The fall of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson with the evacuation of
Nashville had been a sword thrust into the heart of the lower South. The
extent of these disasters had not been realized by the public. The South
was yet a sleeping lioness. She could be roused and her powers wielded
with certainty by one man. But his hand must be firm.
There was one man in the Cabinet of the Confederacy who clearly saw this
from the first dawn of the new year--Judah P. Benjamin, the astute
Secretary of War. His keen logical mind had brushed aside the fog of
sentiment and saw _one_ thing--the need of success and the way in which
to attain it.
The morning of February twenty-second was Washington's birthday, and for
that reason fixed by the South as the day of the inauguration of their
President. Nothing could have shown more clearly the tenacity with which
the Southern people were clinging to their old forms. The day slowly
dawned through lowering storm clouds.
The President went early to his office for a consultation with the
members of his new Cabinet. Judah P. Benjamin, his chosen chief
counselor as Secretary of State, was unusually reticent. The details of
the inauguration were quickly agreed on and Davis hastened to return to
his room at the White House to complete his preparations for the
ceremony.
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