The great conflict was unavoidable; under the conditions, it was irresistable.  It was but the accomplishment, by human agencies, the will of the Divine.  Its causes were like paths running on converging lines, that eventually must meet and cross at the angle, notwithstanding their distances apart or length.  From the foundation of the government these two converging lines commenced.  Two conflicting civilizations came into existence with the establishment of the American Union—­the one founded on the sovereignty of the States and the continuance of slavery was espoused by the hot-blooded citizens of the South; the other, upon the literal construction of the Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created free and equal,” and the supremacy of the general government over States Rights, and this was the slogan of the cool, calculating, but equally brave people of the North.  The converging lines commenced in antagonism and increased in bitterness as they neared the vertex.  The vertex was 1861.  At this point it was too late to make concessions.  There was no room for conciliation or compromise, then the only recourse left is what all brave people accepts—­the arbitrament of the sword.

The South sought her just rights by a withdrawal from the “Unholy Alliance.”  The North sought to sustain the supremacy and integrity of the Union by coercing the “Erring Sisters” with force of arms.  The South met force with force, and as a natural sequence, she staked her all.  The North grew more embittered as the combat of battles rolled along the border and the tread of a million soldiers shook the two nations to their centers.  First, it was determined that the Union should be preserved, even at the expense of the South’s cherished institution; then, as the contest grew fiercer and more unequaled, that the institution itself should die with the re-establishment of the Union.  Both played for big stakes—­one for her billions of slave property, the other for the forty or more stars in her constellation.  Both put forward her mightiest men of war.  Legions were mustered, marshalled, and thrown in the field, with an earnestness and rapidity never before witnessed in the annals of warfare.  Each chose her best Captains to lead her armies to battle, upon the issue of which depended the fate of two nations.  The Southern legions were led by the Lees, Johnstons, Beauregards, Jacksons, Stuarts, Longstreets, and other great Lieutenants; the North were equally fortunate in her Grants, Shermans, Thomases, Sheridans, and Meads.  In courage, ability, and military sagacity, neither had just grounds to claim superiority over the other.  In the endurance of troops, heroism, and unselfish devotion to their country’s cause, the North and South each found foemen worthy of their steel.  Both claimed justice and the Almighty on their side.  Battles were fought, that in the magnitude of the slaughter, in proportion to the troops engaged, has never been equalled since the days of recorded history; Generalship displayed that compared favorably with that of the “Madman of the North,” the Great Frederick, or even to that of the military prodigy of all time—­Napoleon himself.  The result of the struggle is but another truth of the maxim of the latter, that “The Almighty is on the side of the greatest cannon.”