sign and
other emblems of loyalty were displayed on every hand and a martial
spirit pervaded the very atmosphere. The war was the one important topic
of conversation at homes, in the streets and in places of business. The
passions of the people were so thoroughly aroused that they were
frequently expressed in severe denunciation of any who presumed to
entertain conservative views of the situation of affairs and who still
hoped for conciliation and peace. Suspicions were often created by
trivial but well-intended acts or remarks that were susceptible of a
double construction, and loyal sentiment was often so pronounced in its
denunciation of the South that no word or remark could be tolerated
that by any possibility could be construed as a criticism of the
administration, a disapproval of the war or of any detail relating to
its conduct. For example, not long after our return from China, while
Mr. Gouverneur and I were visiting my sister, Mrs. Eames, in Washington,
we were watching one day a newly equipped regiment from Vermont while
passing her residence _en route_ for the seat of war, when Mr. Eames
remarked, "Gouverneur, isn't that a fine regiment?" My husband, who then
and always thereafter was thoroughly loyal to the cause of the Union,
but whose military training had made him familiar with the precise
tactics and evolutions of regular troops, replied: "They need training,"
when Mr. Eames, with much warmth of feeling, exclaimed: "You are a
secessionist, sir!"

That, however, represented but a mild state of feeling compared with
that sometimes entertained between those who were loyal to the Union and
others who sympathized with the South. I recall one conspicuous instance
where such antagonistic views resulted in personal animosity that
severed tender personal relations of long standing. When I left the
country a lifelong intimacy had existed between Mrs. Charles Vanden
Heuvel, a granddaughter of Robert Morris, the great financier of the
Revolution, and Mrs. George Gibbs, granddaughter of the Connecticut
statesman, Oliver Wolcott; but after the outbreak of the war these two
elderly women differed so radically in their views concerning the
conflict that, for a period, their personal relations were severed. The
spirit of toleration was so utterly lacking in both the North and the
South that even those allied by ties of blood were estranged, and a
spirit of bitter resentment and crimination everywhere prevailed. This
s