Produced by Ed Ferris Transcriber's note: Footnotes are at the end of each chapter, except at the end of each section in Chapter I. Duplicate notes were on adjacent pages in the book. Right-hand-page heads are omitted. Names have been corrected (except possibly "Hurlburt"). LoC call number: E470.K18 SLAVERY AND FOUR YEARS OF WAR A POLITICAL HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES TOGETHER WITH A NARRATIVE OF THE CAMPAIGNS AND BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR IN WHICH THE AUTHOR TOOK PART: 1861-1865 BY JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS; EX-SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. S. A.; AND MAJOR-GENERAL OF VOLUNTEERS, SPANISH WAR. ILLUSTRATED VOLUME I. 1861-1863 G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1900 Copyright, 1900 BY JOSEPH WARREN KEIFER The Knickerbocker Press, New York To the memory of the dead and as a tribute of esteem to the living officers and soldiers who served immediately with and under the author in battles and campaigns of the great American rebellion This Book is Dedicated PREFACE The writer of this book was a volunteer officer in the Union army throughout the war of the Great Rebellion, and his service was in the field. The book, having been written while the author was engaged in a somewhat active professional life, lacks that literary finish which results from much pruning and painstaking. He, however, offers no excuse for writing it, nor for its completion; he has presumed to nothing but the privilege of telling his own story in his own way. He has been at no time forgetful of the fact that he was a subordinate in a great conflict, and that other soldiers discharged their duties as faithfully as himself; and while no special favors are asked, he nevertheless opes that what he has written may be accepted as the testimony of one who entertains a justifiable pride in having been connected with large armies and a participant in important campaigns and great battles. He flatters himself that his summary of the political history of slavery in the United States, and of the important political events occurring upon the firing on Fort Sumter, and the account he has given of the several attempts to negotiate a peace before the final overthrow of the Confederate armies, will be of special interest to students of American history. Slavery bred the doctrine of State-rights, which led, inevitably, to secession and rebellion. The story of slavery and its abolition in the United States is the most tragic one in the world's annals. The "Confederate States of America" is the only government ever attempted to be formed, avowedly to perpetuate _human slavery_. A history of the Rebellion without that of slavery is but a recital of brave deeds without reference to the motive which prompted their performance.