MAY 4, 1861:
From the
diary of George Templeton Strong, Unionist lawyer, diarist, and political
pundit:
“No national news of much importance today. There are signs,
more or less reliable, of collapse and intimidation in Virginia and Maryland. A
strong party in Kentucky and western Virginia seems certainly arming for the
nation against State secession. The twenty days within which the President’s
proclamation called upon all rebels to disperse expire tomorrow, and there are
vague rumors of decisive steps thereupon to be taken. We shall see. We are
generally hopeful and in high spirits today. But our levies are very raw; the
rebel commanders have the energy and freshness that belong to revolutionary
leaders. Worse than the loss of three pitched battles would be overtures of
compromise and negotiation from the swindling chivalry – “the felon knights” of
Jefferson Davis’s Round Table. That would divide and weaken us again. I fear
the subtle, knavish, desperate leaders of the South have some such move in
reserve.”
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