861.
chosen by an aggregate majority of about sixty-five thousand; and, by a majority of nearly twelve thousand, they decided not to have a convention.
The result produced great rejoicings, for it was believed that the secession movements in the
State would cease.
It was a delusive hope, as we shall observe hereafter.
Kentucky, a Border State of great importance, having a population, in 1860, of one million one hundred and fifty-five thousand seven hundred and thirteen, of whom two hundred and twenty-five thousand were slaves, was, like
Maryland, strongly attached by triple bonds to both sections of the
Union.
Its action at this crisis, whatever it might be, would have great
