ge fury. They condemned the wholesale arrest of
thousands of citizens for their political opinions and arraigned the
Government for its incompetence in conducting the military operations of
an army of more than twice the numbers of the triumphant South.

The Emancipation Proclamation and the victories of Davis' army had not
only divided and demoralized the North, they had solidified Southern
opinion.

Even Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice-President of the Confederacy, who
had been a thorn in the flesh of Davis from the beginning in his
advocacy of foolish and impossible measures of compromise now took his
position for war to the death. In a fiery speech in North Carolina
following Lincoln's proclamation Stephens said:

"As for any reconstruction of the Union--such a thing is
impossible--such an idea must not be tolerated for an instant.
Reconstruction would not end the war, but would produce a more horrible
war than that in which we are now engaged. The only terms on which we
can obtain permanent peace is final and complete separation from the
North. Rather than submit to anything short of that, let us resolve to
die as men worthy of freedom."

A few days after the defeat of Burnside's army at Fredericksburg the
South was thrilled by the feat of General McGruder in Galveston harbor.
The daring Confederate Commander had seized two little steamers and
fitted them up as gun boats by piling cotton on their sides for
bulwarks. With these two rafts of cotton cooeperating on the water, his
infantry waded out into the waters of Galveston Bay and attacked the
Federal fleet with their bare hands.

When the smoke of battle lifted the city of Galveston was in Confederate
hands, the fleet had been smashed and scattered and the port opened to
commerce. Commodore Renshaw had blown up his flag ship to prevent her
falling into McGruder's hands and gone down with her. The garrison
surrendered.

Jackson had invented a "foot cavalry." McGruder had supplemented it by a
"foot navy."

At Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on the same day General Bragg had engaged
the army of Rosecrans and fought one of the bloodiest engagements of the
war. Its net results were in favor of the Confederacy in spite of the
fact that he permitted Rosecrans to move into Murfreesboro. The Northern
army had lost nine thousand men, killed and wounded, and Bragg carried
from the field six thousand Federal prisoners, thirty pieces of
artillery, sixty thousand stand of sm