The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 5, May, 1864: Devoted To Literature And National Policy

In Short

This volume serves as a time capsule from May 1864, functioning as a periodical that bridges the gap between intense wartime policy and the cultural preoccupations of the era. It blends rigorous, data-driven arguments about the economic and social superiority of free labor against slavery with fiction, poetry, and book reviews. By capturing the urgent rhetoric of the Union cause alongside the domestic and intellectual lives of its readers, the collection preserves the intellectual climate of the United States as it navigated the final, grueling year of the Civil War.

The Story

The narrative arc of this volume begins with the hard, cold numbers of national survival. Robert J. Walker, writing from London, launches a systematic, statistical indictment of the slave system by contrasting the economic and educational development of free states like Ohio with slave-holding counterparts like Kentucky. He posits that the "invariable result" of the census data is the superior prosperity of free labor. This argument sets the stage for a broader discussion on the legitimacy of the war, framing the Union’s struggle not merely as a political necessity but as a moral and economic imperative to preserve both liberty and order.

As the volume moves from the halls of policy to the life of the imagination, the tone shifts toward the romantic and the melancholic. A piece of prose fiction depicts the tragic, fevered interior life of AEnone, a young woman caught in the suffocating web of her father’s aristocratic ambitions and the violent realities of a war-torn world. Her story, filled with moonlit escapes and the dread of being discovered, mirrors the larger national anxiety of the period. The prose explores the tension between duty and individual desire, culminating in a violent, dream-like confrontation where the protagonist is saved by an exile, blurring the lines between reality and the spectral trauma of the past.

The middle section of the collection pivots toward historical curiosity and intellectual inquiry. It details the mystery surrounding the Letters of Junius, pondering the identity of a political provocateur who once "hunted down" his enemies with the power of his pen. This leads into an archaeological survey of ancient mound builders in the American interior, contrasting the tangible, silent remains of a vanished civilization with the feverish pace of modern newspaper expansion.

The volume’s conclusion returns to the heart of the American experience: the family left behind. A poem titled "The House in the Lane" provides the emotional anchor for the entire collection. It describes a soldier’s memory of his mother in New Hampshire, her face etched with "sad and tender grace," as he justifies his sacrifice to the country. The final pages offer reviews of contemporary literature and a "Soldier’s Psalm of Woman," which elevates the role of mothers, wives, and maidens in the war effort to a state of spiritual grace. The volume closes with the quiet, domestic reality of the era—the knitting dropped away, the patient waiting, and the hope that peace will eventually spread its wings over the nation’s "Aceldemas of sorrow."

How It Unfolds

The case for free labor The volume opens with a rigorous comparison of states, using census data to prove that free states vastly outperform slave states in wealth, literacy, and population growth. This establishes the economic argument that slavery acts as a fundamental drag on national progress and modernization.

The drama of the internal life The focus shifts to the psychological experience of the war through the story of AEnone. This narrative section captures the dread of being watched and the desperation of those trapped by the rigid, often cruel, expectations of their elders and their social stations.

The mystery of historical voices The perspective widens to examine the power of anonymous political writing, specifically the Letters of Junius. This connects the current political crisis to a longer tradition of revolutionary pamphleteering and the persistent effort of governments to suppress dissent.

The physical remnants of the past A detailed exploration of ancient mound builders provides a stark contrast to the modern conflict. It presents a world of physical labor and ritual, where the past is literally dug up from the earth, suggesting that civilizations are transitory and subject to the ravages of time.

The call to sacrifice and the domestic echo The final movement centers on the personal toll of the war. It balances a soldier’s unwavering commitment to his country with the image of the mother left behind, suggesting that the war’s true cost is measured in the quiet, empty rooms of the home.

The People

Robert J. Walker stands as the collection’s most prominent intellectual figure, a clear-eyed strategist who uses the cold facts of the 1860 Census as his primary weapon against the institution of slavery. He is driven by a belief in the inherent efficiency and moral righteousness of free institutions.

AEnone is the central figure of the volume’s dramatic fiction, a young woman defined by her fear and her clandestine hopes. She is caught between her father, a man of cold, aristocratic pride who views his daughter as a political asset, and the "exile," who represents both her personal salvation and the disruptive force of the times. Her journey is one of transition, from a passive object of her father’s machinations to a woman who asserts her own survival through a violent, desperate act of defiance.

The anonymous soldier of the poetry section functions as a representative voice for the Union. He is motivated by a deep, almost religious sense of duty to his country, which he views as a living entity in its "anguish." His internal conflict is between his love for his mother and his commitment to the war, a struggle he resolves by elevating his service to a moral necessity. His mother, an unnamed figure of "pale and patient" endurance, serves as the grounding force of the entire collection, representing the quiet, suffering heart of the nation.

In Its Own Voice

"No reason can be assigned for these remarkable results, except that Kentucky was slaveholding, and Ohio a Free State."

Walker argues that the contrast in prosperity between two adjacent states with similar soil and climate is purely the result of their differing labor systems.

"The peacefulness and quiet of nature found no response in her heart; her only emotion was one of dread lest each ray of light might shine too brightly upon her."

This description captures the intense, suffocating anxiety of the fictional protagonist as she moves through a city that feels both beautiful and predatory.

"O wives and mothers, sanctified by holy consecrations, turning our weariness aside with blessed ministrations!"

This line reflects the period's tendency to idealize the domestic support role of women during the intense suffering of the wartime years.

What It's Really About

The central theme is the justification of a modernizing, industrial Union against a backward-looking, agrarian slave system. The book asks whether a nation can survive if its economic foundations are fundamentally at odds with its moral rhetoric. It treats the concepts of "liberty" and "order" as interdependent, arguing that the Union is not merely fighting to preserve a map, but to ensure that these two principles can exist in harmony. Beneath the political debates and the archaeological reports lies a deeper question: what is the nature of the American character, and how does it reconcile the rapid, often chaotic pace of scientific and industrial progress with the traditional, often painful, bonds of home and history?

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy primary source documents or the intellectual history of the mid-nineteenth century will find this volume deeply engaging. It offers an unvarnished look at the language, anxieties, and political arguments of 1864, providing a sense of immediacy that modern textbooks often lack. The writing ranges from the dry, technical precision of census analysis to the florid, high-strung sentimentality common to 19th-century fiction.

Be prepared for the period’s specific attitudes; the text reflects the racial, gender, and political biases of its time, which are presented as objective truths. The tone is often heavy and earnest, reflecting the gravity of a nation in the midst of a civil war. While some sections, particularly the discussions of agricultural education and archaeological findings, may feel slow to the modern reader, they are essential to understanding how the period viewed itself as a civilization on the rise. Reading this is like visiting a room that has been sealed since the 1860s; the air is thick with the intensity of a conflict that was, at that moment, still very much unresolved. It is a rewarding look at how a society, under extreme pressure, tried to reconcile its past, its present, and its hopes for a future peace.