nominee for an
honor six years in the distance, and shrouded in the smoke of battle,
sought to add fuel to the flame by waving the Crown aside! In a weak
bombastic letter which deceived no one, dated,

"Within Hearing of the Enemies' Guns," he emphatically declared:

"I am not a candidate, nor do I desire to be a candidate, for any civil
office in the gift of the people or Executive!"

Controversies began between different Southern States, as to the
location of the permanent Capital of the Confederacy. The contest
developed so rapidly and went so far, that the Municipal Council of the
City of Nashville, Tennessee, voted an appropriation of $750,000 for a
residence for the President as an inducement to remove the Capital.

A furious controversy broke out in the yellow journals of the South as
to why the Southern army had not pursued the panic-stricken mob into the
City of Washington, captured Lincoln and his Congress and ended the war
next day in a blaze of glory.

It was inconceivable that it was the fault of the two heroes of the
battle, Joseph E. Johnston and Peter G. T. Beauregard. The President had
rushed to the battlefield for some purpose. The champions of the heroes
insinuated that his purpose was not to prevent their quarreling, but to
take command of the field and rob them of their glory.

They made haste to find a scapegoat on whose shoulders to lay the
failure to pursue. They seized on Jefferson Davis as the man. They
declared in the most positive terms that Johnston and Beauregard,
flushed with victory, were marshaling their hosts to sweep into
Washington when they were stopped by the Confederate Chief and had no
choice but to bivouac for the night.

Three men alone knew the truth: Davis, Beauregard and Johnston. The two
victorious generals remained silent while their friends made this
remarkable accusation against the President.

The President remained silent to save his generals from the wrath of a
fickle public which might end their usefulness to the country.

As a matter of fact, Davis' trained eye had seen the enormous advantage
of quick merciless pursuit the moment he was convinced that McDowell's
army had fled in panic.

He had finally written a positive order commanding pursuit but was
persuaded by the continued pleas of both commanders not to press it.

The reptile press of the South began on the President a bitter,
malignant and unceasing vilification for this, his first fatal and
inex