[272] the states from which they had been commissioned in the navy, to serve where they held their allegiance to be due. The theory that they owed allegiance to their respective states was founded on the fact that the federal government was of the states; the sequence was that the navy belonged to the states, not to their agent, the federal government; when the states ceased to be united, the naval vessels and armament should have been divided among the owners. While we honor the sentiment which caused them to surrender their heart-bound associations, and the profession to which they were bred, on which they relied for subsistence, to go, with nothing save their swords and faithful hearts, to fight, to bleed, and to die if need be, in defense of their homes and a righteous cause, we can but remember how much was lost by their view of what their honor and duty demanded. Far, however, be it from their countrymen, for that or any other consideration, to wish that their fidelity to the dictates of a conscientious belief should have yielded to any temptation of interest. The course they pursued shows how impossible it was that they should have done so, for what did they not sacrifice to their sense of right! We were doubly bereft by losing our share of the navy we had contributed to build, and by having it all employed to assail us. The application of the appropriations for the navy of the United States had been such that the construction of vessels had been at the North, though much of the timber used and other material employed was transported from the South to Northern shipyards. Therefore, we were without the accessories needful for the rapid supply of naval vessels.
While attempting whatever was practicable at home, we sent a competent, well-deserving officer of the navy to England to obtain there and elsewhere, by purchase or by building, vessels which could be transformed into ships of war. These efforts and their results will be noticed more fully hereafter.
It may not be amiss to remark here that if the anticipations of our people were not realized, it was not from any lack of the zeal and ability of Secretary of the Navy Mallory. As was heretofore stated, his fondness for and aptitude in nautical affairs had led him to know much of vessels, their construction and management, and, as chairman of the Committee on United States Naval Affairs, he had superadded to this a very large acquaintance with officers of the United States navy, which gave him the requisite information for the most useful employment of the instructed officers who joined our service.
At the North many had been deceived by the fictions of preparations at the South for the war of the sections, and among ourselves were few
