The Southerner

The Southerner, by Thomas Dixon

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Southerner, by Thomas Dixon This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Southerner A Romance of the Real Lincoln
Author: Thomas Dixon
Illustrator: J. N. Marchand
Release Date: August 28, 2006 [EBook #19135]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SOUTHERNER ***

Produced by Chuck Greif, David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Kentuckiana Digital Library)

THE SOUTHERNER
A ROMANCE OF THE REAL LINCOLN
BY
THOMAS DIXON
"Have you never realized it, my friends, that Lincoln, though grafted on the West, is essentially, in personnel and character, a Southern contribution?"--WALT WHITMAN.
ILLUSTRATED BY J. N. MARCHAND
NEW YORK AND LONDON D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1913
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THOMAS DIXON
All rights reserved, including that of translation into all foreign languages, including the Scandinavian
Printed in the United States of America
* * * * * DEDICATED TO
OUR FIRST SOUTHERN-BORN PRESIDENT SINCE LINCOLN, MY FRIEND AND COLLEGEMATE WOODROW WILSON
* * * * * THE SOUTHERNER
BOOKS BY MR. DIXON
The Southerner The Sins of the Father The Leopard's Spots The Clansman The Traitor
***
The One Woman Comrades The Root of Evil
***
The Life Worth Living
[Illustration: "From a thousand throats rose the cry: 'Lee to the rear!'"]

TO THE READER
Lest my readers should feel that certain incidents of this story are startling and improbable, I wish to say that every word in it relating to the issues of our national life has been drawn from authentic records in my possession. Nor have I at any point taken a liberty with an essential detail in historical scenes.
THOMAS DIXON.

CONTENTS
PROLOGUE

CHAPTER
I.
THE MAN OF THE HOUR II. JANGLING VOICES III. IN BETTY'S GARDEN IV. A PAIR OF YOUNG EYES V. THE FIRST SHOT VI. THE PARTING OF THE WAYS VII. LOVE AND DUTY VIII. THE TRIAL BY FIRE IX. VICTORY IN DEFEAT X. THE AWAKENING XI. THE MAN ON HORSEBACK XII. LOVE AND PRIDE XIII. THE SPIRES OF RICHMOND XIV. THE RETREAT XV. TANGLED THREADS XVI. THE CHALLENGE XVII. THE DAY'S WORK XVIII. DIPLOMACY XIX. THE REBEL XX. THE INSULT XXI. THE BLOODIEST DAY XXII. BENEATH THE SKIN XXIII. THE USURPER XXIV. THE CONSPIRACY XXV. THE TUG OF WAR XXVI. THE REST HOUR XXVII. DEEPENING SHADOWS XXVIII. THE MOONLIT RIVER XXIX. THE PANIC XXX. SUNSHINE AND STORM XXXI. BETWEEN THE LINES XXXII. THE WHIRLWIND XXXIII. THE BROTHERS MEET XXXIV. LOVE'S PLEDGE XXXV. THE DARKEST HOUR XXXVI. THE ASSASSIN XXXVII. MR. DAVIS SPEAKS XXXVIII. THE STOLEN MARCH XXXIX. VICTORY XL. WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"From a thousand throats rose the cry: 'Lee to the rear!'" Frontispiece.
"'Be a man among men, for your mother's sake--'"
"'Good-bye--Ned!' she breathed softly." "Betty glanced at the stolid, set face and firm lips."
"'You're a brave man, Ned Vaughan.'"
"Waving his plumed hat ... he put himself at the head of his troops and charged."

LEADING CHARACTERS OF THE STORY
1809-1818
Scene: A Cabin in the Woods
TOM, A Man of the Forest and Stream. NANCY, The Woman Who Saw a Vision. THE BOY, Her Son. DENNIS, His Cousin. BONEY, A Fighting Coon Dog.
1861-1865
Scene: The White House
SENATOR GILBERT WINTER, The Radical Leader. BETTY, His Daughter. JOHN VAUGHAN, A Union Soldier. NED VAUGHAN, His Brother, a Rebel. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, The President. MRS. LINCOLN, His Wife. PHOEBE, Her Maid. JULIUS C?SAR THORNTON, Who Was Volunteered. COLONEL NICOLAY, The President's Secretary. MAJOR JOHN HAY, Assistant Secretary. WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, Who Stole a March. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, The Man on Horseback. ROBERT E. LEE, The Southern Commander.

THE SOUTHERNER

PROLOGUE
I
Tom seated himself at the table and looked into his wife's face with a smile:
"Nancy, it's a meal fit for a king!"
The supper over, he smoked his pipe before the cabin fire of blazing logs, while she cleared the wooden dishes. He watched her get the paper, goose-quill pen and ink as a prisoner sees the scaffold building for his execution.
"Now we're all ready," she said cheerfully.
The man laid his pipe down with a helpless look. A brief respite flashed through his mind. Maybe he could sidestep the lessons before she pinned him down.
"Lord, Nancy, I forgot my gun. I must grease her right away," he cried.
He rose with a quick decisive movement and took his rifle from the rack. She knew it was useless to protest and let him have his way.
Over every inch of its heavy barrel and polished walnut stock he rubbed a piece of greased linen with loving care, drew back the flint-lock and greased carefully every nook and turn of its mechanism, lifted the gun finally to his shoulder and drew an imaginary bead on the head of a turkey gobbler two hundred yards away.