The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

by Erik Larson

But the speech in its final form did nothing to soothe secessionist ire. One key member of the ongoing Virginia Convention, Robert Young Conrad, a Unionist, said its effect was “like an earthquake.” Confederate officials reached the immediate conclusion that it signaled hostility toward the South. Just after hearing Lincoln speak, Texas senator Louis Wigfall, never much inclined toward equanimity, telegraphed from Washington: “Inaugural means war.” But Lexington lawyer Davidson, after reading the complete speech in a newspaper, took a more judicious view. He saw it as “a somewhat Jesuitical striving to please both sides” and to avoid belligerence. “Mark it,” he wrote to a friend. “He don’t intend seriously to attempt Coercion. He knows it will fail if attempted and could serve no good purpose.” Davidson told his friend about a conversation he’d had with Lincoln toward the end of the Washington Peace Convention in which Davidson tried to ascertain Lincoln’s attitude toward the use of force. “There will be no necessity for coercion,” Lincoln told him. “That word is misunderstood and misinterpreted. No armies ever will be marched through the Southern States.” Davidson, hoping to draw Lincoln out, said, “Suppose South Carolina—” Lincoln cut him off. “If I am struck at, may I not strike back?” Davidson hoped to provoke Lincoln into revealing more. “Aggression,” Davidson said, “might change the case.” “If we have a government let us know it,” Lincoln said, playfully (in Davidson...